Into the Great Unknown

I must preface by saying I'm only on page 112. An entirely unabashed fact to admit especially "Day 1" of a, ahem, novel purchase. Especially when remembering to have read somewhere that there is a finite number of pages one should endure before casting aside a capricious work of literature. Life, after all, is short.
Perhaps it was an online article of the MSNBC variety or a post by superstar librarian and author Nancy Pearl who said a good book should grab you in the first 50 pages. Either that or cast it aside for something more provoking, stimulating or whatever you're after.
Honest kids like me had no choice but to read the entire missive cover to cover, that is until the bad kids, and you remember them well -- if you're not one of them yourself -- introduced the saving graces of Cliff Notes. I actually used this shortcut only once in my not so illustrious academic career, I believe during my sophomore year in high school, but for the life of me I can't remember for the Dickens, no pun intended, what it was.
I rest my case.
Reading, otherwise known as the lost art of imagination, opens so many worlds that you can travel much farther than Jules Verne ever dared riding on the wispy pages of parchment. Take your pick: from the social commentary of
My current exercise takes me "Into the Wild," the account of the nomadic life and unfortunate, perhaps misguided, death of Christopher Johnson McCandless, so eloquently recited by renowned naturalist/journalist Jon Krakauer. As I sipped Seattle's Best in the research area of my local Border's, I was instantly carried away by the way Krakauer wove this individual, a disciple of Henry David Thoreau, Leo Tolstoy and Jack London, who despite his privileged upbringing and education made a conscious decision to reject all worldly possessions and follow his sense of adventure and the beauty of the raw Earth all the way to the Alaskan Yukon. The drama made a fine movie, so I've read and heard, but up until now I had avoided it. I'm seriously hope I am not spoiling the ending when I say McCandless would perish. But, then again, if you did not already know this you yourself are living under a rock.
I promised myself I would allow Krakauer to once again take my hand on a splendid adventure as he had many years before with "Into Thin Air" and his harrowing account of overzealous, even down-right cocky climbers attempting to conquer the highest point on Earth: Mount Everest. So, after what I calculate an hour and a half spent in Border's reading the first half dozen chapters and then nearly making my way through another in the wee hours of the following morning, I chomp at the bit to devour the final six chapters plus the epilogue before the rainy weekend can dampen my furtive mood.
As it dawns on my I'm more than half way through my journey to 207 pages, I can only imagine how this book, which has already made an indelible mark on my soul and my outlook on the world and my place in it, will transform me. How it will no doubt invigorate me.
So I read on.
Life is just too damned short not to.

Editor's note -- I finished Into the Wild the very next night, and it has prompted me to make some very big changes in my life. Stay tuned.