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| Gratuitous Header Photo From Merida... |
We are in Merida once again, but I've actually been meaning to post about two good books that I read recently. Plus, I need to do something...anything, really....to get rid of that tag on other sites' blog rolls that says that the last time we posted was "one month ago." Eeek.
The first book has an expat interest angle. The book is called "Running Away to Home" by Jennifer Wilson. It is Wilson's first person account of her year spent in the Croatian town where her great grandparents were born around the turn of the last century.
The starting premise of "Running Away to Home" will be familiar to lots of would-be expats, especially those in their mid-careers who wonder about whether the constant unyielding busyness of Americans is a sensible way to live a life. After having two children and settling into their careers, Wilson and her husband are uneasy with where they find themselves. A chance occurrence (and a bad economy) provide the catalyst for Wilson and her family to do something completely different and unexpected, and the story chronicles Wilson's personal growth and revelations and the effect that the family's year-long sabbatical has on her relationship with her husband and her two young children (all good, it seems).
I really enjoyed Running Away to Home, mostly because it plays right into our own personal narrative and the sense that life is for doing something more. It manages to be a quiet cheerleader for the little voice inside of you that says to take a chance on change while you can. Wilson has a post-sabbatical blog and some photos from her year abroad (that are a nice accompaniment to the story) on her blog at www.jennifer-wilson.com.
The second book is just a rocking-good read. "Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead" appears to be the first book in a series by Sara Gran about the self-proclaimed world's greatest detective and consummate smart-ass, Claire DeWitt. (http://www.saragran.com/Sara_Gran/Claire_DeWitt.html) "Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead" is set in post-Katrina New Orleans and is a smart, layered mystery novel with a really well-developed main character. Think Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone covered with a whole layer of New Orleans grit and some dark magic. I picked this book up at LaGuardia on my way home last week and didn't go to bed that night until I had read all the way to the end. It was that good. Now I'm just waiting for Gran's next installment.
Ideally, I would have saved both of these for our trip back to Merida, but they were too good to wait. Now that I've posted about them, though, I can go back to slapping at mosquitoes and stop worrying about being the world's most underachieving blogger.
