I thought I'd deviate from my typical blog style and post about a topic a little closer to home... reading!

I have been an avid reader from as far back as I can remember.  My mom would take us to the public library in the summers and we'd sign up for reading clubs.  Oh, the joy of coming home with an armful of books!  I think the librarian, and even my mom on some occasions, would think I was overly ambitious with the height of the stack of books I'd want to check out at one time.  But I could not be deterred.  I would read until my eyes were red and burning, but I just couldn't stop.  I'd read Nancy Drew by the light of a flashlight with the covers pulled over my head long after bed time.   No matter the type of book, I was addicted to the feeling of being transported to another world.  My own life was perfectly fine, but the glimpse into one other than my own was a guilty little pleasure in which I loved to indulge.

In my mid-20s, I got the inkling that I may want to go to college.  The Navy broadened my horizons in too many ways to articulate, but the yearning for an education was certainly one of them.  I had never really been exposed to higher learning and what obtaining a college education would entail.  On a commercial flight one day, I pulled an airline magazine from the seat pocket and was flipping through the retail items when a subscription to a book club listing the "100 greatest books of all time" caught my eye.  Of course I couldn't afford to opt into such a subscription, but I tore out that page listing the 100 greatest books and decided I would start preparing myself for college.  I don't know why, but in my naive mind, a college education was synonymous with a literature degree!  So I decided right then and there to start reading those classics so that I would have a head start on college when the time came.  It makes me chuckle now to think how misguided my perception of college was!

Several degrees later and what seems like a lifetime of experiences, I've come to appreciate that reading those classic books may not have really prepared me for university, but it certainly helped to round out my outlook of the world.  I still love to read and have abstained from cable TV subscriptions for most of my adult life in favor of written words. Although my preference is usually for "real life" stuff, I occasionally partake in fiction of various varieties.  I tend to be turned off by books, movies, workouts, diets, trends, etc. that enjoy mass buy-in (I don't like being a follower!), but recently, the story line of the Hunger Games intrigued me enough to go out and buy the book.  I'm about halfway through it and have not been disappointed by my concession to pop culture yet.

Just as some people can recall a particular smell or scene associated with a journey, I'm able to look back on most long trips throughout my life and recollect the book I was reading throughout the journey.  During my frequent deployments to Crete, Greece in my Navy days, I read the Odyssey by Homer; one of the first books on the 100 classic books list I conquered!  I could relate to the epic journey of Odysseus while experiencing the culture and geography first hand.  Even with several years of living away from home under my belt, I felt connected to the hero's drive to get back home to hearth and family.  My paperback edition of this classic read is marked up with meanings of words I didn't know; definitions scribbled in the margins was the start of my "higher" education.  It was during the exploration of this book that I began to understand the shortcomings of my own vocabulary and refinement.  Only by exposing yourself to foreign concepts and opposing views can you truly formulate an informed opinion.  Another Greek culture inspired book that resonated with me during that time in my life was Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis.  The dichotomy of the live-life-like-there's-no-tomorrow Alexis Zorba and the introspective Basil seemed to speak to the opposing ends of the spectrum of my own personality. 

The association of books and journeys stand out in my mind as much as the food and culture of each.  It was during my travels surrounding the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens Greece that I tackled the daunting tome of Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.  The epic European vacation I took with Andy and Alexis in 2006 is forever marked by the strength of the heroine in the fictional biography of Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund.  From a single sentence mention of the wife of the the legendary hero in Moby Dick, the author weaved an intriguing story of feminine strength for this novel.  While living in Coronado, I read Combat Corpsman by Greg McPartlin. The story was the true life account of the Vietnam experience of the owner of a popular local dining establishment called McPs Pub two blocks from my apartment.  The memorabilia and stories filling the restaurant had added meaning once coupled with the back story provided in the book.  Driving home last Christmas, I listened to the audio version of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.  I found myself so engrossed in the eerily relevant story line the I actually postponed needed gas and bathroom stops in order to finish a chapter or extended dialogue.  I may not be able to share insight into the latest episode of American Idol or Dancing with the Stars, but I can certainly grasp the significance of the question "Who is John Galt"!

My hope is that this blog post will inspire you to shut off the boob tube for a couple extra hours a night and indulge in a good book.  No matter your genre preference, there's something for everyone out there!