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I have belonged to a book discussion group for over twenty years. It is an
important and valued part of my life. When I try to interest others in joining such a group, I often get the rejoinder, “Oh, but I don't want anyone telling me what to read! I want to make my own choices.” While I can respect that feeling, I am obliged to point out that being told “what to read” is, to me, one of the benefits of belonging to the group. Some of the books I have been required to read are Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand; Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond; and Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod by Gary Paulsen. In the case of Seabiscuit, were I left to my own devices, I would never have selected that book. Horses and horse racing are not part of my world. As I read Hillenbrand's book, however, I became fascinated with her portrayals of Seabiscuit's owner, trainer, and jockey, three intriguing men, markedly different from one another and yet totally dedicated to the care and training of the horse for eventual stardom on the racetrack. While reading the book I also learned more about the remarkable author. She suffers from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and is seldom able to leave her house. Her book, written in a style that totally engages the reader is a tribute to her endurance and her dedication to the craft of writing. When the group voted to read Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel I groaned inwardly, picturing myself laboring through pages and pages of unfamiliar and uninteresting material. On the contrary, Diamond's well- researched book is one scholar's answer to the thorny question: why do countries in the northern hemisphere have more of the world's goods than those in the southern hemisphere? He draws upon his wide-ranging knowledge in the disciplines of geography and physiology to amass and synthesize facts. Those facts are presented in a clear, readable style that holds the reader's attention. Several years ago the group embarked on the adventure of reading Gary Paulsen's Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod. Just as when I met up with Seabiscuit, learning about the Iditarod opened up a whole new world to me. That race, named after a trail used by natives of Alaska, runs from Anchorage to Nome, a distance of 1150 miles. The first official race was held in 1973 and it always begins on the first Saturday in March. Gary Paulsen, a musher with his own team of sixteen dogs, describes his second race in Winterdance. His first-hand view lends excitement and credibility to the account as he describes the extraordinary beauty and hardships of the terrain and the weather. He makes the reader feel the exhaustion and yet the adrenalin rush of being part of the race. I set out in this article to show why it is not always a negative to “have” to read certain books when one is part of a group. I hope I have demonstrated the other side of the coin. August 5, 2011
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