# Recommend a book for a long plane flight **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 13, 2005, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-for-a-long-plane-flight/335497 "2005-12-13T22:20:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2005, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-for-a-long-plane-flight/335497/41 "2005-12-16T03:13:12Z")
I got caught in the Chicago blizzard (8 Dec 05) and spent 8 hours on the runway. Fortunately enough, I had just started the 400-page [Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393317552/qid=1134702676/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-3945309-5996625?n=507846&s=books&v=glance). I finished it before I got back to Denver (10 1/2 hours later). Good book. šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![Bogeyman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3e96dc/32.png) [@Bogeyman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bogeyman)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2005, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-for-a-long-plane-flight/335497/42 "2005-12-16T09:25:14Z")
Iā€™m not quite sure whether this would be to your taste, but I greatly enjoyed the _Illuminatus! Trilogy_ by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea. Hilarious, offbeat, and thrilling. Itā€™s usually sold in one volume and has about 900 pages. fnord Warning: contains sex, drugs, rock ā€˜nā€™ roll, violence, odd religions, conspiracies, and strong language. šŸ˜ƒ fnord ---
**Author:** ![Birdmonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71e660/32.png) [@Birdmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birdmonster)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2005, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-for-a-long-plane-flight/335497/43 "2005-12-27T20:24:14Z")
**Thudlow Boink** : AG! Thanks a billion. After racing through **twickster** ā€™s Straight Man (really good by the way), I began Handling Sin a day or two into my trip. Could not stop reading. Which is weird, when youā€™re in Andalucia and all you should be doing is drinking red wine till 4:30 in the morning. I literally spent most of my siesta time with that book, then all my flights, finishing it with blurry-tears in the airport before coming home. Iā€™d honestly put that book in my top ten. Brilliant recommendation. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2005, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-for-a-long-plane-flight/335497/44 "2005-12-27T20:49:17Z")
**Adds _Handling Sin_ to Amazon wishlist** ---
**Author:** ![Birdmonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71e660/32.png) [@Birdmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birdmonster)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2005, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-for-a-long-plane-flight/335497/45 "2005-12-27T21:56:44Z")
You will not be dissapointed. Since you did me right, let me suggest ā€œBrothers Kā€ by David James Duncan. I would have suggested it to myself under this very heading and it remains my favorite book. No need to know Karamatzov before handā€¦ (as you might be able to guest, since I canā€™t even spell it) ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2005, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-for-a-long-plane-flight/335497/46 "2005-12-27T22:17:17Z")
The Brothers K is amazing. Also exceptionally engrossing: Watership Down. Just a damn, damn good story. ---
**Author:** ![Birdmonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71e660/32.png) [@Birdmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birdmonster)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2005, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-for-a-long-plane-flight/335497/47 "2005-12-27T22:23:15Z")
Juuuust did Watership Down a few months ago. Took me a little to get used to the style & start enjoying it, but when I did I just couldnā€™t put it down. I also grew up on Redwall books, so it was nice to read Jacques logical inspiration. ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-for-a-long-plane-flight/335497/48 "2005-12-28T05:09:18Z")
Iā€™ll second the Illumnatus trilogy. I read those books years ago and some of the scenes still stick with me, such as the orgy aftermath with the menā€™s magazine publisher, in which NopenotHef spouts ludacrious philosophy to his butler while watching two girls ā€¦ well, youā€™ll just have to read it. Someoneā€™s already reccā€™d Robertson Daviesā€™ Salterton trilogy, so Iā€™ll recommend his [Cornish Trilogy.](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140158502/qid=1135745774/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-1320865-4335949?