What's some good airplane reading?

[spinbaby]

I've got a couple of 12-hour flights coming up and I'm heading to the book store today to stock up on good reading. Any recommendations?

[Justice]

1. Political Books

Gets people around you talking.

Wesley Clark's books

My Life - Clinton

[spinbaby]

4. Already read them

Besides, Clinton's book is a bit heavy to haul around.

[terrya]

2. Anything by Jonathan Kellerman. His Alex Delaware books are great.

Perfect airplane reading.

Just my .02

Terry

[fudge stripe cookays]

11. I second this nomination!

Jeffrey Deaver's are good too. Suspenseful, and keep you interested and page-turning for awhile.

[lil-petunia]

3. Goedel Escher & Bach

great book! lots of things to think about. entertaining, relaxing and fun.

[spinbaby]

6. Oh, that one looks good on amazon

I'll have to check it out.

[carpediem]

5. Balance of Power. I just read it on a recent trip and loved it.

It is about politics - specifically the second ammendment. I guess it is 3rd in a series. I hadn't read the first 2 and it felt like a standalone novel. Well written and researched for a work of fiction.

[Bridget Burke]

7. Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon

I'm joking. It's a fine book (must re-read it some day) but my idea of airplane reading is paperback & not too heavy. Browsing at a good airport newsstand can often produce some candidates.

One suggestion from 1998 is To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis. It's a science fiction time travel novel with much time spent in a hilariously rendered Victorian England. There's some depth to this book; it's definitely worth re-reading.

I'd also look out for Kinky Friedman's latest mystery. Failing that, Kinky Friedman's Guide to Texas Etiquette : Or How to Get to Heaven or Hell Without Going Through Dallas-Fort Worth looks like a worthwhile anthology.

[spinbaby]

8. Connie Willis is always good

but unfortunately I know her stuff too well for it to be a good plane read. Although I haven't read the near-death Titanic one in a while--that might be a candidate.

On edit: remembered that the name of the near-death Titanic book is Passage.

[regularguy]

9. "He died with a Falafel in His Hand" -John Birmingham

Austrailian hipster shares a series of flats with a variety of junkies, degenerates, and other fun types. Funny, quick read.

[sbj405]

10. My recs

"Reading Lolita in Tehran" by Azar Nafisi
"The Best American Magazine Writing 2003" - very good if you are ADDish about reading and traveling like I am. All sorts of interesting stories.

My bf highly recommends anything by Henry Petroski. I just started "REmaking the world : Adventures in Engineering"

[Mara Steele]

12. There's one great skinny little book called "Addicted To War"

It's illustrated like a comic book with LOTS of words...

It is an super-informative (and entertaining) look at history and current events, explaining why our country is literally and pathologically "Addicted To War" and has been since the very beginning. And it's a refresher on your history lessons, even if you've learned the facts in college already.

A very good book, I'm finishing it up right now and can't seem to plug it enough.

Here's the website: http://www.addictedtowar.com/

[yellowcanine]

13. I would get a Dave Barry humor book - and then read the best ones out loud

so your seatmates can enjoy them as well. If they tell you to shut up, do so but be sure and giggle audibly every few minutes or so when you read a particularly good one so they realize what they are missing.