Here at the End of the World We Learn to Dance

Usually, I zip through books. This fall, though, I've been having trouble finding much time to read.

I was excited, therefore, at the prospect of the two-and-a-half hour flight from Minneapolis to Phoenix and then back again ... time to read!

So that I could feel more accomplished, I picked short novels. Ones I felt sure I could finish in the span of a flight and just a few hours more.

The book I read on my return home was called Here at the End of the World We Learn to Dance.

It was written by Lloyd Jones, a New Zealand author.

I picked up the book for a couple reasons:

1. Earlier this year I read Mr. Pip, another book penned by him, which was short-listed for the 2007 Booker Prize.

I tend to like Booker Prize winners, and I liked Mr. Pip. Jones was an author I'd never heard of before, so when I saw this other title, I figured I'd give it a go.

2. Also, this book, this Here at the End of the World book, partially takes place in Buenos Aires, a city I love.

It is a love story (and who doesn't like those?) about dancing the tango.

The book captured my attention right away as it starts in Chacarita Cemetery in Buenos Aires.

I'd been to Chacarita Cemetery myself. I'd toured it on my own years ago in an attempt to see just how far I could push the envelope as a solo traveler.

If I could trapse around a massive (and it is massive) cemetery by myself, my thinking went at the time, surely I could do just about anything.

One of my favorite Chacarita discoveries was the tomb of Carlos Gardel, the famous tango singer. That tomb gets mentioned in this book.

Now that I've reached the end of this book, however, I'm not too sure what I'd grade it as.

It certainly won't make my top 5 reading list for the year, and yet I read it to the end and enjoyed it.

Ultimately, though, I think it was my own obsession with Buenos Aires that pulled me through.