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Travel Companions

posted by Kate Good on 03/01/10 at 09:18 PM

It's been a busy winter. A series of trips has kept me busy over the last month and more lie ahead. My return to the road renewed a debate I always have within myself whenever I pack my suitcase. What is the proper book-to-clothes ratio for any given trip?

Every time I am ready to leave on a trip, I find that I’ve filled my bags with so many books that I can barely get them down the stairs. Then I sit on the floor with my open suitcase and try to decide which books I can give up and which I can't. It can take a while. After all, how can I know now what I'll be in the mood to read when I’m traveling to Raleigh next week?        

I am a happy traveler as long as my mind is occupied. Earlier this year, I picked up a book of essays at a bookstore. If You Lived Here, I’d Know Your Name, proved the perfect antidote to the mind-numbing hours I spent waiting in airports and sitting in the car.  Last month, I discovered a series of books of essays that served me as meditation guides of sorts, providing comfort, humor, and even spiritual guidance during time on the road.

If You Lived Here, written by Heather Lende, reporter in tiny Haines, Alaska, is a series of essays on life and death in an extreme climate. Lende's writing is both heartbreaking and hilarious, and it provided an escape from the hustle of traveling, allowing me to become a temporary resident of her beloved, yet flawed town.

I quickly discovered that the wonderful book, Here If You Need Me, is not the best reading material for car trips with other people. Author Kate Braestrup is a chaplain in the Maine Warden Service and her piercing stories about grief and grace in the Maine woods often moved me to tears. So, I turned to her essays during quiet moments and found they provided a wonderful focus to my days when the miles and hours of travel had dulled my mind.

I read most of Sarah Vowell’s book, Assassination Vacation, in one sitting during a stop in Washington, D.C. Part travelogue, part history lesson, this fascinating book about the first three presidential assassinations is broken into three long essays, perfect for reading on a relaxed, sunny afternoon. 

Vowell’s other books of shorter essays, Partly Cloudy Patriot and Take the Cannoli, provided laugh-out-loud observations about history, life, and growing up a geek.  While not remotely religious in tone, these books provided a needed balm for my spirit during weeks of heavy meetings and long days. My only disappointment with these books was when I finished them and realized that I still had another hour to go before I reached my destination. 

I just finished Game Change, the runaway bestseller about the last presidential campaign. Part tell-all, part history, this book kept me hooked until the very last page during my recent train trip home from New York City. Now, I can't wait to dig into The Audacity to Win, a memoir written by Obama’s campaign manager, David Plouffe and The Battle for America, which also chronicles the 2008 election.

            I still have a few trips left this winter. But layovers and long rides are a perfect time to dig into the stack of books that I will carrying with me. I just started The Gardner Heist, a journalist's exploration of the world’s largest unsolved art heist. When I finish it, I might try Nine Dragons, the latest mystery from one of my favorite writers, Michael Connelly.  Whatever book I choose and wherever my trips take me, I know I'll stay entertained.

 

Good_kate Kate Good lives in Lancaster City, Pa.  She is a member of Blossom Hill Mennonite Church, Lancaster. She is assistant publisher at Good Books.

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