Five Books to Take on Vacation

This past Thursday was the latest installment of our "Five Books" series. Jill Heink and Sandra Tiegreen led a group discussion on the five books to take on vacation.

Here's what Jill thought...
What could be more fun while you’re on vacation than to read about Other People’s Vacations??

1) Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen – Sweet, teen-aged, novel-reading Catherine Morland jumps at the chance to take a vacation from her quiet country home to the dazzling city of Bath, and the comedy ensues.

Memorable quote: “Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love.”

2) A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson – Even if you’re camping on your vacation, it it won’t be as bad as Bryson’s camping experience while hiking the Appalachian Trail with “Katz,” a woefully out-of-shape buddy.

Memorable quote: “So Gatlinburg is appalling. But that’s OK. After eight days on the trail, we were ready to be appalled, eager to be appalled.”

3) The History of Love by Nicole Krauss – we (try to) follow the twisting and fascinating path through time and several continents of a book entitled The History of Love and get caught up in the intertwined stories of an elderly man, a teen aged girl, her mother, her brother, and numerous other characters, each with his/her own history of love.

Memorable quote: “When people spoke to him, he heard less and less of what they were saying, and more and more of what they were not.”

4) Glitz by Elmore Leonard – Lt. Vincent Mora travels to Atlantic City to solve a murder. This book features some great dialogue and a truly nasty, NASTY villain.

Memorable quote: “He told DeLeon he was waiting to hear from the county police, find out if they’d got a lead on Teddy and where his mother lived. DeLeon said, ‘You look in the phone book?’”

5) Authentic Happiness by Martin Seligman – The author prefaces the book with the observation that throughout its organized history, psychology has focused pretty much solely on mental illness and has come up with some ways to treat variations of this illness. Seligman thinks there’s a lot more to be done – namely, help people enjoy a life of deep, sustained happiness.

Memorable quote: “I do not believe that you should you should devote overly much effort to correcting your weaknesses. Rather, I believe that the highest success in living and the deepest emotional satisfaction comes from building and using your signature strengths.”

Stay tuned for Sandra's suggestions...

Happy Reading!

~warmly~

Katherine