Reading

Life hasn't been all that publicly exciting lately- plenty going on, but not many bloggable "events." But I suppose one feature of my ordinary life in Kenya is worth discussing...

I've always loved to read. During my childhood, one day a week during the summer was trip-to-the-library day, and the rule was you could only get as many books as you could carry on the walk home. Our little arms would get so tired! But I distinctly recall the significant breakthrough when we discovered that we could bring our little red wagon and load it up with books each week for the trip home. One person's job was to pull the wagon, and the other person would make sure the books didn't fall out, for they were definitely piled to overflowing. Then we would switch for fairness, of course- Ben and I were all about good division of labor.

In elementary school, I was that kid who would walk down the hallway reading a paperback while the troublemakers tried trip me by putting backpacks in my path. But of course I would suavely step over the obstacle; I have excellent peripheral vision. Possibly because I was always observing life from behind a book. Hm. Anyhow, when I REALLY got in trouble as a child, my parents would ground me from reading- I was not allowed to read anything beyond what was required for school. It was torture, and I suppose it's time to confess that I would often hide a book in my towel on the way to the bathroom, turn on the shower, and read on the sly. Now that I live in a place with a water shortage, I am ashamed, but at the time, it seemed extremely necessary.

But life got busy, and by the time I was in late high school, I didn't have time to read for pleasure anymore. Life was packed with music and friends and academics and church, and there just wasn't the space to read. College and early adulthood continued this trend; textbooks gave way to grading papers, and I rarely just read.

Then I moved to Kenya. One of the biggest adjustments was the amount of down time here- fewer established relationships, no evening activities, lighter teaching load. And just when I thought that my schedule was unbearably empty, I got the mumps and was house/hospitalbound for a good 6 weeks.

So I rediscovered reading. Friends lent books or went to the school library on my behalf. I read The Secret Life of Bees, the first two Eragon books, The Power of One, Stardust, Dune, A Thousand Splendid Suns, and countless others. And in this post-mump year, I've continued to read regularly, and while I don't take in nearly the volume that I did while I was sick (or while I was in elementary school), I've enjoyed my rediscovered reading habit.

Another Gac characteristic is the desire to be undefinable- to have such a diversity of ideas that no one can really say they fully know you. That's probably worth it's own blog post and several months of therapy, but here it relates to my post-Christmas book choices: A Walk in the Woods (Bill Bryson- humorous, irreverent, environmentalist anecdotes about hiking the Appalachian Trail), Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe, Nigerian novel about African life before/during/after colonization) and Musicophilia (Oliver Sacks, a neurologist who writes fascinating non-fiction, in this case about the brain's responses and misresponses to music).

So what I need is more options! Suggestions I might be able to find at our school library? Used books you're excited to send me? My small bookshelf is slowly becoming populated, but it could use some help... What do you say?