One of the biggest pleasures of our time away was the almost limitless time
we had for reading. There is something about being away from your home and
job that lets you get lost in books in a way its hard to do on the subway or
on your couch at home where there are a hundred things to distract you. Eli
and I read many great books over the year. Our favorite non-fiction book
was *Blue Latitudes*, by Tony Horwitz, an educational, slightly depressing
and often hilarious look at the way places Captain Cook visited in the
1700′s were impacted by his visit and the arrival of Europeans. It’s a
great condensed social history of the South Pacific, New Zealand and
Australia and I think you’d find it fascinating even if you’ve never visited
and have no plans to visit any of those places.
Another non-fiction book I couldn’t put down is *The Father of All Things: A
Marine, His Son and the Legacy of Vietnam,* by Tom Bissell*.* The first
forty pages are a little corny but if you push through those you will be
rewarded with an informative and touching book that combines a political
history of the conflict with a narrative about the author’s trip with his
veteran dad to Vietnam.
Fiction-wise, we both loved *The Tenderness of Wolves*, by Stef Penney, an
unlikely thriller set in the 19th century northern Canadian frontier. It’s
a little slow to get started but addictive once the action speeds up. I
forced eli to read *The Road,* by Cormac McCarthy, after reading it alone
and feeling like a I needed to dig a hole to go bury myself in. More
enjoyable for both of us was *City of Thieves*, by David Benioff, which
manages to be funny and sad at the same time- not easy to pull off. The
Most Unforgettable Book award will go to *Wetlands*, by Charlotte Roche. If
the first sentence turns you off, don’t even think about going farther. And
yes, I did read *War and Peace. *It was OK.
