Maybe it’s because my life is so overwhelming right now, or maybe it’s just something about summer, but I am devouring books by the bucketful. And not particularly literary books. No, I’m into the page-turning, all-engrossing, character-driven escapist novel: exclusively. So much so that when my new brother-in-law tried to offer me The Testament of Gideon Mack to read, I turned him down (even thought I knew I’d love it) in favour of re-reading Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code.
Why The Da Vinci Code? Because I’d just finished reading a copy of Angels & Demons that I found in the hospital lounge and it seemed logical. And I just couldn’t face reading a book that was going to make me work, not right now. I wanted a book that was going to help me to escape to a completely different world, even if only for a short time. A book like Saturnalia, which I finished just before picking up Angels & Demons. It’s the 18th in a series of nineteen (yes I did read them all) novels in the Falco series by Lindsey Davis: a series of mysteries set in the Roman Empire.
It may be a confusing journey, but if you care to meander along with me, I’ll share the rest of the great reads I’ve come across so far in this, my summer of escapism:
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon
A Complicated Kindness, Miriam Toews
The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett
World Without End, Ken Follett
The Red Tent, Anita Diamant
The Time Traveler’s Wife, Audrey Nieffenegger
The Historian, Elizabeth Kostova
All fun reads, and all available in paperback and (most likely) easily found at your local library. What’s up next for me? Alexandria (yes, Falco novel number 19!), by Lindsey Davis. So come along with me and let’s escape!