Reading

I've begun reading again. Spurred by the recently recommendation of a book from a good friend, I rediscovered my love of reading. For a long time, I've only had time to read the books my classes required, and in any extra time I had, reading was the one thing I definitely did not want to do. Now I feel the urge to read what I want.

I recently read "The Little Prince." My normal distaste for French put aside, it was an excellent read. "Artful," is the best word I can use to describe it, although "insightful" fits the book equally well. It's a book who's name constantly kept turning up, and I'm glad I finally paid attention. I had to restrain myself, because as I read certain lines I wanted to underline them. But, the book I was reading was a library book, so I thought it better I didn't mark inside the book.

During my time in Bremen I met a great number of people from many countries. For some reason, I met a lot of Turkish students with whom I formed great friendships. When it comes to friends, I look for quality rather than quantity, and I left Bremen with more close Turkish acquaintances than German. Surprising, since I went to Germany to learn German and to get more in touch with my German ancestry, but I'm not complaining. I wouldn't trade friends for anything, especially good friends. However, I know very little about Turkey compared to the other nations of the world. I know European and Russian history, and some Chinese, and everything I learned of Turkey was from the periphery of the history I knew. So, given my rediscovered love of reading, I nerded-out and checked out books on Turkey. Ancient Turkey was a little dry, but A History of Modern Turkey is fascinating.

I believe to know who one is oneself, one must know from whence one came. Using this approach, I studied German history, and American history. I studied Scottish history as well. This helped me to understand why I was the way I was, and why I was raised as I was. This translates to others and other countries/cultures as well. I know the Germans, I know the English, I learned about Czechs and Hungarians while I was in Bremen, and Slovenians. I had know of the history of the countries before, but I learned how it shaped people after I met residents of the countries. Since I knew so little about Turkey, I felt like I was doing my friends a disservice, so I started reading. It is an effort to better understand my friends, and I'm very glad I'm reading about it now. Now perhaps, when I talk with them, I won't have to ask them for a history lesson to understand one of their jokes, or to understand the significance of something that is important to them. =) I can't wait to finish the book, and talk with my friends again, and hopefully understand them a little better next time.


P.S. Hmmm, it does seem a little strange to me that I try understand people by reading their history. But, to me it's the same as asking about a person's life, for what are they telling you but their personal history, so that you may better understand who they are?