Difficulty Level: Airport Bookshop

October 22, 2019 7:39 PM

Going on a 5-day work trip tomorrow and did not have time to visit the library to get a book to take. What inevitably quite mainstream best seller books should I keep my eye out for when I visit the airport bookshop before my flight? Literary blizzard inside.

My preferred travel books have historically been lesbian Gothic literary romances, which I realize is quite niche and probably won't be abundant at the book nook (and yes, I have already read all of Sarah Waters' published works).

But I also enjoy neo-Victorian (recently finished The Quincunx which I enjoyed, and I really really liked The Crimson Petal and the White when I read it on a trip some years ago), neo-Gothic and magical realism generally, lesbians not required. Period pieces are good. Immersive world building. A subtle, wry humor that doesn't tip over into broad or twee (I bounce right off of Terry Pratchet). Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrel is a fave.

And it goes without saying I'd rather not deal with misogyny, racism, or homophobia on the part of the author.

Work has been monumentally stressful and this is a work trip anyway so I'm not even getting away from the stress, just experiencing it in a different venue. My mental energy is low. While I don't really enjoy true pulp, I also don't have the brain power for, like, Tolstoy right now.

So: what has come out fairly recently and been pretty popular that I should keep my eye out for in a 200 sq ft book kiosk?

posted by soren_lorensen to Media & Arts (26 answers total)

Maybe The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai?
posted by avocado_of_merriment at 7:42 PM on October 22, 2019 [1 favorite]

This is not gothic, but perhaps Circe? I am unsure if you would find it, but The Paradise Hotel.
posted by jeather at 8:01 PM on October 22, 2019 [7 favorites]

Try City of Girls by a Elizabeth Gilbert - sort of starts out as a coming of age story of a young woman in NYC in 1940. It’s set in this ramshackle theater with a cast of unusual characters. I’m making it sound twee but it’s not at all!
posted by mskyle at 8:03 PM on October 22, 2019 [5 favorites]

Given your enjoyment of Gothic novels and JS&MN, I wonder if you have a work computer or phone on which you could load up some free 'weird' stories from the 18th, 19th, or 20th C.? Probably most relevant given your interests / level of energy are the stories by Nesbit, Wharton, Link, Monette, Ferebee, Mills, Allard, and Morris--all at the 20th C. link.
posted by Wobbuffet at 8:05 PM on October 22, 2019 [2 favorites]

I don't have a book to suggest, but many airport bookstores offer a 50% refund after you read and return the book. If you are a speedy reader, you can read and return in the same trip. Keep your receipt or take an image of it for the refund.
posted by jennstra at 9:13 PM on October 22, 2019 [1 favorite]

I'm not sure if it's popular enough to be a sure bet in a smaller airport bookstore (But a bigger one maybe), but The Night Circus is Victorian/Gothic/Magical Realism(ish -- where's the line between magical realism and just supernatural? this book is there) literary romance (non-Lesbian).
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 9:16 PM on October 22, 2019 [1 favorite]

Well, not gothic but a little bit lesbian and I bought it at an airport bookstore a couple weeks ago so I know it’s around was Red at the Bone by Jaqueline Woodsen. It was really good and a quick read but not shallow. It was at a bigger bookstore at LAX, not like the newsstand kind of store. They were pretty well stocked.

Circe would probably be good too, as mentioned above! I haven’t finished it yet.
posted by jeweled accumulation at 9:44 PM on October 22, 2019

Two good books focusing on women that I've read lately are The Giver of Stars (novel) and Dear Girls, by Ali Wong (non fiction). Both fairly easy reads, focus on relationships between women, although not romantic ones, are entertaining and well worth the time.
posted by fshgrl at 9:50 PM on October 22, 2019

Anything by Charlie Jane Anders or Annalee Newitz. They’ve both won awards for their work, richly deserved. Autonomous is a personal favorite.
posted by rollinson at 11:50 PM on October 22, 2019

There's a new Philip Pullman (The Secret Commonwealth) but at least in the UK that's only available in hardback, which is unwieldy. The previous volume, La Belle Sauvage, might be more suitable. Particularly good if you've read the Dark Materials trilogy (and if you haven't, just buy those!) but it would stand alone too. Gothic elements, fabulous world-building, absorbing story but not too demanding.
posted by altolinguistic at 2:29 AM on October 23, 2019

I have just finished the Confession by Jessie Burton, which does include a lesbian romance (I don’t know about Gothic though) and which I can highly recommend!
posted by EatMyHat at 2:44 AM on October 23, 2019

This is not at all what you asked for, but:
Last October I found Roxanne Gay's book, Hunger, at the Charlotte airport bookstore during an 8-hour stint there when I missed an impossible grasshopper flight, and it was a "buy it, return it, and get half your money back" deal, so I bought it and spent the whole eight hours walking a circuit around the behind-the-scenes part of the airport (quiet! deserted!!!) and reading it. I returned the book fully read and thoroughly enjoyed to the same clerk who sold it to me, who recognized me and was suitably impressed. I made up my step count for my stupid workplace "walking challenge" thing, had an actually enjoyable time at an airport, and the book was fantastic. A+++, would repeat experience!
posted by Don Pepino at 4:41 AM on October 23, 2019 [4 favorites]

I've just read The Wages of Sin by Kaite Welsh, which I came across in a railway station shop. I didn't actually like it that much (bit too dark for me and I found the protagonist annoying) but you might. Definitely Gothic-influenced. Crime thriller set in Edinburgh in 1882.

