Vacation Reading

We are loading up the Else Family Roadster after worship and the church picnic Sunday and heading back to Iowa for a much-anticipated vacation. While Okoboji, Iowa may not be on most (or any) lists of "100 top destinations to visit before you die," we have been enjoying it for many years. Julie grew up taking family vacations on the lake. I grew up on a lake very much like it in Minnesota (Lake Miltona). While living in South Dakota, we spent most every weekend in the summer at Okoboji. Life is pretty simple there: wake up, read the Des Moines Register, do the NY Times crossword puzzle, sit by the pool while the kids swim, read a book, go for a run, dink around West Okoboji in the boat, grill out for dinner, watch a movie, go to bed. There are actually a couple of very good coffee shops right by the condo, along with one very good bike shop (Ibis, Specialized, Serotta), a decent bakery, and several good restaurants. We can pick up the Register and a couple of pints of Ben & Jerry's at the convenience store across the street.

This year, the kids are looking forward to tubing and perhaps even getting up on skiis. Ian and I are stoked for some open-water swimming, and I look forward to running my usual routes and getting out on the county roads for some long rides. Julie, the big kids, and I will be spending much time crashed on a comfy chair by the pool reading. Ian is cranking out Hardy Boys books with stunning speed. Soph is all over Little House on the Prairie. Julie will be reading Ethiopian Histories for Dummies by our friend Abel Berhane. The question is: What am I supposed to read? I'm (sort of) enjoying Dorothy Sayers Busman's Honeymoon (featuring Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey, one of the great characters of 20th century British literature). I'm also working through When Helping Hurts (Corbett & Fikkert), The Hole in Our Gospel (Stearns), and Jesus and the Victory of God (Wright)--the latter a six month labor of love that I may never finish. None of these, however, seem like vacation books. I need something simple and good. Like McDougall's Born to Run, Hillebrand's Unbroken, or McCarthy's The Sunset Limited, or any Sherlock Holmes mystery (I read the complete Arthur Conan Doyle series this spring). Perhaps a good biography (Andre Agassi's Open was tremendous). Even something epic in scope (something akin to The Lord of the Rings). Ah, if only Walker Percy were still alive!

When I was a kid, I always had a good book with me for vacation (and most other times, as well). First Matt Christopher sports stories and the Hardy Boys. Then whatever movies I happened to be watching (Star Wars, The Goonies, Howard the Duck, which, as I think about it, is really disturbing). This phase was followed by Stephen King, James Michener, Paul Theroux, and Peter Mayle. Then, during the college years, it was the French and English classics. Finally, I got into a big Southern Writers kick--Walker Percy, Willie Morris, Eudora Welty, William Faulkner, and Flannery O'Connor. Now, I get excited about anything by Jon Krakauer and Timothy Keller...and that's about it.

This is a rather pointless blog. That's okay. I'm going on vacation.