The second annual Book of Lists feature in Business Jet Traveler, sister publication to Aviation International News, won’t be published until June, but I can’t wait to get started. So here, in no particular order, are three novels and three nonfiction works that I’d recommend to anyone looking for books to pack for a trip.
1. A Death in the Family, by James Agee. Agee is perhaps somewhat better known for his reportage on Southern sharecroppers in Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, but this novel—which earned him a posthumous Pulitzer Prize—is arguably even more poignant. The story covers only a few days during which an ordinary man on an ordinary errand dies an ordinary death and his family grapples with the ordinary consequences. That’s the entire plot in an anything-but-ordinary book that is much less about a series of events than a series of emotions. Trust me, if you start reading this when your jet takes off, your next encounter with the real world may be when the pilot taps your shoulder to tell you that you landed 10 minutes ago and had better disembark.
Jeff Burger joined Business Jet Traveler in March 2004, a few months after the publication’s launch. Besides editing the magazine, he has written many articles for it and conducted its interviews with such luminaries as Sir Richard Branson, James Carville, Suze Orman, Donald Trump, F. Lee Bailey, and Steve Van Zandt. Burger helped to oversee the introduction of BJT’s annual Readers' Choice surveys and Buyers’ Guide.
During his years with the magazine, it has won well over a hundred editorial awards. In 2011, Burger received the Gold Wing Award for Reporting Excellence from the National Business Aviation Association and the Aviation Journalism Award from the National Air Transportation Association. He has also won writing and editing awards from the American Society of Business Publication Editors. BJT, meanwhile, was named Best International Publication in 2017 in the Aerospace Media Awards. It was also a Magazine of the Year finalist in 2011, 2013, and 2016 and an Overall Excellence winner in 2018 in competitions sponsored by the American Society of Business Publication Editors.
Before coming to BJT, Burger spent 14 years at Medical Economics, the nation’s leading business magazine for doctors, where he served on the editorial board; directed staff recruiting; oversaw a $2 million annual budget; and was financial editor, news editor, and director of special projects. He has been editor of several publications, including Phoenix Magazine in Arizona, and has been a consulting editor at Time Inc. His articles have appeared in more than 75 magazines and newspapers, among them The Los Angeles Times, Barron’s, Reader’s Digest, Gentlemen’s Quarterly , and Family Circle. Chicago Review Press published his books, Springsteen on Springsteen: Interviews, Speeches, and Encounters, Leonard Cohen on Leonard Cohen: Interviews and Encounter, Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon, and Dylan on Dylan: Interviews and Encounters. His music writing appears on multiple websites, including his own byjeffburger.com.
Burger, a summa cum laude graduate of the State University of New York at Albany, lives in Ridgewood, N.J. He and his wife, Madeleine, have two grown children. His off-hours passions include cooking, travel, technology, movies, and music.
