Books

I read this quote from one of my friends who was talking about reading – I think it describes my experience so often with reading (for pleasure, of course, I am painfully aware of every word when I’m reading for school).

“I would argue that "reading" Alice in Wonderland on the iPad/Kindle isn't reading at all-- it's a new kind of multimedia experience. To me, hard-core reading is that moment of zen when you are no longer looking at words on a page, but the words are flowing straight into your imagination, where the author’s language is a framework and fuel for you as you paint your own pictures and visualize the setting and characters your own way. A good reading experience is when I suddenly “come to” and snap back to reality, realizing that there are words on a page in front of me, and that the world I was just in doesn’t actually exist.” – S.H.

I am looking forward to reading for joy this summer – getting into another adventure, another world, another part of my mind that is tapped when I read good books. I had several people ask me about some of my favorite books. I have books I’ve read at certain times that were enjoyable and helped inform me about the people, places, history and culture around me – Some I remember off the top of my head - A Fez of the Heart, while I was traveling in Turkey - Balkan Ghosts, How I Survived Communism and even Laughed and Hole in the Flag while living in the Balkans. Wild Swans, Red China Blues and several other books about China before traveling to China. Loved them all and enjoyed the perspective from a literary/story point of view not just a travel book or history book.

But some of my all time favorites are older books – I’ve read some recent fiction – like the Mark of the Lion series by Francine Rivers and I really like some of Michael Crichton’s books. My brother-in-law gave us Super Freakonomics for Christmas and it was an interesting read – plenty more to mention but here are some of my favorites – though it’s hard to pick just one.

1. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (I liked it better than Brother’s Karamazov but both are great books)

2. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

3. Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

4. Armadale by Wilkie Collins (I also read Moonstone which is supposed to be his best work but it was my least favorite)

5. Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit by Tolkien (I’m not usually a fantasy book reader but these are amazing – truly a must read)

6. Exodus by Leon Uris (Historical fiction about the forming of the nation of Israel)

7. Til We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis (love this blogger's thoughts on the book)

8. The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis (These are my all time favorite Lewis books – Til We Have Faces is one you have to read all the way to the bitter end and then you just sit silent for a while - the Great Divorce is probably the book I think about the most when I’m trying to make sense of things – good word pictures and easy to read )

9. Jane Austen – who doesn’t like her stories and characters

OK – I could go on but I’ll stop there…

On my reading list for the summer are Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead and Home, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. I’m also considering reading the Harry Potter books but then once I start I have to read all of them – not sure if I should make the commitment. OK – enough about my reading for the summer. Let me know what you are reading this summer or what you have read that you would suggest…I need some more suggestions for my summer reading list!