Top Ten Tuesday: Books that take place in another country

Sometimes the best plane ticket we have is a good book. It’s certainly the most reliable time machine (so far). I love reading about far off places, especially ones I want to see for real, someday. Here are some of my favorite books that live in another place.

Top Ten Tuesday: Beach Reads

We’re gonna go for five titles today — I’ve never been one for flashy, empty airport reads like The Abacus Conundrum. And I cringe at the categorization of “beach reads.” Still, I admit that there are books that are quick, fast-paced and comparatively easy reads — books that don’t require rumination or notes in the margin.…

REVIEW: THE VISITORS by Sally Beauman

“The Orient—including present-day Turkey, Greece, the Middle East, and North Africa—exerted its allure on the Western artist’s imagination centuries prior to the turn of the nineteenth century.” Jennifer Meagher, Dept. of European Paintings, The Metropolitan Museum of Art The cover alone appeals to the unrepentant Orientalist in me. I’m fascinated by the archaeology and exploration of…

ACCENT: EQUILATERAL by Ken Kalfus

  This is a strange, haunting and completely addictive read. It is set in the late Victorian era, in the Egyptian desert, but it is also science fiction. If Jules Verne had decided to write about British colonialists trying to communicate with Mars, this would be the book. Sanford Thayer has convinced the best minds…