A Sojourner's Travels - 52 Books in 52 47 Weeks

The other night, a friend convinced me to join her in a commitment to read 52 books in the 52 weeks of 2010. Of course, starting in the 2nd week of February, I am immediately in catch-up mode. Given that I still have taxes to do and there's a pile of paperwork that I need to tackle, this may not have been the smartest idea. But, in an effort to reverse a trend in my life in the last few years: watching more & more TV and reading fewer & fewer books, I decided it was worth a shot. In order to participate in this challenge, you have to create a blog & post reviews of the books after you have read them.

I chose the theme of A Sojourner's Travels because of my love for travel. I have done a fair amount of actual traveling around the world in my life. But, since childhood, one of the things I have loved about reading is that you can do so much vicarious traveling & adventuring through books. You can travel back through history and delve into the lives of courageous heroes. You can experience the great events - both wonderful and terrible - that have shaped our world. You can travel into space, or to fantastical, fictional lands. I will be reading and reviewing some non-fiction books, but the majority will probably be biographies, fiction, and historical accounts.

I also chose this theme because of a recent conversation (chat, actually - it's the same thing, isn't it?) with another friend who is also a former college roommate. We are both in our early 40s, and have lived in different places at different times, accumulating experiences and friendships that are tied in our memory to those locations. And we have felt a nostalgic desire to return to those places, only to find out when we do return, that things are not the way way we remember them. People change. They move away. Institutions and groups morph into something different, or disband. As the saying goes, "You can't go home again." As followers of Christ, my friend and I discussed the fact that this world is, in fact, not our home. We are strangers and aliens here, as the Scripture says, and we are not to hold too tightly to anything here. The definition of Sojourner is "a temporary resident". That is exactly what we are, and that longing for "home" is actually a longing for a better place, our true and permanent home, which we will not find in our limited time on this earth.

So, here on A Sojourner's Travels, I will be posting reviews of the books I am reading, and, maybe other posts, if I get industrious, and if I think anyone else will care to read them! I hope to have my first review up within 5 days. Of course, the 1st two books I have chosen to read are 380 pages & 528 pages. Brilliant plan for playing catch-up, isn't it?

Sojourner