4 Books To Read On A Plane

Or a train, if you're lucky

My dad flew across the country just to be nice.

There’s more to it, of course. He flew across the country to help me with Daisy, so I wouldn’t be alone on a flight. So someone could watch my bags while I went to the bathroom and got hot water for her bottles. 

He flew across the country to roll a ball up and down the waiting area at the airport. To change her poopy diaper in the tiny, stinky airplane bathroom. To bounce her to sleep when she was overstimulated and overtired.

He did it all and he did it with ease. Handling everyone’s bags, navigating moods (hers and mine), wiping boogers (just hers). 

And then we got off the plane, he gave us a hug, and he turned around and flew right on back.

That’s right.

He flew from Salt Lake to Boston, had a one hour layover, and then headed back West.

He did it like the hero he is. Happily, smoothly, casually.

He is the best dad.

I am the luckiest.

I even read an entire book on the plane!!

A plane that contained my 10-month-old baby.

Long Bright River by Liz Moore

Long Bright River is the book in question.

It is an intense story about the opioid epidemic and I managed to read it in between Peppa Pig episodes and yogurt melts.

(Thanks, Dad!)

Long Bright River tells the story of two sisters in Philadelphia. Mickey, a police officer, and her sister Kacey, who lives on the streets. When Kacey disappears right as a string of murders occur in the area, Mickey goes on a hunt to try to find the murderer...and her sister.

The story is a mystery, which is why I was able to propel my way through it on a plane ride. You’ll notice all of these books are mysteries, or suspense, or thrillers. I need to keep turning pages on a plane and I need to not think any harder than that!

Long Bright River is much more than just a page-turner, though. This is a book with a distinct sense of place, a distinct Mare-of-Eastown feeling to it. This is a story about family, about addiction, about intergenerational trauma. This is a plot that is perfectly paced. Whenever I worried things were slowing down they turned, ever so slightly, just enough to keep me engaged.

I don’t know how this book works in any other atmosphere, but let me tell you.

I enjoyed reading it on a plane.

The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

Again, I read this book on a plane.

Or at least partially on a plane. 

This makes it sound like I travel a lot, but really this was part of that same journey. The first flight out to see my family after so, so long.

It was great! (The book and the family.) 

I miss them so much! (The family.)

The Last Thing He Told Me follows Hannah, a woman who has been married to Owen for just a year when he disappears, leaving her with his 16-year-old daughter Bailey and a note that says protect her.

Owen’s boss is arrested, the FBI and US Marshals become involved, and soon Hannah realizes that Owen is not who he told her he was. 

Dun dun DUN!

When we landed in Salt Lake, it was late. After midnight late. 

I got to my parents’ house and curled up in bed, finally, finally home.

Then I pulled out my Kindle and finished this book off.

The Wife and The Widow by Christian White

Holy cannoli this twist!

I rarely remember details of thrillers, most zigs and zags blur together in kind of a happy haze. I don’t really read thrillers to remember the details, I read thrillers to escape.

But this one.

I’m going to remember this twist.

The Wife and the Widow is set on an Australian island that reminded me quite a bit of say, Martha’s Vineyard. It follows two women, Kate, the widow who owns a second home on the island, and Abby, the local. They both find out devastating secrets about their husbands, secrets that upend their lives and realities. Secrets that bind them together in unexpected ways...

Did I mention THE TWIST??

The Holdout by Graham Moore

You could tell me John Grisham wrote The Holdout circa 1994 and I would believe it.

OK, there are a few plot points that make a lot less sense setting this book in 1994, but the idea is there. The idea of a speedy legal thriller I didn’t want to put down.

The Holdout feels like John Grisham to me. It feels like Elementary School Jill stealing The Chamber from my parents’ bookshelf in the den.

It feels like fun.

The book follows Maya, a 30-something defense attorney who, years ago, was on the jury in the legal case of the decade. A legal case involving a rich white teenage girl and her Black teacher. Maya was famously the holdout, the juror convinced of the defendant’s innocence. And she convinced everyone else to go along with her.

Now, ten years later, a true crime documentary is assembling the jury together to hash out all the details...when one juror is found dead.

*sound of bombs exploding*

What I’m currently reading: The View was Exhausting by Mikaella Clements and Onjulli Datta

What Daisy is currently reading (in honor of her first birthday!): When’s My Birthday? by Julie Fogliano, illustrated by the incomparable Christian Robinson