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Books for a vacation

With summer coming to an end, it seems appropriate to post this list I wrote up for a friend: my recommendations for books to read on vacation.

  • To Rise Again at a Decent Hour, by Joshua Ferris. Irreverent and funny. A dentist getsĀ his identity stolen and has a run-in with an invented religious.
  • The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien. Fantasy. An adventure story, lovely writing, better than the movies. “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit … .”
  • The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt. Modern Charles Dickens-like tale about an orphan and a stolen painting. Fascinating sub-themes of alcoholism and addiction.
  • Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell. Nested short stories: historical, romantic, detective, farce and futuristic. The subtle but overarching theme is humanity’s own predation on its members. David Mitchell is a bigĀ favorite of mine.

One reply on “Books for a vacation”

Thank you for the list. I have read almost all the Lord of the Rings books including The Silmarillion. Tolkien is great in creating worlds, I wonder how the other 2 authors in your list compare. I already started reading Cloud Atlas and so far I can say that David Mitchell handled this complex story well.

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