The time has come for my much anticipated vacation to the Dominican Republic!
While my original plan was to go out, see the sights and have an adventure a few things on the home front have made me restructure my time away. And while I may not be out cliff-diving or exploring the local culture, I will be spending some quality time on a sandy beach or poolside soaking up the rays and catching up on some reading!
As much as I love the convenience of my iPad Kindle/Kobo/Indie Reader apps, there is something about taking an actual book with you to the beach to read. On my last trip to the tropics, I took Bleak House by Charles Dickens with me. I never made it through the first chapter.
This time around I taking some titles with me that are a little less depressing......I hope.
First up is Beach Music by Pat Conroy.
Description via Goodreads:
PAT CONROY, America’s preeminent storyteller, delivers a sweeping novel of lyric intensity and searing truth–the story of Jack McCall, an American expatriate in Rome, scarred by tragedy and betrayal. His desperate desire to find peace after his wife’s suicide draws him into a painful, intimate search for the one haunting secret in his family’s past that can heal his anguished heart.
Spanning three generations and two continents, from the contemporary ruins of the American South to the ancient ruins of Rome, from the unutterable horrors of the Holocaust to the lingering trauma of Vietnam, Beach Music sings with life’s pain and glory. It is another masterpiece in PAT CONROY’S legendary list of beloved novels.
One of my best friends read it ans has insisted that I read it as well. And since it has "beach" in the title, well, it just seems like it's screaming to be read during a beach vacation.
The second book I am taking with me is Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts.
Description via Goodreads: "It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured."
So begins this epic, mesmerizing first novel set in the underworld of contemporary Bombay. Shantaram is narrated by Lin, an escaped convict with a false passport who flees maximum security prison in Australia for the teeming streets of a city where he can disappear.
Accompanied by his guide and faithful friend, Prabaker, the two enter Bombay's hidden society of beggars and gangsters, prostitutes and holy men, soldiers and actors, and Indians and exiles from other countries, who seek in this remarkable place what they cannot find elsewhere.
As a hunted man without a home, family, or identity, Lin searches for love and meaning while running a clinic in one of the city's poorest slums, and serving his apprenticeship in the dark arts of the Bombay mafia. The search leads him to war, prison torture, murder, and a series of enigmatic and bloody betrayals. The keys to unlock the mysteries and intrigues that bind Lin are held by two people. The first is Khader Khan: mafia godfather, criminal-philosopher-saint, and mentor to Lin in the underworld of the Golden City. The second is Karla: elusive, dangerous, and beautiful, whose passions are driven by secrets that torment her and yet give her a terrible power.
Burning slums and five-star hotels, romantic love and prison agonies, criminal wars and Bollywood films, spiritual gurus and mujaheddin guerrillas---this huge novel has the world of human experience in its reach, and a passionate love for India at its heart. Based on the life of the author, it is by any measure the debut of an extraordinary voice in literature.
I must confess, that of the two books I am taking with me, I think I am the most excited about reading this one. It has been on my "to read" list for such a long time and a friend who is currently reading it said it is absolutely amazing!
What kinds of books do you like to take on vacation?
While my original plan was to go out, see the sights and have an adventure a few things on the home front have made me restructure my time away. And while I may not be out cliff-diving or exploring the local culture, I will be spending some quality time on a sandy beach or poolside soaking up the rays and catching up on some reading!
As much as I love the convenience of my iPad Kindle/Kobo/Indie Reader apps, there is something about taking an actual book with you to the beach to read. On my last trip to the tropics, I took Bleak House by Charles Dickens with me. I never made it through the first chapter.
This time around I taking some titles with me that are a little less depressing......I hope.
Description via Goodreads:
PAT CONROY, America’s preeminent storyteller, delivers a sweeping novel of lyric intensity and searing truth–the story of Jack McCall, an American expatriate in Rome, scarred by tragedy and betrayal. His desperate desire to find peace after his wife’s suicide draws him into a painful, intimate search for the one haunting secret in his family’s past that can heal his anguished heart.
Spanning three generations and two continents, from the contemporary ruins of the American South to the ancient ruins of Rome, from the unutterable horrors of the Holocaust to the lingering trauma of Vietnam, Beach Music sings with life’s pain and glory. It is another masterpiece in PAT CONROY’S legendary list of beloved novels.
One of my best friends read it ans has insisted that I read it as well. And since it has "beach" in the title, well, it just seems like it's screaming to be read during a beach vacation.
Description via Goodreads: "It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured."
So begins this epic, mesmerizing first novel set in the underworld of contemporary Bombay. Shantaram is narrated by Lin, an escaped convict with a false passport who flees maximum security prison in Australia for the teeming streets of a city where he can disappear.
Accompanied by his guide and faithful friend, Prabaker, the two enter Bombay's hidden society of beggars and gangsters, prostitutes and holy men, soldiers and actors, and Indians and exiles from other countries, who seek in this remarkable place what they cannot find elsewhere.
As a hunted man without a home, family, or identity, Lin searches for love and meaning while running a clinic in one of the city's poorest slums, and serving his apprenticeship in the dark arts of the Bombay mafia. The search leads him to war, prison torture, murder, and a series of enigmatic and bloody betrayals. The keys to unlock the mysteries and intrigues that bind Lin are held by two people. The first is Khader Khan: mafia godfather, criminal-philosopher-saint, and mentor to Lin in the underworld of the Golden City. The second is Karla: elusive, dangerous, and beautiful, whose passions are driven by secrets that torment her and yet give her a terrible power.
Burning slums and five-star hotels, romantic love and prison agonies, criminal wars and Bollywood films, spiritual gurus and mujaheddin guerrillas---this huge novel has the world of human experience in its reach, and a passionate love for India at its heart. Based on the life of the author, it is by any measure the debut of an extraordinary voice in literature.
I must confess, that of the two books I am taking with me, I think I am the most excited about reading this one. It has been on my "to read" list for such a long time and a friend who is currently reading it said it is absolutely amazing!
What kinds of books do you like to take on vacation?
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