Airplane fiction

Our recent vacation to South America revealed just how much time we spend in airports and on airplanes to get to places - I had brought along a book to read and assumed it would last the entire trip. Silly me - even though I didn't spend much time reading outside of the airport, I very quickly had that book finished.

I assumed I could find an English bookstore somewhere, but it wasn't that easy. I should have borrowed a book from Alice, but didn't think that far ahead - I was still reading The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice, and I guess I thought it would take forever to finish!! This was a pretty good read - about post-WW II Britain - somewhat lightweight, but well written and a nice plot line.

When we got to Chile, I combed the shelves there for an English book - Carla found a few - I ended up reading Dresses of Red and Gold by Robin Klein. It was an Australian adolescent novel - and quite "colorful" - pardon the pun - but it had enough "local flavor" to make it interesting - however, like most adolescent novels, it was indeed a "quick read." So I was back to needing another book.

I found a book on their shelves called A Name for Himself by Catherine Dunne - it had a strange plot line - it was Irish - and there is something about the Irish and literature that seems to go together. The ending was not what I expected. I wasn't finished before we left, but Carla said to take it and give it away - not to worry about returning it - so I left it in a hotel room in Lima - along with a copy of Good Housekeeping I had devoured on one of our flights.

I found a bookstore in one of the airports and bought a copy of Body Surfing by Anita Shreve. It was the perfect airplane read - pretty well-written, intriguing story line, an ending I hadn't guessed, and you could get absorbed in it and not think about how much time you were spending in the airport!

But I finished that one too - and we were then at the airport in El Salvador - and I was facing a 5 or 6 hour flight and an hour wait, so I went hunting for a bookstore with English titles - found one but the only choices were Stephen King and Sandra Brown - I went with Sandra Brown and that was a mistake - I'm not a Stepehn King fan, but I think he would have been better than she was - I fortunately fell asleep after the first 2 chapters - and I'm certainly not going to bother finishing it!

Dad handled it all well - had his Kindle with him - so when he finished the "thriller" that I can't remember the title of, he went on to the next book he'd downloaded - at my suggestion it was Home by Julie Andrews - since my book group is reading that for September - and he got really into it and is enjoying reading it. (I already had a copy - but had loaned it to one of the book group members because I hadn't wanted to carry a big paperback that I wouldn't mind discarding along the way.)

Next trip, I may just get a Kindle myself - one that has several good novels already downloaded. Although I did notice a number of travelers who had portable DVD players and were just watching movies!!

I am thinking that the next time I travel extensively, I am going to think out my reading plan ahead of time. In his book On Writing, Stephen King says to always have a book with you, because you never know when you will be stuck and need something to help you pass the time.

No truer words were ever spoken!!