29. A book related to air

[Jackie, Solstitial Mod]

The third of our multiweek trio "three books related to land, sea, and air"; you can find the other two here:
A book related to land: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
A book related to sea: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

How you connect the book to air is up to you. You could read a book about a pilot, a book featuring hot air balloons, a book about air pollution, a book with bubbles on the cover, or maybe you prefer a more figurative interpretation and read a light airy novel.

ATY Listopia https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

What are you reading for this prompt? Air you happy with your choice?

[Dixie]

I'm reading Air for this one. It just seemed so ... apt.

[LeahS]

Dixie wrote: "I'm reading Air for this one. It just seemed so ... apt."

Can't get more relevant than that. It looks interesting, too.

I'm reading The Infinite Air, the story of the aviator, Jean Batten, and All My Friends are Superheroes, which takes place on an aeroplane.

[dalex]

I am doing character occupations for the land/sea/air prompts.

Farmer for land - Go as a River by Shelley Read
Lighthouse keeper for sea - The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex
Astronaut for air - In The Quick by Kate Hope Day

[Pam]

Books I'm considering. They are all very different from each other so I'll have to see what my mood is!
The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende
Lasso the Wind: Away to the New West by Timothy Egan (My favorite non-fiction author.)
The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay (Different kind of air (radio station) but air is in the title.)

[Joanna G]

I forget who suggested in either the Wild Discussion or voting threads, but right now I plan to go the Jules Verne connection - 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea for Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth for Land, and then I'm waffling between Five Weeks in a Balloon or From the Earth to the Moon for Air.

Does anyone who has read them have a suggestion for which might be better / more apt for the prompt? (I also thought about Around the World in Eighty Days for this one, but think I'm actually going to read that for the travel prompt.)

[Jackie, Solstitial Mod]

Joanna wrote: "I forget who suggested in either the Wild Discussion or voting threads, but right now I plan to go the Jules Verne connection

Well I haven't read either Five Weeks in a Balloon or From the Earth to the Moon, but I can tell you that Around the World involves almost no air travel so I would pass on that one for this prompt. If you're wanting something in that vein you could try The Twenty-One Balloons which does involve a fair amount of hot air balloon travel.

[Jillian]

I’m not sure if I have read Five Weeks in a Balloon (If I did it was before, I joined GR). I have read From the Earth to the Moon. It has been awhile since I read it. From what I recall, it is mostly about building the spacecraft and a competition about who will build it. Based on that Five Weeks in a Balloon would probably be the better choice.

[Nadine in NY]

For whatever reason, I ended up choosing three nonfiction books for these three related categories. I don't know if I'll stick with that plan, but for now my choice for "air" is Come Fly The World: The Jet-Age Story of the Women of Pan Am - I have been wanting to read this book since it first came out!

[Marie]

I'll read Before Amelia: Women Pilots in the Early Days of Aviation by Eileen F. Lebow. Not sure how happy I'll be with it, I'm definitely interested in the subject but I can sometimes find non-fiction to be quite hard work.

[Traci]

I'm thinking I'll do a theme of animals who live in sea/air/on land and a book with a human interaction with those animals. That might totally change though.

I currently have Goshawk Summer: A New Forest Season Unlike Any Other as an option, but need to look more. I've read and enjoyed H is for Hawk and Migrations.

[Tracy]

My choices for this prompt include:
Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake
Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead (I wanted to read last year but couldn't get to it. Could also work for Cover with Wings)
The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk Wallace Johnson (A friend of mine highly recommended this. Could also work for Crime Not A Murder, or Cover with Wings)

[Jennifer W]

I'm leaning towards natural disasters for the 3 linked prompts. For air, I'm thinking tornadoes. I have Storm Kings: The Untold History of America's First Tornado Chasers and What Stands in a Storm: Three Days in the Worst Superstorm to Hit the South's Tornado Alley on my TBR (and probably a few others I'm forgetting).

If anyone else wants to go with tornadoes, I can recommend
The Mercy of the Sky: The Story of a Tornado
Firestorm at Peshtigo: A Town, Its People, and the Deadliest Fire in American History
The Stormchasers
and a murder mystery where the killer strikes during tornadoes, but I can't recall the title right now.

