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Permanent Siesta: 3 Books To Whisk You Away
Permanent Siesta: 3 Books To Whisk You Away
You don't usually travel to distant places with heavy books. And besides, you're traveling, not reading, right? But author Adam Wilson suggests three books that you should take with you ¿ regardless of their weight. Do you have a favorite book to read while you travel? Let us know in the comments. All Things Considered Play

One doesn't necessarily associate spring travel with heavy reading. For one, books are bulky luggage, the weighty enemies of economical packers; even an e-reader takes up precious space in one's overflowing duffel. And two, escapist migration to mountaintops or flowery fields or seaside locales for sun worship and meditative communion with nature connotes a markedly book-free environment, an escape from the office or the solemn halls of academe.

But surely even the most active traveler will have some downtime during the trip. What to read when it's raining outside your Puerto Rican bungalow, or with your cappuccino in a Parisian cafe, or on African safari when your cellphone's out of service and there's no Wi-Fi for miles? Or what about those of us stuck at home, tethered to work and family, eagerly awaiting winter's end?

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These three books grasp the spirit of spring travel in all variety of ways. Read them anywhere ? on the subway or in an airport terminal; on the couch or on the beach ? and you'll be instantly transported to a tropical adventure-land where the wind whips the ocean and the heart beats a slow samba.

Adam Wilson is the editor of the Faster Times and the author of Flatscreen.

Three Books... is produced and edited by Ellen Silva and Rose Friedman with production assistance from Andrew Otis.