On my vacation...

    I lounged on the beach and soaked in the breathtaking view of turquoise water, palm trees, and brightly painted houses that dotted the island. It was probably the most relaxed I've ever been in my life. Now, if I can only take that feeling of perfect bliss and bring it back with me to reality... yeah right. I am probably one of the most stressed out and crazed people you will ever meet, but what's weird is I'm laid back also. I guess I just bottle it all up and tell everyone else "Whatever, it's life," when really inside I'm thinking, "Oh my gosh, I have to do this, and this, and this..."
    Okay, I'm blabbering, this is not what I wanted to talk about. What I do want to talk about is the book I read. What I'm loving about my winter vacation is I'm able to read books that I want to read. Not required books for school (don't get me wrong, I do like most of the books that I've read for my classes, but the fact that they are required just makes them gross). So the book that I read while I was in St. Lucia was Dancer by Colum McCann. To give you a little background, the book is about the Soviet ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev and his story told through the eyes of the people around him, like his first ballet teacher's husband, or his sister, or a Venezuelan friend of his. The writing is fabulous as well as the story and McCann does a wonderful job capturing the pain and hardships that people suffered through in all aspects of life.
   What I found really touching was the sadness of Rudolf and his family. How is father never saw him dance. How he was living a "well-off" life and his family was barely scrapping by. I think a part of why the story touched/shocked me so is because it was the first time that I had really read anything about the hardships the people went through who lived in the Soviet Union (hey, I'm 19 so I was born when the Soviet Union was changing) I mean, the sister was worried that Rudolf would be upset because they didn't have sugar for the cakes! Or at one time, they were waiting for a shipment of toasters!

    My point is to go out and READ THIS BOOK. I can't wait to get my hands on another one of McCann's books.