Today I’m blithering on about recent titles that will take you away – a little vacation of the mind; a journey to another place or time, or into the imagination of another. There’s a kids’ book at the very end, so stick with me.
I love Paris
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The Paris Wife by Paula McLain is one of my favorite books this year. It brings the romance and excitement of lost generation Paris to gritty life. Told from the point of view of Hadley, Ernest Hemingway’s first wife, it draws the reader into their time together and into “their Paris.” Would you like to travel back in time to visit F. Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald and the whole expatriate crowd for a period while you watch the world go by on the Champs Elysees? Browse the stacks at Shakespeare and Company? Starve your belly and feed your soul by buying art on Gertrude Stein’s advice? This is the book for you. If you love Hemingway, you’ll love it. If you hate him you’ll still love it.
McLain’s first novel, A Ticket to Ride, is good stuff too – so check out the work of this rising star. I hope she’ll have more in store for us soon.
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Getting Into Dodge
Doc, by Mary Doria Russell
This fictionalized biography of Doc Holliday is plain beautifully. The historical detail is rich and informative. If you love the old west, you’ll love this retelling of how Doc and Wyatt Earp met and wound up in Dodge City, Kansas together. If you couldn’t care less about westerns, you’ll love this too. No matter how you feel about the frontier (or frontiers in general) you’ll be swept away by show-stealing characters like Kate Harony (Doc’s lady friend) and Eddie Foy, the Irish rover who rose to vaudeville fame. Most of all, you’ll believe in John Henry “Doc” Holliday, the dentist from Georgia who went places he never thought he’d go.
Russell is also the author of The Sparrow. It’s the kind of book they used to call “a novel of ideas,” and that I call “Science Fiction for people who don’t like science fiction.” Though that may be her best known work, Dreamers of the Day and A Thread of Grace are marvelous too .
Around the World in an afternoon
The Umbrella, by Ingrid and Deiter Schubert
A completely charming picture book with no words at all – the beautiful illustrations tell the story on their own. One little dog’s soaring adventure will give youngsters a chance to stretch their imaginations, and adults a chance to peruse some really lovely artwork in its pages.