17.Aug.2009 | Sara Nelson
What are YOU reading on your summer vacation?
Packing for a trip is always a nightmare for me. Not only do I usually forget some crucial piece of personal article — one time I went to Europe without any clean underwear! — it’s the books that really hang me up. What to take on a two week trip to a place where there are virtually no book stores? What if the novel I’m reading, Pete Dexter’s 
latest in this case, turns out to be a dud? How many extra bags full of books and galleys do I want to lug?
Thank god there’s a Kindle — which I loaded up before I left Manhattan, and for which, this time, I remembered the plug. What’s on there: my newspapers for one thing — so I don’t have to get gouged by the local store every day — and about six novels, from Charlie Haas’s The Enthusiast 
to Jennifer Haigh’s The Condition. And, worse comes to worse, since I”m still in the US, I can download about a million more.
Check this space to see what happens next. . ..
Related posts:
1. “The Wilderness Warrior” by Douglas Brinkley. This is an eye-opening account of how much of the preservation of America’s wilderness areas we owe to TR. He was one of our foremost naturalists and through bulldozing energy was able to push aside many profiteers who tried destroy the wilderness for short term gain.
2.”The Selected Writings of TS Spivet” by Reif Larsen. 12 year old boy genius with the observational skills of Lewis & Clark.
3. “The First Tycoon” by TJ Stiles. A dense but engaging account about Cornelius Vanderbilt & the genesis of the American corporate mentality.
Just finished The City & The City by China Mieville. Now thoroughly into Stieg Larsson’s The Girl Who Played With Fire.
Just read “Rocket Men” by Craig Nelson. As a youth, I was enthralled with the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo space programs. In weaving the personal recollections of the many key people involved into a fascinating recounting of one of our country’s greatest achievements, Craig Nelson rekindled my curiosity and youthful excitement.