Selecting My Reading Material

Before my voluntary quarantine, I went to a local used-book store to buy some reading material for my upcoming trip.  I came home with seven books.

Starting at the upper left, "Watership Down" by British author Richard Adams was an unexpected best-seller in 1972.  It tells the story of a group of rabbits who escape the destruction of their warren and, in a journey fraught with danger, seek a new home.

"Roma" is an historical novel by Steven Saylor published in 2007.  Similar to books by writers such as James Michener and Edmund Rutherford, Saylor's novel spans 1000 years from the earliest settlement along the Tiber River to the assassination of Julius Caesar.  He has written a number of novels which are set in ancient Rome.  If I enjoy this book, I will have to look for some of his other works.  

"Birds Without Songs" by Louis de Bernieres is another historical novel.  It takes place during the last days of the Ottoman Empire, World War I, and the emergence of the modern nation of Turkey.  The theme of the book is the tragic impact of religious intolerance and over-zealous nationalism.

"Those Who Save Us" by Jenna Blum tells of a professor of German in Minnesota who delves into the mysterious past of her mother in Germany during World War II.

"People of the Book", by Australian author Geraldine Brooks, deals with a genuine Jewish manuscript that was written in medieval Spain.  The author writes a fictionalized account of how, through the centuries, it came to travel across Europe and end up in Sarajevo, Bosnia, where it is housed in a museum today.  

"Gun, Germs and Steel" by historian Jared Diamond won the Pulitzer Prize in 1997 for non-fiction.  The author examines why the civilizations of Europe and Asia have survived and conquered other peoples.  And it is not because of any intellectual or genetic superiority on the part of Eurasians.

Finally, "The Kite Runner" by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini tells the story of a boy growing in Afghanistan against the backdrop of the Soviet invasion and the rise of the Taliban. It became a best-seller when it was published in 2003, and it later was made into a movie.

So which book(s) have I chosen to take with me on my trip?  I am a sucker for epic historical novels, so "Roma" will be in my carry-on to begin at the airport and on the plane.  If I finish that one, "People of the Book" has been packed into my suitcase.