And I don't expect you'll find these at an airport, but have you read Angela Carter and Jeanette Winterson?
posted by paduasoy at 4:44 AM on October 23, 2019 [1 favorite]

I bet you’d like Tana French’s murder mysteries, especially the first two (In the Woods and The Likeness).
posted by sallybrown at 4:58 AM on October 23, 2019 [3 favorites]

If you are choosing between NYT bestseller titles, there are no direct matches, though Eleanor Oliphant seems to be the least heavy, and Little Fires Everywhere has some lesbian minor characters.
posted by childofTethys at 5:15 AM on October 23, 2019

On the more mainstream end, Susanna Kearsley has several novels that are somewhat Gothic. Her characters are often solving a mystery from the past, and have a personal connection to that past (sometimes reincarnation or other things).
posted by rednikki at 5:25 AM on October 23, 2019 [1 favorite]

honestly, stephen king's "the institute" which came out last month, is AMAZING. it's not "standard king" at all. it has psychic kids (not a spoiler) and it's a thriller, and it would be a great plane read.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 6:44 AM on October 23, 2019

I think you'd probably like Neil Gaiman if you're not already familiar with him. He's a big enough author that there's usually a pretty decent selection of his books available at airports. Bonus -- when he's traveling, he will often stealth sign copies of his books in airport bookstores.

His latest bestseller was Norse Mythology, so you'd definitely be able to find that at least. But for your tastes specifically I'd probably recommend Stardust, Ocean at the End of the Lane, or The Graveyard Book. All 3 of those are pretty short (and the Graveyard Book is really a kid's chapter book). If you want something longer, Neverwhere might be a good one. Probably stay away from Good Omens, which he co-wrote with Pratchett.
posted by natabat at 8:18 AM on October 23, 2019

The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell. It's a multigenerational novel set in Zambia. It's got some magic realism and has a bit of a One Hundred Years of Solitude vibe. There's a current of humor but it's definitely not twee. Most of the relationships end up a bit depressing though.

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton might still be available and I think would also be good.

Circe is also a good suggestion.
posted by carolr at 9:05 AM on October 23, 2019

Seconding Circe, and I'll offer this suggestion, a first novel by Zambian/American author Namwalli Serpell. "The Old Drift" is (at least in part) magical realism -- I was reminded of the feelings I had years ago while reading "One Hundred Years of Solitude" for the first time.
posted by Agave at 9:21 AM on October 23, 2019 [1 favorite]

Arkady Martine's A Memory Called Empire has fantastic worldbuilding, a political thriller plot that moves along very nicely, and lesbians. And I've seen it at airport bookstores! (She's a friend of mine so I keep an eye out.)
posted by restless_nomad at 10:16 AM on October 23, 2019

If you like oral histories, Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid is a fun read. It's a fictional oral history for a '70s rock band. Just went on a vacation and the cabin had no data or wi-fi and we found this book at Target, so I would guess similar book selection as an airport. It won't stress your brain out at all. Some strong female characters in the book and overall, all the characters are believable. The closest it gets to misogyny is that one of the characters can be a jerk and you see that play out in how he treats people.

I finished the book in about 2 days. Obviously, it doesn't perfectly line up with your request, but I'm throwing it out as a "backup" in case you can't find anything close to meeting all your preferences.
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 1:15 PM on October 23, 2019 [2 favorites]

Not sure if it's going to be in the airport bookstore, but it was a bestseller in its day--The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Setting: extremely atmospheric post-civil war Barcelona. Genre: "literary" mystery/historical fiction with a soupcon of magical realism. Vibe: moody, thoughtful, immersive.
posted by zeusianfog at 2:43 PM on October 23, 2019

I would actually caution against La Belle Sauvage, given that the main female character is basically a cardboard cut-out whose only role is to change diapers and advance the plot in a really awful way.
posted by marfa, texas at 5:14 PM on October 23, 2019

What did you get?
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 10:39 AM on October 24, 2019 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: So, the bookshop had pretty much none of these (and the ones it did have were hard cover which I wanted to avoid) and I had a big sad. I spent like an hour in there (arrived at the airport super early for reasons) and I thought there clerk was gonna kick me out. They didn't even have The Golden Compass, which occurred to me as something I should read given the new HBO series coming out.

So, I got this book called The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock. I'm only just starting the actual vacation part of this trip now, so I haven't read much yet, just a few chapters. I think it's going for a "what if the Fiji Mermaid was actually totes real" thing. We'll see.

This will make a nice thread to pull up next time I'm at the library back home, though.
posted by soren_lorensen at 2:51 PM on October 25, 2019 [1 favorite]