I'm off to New Zealand on Sunday night to go talk at a music industry seminar type thing ( details for anyone curious here http://www.nzmusic.org.nz/index.php/ps_pagename/article/pi_articleid/231 ) but am gonna be away for 2 weeks and going to LA on the way back and I basically want something incredible to read on the long flights and days on the beach.

Am such a picky bastard and board of reading trite like Gen-X or un-fun stuff like White Noise (tho Delillo's writing is pretty special!) or music book after music book, interspersed with Tipping Point, Long Tail and Freakonomics.

So what books do people recommend?

Ideally an amazing piece of fiction that is written beautifully. Maybe something which makes me excited about going to LA or maybe something which makes me truly love being in NZ.

Thank you in advance. xo