So I'm Going To Greece. Here's The Books I'm Taking. Suggest One More.

(NOTE: Based on time elapsed since the posting of this entry, the BS-o-meter calculates this is 10.854% likely to be something that Ferrett now regrets.)

On Friday, I’m going on vacation to Greece and Turkey and Italy for ten days. This will be a lovely cruise, and if it’s anything like last time, I’m going to get a lot of reading done.
So thanks to my new Kindle, I’ve stockpiled lots of books!  In case you’re wondering what I’ve been hearing good things about, here’s the list of books I’m taking with me:

  • Joe Hill’s THE FIREMAN, which I am currently 65% through and thoroughly enjoying, as I have all of Joe Hill’s books;
  • Will McIntosh’s LOVE MINUS EIGHTY, because his DEFENDERS was one of the best books I read in 2015 and SOFT APOCALYPSE was sad  and moving (even if it didn’t really have much of an ending), and I’m told this is his best work;
  • Seanan McGuire’s EVERY HEART A DOORWAY, as I love the idea of a grown-up Narnia and I love Seanan’s works;
  • Ransom Riggs’ MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN, as Bart Calendar won’t shut up about it and people have kept comparing bits of it to my own book THE FLUX (which, no, the Peregrine Institute was pure coincidental naming);
  • Cassie Alexander’s DARK INK TATTOO, because she writes good smut and she has promised me tattoo smut in this tome;
  • Claudia Gray’s LOST STARS, as everyone tells me it’s the best new Star Wars book, and also my daughter won’t shut up about it;
  • Delilah Dawson’s HIT, because I enjoy a female hitman paying off her credit cards as much as anyone else;
  • Richard Hacker’s THE ULTIMATE CIGAR BOOK, since if I’m smoking them occasionally I feel I should know the history, and the only other book I read a) talked about the hurricanes of 1994 as though they were recent history, and b) taught me lies that the guys at the cigar store easily dismissed;
  • Siddharta Mukherjee’s THE GENE: AN INTIMATE HISTORY, which Ken Liu recommended and the opening chapter detailing a man’s struggle with his entire family going insane hooked me.

Now.  Despite all that, there’s room for one more book here.  I read fast, and I’ll be trapped on a plane for hours, and cruise ship expeditions involve a lot of travel time as we drive endlessly to my destination.  (Not that I expect to read all of these books – though I read five on my Italy trip – but I want a wide variety in what I do read.)
So.  What I’m looking for is one final book recommendation.  Something published in the last two years, something that’s not the first book in a series, and something light.  (No dense books; time has proven I can’t read them on vacation.)
The books I’ve raved about to people lately have been Scott Hawkin’s LIBRARY AT MOUNT CHAR, Charlie Jane Anders’ ALL THE BIRDS IN THE SKY, Dan Wells’ JOHN CLEAVER series, and of course Rae Carson’s THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS.
If you have a book that fits all those criteria, suggest away!  I may have read it.  But then we can geek out about it!

7 Comments

  1. David M. Crampton
    Jun 1, 2016

    I’d recommend CROOKED LITTLE VEIN by Warren Ellis.

  2. Pete
    Jun 1, 2016

    A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James

  3. Santeri Vidal
    Jun 2, 2016

    John Scalzi’s Lock In. I would have suggested Liu Cixin’s the three-body problem, but it’s an opening for a trilogy. Blew my mind.
    Greetings from Helsinki, host of 2017 WorldCon.

  4. Alexis
    Jun 2, 2016

    Have you read “The Emperor’s Blades” ?

  5. Sarah in Boston
    Jun 3, 2016

    There’s old but Baen has just reissued all of Janet Kagen’s books. “Uhura’s Song” was always one of my favorite Stark Trek (really any) book ever but I had never read her other books. I LOVED all of them. Light but super interesting and very fun worldbuilding. The only sadness is that she never wrote more (3 novels including the Star Trek one and a collection of all her short work). I really recommend them even those they are technically new but they have been OOP for years, so they’re kind of new. 🙂
    http://www.amazon.com/Janet-Kagan/e/B000AQ7106/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1464968365&sr=8-2-ent

    • Sarah in Boston
      Jun 3, 2016

      Argh. “They’re old”.

  6. Michelle in Oz
    Jun 7, 2016

    Jonas Jonassson (?) author of The 100 Year Old Man who Climbed out the Window, good comic read, has recently released a new book. Haven’t read it yet but if it’s as good as 100 Yr Old Man it should be a rollicking read. A bit different from yr usual genre Ferrett (pls correct me if I’m wrong). Could be worth checking out. Enjoy yr holiday, I reckon you deserve it.

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