I have a long trip coming up; from Seattle: a four hour flight to Ohio, then a 2.5 hour flight to Maine.
What type of book(s) would you recommend for flying? Longer books are okay; I’ll be flying back, too. What book held you captivated throughout the dings, blips, beeps, turbulence, and screaming children of a long flight?
Any genre recommendation is okay - I’ll read just about anything. My bookshelf here at home has everything from Martin Amis to J.D. Salinger, but many of the popular authors among the Dopers I’ve not read or heard much about except for here. So anything you guys can throw out, I’m willing to look into.
One of MacArthur Job’s Air Disaster books. Make sure you display the cover prominently to the other passengers ;). Seriously, they’re a good read if you have any interest in aircraft.
I just spent 6 hours in an aeroplane and the time shot by thanks to Ian Rankin and his John Rebus crime books.
I like books by James Rollins. They are fast-paced adventure, with a hint of psuedo-science and mythology thrown in. You don’t have to pay a lot of attention to the plot, and they usually get going pretty quick. I find them a great travel book because they go fast.
I also like some of the stuff by David Morrell. Particularly Creepers was pretty good. I don’t like all of his stuff, but there are a couple that are pretty good.
A Simple Plan or The Ruins, by Scott Smith. Both are very simply written, plot-driven, and interesting. I preferred A Simple Plan, although you may have already seen the movie.
I got stuck in at the Atlanta airport for five hours. I ended up buying Micheal Crichton’s Timeline at the bookstore. I had the book finished before I got home. It sounds like a cliche, but it was hard to put down.
Another vote for Scott Smith. His books are terrific for air travel. I read A Simple Plan on a plane a few years ago, and it made the trip seem much briefer and smoother. I read The Ruins at home in bed, but I can imagine it as flight entertainment.
Do you like light satirical fantasy? Ursula LeGuin has a collection of short stories called Changing Planes. The common thread is that the gateway to any of these alternate worlds can only be found in the discomfort and tedium of air travel. A perfect airplane book.
‘Relic’, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. I started to read the first chapter one night before bed and wound up staying up until 4 am because I could not close it. I don’t know if it’s one of those formula books like Robin Cook does, but it was beyond gripping. I heard they made a movie out of it that stunk. It’s kind of long.