Getting Lost In a Book

Getting Lost In a Book

We're about to go on vacation. The campground is booked, the catsitter is scheduled, the packing is underway (well, almost underway)…and I've been combing the shelves during recent reference desk shifts, in search of good reading material.

The truth is, though I love camping, I'm not much of a nature girl. The true luxury of camping for me is the chance to stretch out on the beach or in the tent or the camper van, unfettered by the beckoning call of email and blogs and radio and all the myriad to-do's that pile up in a grownup's life, and read and read and read for hours. It's like a visit back to childhood, when summer meant sleeping late and taking a book out to the backyard and just losing myself in it until it was done.

When I'm camping, or on vacation, I'm able to allow myself to sink into a long, satisfying book, the kind that requires more focus than I often have during the hustle-bustle of the working week, the kind that draw you into their world, let you linger there for a while, and stay with you afterwards, sometimes for years. It's been on camping trips or long vacations that I've discovered some of my favorite books, books like The Sea of Trolls, Airborn, and A Drowned Maiden's Hair.

This year, I have a couple of grownup mysteries in my camping bag, plus a few kids' books I've been hearing about and wanting to read: Waiting for Normal, by Leslie Connor, How to Steal a Dog, by Barbara O'Connor, and The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall.

But I'm still looking for that chunky, thick, oopmhy kids' book to take with me. What will it be, I wonder?

Happy 4th of July, and happy vacation to all who are setting out!

 

July 4, 2008

Comments

[Susan]

How about Edith Pattou's East? (A wonderful retelling of East of the Sun, West of the Moon). Very chunky, and very good.

I have not read The Amazing Invention of Hugo Cabret (or whatever it's precisely titled).

Happy reading, and happy travels!

[Els Kushner]

Thanks, Susan! It's funny you should mention East-- I almost put it in the post, but left it out at the last minute for reasons I forget. I read it on the same camping trip as Sea of Trolls, and liked it almost as much. It's definitely up there on the list.

Hugo Cabret is definitely a nice chunky book, too, and I recommend it highly. It reads much faster than its thickness would indicate, though-- all those lovely pictures!

[Jen Robinson]

Have you read Inkheart? That's an excellent big, thick book to immerse yourself in. Have a great trip!