escape into reading

If you were to ask me what I've been doing most of this summer, I'd tell you this:  craving stories.  I honestly haven't been out with my camera much during this time in which our planet rotates just a wee bit closer to the sun.  So, storytelling from my end has been rather minimal, as I'm sure you've already gathered.  I've been satiating the cravings with words, printed on paper, in the form of books, vicariously living each character's experiences, page after page.  There has been a lot going on in my mind.  Each and every thought and worry creating a noise that together resemble the chaotic symphony one hears while in the midst of a metropolitan city, of course, during rush hour traffic.  I've been desperately needing an escape, or at least a temporary diversion.  So, I've chosen to escape into reading. 

Before a friend embarked on an adventure to Asia, there was a lot of talk about travel, which of course reminded me of my earlier "gypsy" days.  My heart ached more than just a little.  I recalled memories from my childhood, flying back and forth over the vast ocean of the Pacific, experiencing a world far from the comforts of my own.  I needed something that smelled like freshly cut greens, made the sound of broth  hitting the bottom of a hot pan, from a place with a name I would try to genuinely pronounce correctly.  This led me to pick up Anthony Bourdain's A Cook's Tour.  I felt like his mute companion, walking alongside Tony as he blissfully soaked in the sights and flavors of Saigon, shook my head in disbelief as he threw back yet another shot of Tequila in Puebla, and although I was a quite disturbed by the process of how one of his favorite dishes came to be, I actually tried really hard to imagine the taste of foie gras. 

 After globe trotting with Tony, I decided it was time that I ventured to Middle Earth, gliding over hill and dale upon the wings of a Great Eagle.  I did this with The Hobbit.  Once Mr. Baggins returned to the safety of his Hobbit-hole a changed man, I returned to my bookshelf pulling out titles I had read once before.  Bury Me Standing, Notes from My Travels, and one of my all-time favorites, Neither Wolf nor Dog.

Soon enough, I would find myself holding another story in my hands.  New, beautiful, and very much alive, screaming for my attention, much like the precious babe we are introduced to in its very first chapter.  The Light Between Oceans.  It has been a long while since a book has gripped me so, like a mother's firm yet gentle hand, pulling me through not just the sea of emotions of those whose lives unfold before me, but also through the waves of my own memories, making me face the question of how I could have done things differently in my own story.  What a bittersweet tale!

And now, a thief by the name of Liesel has stolen my attention!  

 What stories have grabbed you this summer?