Lately I’ve been feeling quite extremely restless with my surroundings and have had this innate urge to go out and explore. I’ve also been wanting to use the word “innate” in a sentence, so I guess 1 out of 2 ain’t so bad. Wait, I take that back. I won’t settle for 1 out of 2. I won’t!
Saturday’s day trip to San Francisco was much needed, but I want more. I want to get in my car and head up north to Portland and Seattle. I want to drive up the dizzying road that leads to Lake Tahoe (even though I have yet to drive out of town by myself). I want to hop on a plane and see the east coast. I want to cross the “pond” and walk amongst the cobbled streets of Europe. Hell, I’ll settle for a mini adventure too, like a day trip to Santa Cruz or Berkeley.
ADVENTURE IS OUT THERE! And I need to explore oh-so-badly. Pictures with words that enhance the feelings of wanderlust keep popping up on my Tumblr dashboard. I feel like it’s a sign. The interweb gods want me to get off my ass and go see things with my own eyes, rather than just seeing these wonderful places on my laptop’s screen.
John Green just posted a new video up on Vlogbrothers about how he went out with Ransom Riggs, author of Mrs. Peregrine’s School For Peculiar Children, and adventured deep into the belly of an abandoned hospital in Los Angeles.
Towards the end of the video he says, “It is nice, on a Thursday morning in April to be a kid for awhile, exploring with old friends, never knowing what wonder or terror may await around the corner. And isn’t that why we explore and also why we read, and watch sports and browse Tumblr and study astrophysics? Whether we’re watching horror movies or accidentally visiting their sets, I think we’re after the terrifying, awesome, otherworldly feeling of not knowing what lies in wait.”
Oh, John Green. You always make me feel all the things.
When I was in school I was soooo frustrated with the amount of reading I had to do for all of my classes. I studied Creative Writing, so of course I knew what I was getting into. And like all my professors say, you can’t write unless you read. ‘Tis very true. And I liked a lot of the short stories and a handful of books that were assigned to me — I was just frustrated by the fact that I never had time to read the books that I wanted to read. Actually, that’s a lie. All the time I spent on Tumblr, Facebook, and Netflix (and sometimes I did all three at once), I could’ve been reading a book that I wanted to read for funsies. But… um… I didn’t.
Now that I’ve graduated and have more free time than I’d actually like to have, I DON’T READ OFTEN. What the hell is up with that? Starting from this month on, I’m challenging myself to read at least one book each week and write more. I finished reading The Pleasure of My Company by Steve Martin last week, and am starting The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger again. I started it a couple years ago and didn’t finish it, so I’m attempting it once more. I liked it, but for whatever reason I got distracted and never got around to finishing it. A lot of people have read this in high school; none of the English classes I took in high school had this book on the lesson plan, so I feel extremely deprived.
Other books I was deprived of in high school:
Brave New World by Aldous Huxly
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
1984 by George Orwell
Those are the only ones I can think of at the moment, but I know there’s more.
I’ve been told that The Catcher In The Rye is a book you either love or hate because the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, is a bit of a prick. One time on Facebook I took a quiz to see what literary character I am and my result was Holden. My sister said it fit because we’re both angsty. I’m glad she didn’t say because we’re both pricks. 🙂
Here are some other books I plan on starting/re-starting/re-reading this month:
I got 'An Abundance of Katherines' over the weekend with my 15% off coupon! Tim just picked a random book off the shelf to take a picture with.
Looking For Alaska by John Green
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
How To Be Good by Nick Hornby (started this earlier this year and got distracted)
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Stardust by Neil Gaiman (was in the middle of this years ago and had to put it away because of school)
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Peep Show by Joshua Braff
Slaughter House Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Breakfast At Tiffany’s by Truman Capote (my favorite book of all evers)
Enough blogging about reading books. It’s SSR time!
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