A weekend in San Francisco meant finishing several books in airports and on airplanes as well as needing a new bag to get all of the books I bought back with me (a list to follow once I've unpacked).

Actually to back up, I finished Gain Wednesday night before I left but have little to add over what I already said. Friday on the plane I finished Replay by Ken Grimwood. I'd had it in my purse for awhile for random reading waiting for trains, etc. The main character dies of a heart attack in his 40s and instantly finds himself back 25 years in his college dorm room, relives his life (though with changes such as winning loads of money betting on horse races and so on that he knows the winners of) and dies again at the same time. Grimwood did a good job of making the character continue to change throughout (and a good job of condensing the later "replays" so we didn't have to relive each minute each time.

Today on the airplane I finished Bill Bryson's The Lost Continent, his thoughts on driving around the US in two trips. He started out from Des Moines with observations dead-on from what I remember of the town (though fortunately I only lived there as a child). He even mentioned Merle Hay mall where Leslie and I used to hang out all the time. It did make me want to re-read William Least Heat Moon's Blue Highways though.

After that I started Octavia E. Butler's Pattern-Master to finish off that series. It's a bit unusual in that it's a trilogy but there's large gaps with unexplained happenings between each of the three books. I'm almost done and expect I'll finish before I sleep tonight.
posted by Kristin Buxton at 11:56 PM