Advice for 1 Book to Bring on a 3 Week Trip
 

My husband and I are off for a 3 week trip to Italy with our friends, leaving this September. I am a voracious reader - for example, on a weeks trip to Mexico I will bring 7-9 pocketbooks. As we are trying to keep packing to a minimum, I would appreciate recommendations for 1 book to bring that is dense enough to take a fast reader about 3 weeks to chew through. For example, 2 years ago we went to Greece for 3 weeks and I brought a paperback version of Anna Karenina which lasted just the right amount of time. I am female and not overly particular about subject matter.

I appreciate any recommendations you may have!

War and Peace.

If you have read them yet - Any one of Edward Rutherfurd's three massive novels

London
Sarum
Forest

Good reads - and once you've read one you just have to read all three . . . .

That should be "if you haven't read them yet . . "

I posted a similar question on Slow Travel a couple of weeks ago. (I am about to leave on a 7 week trip.) I got a fabulous list... and have just a couple of days left to decide which one (or two) to take.

Hope this is helpful to you: http://slowtalk.com/groupee/forums/a...5/m/2441065741

Kathy

It won't take 3 weeks, but The Agony and the Ecstasy at 776 pages isn't a lightweight, either. What could be better than in Italy than Michelangelo? It was this book as a teen that made me dream of Italy. Took me about 35 years to get there, but, I read the book several times.

I was going to say Anna Karenina. Since you have already read that I vote for "Kristen Lavransdautter" by Sigrid Undset.

She won the 1929 Nobel Prize in literature for this book. It is the Natioanl Book of Norway. (At leaast I had a woman from Sweden tell me that everyone in Norway has read this book.) It is actually a Trilogy.

The only problem is that it is so good you might finish it before 3 weeks are up!

How about A Suitable Boy? It's 1400 pages long, so far so good, I'm reading it now. Takes place in India around the time of partition. It's pretty big and heavy so I'm going to tear the pages out as I go.

I think you can buy A Suitable Boy in 3 volumes, so you could pass along volumes 1 and 2 as you read them.

Any chance that you're able to read in another language? I sometimes take easy French books with me when I travel, because it takes me much longer to read them. Like you, I can finish a novel a day - in French, it's more like a novel every 2 weeks.

I too was going to suggest A Suitable Boy. Fantastic read, as well as long

"My Home is Far Away" by Dawn Powell, one of America's greatest though unrecognized writers.

"The Italians" by Luigi Barzini. Wonderful, insightful book about the Italians by late journalist.

"Scoop" by Evelyn Waugh.

I just read it a 3rd time: "Life: A User's Manual" by George Perec. It will change your life.

Gone with the Wind, The Source (Michener), Herman Wouk -- can't remember the title, sorry. Have a great trip, Italy is incredible.

I think that Bonnielady is thinking of Wouk's "The Winds of War" which is an excellent book, indeed.

james michener. His books, it seems are so long that no matter the subject, they start with the formation of the earth -

I agree with The Agony and the Ecstacy. I'm a fast reader, but I'm home from our 13 day trip to Italy, and I still have 200 or so pages to go. Even though I read on the flights, I mostly DIDN'T read on the train rides (or else I read from guide books).

The Stand Stephen King

Another options is electronic books - you can fit several onto an MP3 player - not the same thing as reading but a great way to fill train journeys, wiating in line etc

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.
600 plus pages. Couldn't put it down - which could hinder sightseeing!

I'll second the Rutherford recommendation. His books are interesting, but it takes me (another voracious reader) a while to get through them. Fascinating though -- they follow a particular line of ancestors through one area, for instance London, from 2000+ years ago through modern times, each 'chapter' a new generation of folks, all related (though often unaware of it).

If you want something that will make you forget you are reading, I recommend Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. One of my favorite series! Each book is nice and thick, and great escapism.