An Appreciation: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

While she was here to witness my wedding, my lovely friend Kate and I had occasion to chat about books. She just finished reading the Three Muskeeters saga—which she enjoyed very much—and she was looking for something similar, but she had come to the conclusion that, having finished Dumas, one has read the best swash-buckling literature there is. So, I tried to think of adventure stories that I've liked, and, in a moment of inspiration, I asked, "Have you ever read Outlander?"

When a friend of mine asked me that same question a few years ago, I scoffed. Time-travel romance? Please! But, once she convinced me to give Diana Gabaldon a try, I was hooked. I wrote a review of Outlander and the series that followed when book five came out a few years ago. (I never finished that particular installment, but the first three books are wonderful fun, and book four is pretty good, too.)

The literary season ahead is shaping up to be pretty heavy—new books by Philip Roth, John Updike, Tom Wolfe, Margaret Drabble, and José Saramago are coming out this fall—so I would advise you to spend the next few sunny weeks of summer relaxing with something fun and delightful, something like Outlander.