Books I've been reading

I've been a busy bee lately. There are still a few "our holiday in the Corbières" posts to be written, but let's move on to our recent readings.

I read 2 books while we were away: Jodi Picoult's Second Glance, and Wally Lamb's The Hour I First Believed.

The first thing I'll say is that I'm sorry I left Wally Lamb's book behind in our hotel room, in my anxiousness not to go over Ryanair's weight restrictions. It is a big heavy book, but it's a very good read. There are many strands to the story, spanning the American civil war, Mark Twain, the Columbine High School shooting, a women's prison, a family's secrets, a couple's struggle to recover from infidelity and the devastating effects of post-traumatic stress. Full of feeling, very raw in parts. The civil war parts didn't interest me as much as the rest, but they did add to the overall richness of the story. The kind of book I could read again in a few years' time. I'll just have to buy it again, so.

By the way, I'm not joking about Ryanair - 15 kg per suitcase and 10 kg for hand-luggage, of which you can only have one piece. And if you have a laptop, a handbag, or indeed any duty-free shopping, it all has to fit in the one bag. And the dimensions for that bag are smaller than what other airlines allow. I saw a woman take shoes out of her suitcase and put them on, instead of the light sandals she was originally wearing. The Ryanair staff will not let you get away with any extra weight, even if the other party's suitcase is lighter than 15 kg. They really have killed the fun out of travelling. I was more stressed about my luggage passing the Ryanair inspections than any other aspect of travelling. That said, they are generally good value if you can travel mid-week (but watch out for all the extras - they now have an extra charge if you don't check in online, but you can only check in 15 days before your travel date, so if you go away for 16 days and you don't have access to the internet and a printer in your away location, you'll just have to pay the extra fee!). And they pride themselves on being on time. Even the disembarking from the plane is efficient, unlike Aer Lingus, where you'll be left stranded for 20 minutes with no stairs or no airbridge to exit the plane!

OK, enough rants about airlines!

Jodi Picoult's Second Glance is a ghost story. Young man's fiancée dies in a tragic accident. He feels guilty about the circumstances of her death, and he's tried to kill himself several times, but has been so unsuccessful that he feels immortal. He becomes the assistant of a TV ghost chaser, in the hope of finding his beloved's spirit. His path intersects that of the Abenaki Indian tribe fighting for the rights to their burial grounds, and that of a scared young woman, who is hiding from her husband. Plenty more characters and stories, and an interesting insight into Vermont's eugenics project. Like all Jodi Picoult's books, the strands all come together, knitting into a very convincing story, and a breath-taking (if somewhat improbable) finale. A great book. And there are plenty more of hers to read. I love a prolific writer!