Saturday, April 13, 2019

Flight Reading


by Vicki Delany

I have some ultra-long flights in my future: 13 hours; 5.5 hours; 5.5 hours; 16 hours.


That’s a lot of time to be trapped in a cigar box with several hundred other people. And so I take my flight reading very seriously indeed. 


I find that long airplane flights are almost the only time any more I can get really stuck into a good book.  I find I can’t descend into a book the way I used to and get totally immersed in that world. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older, but I blame the Internet and all the distractions in our lives.  But in a plane I’m able to sink into other words.  No in-flight wi-fi for me.  I rarely even watch the movies, and I don’t sleep well on a plane.


I read.


I’m looking for suggestions for what to take with me. Generally, I’m wanting pretty intense books that I can get deep into.  For my trip to Vancouver for Left Coast Crime I had The Lost Man by Jane Harper (loved it! Even better than The Dry).  On my Christmas trip I was engrossed by The Wytch Elm by Tana French and The Clockmaker’s Daughter by Kate Morton.  Because I was going to Africa, I wanted something to get me in the mood so White Highlands by John McGhie served that purpose.


(A few years ago I happily passed the time floating above planet Earth with The Fallen One by Rick Blechta, another great read.)

As well as great thoughtful fiction, I like to have at least one good non-fiction read. At Christmas it was Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari and for last year’s trip to Malaysia, The Taste of Empire: How Britain's Quest for Food Shaped the Modern World by Lizzie Collingham.  

And then, for a change of pace if needed, I like something light as well. Kate Carlisle’s Fixer Upper mysteries hit the spot for that, as do the Cajun County mysteries by Ellen Byron. 

So, over to you Type M’ers. Have you read anything recently you think would be perfect to accompany me sailing above the clouds? I’m open to suggestions. 



5 comments:

  1. I can't resist the opportunity to tout my own work. If you like dark, edgy mysteries that are hard to put down with interesting characters and complex plots, try my Natalie McMasters series. The first book is Stripper!, the second is Revenge! and the latest new release is Trafficked!

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  2. On the lighter side, I love the Button Box mysteries by Kylie Logan and the Mall Cop mysteries by Laura DiSilverio. And, of course, you could try one of mine out. :-> They can be read in any order. The latest is Designed for Haunting.

    On the non-fiction side, The Library Book by Susan Orlean was very good. It's about the L.A. City library fire in 1986.

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  3. I thought that Rhys Bowen's latest, The Victory Garden, was a very good read. Michelle Obama's Becoming, too, if you haven't read it already.

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  4. I just love a big fat book by Phil Rickman. Any title will do, his cleric, Merrily Watson, her daughter and cast of characters in a small town in England and with a touch of romance and more than a touch of the supernatural. Also, I love to read Elly Griffiths who is an archeologist in the Fens and her on again, off again love affair with a cop. Combines murder mystery with archeology. Also, any book by Louise Penny (Canadian)or Susanna Kearsley.

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  5. Thanks for the tips all. Some of those books sound interesting and I'll have a look for them.

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