Books We Have Read

One of the great things about this trip is we finally have the time to read again. Here are the books we’ve devoured so far, although don’t read too much into our choice of novels. We read anything that falls into our hands en route.

• The Moneychangers by Arthur Hailey — Definitely one for our “top of the tops” list. It doesn’t look like much from the cover but it’s incredibly well written.
• Moby Dick — The quest for the famous whale. Some great and unexpected humour in this book.
• Hell to Pay by George C. Pelecanos — A gripping book about gangs, drugs and murder in Washington.
• The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde — His only novel and a rather controversial one at the time it was published. Looks at beauty and the perils of getting what you wish for.
• The Dark Room by Rachel Seiffert — Three stories told around time of the second world war and its out comes.
• White Teeth by Zadie Smith — A tale set in London and centering around the lives of two friends.
• Wind Sand and Stars by Antoine de Saint-Exupery — A compelling memoir that looks back at the author`s time flying during the war and as a mail carrier over the Sahara.
• The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown — You know the plot
• A Square of Sky by Janina David — an Anne Frank type tale about a young Polish girl during the war
• Left To Die: The Tragedy of the USS Juneau by Dan Kurzman — Tale of a U.S. war ship which was hit, leaving most of its men to die in shark-infested waters as no rescue operation was launched for days
• The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky — Russian literature at its finest. Is Prince Myshkin really an idiot, or….?
• A Time To Kill by John Grisham — A quick read, full of suspense, if a bit graphic
• The Client by John Grisham — Interesting plot but a bit too predictable. Don’t think I will read more Grisham as this book was too similar to the last one for my taste
• The Great Amherst Mystery by Walter Hubbell — A local ghost story from the east coast of Canada
• Absolute Power by David Baldacci — A crime novel around the President of the US, a nice easy read
• High Society by Ben Elton — The tale of an MP and the furor he unleashes when he tries to get all drugs legalised in Britain, while having a fling on the side with his secretary.
• The Life of Pi by Yann Martel –A renowned book about spirituality, religion, what is real and a boy who survives months in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger called Richard Parker
• Be Cool by Elmore Leonard — A mafia mob murder someone in the Hollywood music business. This has been made into a film but I wasn’t such a fan of the book. The writing was awkward in parts
• Mary Mary by James Patterson — A great read about a series of murders in Hollywood. Very hard to put down!
• Sweet Rosie O’Grady by Joan Jonker — Set in Liverpool around the time of the second World War, a sappy love tale between an Irish lass and a Liverpool boy
• The Blue Hammer by Ross MacDonald — A well written novel about a stolen painting
• Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson — Fantastic and intriguing true story about divers who discover a forgotten U-Boat off the New Jersey coast.
• A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka — An off-the-wall tale of a Ukrainian bombshell who tries to buy her way into Britain by seducing an old man and his family’s attempts to stop the union. Hilarious.
• Beauty by Brian D’Amato — Cosmetic surgery and the art world merge, with first amazing and then frightening results.
• Claybourne – Ok, it’s not a book, but a bit of different entertainment, a nice sci-fi story
• By Stealth by Colin Forbes — A ´the world is in danger´ sci-fi read, but I can see the patterns, and probably would not search out another
• Picasso´s War by Russell Martin — Something I probably wouldn´t have picked up naturally, but it gives more history around the time in which Picasso painted Guernica and went a long way to explaining Spain and the Basque culture
• Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell — A few people have been amazed we didn’t read this before, but you can’t read all the things you “should”. Here’s one we can check off our list, and it was well worth reading about the original “Big Brother”.
• See Jane Run by Joy Fielding — A surprisingly good read about a woman who has amnesia and then tries to figure out the mystery of her life. It kept me glued to the last page.
• Kiterunner by Khaled Hosseini — One of the best books I’ve ever read. A touching story but also very sad in parts.
• Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe — By the same author as Robinson Crusoe. A humourous tale of a woman in England in the 17th century, her numerous husbands and career as a thief.
• The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier — An amazing, imaginative tale of how some tapestries came to be created.
• State of Fear by Michael Crichton — An interesting take on global warming: it’s all a con. Not sure if we believe everything written here, but it does make you think!
• Long Way Round by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman — This book was recommended to us by many people. Maybe our hopes were built up too high. All they do is winge! One of the worst travel books we’ve ever read.
• Requiem for a Glass Heart by David Lindsey — An okay crime thriller, although the writing is pretty cheesy in some parts.