Books for the plane?

October 26, 2005 6:46 AM

TravelReadingFilter: My wife and I will be crossing the Atlantic next week. I need some reading material for the six hour (plus) flight, so I'm turning to the AskMeFi collective. Recommend away.

One condition, no hardcovers, as they take up too much bag-space. Trades are preferred. Another condition, nothing too academic, as I’m going to be reading these books under whatever conditions the plane provides.

What I Like: Neil Gaiman, The Devil in The White City, Robert Rankin, The Men Who Stare At Goats, Warren Ellis, The List Of 7, Caleb Carr, and several others.

posted by grabbingsand to Travel & Transportation (31 answers total)

It's a little pulp-fiction-y, but I've been getting a huge kick out of Charlie Huston's "Six Bad Things," which is one hell of a man-on-the-run crime book. And if you're into that kind of thing, by all means check out George Pelecanos. Can't go wrong with him.
posted by Atom12 at 6:55 AM on October 26, 2005

When I needed to turn away from academic reading, I found Robertson Davies refreshing and compelling, especially his Deptford and Cornish Trilogies. You can get all three books in each series bound together or separately, if you're worried about bulk.

My last airplane book was David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas. The narrative style took some getting used to at first, but it made for a fast trip.

Finally, Michael Chabon's Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is in paperback now, and it's one of my favorite books ever.
posted by bibliowench at 8:25 AM on October 26, 2005

I second Chabon. I'm reading Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains. I really like it.

What about Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson?
posted by craniac at 8:32 AM on October 26, 2005

A meta-suggestion: I actually find trade paperbacks to take up too much space when travelling. The good paper and wide margins makes them hogs. Almost as much as a hardcover. Mass market paperbacks are much more convenient.
posted by smackfu at 8:33 AM on October 26, 2005

For a long flight, I suggest you have at least three reading/ mind stimulation options. Maybe a book that looks good, an interesting magazine and a puzzle book? Whenever I have traveled with just one book, I've found periods during the flight when I wish I had other alternatives.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 8:34 AM on October 26, 2005

I just finished Charles Stross' "Singularity Sky" and enjoyed it. Fun what-if future-fic which only devolved into anti-progress finger-pointing for one page out of hundreds.
posted by phearlez at 8:39 AM on October 26, 2005

Have you read Middlesex? Very engrossing.
posted by miss tea at 8:44 AM on October 26, 2005

ebooks on a palm pilot aren't bad as a backup solution. Probably old news, but wearing good earplugs will make you feel much less tired after six hours.
posted by craniac at 8:45 AM on October 26, 2005

Elmore Leonard books will keep you interested and are mostly available in mass paperbacks.
Also the European airport bookstores will have current hardcover only books available in paperback (but it really is only in airport stores). So if there's any new-ish, not too esoteric stuff, you can probably find it in paperback in the airport.
posted by cushie at 8:54 AM on October 26, 2005

Blindness by Jose Saramago. I read that during my flight from SF to Chicago, accidentally left it in the plane (i wasn't done with the book yet), missed it so much that I bought another copy of it for the on the way back home.
It's SO SO SO SO SO good.
posted by grafholic at 8:59 AM on October 26, 2005

Take a look at Tipping Point and Blink!--thought provoking and not too academic.

Also, I second the Neal Stephenson suggestion, though I'd start with Snowcrash.
posted by lrivers at 9:05 AM on October 26, 2005

I was quietly reading Gravity's Rainbow on the plane. The guy next to me took pity on me and offered to let me borrow his thriller novel.
posted by malp at 9:05 AM on October 26, 2005 [1 favorite]

Perdido St. Station, China Mieville.
posted by By The Grace of God at 9:18 AM on October 26, 2005

I second Kidder's book, I really liked that (although I listened to it instead of reading it). Check out Tod Goldberg's new collection, Simplify. It's an excellent book of short stories, plus it has the added quality of being a brand new release coming out in paperback instead of hardcover. Goldberg's a smart guy with a great wit. The first story, "Jesus in Cathedral City," is worth the price of the whole book, in my opinion.
posted by mdbell79 at 9:24 AM on October 26, 2005

I concur with lrivers: Neal Stephenson's Snowcrash is lots of fun but I wouldn't recomment Cryptonomicon; it's long and rambling and goes nowhere. Also if you like surreal scifi try Only Forward, the first (and the only good) novel by Michael Marshall Smith. I'm also reading Dan Simmons' classic Hyperion at the moment and can't recommend it enough.
posted by BorgLove at 9:29 AM on October 26, 2005

Elmore Leonard books will keep you interested

Blech, not if you're me.


grabbingsand, you seem to like historical fiction/mystery. Consider Umberto Eco's Name of the Rose (monks, 14th-century Italy), Michel Faber's Crimson Petal and the White (prostitutes, Victorian England), Patrick Suskind's Perfume (murderers, 18th-century France), or anything by Sarah Waters (lesbians, Victorian England).
posted by scratch at 9:51 AM on October 26, 2005

My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki

The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

I thoroughly enjoyed both of these. I linked to amazon, so you could check out the reader reviews to get more complete descriptions of these.
posted by jasper411 at 10:03 AM on October 26, 2005

Also Paul Scott's Raj Quartet (a couple of volumes should do you, and you can save the last two for the return flight) and Olivia Manning's Balkan trilogy (after which you have the equally good Levant trilogy to look forward to, not to mention the wonderful BBC series Fortunes of War that was based on it).
posted by languagehat at 10:03 AM on October 26, 2005

I think Stephenson's The Diamond Age is more readable. I just wish he had an editor who also wrote endings.