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) instead. Iā€™ve read it at least three times. Hard to say what itā€™s about, but it touches on the life of Francis Cornish, a wealthy art collector, and the effects on a group of people from his death. A foundation financed by his will puts on an opera based on King Arthur, and their lives parallel the story. In another book, one of the characters from the first book investigates Cornishā€™s life and discovers the meaning behind a masterpiece he painted. Thereā€™s also a murder mystery involving gypsies, the tarot and the meaning of life. Great, thoughtful stuff, full of no-nonsense Canadian meaning of life, with some mysticism thrown in. Iā€™d also recommend George Macdonald Fraserā€™s [The Pyrates](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1585748005/qid=1135746409/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-1320865-4335949?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) , which Iā€™ve also read several times. Itā€™s a farcical story in which there are pirates (natch!), buried treasure, walking the plank, the Hearts of Oak and Rule Brittanica, alongside Spanish deviltry and hearty sword-fighting (Stamp and sa-ha!) and he throws in tons of historical anachronisms. The only problem is that youā€™ll probably finish it in two hours. ---
**Author:** ![Liz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/liz/32/17737_2.png) [@Liz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liz)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-for-a-long-plane-flight/335497/49 "2005-12-28T09:22:40Z")
I second the suggestion of Augusten Burroughsā€™ work, although they are very fast reads. This doesnā€™t exactly fit the authors you listed in your OP, but I have to throw out [The Crimson Petal and The White](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002D6D9C/qid=1135761283/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-7157848-1509435?n=507846&s=books&v=glance) by Michel Faber. A lot of people say itā€™s what Dickens would have written if he were living in this era but writing about the Victorian age. Itā€™s thought-provoking, at times amusing, VERY dirty in certain sections, and just an all around wonderful read. The narrative device Faber uses is also brilliant. Itā€™s nice and fat at around 900 pages, but it moves lightning quick. Highly, highly recommended. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-for-a-long-plane-flight/335497/50 "2005-12-28T13:08:17Z")
> [@Liz](#): > > This doesnā€™t exactly fit the authors you listed in your OP, but I have to throw out [The Crimson Petal and The White](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002D6D9C/qid=1135761283/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-7157848-1509435?n=507846&s=books&v=glance) by Michel Faber. A lot of people say itā€™s what Dickens would have written if he were living in this era but writing about the Victorian age. Itā€™s thought-provoking, at times amusing, VERY dirty in certain sections, and just an all around wonderful read. The narrative device Faber uses is also brilliant. Itā€™s nice and fat at around 900 pages, but it moves lightning quick. Highly, highly recommended. Iā€™ll second this. I actually thought of it when someone recommended _Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell_, but, um, didnā€™t say anything. Itā€™s a very fast read ā€“ I gulped it down in little over a day while I was on vacation. (A beach vacation of the ā€œnot much happening but hanging out readingā€ persuasion, obviously.) ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-for-a-long-plane-flight/335497/51 "2005-12-28T15:50:28Z")
I picked up **The Straight Man** because of this thread and am thoroughly enjoying it. Thanks everyone! ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-for-a-long-plane-flight/335497/52 "2005-12-28T17:46:27Z")
> [@Birdmonster](#): > > **Thudlow Boink** : AG! Thanks a billion. Thanks for letting me know you liked it. (I may have to go back and rereadit myself, now.) ---
**Author:** ![Coin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@Coin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coin)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-for-a-long-plane-flight/335497/53 "2005-12-28T18:23:24Z")
I recommend Yann Martelā€™s Life of Pi. Itā€™s another darkly funny book about a young boy who gets stuck in a lifeboat with a tiger. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-for-a-long-plane-flight/335497/54 "2005-12-29T05:16:56Z")
If you like Carl Hiaasen, youā€™ll probably like Tim Dorsey too. I was recently introduced to them both and theyā€™re pretty darn hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Birdmonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71e660/32.png) [@Birdmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birdmonster)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-for-a-long-plane-flight/335497/55 "2005-12-29T16:26:50Z")
I actually read Life of Pi a year ago on a similarly lengthy journey and have nothing but good things to say. I even liked the beginning, which a few cohorts chastized as slow-moving, you know, before that whole stuck-in-a-tiny-boat-with-maneating-tiger plot device came 'round. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-for-a-long-plane-flight/335497.md?page=2)