Persepolis: The Story Of A Childhood, by Marjane Strapi

I brought this book with me to Mexico along with the other three, but when I was stretched out on a white sandy beach, I asked myself, Do I want to open a book about life in Iran during the Islamic Revolution? Why did I even bring such a book to this paradise? So Marjane Strapi's memoir in the form of a graphics novel flew from Toronto to Cancun and back untouched.

Once I was home and thrown back into snow storms and temperatures at below -15 degrees Celsius, I had no problems finishing the book. It's very funny, very sad, and very interesting. Iran is not a country that I know much about, so I'm happy to learn new things. Their Islamic Revolution reminds me of China's Cultural Revolution, yet they are also quite different. Such a strange and fascinating land.

Shakespeare: The World as Stage, by Bill Bryson

This is yet another book I brought with me to Mexico. As it stands, I'll read anything written by Bill Bryson; and if he happens to write about something of interest to me, all the better. Such is the case with this slim book.

Really, what's there left to say about William Shakespeare that hasn't been said already? Nevertheless, it's still fun to have everything put together by Mr Bryson who can breathe humour into a restaurant menu. The book is slim because we know scarcely anything about the greatest writer in English literature. The verifiable facts on Shakespeare will probably amount to fewer than ten pages, so Mr Bryson's volume also includes stories on Shakespearean scholars, experiences of Shakespeare's contemporaries, and the theatre life in Elizabethan days. It's a highly enjoyable and informative read.

There are those among us who wish they had been born to a different era, one filled with romance, adventure and creativity, unlike the dreary materialistic one in which we find ourselves. Perhaps a reality check is in order from time to time. When a talented playwright such as Christopher Marlowe could be charged of being "a blasphemer and atheist" and faced, "at the very least, having his ears cut off---that was if things went well", I'm afraid it wasn't all romance and adventure in the old days. Not to mention that the Elizabethan era is generally considered to be the golden age in English history...

A Prisoner of Birth, by Jeffrey Archer

This was another book I read in Mexico. A perfect book for the beach. About a quarter of the way through, I said to Jeff that Jeffrey Archer's novel is a copycat of Alexandre Dumas, père's The Count of Monte Cristo. Sure enough, soon afterward, references to Dumas's count appeared in Mr Archer's story. Let's say the imitation is even less plausible than the original, but just as much fun. I'd hate to believe that class still matters so much in today's Britain though...

Slam, by Nick Hornby

Nick Hornby is one of my favourite writers, even though his characters are typically so outrageous in my eyes that I have a hard time believing such people actually exist in real life. Slam is along those lines.

Note: spoilers coming up!

The story is simple. A regular 16-year-old boy finds out that his ex-girlfriend is pregnant with his child. We get to see how he deals with this news before, during and after the pregnancy.

Now, you can see why I find such characters outrageous. Things like teen pregnancy plainly don't happen in my world. Granted, Mr Hornby quoted the stat that says Britain has the highest teen pregnancy rate among rich countries. Still, high school kids who want to become parents are as strange to me as junkies who stick needles into their own veins. So, while sitting on a white sandy beach in the Riviera Maya in Mexico, I read Mr Hornby's usual humorous writing with many a chuckle and an occasional head shake, firm in my belief that the story is too outlandish to be plausible.

Well, guess what. Truth is indeed stranger than Fiction. I saw on the news ticker yesterday (Feb 15, 2009) a story in Britain where a 13-year-old boy is claiming to be the father of a baby born to a 15-year-old girl. His joy may be short-lived, as eight other teens are considered possible fathers to the baby. I think I owe Mr Hornby an apology.