Vacation reading
 

Having just booked my summer vacation to Denmark, I am looking for something good to read on the trip. Any recommendations?

It doesn't have to be a book associated with my destination (although that would be nice). I generally like fiction (although I have read some wonderful travel narratives). My taste ranges from literary fiction to mystery to more fluffy fiction. To give you an idea, I just finished City of Dreams by Beverly Swerling--and loved it.

It's not new but have you read Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow? Also called Miss Smilla's Sense for Snow for some strange reason (North America and UK are different)Smilla is half Danish half Greenlander(?) - thoroughly enjoyed it.

And the book that I recommend to everyone -whether or not they ask - is A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry - written by a Canadian orignially from India - possible the best book I have read - to be more accurate i do not think I have enjoyed a book more.

I just read a book called The Red Tent. It was borrowed so I cannot remember the author's name. It is nonfiction/fiction. It is about Dinah, daughter of Jacob, and it chronicles her life with her mother and aunts (all sisters) from birth to death. It is a great novel about a women who is faced with adversity in life and becomes stronger because of it.

Red Tent - Anita Diamant - it had great reviews and friends loved it but I could never get into it. I have dug it out and will give it another try - thanks for the suggestion tulips

It's not associated with Denmark but I would recommend Jasper Fforde's books. Starting with 'The Eyre Affair', then 'Lost In A Good Book' and finally 'The Well of Lost Plots'.

.....Music and Silence by Rose Tremain.

One of the cover blurbs reads: "The Best
thing from Denmark since Hamlet" John
Julius Norwich. A wonderful, wonderful
book.

wombat7,

Hi! I thought that the book was slow in the beginning because they are laying the foundation of characters. It was hard for me to get past Jacob having 4 wives who were all sisters. If you bear through the first part though, I think that you will enjoy it.

I loved Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow.

Am very much enjoying Day of the Bees as well.

And Vanilla Beans and Brodo is a winner, although it may make you wish you were heading to more southern climes.

And anything by Sebastien Faulkes gets my vote.

While recuperating in late winter/very early spring, I read all of Joanne Harris' novels--they were delightful. Adriana Trigiani is another author I've enjoyed a lot. Another author I like is Leslie Pietrzyk, whose has 2 books out now: "Pears on a Willow Tree" and "A Year and A Day".

BC

I loved the beautifully written book "Prodigal Summer" by Barbara Kingsolver.

Wow, I have quite a few books to check out now. Thanks.

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett is worth a read, I think.

I picked up "Route 66 A.D." by Tony Perrottet in Gatwick during a long layover last year - in it he follows the old roman travel trail starting in Rome and ending in Egypt - seemed somehow appropriate as I travelled.

Another vote for Jasper Fford's books: very funny, witty and extremly inventive and unusual.

Beth: a thread that started four years ago posed the same question and has by now more than 400 marvelous responses. Strongly recommend you check it out.

If "City of Dreams" hints to your likes, then "The Alienist", "The Pillars of the Earth", "The Poisonwood Bible", "The DaVinci Code", is right down your alley. Enjoy!!

The latest book by Tracey Chevalier(Girl with a Pearl Earring) The Virgin Blue, was great. Anita Shreve is another author I like. The funniest book I ever read was A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. Reginald Hill and Ruth Rendell for mysteries.

Two of the best novels I've read recently are The Hills at Home, by Nancy Clark, and The Mammoth Cheese, by Sheri Holman.

I also enjoyed Miss Pettigrew lives for a day, by Winifred Watson (a 1938 novel about a governess who's sent to a nightclub singer's home on a job interview, and is immediately caught up in the kind of life she never knew existed). It's published by Persephone Books, a British publisher that specializes in what they call "forgotten classics by twentieth-century women writers." As far as I know, their books are not yet available in the U.S. (I picked up "Miss Pettigrew" on a recent trip to London), but if you're interested, you can check out their book list at www.persephonebooks.co.uk

For some really light reading that's associated with your destination, how about Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales, which I think are based on Danish folklore?

VS Naipaul's AMONG THE BELIEVERS-AN ISLAMIC JOURNEY. It was first printed in 1981, but in times like these it is more poignant than ever. Travel with Naipaul through Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Indonesia. There are no Americans with acid-washed jeans, white trainers, and fanny packs here! :)

I have been recommending this book of travel essays to everyone I know -- I loved it. It's called "The Kindness of Strangers", edited by Don George for Lonely Planet Books. It is a collection of essays about the human connections that develop during peoples' travels.

Chatters - How do you find the thread that you referred to that started years ago. I put in books and nothing like that came up. Help with the thread.

thanks