I grew up in a household of bookworms. We read at table and in the toilet. And on trains or planes. In the early years, when it was mostly my father who traveled, it was he who brought home at least one book per trip. Every time my daughter-in-law's father visits the couple, he leaves a book. The habitual traveler usually conforms to this pattern - one journey, one book.
Airport and railway station book shops attract the book worm. The travel bug is more likely to get book worms than others. The reader cannot resist the book's siren-song - the call to adventure.
In Tolkien's fantasy, Legolas, the elf, is warned against the call of the seagull:
In the same way, once a person reads, there is a growing growling hunger in them to hit the road. Thus, many a book worm is bitten by the travel bug. The physical act of transit is now doubly enjoyed because books take us places in our minds and those retained narrative images reinforce the aesthetics of present perceptions. For example, for me, all trips in lifts have become so very intense thanks to a passage in a Murakami.
Be that as it may, I regard a traveler without a book with a jaundiced eye. While it is entertaining to watch some video on the smart phone, reading a book wins hands-down. If the question of the eye sight is a weighty matter as we age, the weight of the book deters some, they complain.
That is easily addressed with a reading app, a Kindle or clone. However, if neither of those are concerns, it is a worthy habit to acquire a book at an airport or railway station. That brings us to your next question: what will you read?
Aha! I've already heartily recommended Paul Theroux as a safe bet. However, we can't all read him endlessly however prolific he may be and we need to refresh the palate frequently. Otherwise the being, a creature of habit, seizes the chance to stagnate into preferred reading patterns.
To cut a long story short, it is better not to squander your travel reading time with familiar authors or genres. Use the time in transit to up the notch. Travel with a classic, an old master or a hefty new hand.
Sometimes, one book is not enough. Depending on your speed of reading and the time at hand, you can embark on more than one. Where your habitual reading is fiction, venture on a best seller in non-fiction. Choose wisely, though and not just because it is a best seller. Avoid self-help soup for the soul - by any other name as well, they offer poor nutrition.
Best bets for my next trip:
Create a book list in your spare time and work through it during journeys. Keep a mix of fiction and non fiction and I would strongly suggest poetry too.
With poetry, I would start with the collection below simply because it has some Arun Kolatkar and I die to have his Jejuri on a journey. This is for India.
Following such a pattern of reading, you will soon find yourself not only enjoying life much more but also being more successful in life and, most likely, even in your career or profession.
In the subsequent post we tackle Somerset Maugham, a veteran travel writer whose prodigious output spans continents.
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| A typical Indian railway station bookshop. By Abhishek727, via Wikimedia Commons |
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| Bahrain International Airport (The Bookshop @BIA), via Wikimedia Commons |
"Legolas Greenleaf long under the tree,
In joy thou hast lived,
Beware the Sea!
If thou hearest the cry of the gull on the shore,
Thy heart shall then rest in the forest no more."
Be that as it may, I regard a traveler without a book with a jaundiced eye. While it is entertaining to watch some video on the smart phone, reading a book wins hands-down. If the question of the eye sight is a weighty matter as we age, the weight of the book deters some, they complain.
That is easily addressed with a reading app, a Kindle or clone. However, if neither of those are concerns, it is a worthy habit to acquire a book at an airport or railway station. That brings us to your next question: what will you read?
Aha! I've already heartily recommended Paul Theroux as a safe bet. However, we can't all read him endlessly however prolific he may be and we need to refresh the palate frequently. Otherwise the being, a creature of habit, seizes the chance to stagnate into preferred reading patterns.
To cut a long story short, it is better not to squander your travel reading time with familiar authors or genres. Use the time in transit to up the notch. Travel with a classic, an old master or a hefty new hand.
Sometimes, one book is not enough. Depending on your speed of reading and the time at hand, you can embark on more than one. Where your habitual reading is fiction, venture on a best seller in non-fiction. Choose wisely, though and not just because it is a best seller. Avoid self-help soup for the soul - by any other name as well, they offer poor nutrition.
Best bets for my next trip:
Create a book list in your spare time and work through it during journeys. Keep a mix of fiction and non fiction and I would strongly suggest poetry too.
With poetry, I would start with the collection below simply because it has some Arun Kolatkar and I die to have his Jejuri on a journey. This is for India.
However, it will depend on your destination. Every region has its poetry and it is wise to pick up a translation of some local poet or poets or, at worst, any poetry whatsoever about the area.
Following such a pattern of reading, you will soon find yourself not only enjoying life much more but also being more successful in life and, most likely, even in your career or profession.
In the subsequent post we tackle Somerset Maugham, a veteran travel writer whose prodigious output spans continents.
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