mychai's Diaryland
Diary
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\"But... you don't have to take *my* word for it.\"
I received several books over the holidays -- one of my most favorite genres of gifts. Brooke got me The Da Vinci Code since everyone has read it but me. Brooke and I generally like the same things on an intellectual level (and on a lot of other levels as well, but especially the intellectual level) and she said she loved it. So, she bought it for me. She also let me borrow her copy of The Secret Life of Bees but I had to promise not to read the summery of the book on the back, so I can't tell you anything about it other than it was "good" and it may make me "cry". Christina bought me a book by one of my favorite authors, Peter Jenkins, called Looking for Alaska. He is the guy who wrote about walking across America, riding his boat across the edge of America, etc. After debating with myself for a while, I decided I would tackle this book first. The last two or three books I read were fiction, so a good nonfiction book would do me some good. Let it be known that, although my chosen course of study at college was English, I am one of the slowest readers you will ever come across. It takes me forever to digest a page of the written word. But I am pretty darn good at retaining everything I read. The sudden onslaught of books has gotten me to thinking about the most meaningful books I have ever read. They are the books that have most shaped my life. They are the books that influence the the style and the topics on which I write. Here they are, in no particular order: - The Trumpet of the Swan and Charlotte's Web, both by E.B. White. I read both of these books in the first grade, and I completely submitted myself to the worlds of E.B. White's stories. His language is so amazing in these stories, and they are such amazing tales of relationships, accepting yourself, and making due with what you were given. Charlotte has such deep and intense subject matter for a children's book what with Wilbur -- and the reader -- having to deal with the death of Charlotte. Childrens' books don't venture into this kind of topic all that much these days.
- Bridge to Terabithia I was a very imaginitive child (and, now, adult), and this book was about two kids who create their own secret world in a lump of trees at the edge of the woods. It is a book that deals with the first realization of love and attraction to the opposite sex. It also deals with sudden death and how it affects a person. This book doesn't pad things. I remember reading the death chapter and being completely taken aback by it, literally gasping. And I was in fifth grade, I believe. But it dealt with the subject matter with respect to the reader and didn't make you feel dumb about it.
- Blue Highways by William Least-Heat Moon was the very first travel book I ever read. I can't remember the reason why I bought it, but it is the one book that changed the overall outlook of my life. It made me realize that writing was more than making up exciting worlds. It made me realize that the real world was just as great. It made me realize that people have stories, and they are probably so interesting that, as a writer, all you have to do is retell them in an interesting way and you can be successful. It was because of this book that I talk to homeless people and take pictures of street performers. His writing style is just great, and he knows just when to be funny and when to handle a subject delicately. He let me know it was better to just listen than to constantly add to the conversation.
- A Walk Across America is another travel book about Peter Jenkins's first walk from Maine to New Orleans. His writing, along with Moon's, made me come to the conclusion that 99.9% of the world's population is generally nice and decent, and that strangers aren't always out to get you. He experienced many highs, was basically adopted by a black family, and experienced an unbelievable low that makes your heart break reading about it. But his journey made him believe that his country was a good one, and it will make you feel that way as well.
- The Sun Also Rises I read this book while taking a class on Modernism, and it probably isn't a huge surprise that right after taking this class I joined the military in hopes to live in Europe. So, here I am, living as close to the life as the characters did in this book. They are basically a bunch of guys with not much of a job drinking in Europe and watching bulls run in Spain. There are a lot of plot and "technical" aspects of this book I really felt a connection to, and this book doesn't really fit well within many of your other Hemingway books. It's a great story, and it really made me believe I could sit in Europe, drink as much wine as I could hold, and write just for the hell of it without feeling guilty about it.
- The Time Traveller's Wife is one of the only books that made me a little teary. Ok, so I had to shut the book at one point an openly weep. But it should be known that I was in a bad way without meds and was having a hard time keeping myself afloat. This is one of the best books I have ever read. The title sounds sci-fi, but it isn't in that genre at all. It is written by a first-time author, set in one of my favorite cities in the world (Chicago), and involves love lost, love found, living with a terminal disorder, and making the most out of time you have with someone you love. It's timeline is very unorthordox and takes a few chapters to figure out, but by about halfway you realize the genius of the writing and the way it is written. I just wasn't ready for it to end.
There are probably more, but those are the ones that just came to mind, and I'm about to leave work in fifteen minutes, so I am running out of time. So, to sign off, let's all sing together:
Butterfly in the sky
I can go twice as high
Take a look,
It's in a book,
A Reading Rainbow
12:58 p.m. - Saturday, Jan. 01, 2005
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