Books Read While Travelling

include:

Me and Mr Booker by Cory Taylor - a disturbing story about the romantic/sexual relationship between a schoolgirl and an older, married man. A well-written, somewhat confronting novel. Highly recommended, but don't mistake it for a YA novel - this is strictly for adults, despite the protagonist's age.

I'd Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman - a serial killer makes contact with a woman he raped over twenty years earlier, when she was still a teenager. She's the only one of his victims who escaped with her life, and she wonders why she was the one who got away. Told from the alternating perspectives of the woman and the rapist/murderer, now on death row, this is a psychologically interesting story.

Daughters-in-Law by Joanna Trollope - like all her books, this one is very readable, written with Trollope's trademark elegance. It's a cosy, snuggle-up-with type of book. Doesn't try to solve the world's problems but does deal with relatable characters and their problems.

Room by Emma Donoghue - reminiscent of Sofie Laguna'a One Foot Wrong (not so much in the story itself as the voice of the young protagonist), this is a brilliant, heart-wrenching tale about a mother-and-son in captivity, and their flight to freedom. The novel is narrated by five-year-old Jack, who views the room as a safe haven rather than a prison and the outside world as the real threat. The novel is a poignant and powerful testimony to maternal love, and well-deserving of the many major literary prizes and awards for which it has been shortlisted.

Sing You Home by Jodi Piccoult - another book to sink your teeth into. This one tells the story of a a couple whose infertility problems lead to divorce. When she finds herself in love with a woman who may not be infertile, she wants to use her and her ex-husband's frozen embryos. However, he has undergone a religious conversion, and when he looks to his church for guidance, he is told that he should not allow these 'pre-born children' to be raised in a lesbian home. The tale is Interesting and unpredictable, and makes good holiday reading.