[Hayley]

I'm planning to re-read The Kite Runner for this prompt. I've been meaning to re-read this book for a while since I started taking my medication and getting back into reading. (It helps focus my mind and stop thought spirals.) When I first read this book, I found the plot a bit difficult to follow. I want to see if I enjoy it better now.

[SadieReadsAgain]

Less possibles for this than land or sea. I left out any space elements, but sky ones felt right.

TITLES
- When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
- The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell (vanished into thin air)
- The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar (space = air)
- Stirring the Dust: A Biography of Families We Know by Mary McCabe (dust motes)
- Charlie St. Cloud by Ben Sherwood
- Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

COVERS
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[Denise]

I'm going to read The Direction of the Wind, wind being an air-related term

[J]

I booked A Fall of Moondust from the library for last year's challenge, but it didn't come in until this week. But I wanted to read it anyway and figured it would fit in somewhere.

Turns out, it fits this prompt snuggly.

[NancyJ]

I want to read The Huntress (includes female pilots), and The Calculating Stars (female astronauts). I also have Wind, Sand and Stars, and lots of books with birds, clouds or wind.

[Tracy]

I ended up reading a different book from my earlier listed choices. In the end I read Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano. It relates to air because the major turning point in the book is a plane crash (NOT a spoiler — a big part of the premise). Great read!

[Pam]

I plan to read Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead. It’s the Feb selection for a new book club at my library. It’s a long one at 671 pages but fortunately I’ll be ahead by 4 books once I start it so I should be able to stay on track, if it takes me 3 weeks to read it!

[Misty]

I just finished A Fire Endless by Rebecca Ross for this prompt. One of the important characters in the book is Bane - the North Wind, so it seems an appropriate book to fit in here. It was such a good book! I stayed up way too late last night to finish it. Oh well - I have a holiday today. :)

[Kelly Sj]

I decided to go with a nature/adventure/travel theme for Land, Sea, and Air:

Land: Force of Nature: Three Women Tackle the John Muir Trail

Sea: The Brendan Voyage: A Leather Boat Tracks the Discovery of America by the Irish Sailor Saints

Air: Wind, Sand and Stars

[Joy D]

For this prompt, I read:
The Hunters by James Salter - 3* - My Review (about fighter pilots during the Korean War)

[Joan]

For this one I read In the Likely Event. There is an airplane wing on the cover and they originally meet on the plane. There were also other parts where they were in helicopters and what not so I thought it would be good for this prompt. It wasn't the best book. I rated it 3 stars but that's probably rounded up from 2.5.

[Amanda]

If anyone is into dark self-published indie, I HIGHLY recommend Winds of Strife. It's got a trigger warning list as long as my arm (notably mental health, abusive relationships, violence, and gaslighting).

I almost DNF'd. I won't say this is the easiest book to get through. The main character is hugely unlikeable. Bro has zero redeeming qualities, but there is discussion about intention behind evil acts. And if you have good intentions, does it excuse everything else? I'm so glad I stuck with this. I promise it's worth it.

It's got a magic system based on emotions which is super interesting. The characters are unique and the dialogue felt real. But for a debut self-pub I was impressed with the quality of the writing. It's got fewer than 200 ratings, and I NEED more people to read this.

[Book Concierge]

About AIRplane! ... sky / clouds on cover

✔ - 17Jan24
Surely You Can’t Be Serious – David Zucker, Jim Abrahams & Jerry Zucker – 3***
Subtitle: The True Story of Airplane! This is the creators’ memoir of how they came to think of the parody, and their (often naïve) efforts to get it written, produced, cast, made and distributed. Yes, I saw the surprise comedy blockbuster movie when it first came out. I remember little about it. I laughed and thought some bits were hilarious, but I also thought that much of the humor was juvenile and typical of middle-school boys.
LINK to my full review

[Robin H-R]

I read:
Fireball: Carole Lombard and the Mystery of Flight 3, Robert Matzen


BIO: Three books with something in common (Non-fiction, reject)
REJECT: A book related to one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Death)
REJECT 2: A book that includes a love story

Finished: 04/14/2024
Rating: 5 stars

[Samantha]

I read The Vacancy in Room 10. For these mulit week prompts I am going with books where the cover is a fit in some way and the letters of the word are in the title.

[Anne]

I will be reading Falling Angels by Tracy Chevalier.

