Travel, Wine & Shoes

I am an avid reader with thousands of books and I love the feel of the actual book in my hands.  I love the smell, the turning of the page and poking things away between the pages.  I like seeing how far I have read and when it’s 3 am knowing that I only have a little bit left to read as I struggle to keep my eyes open.

I have no idea how I’m going to travel for a couple years without … books!

My fascination with new lands started in Grade 4 with “The Magician’s Nephew“, which is the 1st book to read in the “Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis.  My teacher, Mrs. Richardson, read the class this book and my parents then bought me the boxed set (which I still have) in the Scholastic book order (remember those?) and my book obsession started.  There is so much to learn between the pages of a book and no end to the fascinating places you will travel as you read.  The books “The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles” by Julie Andrews Edwards or “My Side of the Mountain” by Jean Craighead George come to mind as ones that I read multiple times as a child.  These are still on my bookshelf.

“The more that you read, the more things you will know.  The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”  Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!

I have learned more history from books than I ever learned in school.  I have laughed out loud, cried, sobbed like I thought my heart had broke, been overjoyed and experienced every emotion possible from reading.  I have also added to my travel bucket list locations that I’ve only read about.

My Top 10 Books

1. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
2. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
3. Night by Elie Wiesel
4. Master of the Game by Sidney Sheldon
5. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
6. Labyrinth by Kate Mosse
7. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
8. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
9. Whitney, My Love by Judith McNaught
10. Sweet Passion’s Pain by Karen Harper

My Top 10 Series

1. Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon
2. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
3. In Death by J.D. Robb
4. The Kinsey Millhone Alphabet Series by Sue Grafton
5. Stephanie Plum Series by Janet Evanovich
6. The Dirk Pitt Adventures, The Oregon Files, The NUMA Files and Fargo Adventures by Clive Cussler
7. Lucky Santangelo Series by Jackie Collins
8. Sword of Truth Series by Terry Goodkind
9. The Saxon Stories by Bernard Cornwell
10. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

I’ve left the A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin off my list because I can’t seem to get through the first book – A Game of Thrones!  I have them all and I LOVE the TV series, but they are a hard read for me.

My Top 10 Authors

1. Diana Gabaldon
2. Judith McNaught
3. Julie Garwood
4. J.D. Robb / Nora Roberts
5. Patricia Cornwell
6. Ken Follett
7. Steve Berry
8. Jackie Collins
9. Dan Brown
10. Clive Cussler

My Top 10 Children’s Books

1. Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
2. The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews Edwards
3. My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
4. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. by Judy Blume
5. Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
6. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
7. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
8. P. S. I Love You (Sweet Dreams #1) by Barbara Conklin
9. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
10. Secrets of the Shopping Mall by Richard Peck

Pet Peeves and my OCD

1. I’ve mostly gotten away from authors who co-author with someone else and turn out an awful lot of books – James Patterson comes to mind.  I’ve stuck with Clive Cussler possibly because of the adventurous nature of all his books.
2. As I’m wandering through the bookstore, it really bugs me when I see new releases for folks like Michael Crichton, Sidney Sheldon, Tom Clancy and Stieg Larsson. They are ALL dead, yet others continue to write books using their names. It is not the same!
3. I know exactly where a particular book is located in my house.  I am a little OCD when it comes to my books.  I have a system with how I file new books that I haven’t read yet.  My house cleaner re-arranged them a few times a number of years ago — I know when they’ve been moved!  Sad, but true.  When I pack my things up for storage soon, my books will be the first boxes stored.

Travelling

I have travelled with a book bag.  Yes, a bag full of books.  This has generally happened when I’m going to an all inclusive and plan on doing nothing all day but read, eat and drink.  Normal vacations I’ll usually have 2-3 in my carry-on depending on how long the flight is and another 2-3 in my suitcase.

For my upcoming big trips, I can’t carry around dozens of books.  I have to finally give in, get with the times and go electronic for my reading.  So … I’m kicking & screaming, but I have reluctantly downloaded the Kindle App on my iPhone and iPad and will use this throughout my travels.  I will still purchase actual books from my favourite authors and will do so until I either die (and my son needs to deal with all the books I’ll leave behind) or physical books are no longer published.

The Kindle Unlimited is $9.99/month and I’ve signed up.  It does not have any of my favourite authors though, but some titles look like they’ll do in case of a reading emergency so I’ll stick with it for now and purchase some of my favourites to re-read electronically.

Happy Travelling & Reading!

Travel