Some of you know of my unhealthy attachment to my iPod, but I'm going to leave it at home on this trip. I'm also seriously considering not bringing a camera under the assumption that the rest of you are going to take more pictures on this trip than the all the paparrazi on Oscar night and may be willing to share your best shots with me--but I'll bet I cave in and throw a camera in the backpack at the last minute.
However I will be taking one essential travel accessory with me--a bit of old school media. I'll be bringing along a book. I don't mean a guidebook or a phrasebook, although I'll have a few of those packed away as well. I mean a book book. One for reading. Just for the pleasure of it.
I always pack a book when I travel, and on our big trips it often relates somehow to the adventure at hand.
On one trip to Italy I read Mark Twain's Innocents Abroad. It was so fun following in Twain's footsteps and seeing the sights through his wry, hilarious and sometimes bitter filter. His description of the Cathedral in Milan, for instance, was dead on, and his words could have been written yesterday instead of 140 years ago. It was a little spooky seeing it just as he did all those years later.
On our trip to China a few years ago, we spent nine days aboard a boat going up the Yangtze River. For that trip I brought along The River at the Center of the World by Simon Winchester, an absolutely brilliant geographic and historical exploration of the that river. The book started in Shanghai (as did our trip) and went back in time as it went up-river. It was mind blowing going up the Yangtze and back in time along with the book.
When the 5th Harry Potter book Order of the Phoenix published on the day after we flew out for a two week cruise to the Baltic, I was already a huge fan of the kiddie series and was disappointed that I wouldn't be able to have it to read on the trip. Our flight landed in London on the morning the book released, and I was really excited that I was able to buy a copy at Heathrow about two minutes after we cleared customs. I thoroughly enjoyed both the book and the trip and read the last page on the flight home. It was kind of fun having the UK version with its different cover and Britified spellings of some words.
This time I'm actually going to pack two books. One was a gift from Steve a few months back, and I've been saving it especially for our trip because it links exquisitely to what our trip means for me. The 50 Year Dash--The Feelings, Foibles, and Fears of Being Half-a-century Old contains the musings of the always-entertaining columnist Bob Greene. I've enjoyed Greene's writing for over 20 years and am really looking forward to this one.
The second book I'm bringing isn't related to the trip at all--at least I hope it isn't. The Road, a critically acclaimed post-apocalyptic father-son story by Cormac McCarthy is another title I've been looking forward to reading for a while. I was blown away when I saw the movie No Country For Old Men and wasn't surprised when it won the Academy Award for Best Picture that year. Then I read the book and realized exactly why the film turned out so well--the material it was based on was just that good.
So, give it some thought and toss a book in your carry on. Maybe in a few years you can pack one of mine.
9 comments:
I JUST bought a book today entitled "Paris In Mind...3 centuries of Americans Writing About Paris" edited by Jennifer Lee. I'm sure I will be done with it before the trip, but I will bring it along for whoever is interested. It has entries from Hemingway, Stein, Sedaris, Bellow. Beach, Elliot, and Dave Berry. I cannot wait for this trip! WE MAY HAVE SOME NEWS ABOUT OUR FUTURE MOVE...LOVE, JEN
I will be bringing Hemingway's "Movable Feast" and a traveler's history of France along with some guide books. I think I've narrowed it down to 2!!! I cannot wait!!
Thanks again for giving us this opportunity!!! Maybe your 2nd book will be born out of this adventure!!
Colleen
I didn't know I was in the company of the literati. Both of you have made terrific choices. And, Jen, I'd love to read Paris in Mind when you're done with it.
Maybe we could have a book swap on board.
Cathleen says she also has given thought to her book selection for the trip and will reveal it here in the next day or so.
Great minds think alike. Just last week I ordered two books for the trip. One is "My Life in Paris" by Julia Child and the other is "The Gap Year for Grownups" by Annie Sanders, which I think is going to be more of a fun, chick-lit novel.
I neglected to mention that the "Gap Year" novel is set in Paris.
I'm not bringing any books on the assumption that once all of you have read yours, they will be in the Marjorie Biblioteque for the duration of the trip. Jen, can I read yours on the way over if you are finished with it.
All I normally take to France in the guidebook--the one with all the pictures and I just buy french magazines when I get there. It's amazing how much it helps with my reading french, but it also puts me in french state of mind.
Hey Steve,
What are you bringing???
This is a toughie. For sure I'll want to borrow Jen's "Paris in Mind", that sounds wonderful. But for my personal stash? Look back? Look forward? Immerse in French culture? Essays? Art history? Old Fernandel scripts? I'm afraid I'll have to wait until it's closer to bag up the finalists, but I have a couple of Bob Greene collections that I haven't read, one of which is about WW II, and that will be a good start. I'll probably bring along "Wherever you go, there you are" (some Zen meditation ramblings), and maybe "Far Appalachia" by Noah Adams. I also just got a new one by Scott Adams (yeah, the Dilbert guy) called "Religion Wars" that looks pretty interesting, but I'll probably finish it before we embark on the oddyssey. Hey, maybe "The Oddyssey" ;-)
OH MY!
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