Sometimes you just want to forget it all, to escape the hubbub of life. So in honour of getting away from it all, here are some suggestions of books that aren’t too heavy — in subject matter, anyway.
Currently, I’m in the middle of Philip Pullman’s first book in his new Book of Dust trilogy, La Belle Sauvage. The story has us returning to the parallel Oxford found in His Dark Materials series, where people are paired with talking animal daemons. The foreboding Magisterium and the mysterious concept of Dust is all present. So is Lyra, but as a wee babe. Instead, the main character is Malcolm, who finds himself drawn into these elements and in a perilous journey to save Lyra. Pullman doesn’t think of the book as a prequel but as a series alongside of His Dark Materials.
Perhaps you are like me and enjoy a good mystery. I stumbled on Robert Galbraith’s books a while back before I knew who “he” really was. Galbraith’s main character is private investigator Cormoran Strike. Ex-military police, he’s a large figure with a prosthetic after losing a leg in Afghanistan. In the first book, The Cuckoo’s Calling, Strike is called in to investigate the suspicious suicide of supermodel Lula Landry. Strike takes on a young assistant, Robin Ellacott, to run the office side of his business. Galbraith — J.K. Rowling writing under a pseudonym — is superb at creating twists and turns in the story. The Silkworm and Career of Evil are books two and three respectively, and a fourth book is due out later this year.
Biographies can be a great way to lose oneself. I picked up Life by Keith Richards at a friend’s house. Flipping through the photos, I suddenly found myself reading it. I was drawn in by how alien his world was but yet familiar too from news stories and the music — not to mention how someone could live such a life and still be alive. It is unmistakably Richards’ voice with his vernacular, except if you listen to it in audiobook — then it’s Johnny Depp and Joe Hurley narrating.
In The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce, Frank, the shop’s owner, has just the right music to suit his customers’ needs. It’s another time, 1988 in England. CDs are popular but not with Frank. His shop is vinyl only. Characters and likeable misfits populate the store. They tell Frank how they feel that day and he finds the music they need for that moment in their lives. But there’s a sadness in Frank, until a girl in green comes into the shop.
Finally, nothing helps one escape like laughing. Find those funny writers and books and devour them. David Sedaris and the late Carrie Fisher make me laugh out loud — to the point of snorting. They both possess a sharp wit and self-deprecating humour. Try their audiobooks, too, as they both narrate their own work.
Escapist reads are those books that take us away and make us forget the mad, mad world around us. You’ll find these books and your own escapist reads at your local library.
A Good Read is a column by Tri-City librarians that is published on Wednesdays. Chris Conroy works at Terry Fox Library in Port Coquitlam.
