海角大神

Has flying become more hassle than it's worth? No problem 鈥� just pick up a book and go. Here are four excellent picks for armchair travelers.

1. "My Life in France," by Julia Child (Knopf Doubleday, 368 pp., $15). Fill in the gaps left by 鈥淛ulie & Julia鈥� with this 鈥渄elightful and ebulliently written鈥� memoir by Julia Child about her 鈥渟ix-year stint (1948-54) in France鈥� 鈥� 鈥渢he most influential years in her career as well as the happiest of her life.鈥� (CSM review 6/20/06)

2. "Shanghai Girls," by Lisa See (Random House, 36 pp., $15). Lisa See painstakingly re-creates both the Shanghai of the 1930s and 鈥�40s and California life in the 1950s in this novel about 鈥渢he almost life-giving strength women can gain from sisterhood 鈥� and the ways in which they can tear each other apart without even trying.鈥� (CSM review 6/5/09)

3. "Love and Summer," by William Trevor (Penguin Group, 224 pp., $25). Irish master William Trevor鈥檚 鈥渟imple, perfectly pitched study of ... passion鈥� tells a story of adulterous lovers and gorgeously evokes the quiet rhythms of life set in an Irish farm town 鈥渟ome years after the middle of the last century.鈥� (CSM review 9/26/09)

4. "In the Country of Men," by Hisham Matar (Random House, 256 pp., $12). When was the last time you read a novel set in... Libya? Don鈥檛 miss this 鈥渒nockout鈥� 鈥� the 鈥渆motionally wrenching and gorgeously written鈥� story of a young boy whose father 鈥� a political dissident 鈥� suddenly 鈥渄isappears.鈥� (CSM review 2/6/07)

Marjorie Kehe is the Monitor's book editor.

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