Carrying On

Last night I finished Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, and it blew me away. As an early Millennial, I feel I was exposed to a pretty traditional United States History Course in high school -- beginning with George Washington and Paul Revere in August, and ending with a rushed discussion of the aftermath of World War II in May. Thus, I've never formally studied the Vietnam War, but I had read parts of O'Brien's work in college before picking up the book. His words bring to life experiences I'll never really understand, and his vivid imagery made me feel as if I were sleeping in the "shit field" right along with him and the other soldiers. It was eye-opening for me, and I'm glad I learned about the conflict through his  perspective and not that of a cold, soulless textbook. This has more meaning, more truth.

O'Brien discusses several times the fluidity of truth when it comes to war stories, about how some are fiction and some aren't, but the best ones are those that have an impact on the listener, the ones that serve a purpose. Don't we often tell our stories this way, or at least in hopes that what we provide, truth or not, has the desired impact?

Although I was impacted by O'Brien's work, I am afraid I am still too much like his nine year old daughter when he took her to Vietnam -- too far removed from the situation, from the stories, to really understand their magnitude. I only know a small handful of men who served there, and I'm not close to any of them. I know, intellectually, that the War had a huge impact on our culture as a whole and on individual men and their loved ones across the country...but I don't personally know that impact. Being inside O'Brien's mind and emotions through his work is perhaps my only way to approach that level of understanding. Approach, but never truly grasp. I am also well aware that this issue is linked directly to events and people right now in our culture, and I hope that reading The Things They Carried can help me better understand the people who face our generation's version of the story every day.

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As my summer vacation begins and I dive into my mathematical lesson plans (calculus is a whole new way of thinking and teaching, in case you were wondering), I am also looking ahead at my fiction reading list. I am slowly but surely filling my small home with more and more books, and I'm hoping to chip away at the "Haven't read yet" stacks. Even so, I am always looking for more ideas as well, and these lists have recently helped me A) feel good about many books I've read over the years and B) find more titles to fill my shelves. 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/doree/books-you-need-to-read-in-your-20s

http://blog.ted.com/2013/05/31/your-mega-summer-reading-list-180-books-recommended-by-tedsters/

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/02/books/review/what-i-read-that-summer.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&

If you've read any of these listed and recommend them, please let me know! Likewise, if you're interested in which ones I recommend from these lists, I'd be happy to share.

(I especially liked reading the first entry in the NY Times article, where I learned that my hero Louise also read Katherine Anne Porter's Ship of Fools, which is one of my all-time favorite books and yet one that most people have never heard of. It just makes me smile.)

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Lastly, polymath is now one of my most favorite words, and it gives me a goal to which I aspire to achieve. What will it take for me to be considered a full-fledged polymath?