Reading

I enjoy reading. It has been a long time, I must admit, since I have read an entire book. It took me months to read the "Vanishing Face of Gaia" by James Lovelock. My friend gave it to me and even though it was a fairly easy read because it is a scientific book, it still took me a long time to finish it. These days I always find excuses not to read (too tired, have to get this and that done, forgot to bring the book on the plane, etc.). I am making a pledge to get back to reading and it is starting today.

Movies are enjoyable because they depict somebody's imagination. It is somebody else's imagination, not yours. Books, on the other hand, force you to invoke your own imagination. All books are just words on paper yet by reading those words, life awakes in front of your eyes. People's faces appear, you can see them smile, cry, witness their concern, feel their pain. Landscapes are displayed in your mind with trees, hills, rivers, birds, grass, stone, and so on. Eloquent words can describe a place or a setting in such a way that you feel like you are there, seeing it with your own eyes, touching it with your hands, feeling it with your skin, and hearing it with your ears. That is why books are so great - they stimulate your imagination.

I used to read all kinds of books when I was younger but as I grew older my taste has focused on two kinds of books, scientific and books based on real events. Fiction was my favorite when I was a kid and a teenager. I used to read the great Yugoslavian World War II stories written by Branko Copic. Oh, I enjoyed these because they had so much humor in them yet they dealt with a very serious issues of German occupation of Yugoslavia in WWII and with the battle for freedom. During the same time I use to read lots of UFO, mystery books, books that dealt with the paranormal because they were thought provoking and fascinating. Of course, I also read lots of fairy tales as a kid. Lately though I prefer books based on real events such as the D-Day (Stephen E. Ambrose). I guess simple fiction does not interest me as much any more unless it is somehow related to actual events or if it is exceptionally well written. I do read books which focus on scientific issues such as "The China Study" or "Vanishing Face of Gaia". Most of all though, the books that have captured my attention over the last few years are books about or from Bosnia.

My favorite book is "My War Gone By, I Miss It So" by Anthony Loyd. My friend Brendan suggested this book to me when I was visiting him in Canada (if I remember correctly). He read it and said that I might like it since majority of "action" happens in Bosnia. Wow. I was blown away while I was reading it and it enters my mind any time someone is talking about books. The book is essentially Anthony's life from 1992-1995 which he mostly spent in Bosnia, England and Chechnya. It is his life, not some fictional character and made up feelings. The stories that he tells are real, people are real, events are real. Please, please read this book if you haven't yet. It will grip you and will not let you go. You will feel every minute of Anthony's life and you will understand the horrors of war like you have never before.

Another book I would like to suggest is "Blood and Vengeance: One Family's Story of the War in Bosnia" by Chuck Sudetic. If you want to know the root of the conflict in the Balkans, this book will explain it to you, backed by historical research. On top of that, it is a tragic story of one Bosnian family which the author follows throughout the book. Again, it is a factual book, documenting real events happening to real people, as well as describing the history of the area known as Bosnia.

I'm off to bed now and will read a few pages of a book by a Bosnian author Mesa Selimovic. My mother bought me this book awhile back and even though it is in English, it is very well translated. I hope this post gets some of you to start reading again without finding stupid excuses. And read "My War Gone By, I Miss It So"!