I took several books along camping and realized that there are some books that simply don't work well when traveling.
The latest by Jasper Fforde, One of Our Thursdays is Missing, is another of his romps through the world of books, language and satire, with a mystery woven throughout. It would have been a wonderful book if I had been alone, but about once a page I would burst into laughter. Then I would insist on reading the good bits to Gary, who was trying to concentrate on his own books. I was annoying him, but I couldn't help myself.
After all, it takes a well educated fellow like Gary to understand the humor of trawling for metaphors.
Refuge, An Unnatural History of Family and Place, by Terry Tempest Williams, inspired me to visit Utah with her descriptions of the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, but towards the end of the book, she, her mother, and grandmother all have breast cancer. If I read that before bed time, I tended to obsess about my health.
Keeping track of the Russian names in The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, was just too difficult for an outing in the national forest. I will have to come back to that one.
Excellent books all, but next time I travel, I'm going to pick some light mysteries that require no deep thought whatsoever.
I had a similar problems with The Brothers Karamazov, and had to consult online sometimes to remember who some of the characters were. It gets better once you're halfway through.
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