Sometimes a Book is All You Need

Day 61, Grand Asia 2018

Friday, Nov. 30, 2018, At Sea:

“Books are a uniquely portable magic.”– Steven King

This afternoon our book club met to discuss our third book, The Dry, by Jane Harper (a crime drama set during an Australian drought). Holland America provides dozens of copies of the chosen book, and we have a couple of weeks to read each before our discussion. Cass, the assistant cruise director who runs the library, leads the discussions, which usually draw about 35 people.

Our first novels were The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend, by Katarina Bivald (a Swedish woman visits a small town in Iowa) and Crazy Rich Asians, by Kevin Kwan (romance set among the ultra rich in Singapore, of the recent movie fame). We have one more book to go.

Voracious readers may find they consume dozens of books on a cruise with more than 40 sea days. At one time I would have put myself in that category, but now between writing, sketching and watercolor, I don’t make much progress. So far in addition to the book club books I’ve read Lawrence Wright’sGod Save Texas: A Journey into the Soul of the Lone Star State, Eric Ripert’s 32 Yolks: From My Mother’s Table to Working the Line, Michelle Obama’s Becomingand Michael Crichton’s Rising Sun: A Novel.

I remember the days of selecting the books I would carry on a two-week cruise. I needed a balance of types and subjects (after realizing one year I took only war stories, from Cold Mountainto Band of Brothers). Now with e-readers such as the Kindle app on my iPad, I can choose from dozens of books. I follow Bookbubonline and pick up some $1.99 bargains that I can peruse during the trip, as well as some current bestsellers.

Holland America has a rich history of libraries aboard its ships, but they are disappearing as more cruisers bring e-readers, read less and take short cruises with lots of ports. The Amsterdam may be the line’s only ship still with a librarian and a large area dedicated to books and reading. In addition to the hardcover sections, there is an area for a book exchange, where readers leave their books they have finished and find something new to read.

——

We’ve turned a corner and are heading home. Sydney was the farthest south we traveled, and now the ship is pretty much pointing toward Los Angeles. We will arrive there in three weeks, which from the perspective of 82 days, seems short. It just shows how my perspective is skewed by a long cruise; I have been on many seven-day cruises and they didn’t seem short at the time.

We also have left the “Grand Asia” part of the cruise behind and are in the “Grand South Pacific” section. Starting tomorrow, we have three tropical island stops in New Caledonia and Vanuatu, then two stops in Fiji, stops each in Samoa and American Samoa and finally two stops in Hawaii.

I sent my warmer clothes – long-sleeve shirts, jeans, knit pants, hoodie – for a final cleaning and put them in the back of my closet. I got out the jeans for the rainy day in Sydney, when the high was in the 60s. Now I won’t need them until possibly Los Angeles. I will need the sun block, cover-ups, swim shoes and flip-flops.