Transcendence – Sara Ledyard I’ve always thought that the most beautiful creatures were ones with wings. Maybe it’s because when something goes wrong, They can fly away.
A Short History of Nearly Everything – Charlotte Gottilla “Oh my God, Charlotte,” exclaimed my father, “What is in this backpack?” We were packing--for a beach weekend, a road trip, any family vacation--and I was bringing A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. All 544 pages of it. It’s not the longest book I’ve read, but with it’s hardcover and overbearing presence in the limited space of my carry-on bag, it certainly seemed like the biggest. My exasperated parents have spent mornings before countless vacations imploring that I bring another, smaller book, and at times I’ve wondered if I should just leave A Short History behind, but I’ve never done it. I like my giant book. It’s just big enough that when I hold it, the spine fits perfectly in the space between my thumb and the second knuckle of my forefinger, the dust cover is frayed around the edges from being jostled in backpacks, and the pages smell like a mix of paper, ink and sunscreen. It was my go-to vacation book for every vacation from the time I picked it off my mom’s bookshelf during eighth grade to the time I finished it at my aunt’s house in Houston during junior year. The book is perfect for vacation: Bill Bryson’s tongue-in-cheek, frequently tangented narration, and his nontechnical yet scientific subject matter lets me put it down when I unpack my bags and pick it up four months later right where I left off. Plus, it has enough pages that I know I’ll have something to read for the whole trip. It’s not just the book itself that I like, it’s the entire process of reading it--sitting cross-legged on a plane seat or lying on a beach towel, using a hotel key or foreign currency as a bookmark, and looking up from the page to accept a bag of airline pretzels or watch passersby. The familiar rustling as I turn a page would combine with the sound of waves or city life or a language I do not understand, the weight of the book in my lap would press me down onto a chair or park bench or rental car backseat. People talk about reading as a way to escape their environment, but A Short History enveloped me in my environment, absorbed me into whichever new place I was reading. To me, that’s well worth the trouble of not being able to fully zip my suitcase.
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