A Book Club of One

I like to read. I like to read a lot.

Unfortunately, all too often, other activities take precedence over reading - for example, work, exercise, shopping (how much better would my credit card feel if I decided that instead of going on a crusade for the perfect fall boots, I went on a search for the perfect prose paragraph?). Reading at least one book per month was a new years resolution, inspired by my 4-month trip to Southeast Asia during which I read no fewer than 20 books.

In Asia, I read everything I could get my hands on that wasn't by Danielle Steel or in German, Dutch, or Australian, and wasn't a Lonely Planet. Some of the books were shameful and would only qualify as appropriate reading on such a backpacking trip, but I also fit in some real, life-changing gems: "Middlsex", "The Road", and "The Good Earth", to name a few. Reading became an obsession. As soon as Matt and I touched back down stateside at the end of our trip, reading once again took a backseat to the onslaught of other activities that were all of the sudden possible, such as eating fresh vegetables and drinking tap water.

8 months later, I am rekindling my love affair with books, and I am sharing my thoughts about them with the world, or anyone who cares to read them. I think it's safe to argue that the best part about books is that you can find yourself in them somewhere - that somehow, they hold common experiences and emotions, no matter how disparate the plot seems to be from your own life. Have I lived through a veritable apocalypse, only to be chased by stark-raving mad, gas-mask-wearing, gun-toting, blood-thirsty lunatics? No. Can I identify with the feeling of isolation, desolation, and desperate emotions of the protagonist and his young son? Yes. I have been there. I would venture to say that most of us have been there. I see, on a daily basis from my office window in San Francisco's Bayview neighborhood, many a man who probably feels those emotions, if he is not yet numb to them, every single moment of every single day.

And so, that is the amazing thing about books - and that is what I hope to chronicle on this blog. I hope this inspires you to read, and read, and think, and love, and learn. Feel free to comment - a Book Club of One could easily become a Book Club of Many!