I like small paperbacks for reading on airplanes. Recently I got a new kindle, which is good for making sure I never run out of books and don’t have to pack extra weight, but I prefer paperbacks for ease of page turning and marking (I read so fast I’m continually poking the side of the kindle for the next page and I like to dog-ear my book when I find something I want to comment on later). On my last trip I finished the last of the Dresden Files series books by Jim Butcher, always reliably entertaining no matter what kind of narrow seat I’m squished into or what’s going on with connections and airports. So now I have to widen my choices for airplane books.

During one recent flight I read Madeline Miller’s Circe, since it’s out in paperback. It was all right; not as entertaining as I…