Compiling a vacation reading list is important business. You need something engrossing but not entirely heavy. Light and fluffy doesn't get me going on vacation, especially a beach type vacation because if there's anywhere I can truly concentrate it's on a beach, or by the pool, for countless hours a day, without a care in the world. At home, with a million thoughts running through my head I often have to re-read the last few pages of that chapter I just put down the night before. Spastic brain.
I often try to pick books that denote some type of connection to where I'm going. I read Bel Canto in South America, Palace Walk in Egypt and, of course, Zorba The Greek in Greece. I know, corny, but somehow it makes me feel more there. On this trip, though, I had a mission - no, not reading Michener's tome Hawaii - a mission to whittle down the pile. You all have this pile. That pile of books, whether on your night table, dining table, corner of your spare room, that never seems to deplete and thus completely belittles the fact that you actually DO read. You keep adding, and reading something else and finishing one and adding three. It's endless and my pile has been really getting to me not only because I want to get back to the library (to get my money's worth for all those taxes I pay) but because I want to dig into these stories! I want to read these books! So, off I went to Hawaii with:
Little Bee by Chris Cleeve
Open by Andre Agassi
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
Father of the Rain by Lily King
Yes, that's right I PACKED four books. I was almost dragged into a heated conversation recently by someone who now refuses to take real books on holiday because of baggage weight restrictions. Yes, I can get into a heated discussion about this, but this shouldn't be surprising. Seriously? What is in your suitcase that you cannot pack a damn book, or four? Take out a pair of shoes! Yes, in my land of logic, books > shoes because you're on holiday! You don't need to bring ALL YOUR SHOES! In any event, I pack books and even with my upcoming iPad purchase I will not e-read (but you already know this) because I am clumsy and the iPad will drop or I'll get water on it and in both cases I will cry because I am a clumsy idiot. This e-reader business also takes away the 'readers of the world unite solidarity of silent nod and knowing glance' when you see someone reading the same book as you. I love this, don't you? Of course you do! Who doesn't pack books!? Back to the books ...
I was moved to the point of real tears by all four of mine. (Not the same as clumsy idiot crying. REAL emotion crying.) Who cries on vacation!? In Hawaii!? No matter. I became totally engrossed in these stories and while I'm not a Nigerian refugee, professional tennis player, American ex-pat searching for truth or a daughter of an alcoholic father, I could relate to each of these stories in very real way - they were about struggle and questions and perseverance and coming out the other side a bit better than how you went in. They were about love and hope and how combining the two when you're weak can make you strong. I didn't want them to end. What happened!? Tell me more!!
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