12.21.2006
Reading while traveling
It's that time of the year: Time for the annual holiday torture rituals, games like "Name that drug the nephew is on," "Who can make LK cry at Christmas dinner," and "Guess who owes the IRS!" Okay, I exaggerate (after all, I am a writer of fiction.) Still, when traveling in the dead of winter to St. Louis, it is vital to select books that make one feel as if one is traveling anywhere else but St. Louis in the dead of winter. This year I chose one nonfiction and one fiction, and they're both lifesavers. Jonathan Harr's A Lost Painting details the finding of a long-lost masterpiece by Caravaggio. While not as intense as A Civil Action (Harr's first nonfiction book), A Lost Painting is engrossing and takes you to such romantic places as Rome, London and Dublin. This book got me through a cancelled flight and a long delay in Phoenix. My second book is two novels by Nancy Mitford: The Pursuit of Love & Love in a Cold Climate. I just started the first novel, which begins: There is a photo in existence of Aunt Sadie and her six children sitting round the tea table at Alconleigh. Perfect escapism, Aunt Sadie, her six children and me, round the tea table at Alconleigh. In case I don't get back to the blog before the holidays, a merry one to you, your family and friends!
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12 comments:
LK - I did laugh in a poignant kind of way at the start of this - I know what you mean... I adore the Nancy Mitford novels you've chosen, and can't think of anything better to read to escape the imperfect world. Postwar England was pretty chilly too, however, as you will see. Have the very best festive break you can, and take care.
Ha! Thanks for a laugh out loud post. Happy holidays to you!
I've got those Nancy Mitford novels on my shelf and I'm looking forward to them whenever I get there -- they sound like a lot of fun.
Hope you survive the holidays! Family stuff can be trying at times! Good reading choices, though. I want to read the Harr book (and now it is in paper), and I read the first of those two Mitford novels--it was good! Merry Christmas!
I'm glad you're going home armed to the teeth with good reads.
Have a safe trip. Before you know it, you'll be back!
xo, BL
I hope you have a great holiday. We're pretty much stranded here in Colorado (yay blizzards!), so my holiday isn't looking too hot. Might just end up hunkering down with "Die Hard 2" and "Spaceballs." :)
Great holidays to you LK! I wish you patience and peace, and don't worry: "holiday torture rituals", as you beautifully puts it, make perfect materials for wonderful, hilarious stories!
Glad you liked "The Lost Painting." I'm halfway through it myself, and while it can be a little slow moving, it made me want to go find out more about Caravaggio and his works.
Hope the trip and Christmas turned out all right.
Ah, but did you get yet another sweater with cats on it from the in-laws that you'll never wear?
Hope your holidays weren't as bad as expected. Wishing you all the best in 2007.
Merry belated Christmas!
Happy Holidays to you as well. funny thing, yesterday I was thinking, hmm, I miss LK! And I don't even KNOW you. Happy to hear you have good reading to get you through, and I look forward to your return!
Courtney
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