[Severina]

I read The Honeys by Ryan LaSala. I interpreted the plot by way of atmosphere: cloying, dense, and thick.

[Claire]

I’m reading Wicked, since there’s a tornado. It’s the best thing I could come up with that’s already on my TBR!

[Erica]

Just finished The Black God's Drums by P. Djèlí Clark. I really enjoyed this novella and gave it 4 stars. It's alternate SFF history set in New Orleans.

[Misty]

Claire wrote: "I’m reading Wicked, since there’s a tornado. It’s the best thing I could come up with that’s already on my TBR!"

LOL - lots of air in a tornado, so I think it fits! :)

[Denise]

I read the Direction of the Wind by Mansi Shah

[Sherri]

I read What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic Birds. 5 stars. I liked it a lot.

[Phil]

I read Long Flight Home by Lainie Anderson The book fictionalises an audacious air race
from England to Australia in 1919. My land/sea/air books were all by Australian authors set in Australia or featuring Australian characters (Read May 22nd;4*)

[J]

Phil wrote: "My land/sea/air books were all by Australian authors set in Australia or featuring Australian characters."

Bonus points for tying these prompts together.

[LeahS]

I read The Door in the Air and Other Stories, a whimsical collection of modern fairy stories and, in contrast, a fascinating science book, Caesar's Last Breath - the Epic Story of the Air we Breathe.

[Marie (UK)]

I read What It Means When A Man Falls From The Sky

sky is related to air

Theses are short stories although i am not a fan of this genre the book works well

[Kathy]

I read The Fury by Alex Michaelides. In the book, the characters referred to the wind on the Greek isle as "The Fury." I'm satisfied with my choice.

[Joanna G]

Kathy wrote: "I read The Fury by Alex Michaelides. In the book, the characters referred to the wind on the Greek isle as "The Fury." I'm satisfied with my choice."
Absolutely - while reading it I thought it would be a great choice for this prompt. Didn't fill it in though because I'm planning / hoping to use Verne books for the land/sea/air prompts.

[Kathy]

Joanna wrote: "Kathy wrote: "I read The Fury by Alex Michaelides. In the book, the characters referred to the wind on the Greek isle as "The Fury." I'm satisfied with my choice...."

Joanna, I was surprised that this book would fulfill the "air" prompt. I had kept changing my mind about what book to read, so it was nice this book fit!

[Guylian]

I read by Caroline Wahl. Literally translated, the title means Wind Force 17.

[Dubhease]

I read The Birthday Girl. It's a stretch, but there are balloon (filled with air) on the cover.

[lexiskat]

the book I chose for this prompt

short and sweet review: 5.0
This book was better than the 1st book. I still love the friendship that the group shares. Misa story was so intense in this book. She was a mother that did what she had to do at the time. I hated the fact that Camilla was a real air head for Frankie after all he took her through. I knew Toya was going to fall for the man she kept calling ugly. And last but no least Jillian ,its about time she took some of her dad advice.

[Pam]

This has been the hardest prompt for me! Nothing is jumping out at me as a book I want to read. The 3 I’m considering are Isaac’s Storm by Erik Larson, Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead and The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah. Any thoughts on these 3 books? I know they have all been popular reads. I’m leaning towards Isaac’s Storm since I read another Larson book this year and enjoyed it. I haven’t read the other 2 authors. Thanks for any input.

[Nadine in NY]

I am listening to Come Fly The World: The Jet-Age Story of the Women of Pan Am right now for this category, it's the last book I need to finish this challenge! I'm about a quarter of the way in and it's very good so far, and the audiobook is well done. I thought it would be focuses on the stewardesses and their experiences, and it does include that, but it's more like a slice of global history in the mid 20th century, with Pan Am used as the framing device to talk about various topics.

[Pam]

That sounds like a good one Nadine!

[Joanna G]

Pam wrote: "This has been the hardest prompt for me! Nothing is jumping out at me as a book I want to read. The 3 I’m considering are Isaac’s Storm by Erik Larson, Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead and The Four..."

Of them, I've only read The Four Winds. I know the book and author get a lot of love, but I found it to be a depressing slog...

[Pam]

Thanks Joanna for your input. The setting doesn’t appeal to me so I’ve been holding off on it. I want something more upbeat.