End of Semester Withdrawal

The semester is finished and I find myself in a constant state of reaching for a book to read, flipping through my notebooks, checking my calendar, insistent that I'm supposed to be doing something. It's hard to put down the books, to not read well into the night, to not always be carrying a book in my bag. As you can see from my long list of "Autumn Reads," that I finished my semester list. It was a long list, but I must admit I enjoyed the variety and found my two favorite books at the end of the semester: Love Medicine and The Poisonwood Bible. I fell in love with the multiple narratives, something that I find intriguing, telling a story from different perspectives, and challenging.

Reading The Poisonwood Bible was especially interesting for me. I gave a presentation on Belgian rule of the Congo for my "women in literature" class, beginning with King Leopold and ending with the Congo Independence in 1961 and the assassination of Patrice Lumumba. I was ashamed I knew so little of this history, especially the US involvement throughout, including the evil  hands of racism reaching across the vast ocean to ensure the availabilities of natural resources (diamonds, uranium, copper...) to our ever greedy nation. "Poor Congo, barefoot bride of men who took her jewels and promised the Kingdom."

The research was intense and emotional, thus carrying that information with me into the novel made the novel much more significant for me. I do recommend reading. Highly recommend.

But, the semester is finished. And now I keep feeling like I'm forgetting something. I'll give it another week. Or maybe I'll just pick up a book and read well into the night for old times sake.