Recent Reads

While I was on vacation, I bought P.S. I Love You, by Cecelia Ahern, to read on the plane and in hotel rooms. It fit the bill perfectly. Holly, the primary character in the book, is a young widow who has lost her husband, Gerry, far too soon to a terrible disease. Gerry, who knew that he was going to die, prepared a series of letters for Holly, with explicit instructions for her to follow each month for the entire first year after his death. Gerry has Holly sing at a karoke bar, get a new job, and holiday in Spain with her girlfriends. Each step brings Holly a little more back into her normal life, and by the end of the book, she's begun to deal with the loss of her husband. What's great about this book is that the story moves quickly along, with Holly's friends providing some hilarious comic relief. I remember several lines that made me laugh out loud. (After a night of drinking, Holly phones one of her married friends. Her friend replies, "My name is Sharon, I think . . . The man beside me in bed seems to think I know him." Holly can hear Sharon's husband guffawing in the background.) This is not deep reading, and you won't be scratching your head or re-reading passages trying to tease out the author's meaning. But sometimes, that's exactly the kind of book I want. (Particularly when I'm lazing on the beach or languidly reading over afternoon coffee.) The book reads quickly, and I enjoyed every page.

I also used two great books, Frommer's Arizona 2005 and Insight Guide: Arizona and the Grand Canyon, to plan my trip. You can read my reviews on these books online at Amazon.com.