On May 31, I began a reading challenge.
In Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love, my 'book turned movie', I traveled vicariously to beautiful Italy, India, and Bali. I fell in love with Gilbert’s personable writing style and her honesty. It is no wonder that Gilbert’s follow-up novel, Committed: A Love Story became my choice for ‘memoir of a person you admire’. I discovered Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone on a friend's table. Set in Sierra Leone, this memoir fit perfectly into my 'book set in a place you want to visit' category. So, in my imagination, I have visited Africa twice this summer. I chose Barack Obama’s Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, set in Kenya (and Chicago), as my 'book about a cause that concerns you'. In this book, Obama struggles with issues of identity. I am familiar with this inner turmoil. Speaking of identity, I am Bahamian. I found my ‘author from your home country who lives abroad’ book in Christian Campbell’s Running the Dusk. I welcomed this shift from prose to poetry. I enjoyed the familiar Caribbean imagery in this book, and breezed through its pages in a few hours. But Pride & Prejudice, my ‘classic novel’ choice, was another story altogether. I fought with this book, trying to make peace with its dated language. That never happened. I am currently reading my ‘first time author’ choice – Johanna Skibsrud’s The Sentimentalist.
This summer reading challenge renewed my love for leisurely reading. I remember many adolescent nights spent awake with my imagination, a John Grisham novel, The Baby-sitters Club series or Nancy Drew book in hand. I loved books. I don’t know what separated us, but I suspect it had something to do with ‘required reading’ for academic courses. Did academic reading make me wary of all books?
I don't know.
But I do know that my appetite for reading is back. I hope to continue feeding... I mean, reading. :)
Thank you to those who participated in this “Get Ready! Get Set! Read” challenge with me - whether through this blog, Chapters.ca, or Goodreads.com! I know of 35 people who joined this challenge. A special shout-out goes to members of the “Booklover’s Hideaway” group at Goodreads.com who were enthusuastic about the challenge categories, and posted updates throughout the past three months. Thanks for taking this journey!