20-22 in Brief

Greyhound -Steffan Piper

I devoured this book in a matter of two days; this book had me at magnetic cassette tape cover. Piper's tale is of an emotionally neglected pre-teen boy, traveling the country solo (to the shock of all that meet him) on a Greyhound bus. Along the way, the boy meets a cast on characters that both help remind the reader of the general kindness of their fellow man, but also caution them to be wary of the occasional devious nut job. This book left me wanting to follow the boy's story past the end of his journey, partially because I was interested in his personality, but mainly because I enjoyed the writer's narrative style. I will be looking out for further novels by this author.

Away: A Novel - Amy Bloom

Eastern European immigrant woman flees horrific massacre in the old country to the United States, only to hump her way (in the military and carnal sense) across North America in an attempt to return to Eastern Europe. Hated it.

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon - David Grann

I love good travel writing; I love a well-presented book on history, anthropology, or archaeology; and I love a good biography - this was all that and more. This is the first book since I fell in love with The White Rock (Hugh Thomson) that managed to combine all these interests.