The front page of today's Times featured a montage of photographs (unavailable in the online edition) of transparent plastic bags being carried onto planes. In one of these was a book! Hooray. For information (especially for Jenny D) the title in question, clearly visible, is "10lb penalty" by Dick Francis. I hope the passenger concerned made it to their seat.
Oh, yes!
The only thing that stops DF from being ideal plane reading is that the books are so short.
My idea of hell is an intercontinental plane flight with nothing to read, I am glad that these travelers at least have been allowed to bring their books with them onto the plane....
Posted by: Jenny Davidson | 12 August 2006 at 17:58
Oh, no!
That's one of his worst books!
If only it had been To The Hilt.
Posted by: mapletree7 | 12 August 2006 at 19:05
I just hope that if books are allowed/becoming allowed, there's no £10 penalty charge to cover the search...
Yesterday I read that people were throwing away their purchases, if not seeking refunds at a certain airport!
Posted by: crimeficreader | 12 August 2006 at 19:53
Yes, I have at last found a reason to be pleased that I'll be spending a lot of time driving around France later on this month.
Posted by: Maxine | 12 August 2006 at 20:03
And the good thing about driving in a vehicle is you can pack the books you like!
Posted by: crimeficreader | 12 August 2006 at 20:07
(I should really second mapletree's opinion--10lb penalty is a trumped-up book of short stories that the publishers must have thrown together because of not having a new regular one--it was extremely weak. But my unadulterated love for the novels of Dick Francis will make me forgive many, many things including weak short-story collections.)
Posted by: Jenny Davidson | 12 August 2006 at 22:06
I second that about not having a book to read. Unbearable, well, almost - especially coupled with the fact that any child on board will be bored out of their mind also.
Driving round France sounds like a wonderful holiday to me. Have fun. Can't be long now.
Posted by: Clare | 13 August 2006 at 11:47
I agree, Jenny, not having a book to read would be torture to me. I have always carried a bag around with me wherever I go, even if only out for an hour, containing two books, one current and one next. By "always" I mean since the age of 3.
Crimefic, missed your £10 penalty joke earlier -- good one! (Hope it does not turn out not to be a joke.)
Posted by: Maxine | 13 August 2006 at 11:57
I shall be in a dither as to what to take to read on holiday as we're cycling/camping in Northumberland and space/weight is at a premium. Last time we did this I took 3 books and read about 50 pages! It was 'Who Killed Marilyn Monroe' by Liz Evans which is a great book but for some reason I was too tired to read :-).
Posted by: Karen M from Euro Crime | 13 August 2006 at 14:36
Sounds as if you won't be taking your computer, then Karen, so maybe no blogging? ;-( Or maybe you'll get to an Internet cafe and make some posts with all that time you have via not reading? ;-)
Posted by: Maxine | 14 August 2006 at 09:52
Hmm, the blog maybe a bit quiet that week unless I can twist someone's arm to be a guest blogger :-).
Posted by: Karen M from Euro Crime | 16 August 2006 at 13:33
Have you seen George Pelecanos on Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind? I am not a particular fan of his (quite like his books but not massively), but he sure is a natural at blogging, very direct and unpretentious style, I like it. Anyway, I think Sarah Weinman has guest bloggers for one week only so you could see if he is free;-)
Posted by: Maxine | 16 August 2006 at 20:30