Airport reading needs to be fast paced enough to make your wait fly by and engaging enough to keep your attention from people watching or starring at whatever is playing on the airport news channel. Airport reading shouldn't be too emotionally engaging though (no one wants to break down in tears in a crowded terminal). If you are looking for entertaining, intelligent reads to take with you on your next trip, look no further.
1. 'When You are Engulfed in Flames' by David Sedaris
Little, Brown
When You Are Engulfed in Flames is David Sedaris' latest collection of essays on his life. It has a slightly more melancholy slant than some of his previous works, but when it's funny, it's laugh-out-loud, embarrass-yourself-in-public funny.
2. 'The Monsters of Templeton' by Lauren Groff
Voice
The Monsters of Templeton is a debut novel that's gotten a lot of buzz -- and it's well deserved. Filled with monsters, ghosts, ancestors with secrets, and illegitimate children, The Monsters of Templeton will make your wait fly by. (And it is already available in paperback!)
3. 'When Will There Be Good News?' by Kate Atkinson
Little, Brown
If you want a book that will keep the pages turning but has a little more meat than your average thriller, check out When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson. This is Atkinson's third novel with the same detective, so you could opt for Case Histories or One Good Turn if you wanted Atkinson's writing at paperback price.
4. 'Breaking Dawn' by Stephenie Meyer
Little, Brown
Not on the Twilight bandwagon yet? The light, fast-paced books in Stephenie Meyer's teen vampire saga are perfect airport reading. Of course you have to started with the first book, Twilight. Breaking Dawn is the last book in the series, and will be good to go for your return flight.
5. 'The Wisdom of Whores' by Elizabeth Pisani
Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Elizabeth Pisani's The Wisdom of Whores is a fascinating mixture of autobiography, exotic seedy adventure, and policy analysis. It is a witty, humorous page-turner that covers AIDS from angles most readers will have never considered. Of course, you may get some stares from people in the terminal who wonder at the title.
