Nothing to Fear

Now I’ve always loved to read. During my younger days, I devoured countless Encyclopedia Brown and Hardy Boys books. Science-fiction, Fantasy, Stephen king – no problem. But when it came to “real” literature – especially the fearsome “classics” – I was filled with dread and boredom. I nearly failed my high school English because I wouldn't read "Les Miserables."

It started when I was diagnosed with a lisp by a speech therapist in elementary school and from that day was born my total fear of speaking in public. Add in that I also had a very poor comprehension of vocabulary. I still recall the teacher writing “Cop Out!” on my vocabulary exam when asked to use “verbose” in a sentence, and I wrote “The student asked his teach what ‘verbose’ meant.” Of course, my vocabulary was so bad I didn’t understand what “Cop Out!” meant, but it didn’t seem like a good thing.

So when it came time to read aloud in English class, I was seized with pure and unrelenting terror. After sweating, stuttering, mispronouncing my way through some passage from “Romeo and Juliet”, I just wanted to crawl away and die.

My hometown of Philadelphia is better known for Rocky and Cheesesteaks than reading. While we rabid sports fans–yes, we booed Santa Clause (and, yeah, OK we threw some snowballs too)—readers we are not. A recent survey of the Most Literate Cities had Philly ranked 34 out of the 50 largest cities (but hey at least we beat Dallas!). Strolling the streets of South Philly quoting Walt Whitman is highly discouraged.

All-in-all not the most encouraging of environments for the budding reader. So I guess it is not totally unexpected that I should have a ‘slight’ aversion to quote-unquote fine literature.

But then somewhere along the way, I found myself reading “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Even worse, I completely loved it! I finished reading it and pulled a total Keanu Reeves - "Whoa".

What happened? Did the fact that I was now living in San Francisco – a city ranked number 1 in consumption of books and booze – meant I’d gone soft? Was I now some California sushi-eating, chardonnay-swilling snob?

Fear not. I still where my Eagles jersey on game day and still enjoy an oh so delicious cheesesteak whenever I’m in town. People still ask me where I’m from, as my accent has never fully dissipated.

No, instead I had discovered that reading the classics was nothing to be feared – especially since now I don’t have to read aloud in class! Once I put away the fears and just started reading for the pure enjoyment of it, whole new worlds were opened up. My love of reading, which was always there, was fully unleashed and a well-read book is now one of my greatest pleasures.

This journey from the Hardy Boys to Homer has not always been without incident. I’ve made a few twists and turns, but it has been my journey and has helped make me who and I am today. So as I look back, I want to share some of the books that mattered to me and helped open my eyes to the world around me.

So maybe like me you felt intimidated by “War and Peace” or thought they would never read “Beowulf” for pleasure. If so, join me on a little journey through my world of books. And maybe you’ll find that when it comes to literature, these works are not to be feared.