Some recommendations:

Good and readable:
Life of Pi
Life at These Speeds
Memoirs of a Geisha
The first 2 books in the Ender series
James Frey's A Million Little Pieces (depressing but great)
(on preview) Murakami's Norwegian Wood. I loved it.

Bad/fluff but fun:
Darwin's Radio
The rest of the Ender series and parallel series. Everything else OSC wrote that is scifi.
The Undomestic Goddess (chick lit)
In Her Shoes (chick lit)
Ludlum books
posted by callmejay at 10:04 AM on October 26, 2005

what about Alain de Botton's The Art of Travel?
posted by forallmankind at 10:09 AM on October 26, 2005

A few years ago I was trapped on a ten hour flight with only one book, which I knew nothing about but had been pressed into my hand by a friend as I packed--The DaVinci Code. By page 50 I was seriously considering hijacking the plane, or drinking my self into unconciousness to relieve the torture. So not that one.
posted by LarryC at 10:18 AM on October 26, 2005

I actually started Gravity's Rainbow on a flight from Seattle to Louisville. A year later, I was done!

I would maybe do other Pynchon on a plane, though, such as Vineland or The Crying of Lot 49 (might not be long enough).
posted by Slothrop at 10:31 AM on October 26, 2005

For about two years Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series was my standard airplane reading. Each book was easy to carry around and lasted about a five or six hour flight. I'll second Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose and Robertson Davies' Deptford Trilogy and add another: Iain Pears' An Instance of the Fingerpost.

My other favorite author for pulpy airplane reading is Carl Hiaasen.
posted by ambrosia at 10:33 AM on October 26, 2005

"Yoga for People Who Can't Be Bothered to Do It" by Geoff Dyer kept me amused on a plane (it's not about yoga; it's a journalist's travelogue). Even better for recent plane reading was Nick Hornby's latest comic novel, "A Long Way Down," about a group of suicides who meet on top of a tall building on New Year's Eve and form a support group -- but it breaks your cardinal rule that it not be a hardcover. Neither of these are throat-grabbing, but if you like Ellis and Rankin you'll appreciate a good sense of humor.
posted by onlyconnect at 11:26 AM on October 26, 2005

Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre will take you for a ride.
posted by brheavy at 11:32 AM on October 26, 2005

Response by poster: Well, it looks like A Long Way Down is available in paperback in the UK, so maybe for the trip back ...

This is a great list so far. Murakami has always intrigued me, as has Mieville. I read Cryptonomicon a few years back, but Snowcrash might be worth a shot. I think I'm leaning towards Blindness, Suskind's Perfume and another one or two mentioned ...

But please, do continue. And thanks.
posted by grabbingsand at 11:50 AM on October 26, 2005

I love China Mieville. Perdido Street Station was fantastic. The first 25% of the book sets up all the horrific events of the rest, so keep on pushing through. The Scar is related but you don't necessarily need to have read PSS at all.

Mieville also has a recently-published short-story collection out. And Gaiman's Anansi Boys is also out, although the reviews seem mixed on it.

The Rule of Four is also good, and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is newly paperback'd. Best book I read all year. It's a big'un, though...
posted by mdiskin at 12:09 PM on October 26, 2005

Response by poster: Loved Anansi Boys.

I made a good running attempt at Jonathan Strange last year, but found myself bogged down in some of the drawing room scenes -- felt a bit dull after the speaking stones in Yorkshire. Of course, my arm might've been drawing blood away from my brain, what with the weight of the hardback.
posted by grabbingsand at 12:18 PM on October 26, 2005

Loved Anansi Boys, but I doubt it's in anything other than hardcover right now. Much more fun than American Gods was.

A second for Perdido Street Station as well as Ozeki and Murakami. In this case, probably a pass for Jonathan Strange. In the end, it's a good book, but it takes way too long to get into and read.

It seems there are different threads of books-for-travel philosophy including 1) a long book that'll be hard but desirable reading (Baroque Cycle, Jonathan Strange), 2) lots of engrossing quickies (e.g. Ozeki), 3) things you can bring with you and leave for someone else (Goodwill books or printouts) and 4) things we should read but don't want to (work).
posted by whatzit at 1:36 PM on October 26, 2005

I second Vernon God Little. Great read.

Also Jim Dodge's Stone Junction is great.

Two of the best medium long flight books I can ever recall reading.
posted by ClanvidHorse at 1:38 PM on October 26, 2005

I usually pick up a few giveaway magazines from the local library. Issues of the New Yorker can keep me busy for a while. I don't have to worry about losing them and I can ditch them when I'm done.

If you're traveling for pleasure, a novel or history book about your destination can be fun too. For lots of recommendations, organized by destination, check out the Vacation Book Review. The site's interface leaves a lot to be desired, but there's some good information buried in there.
posted by xulu at 9:53 PM on January 19, 2006