Under The Volcano

I love to read. I read every single day and I've been trying, over the years, to tackle the greatest books of all time. I was inspired in France.

I had just finished my junior year of college and broke up with my girlfriend of nearly three years. I did so out of necessity for myself. I had allowed her to transform me into someone that I wasn't. I was glad to be over the relationship and free. I looked forward to studying abroad in France and finally picked up Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham.

My father had given me Of Human Bondage when I graduated from high school, and I wish I had read it before college. I tackled it slowly over the summer before going to France as a senior in college and was only about a quarter of the way through when I arrived in Aix-en-Provence. But I quickly fell in love once I was in France. The book spoke to me like none before had. It was a tale of a man who falls desperately in love with a woman who is simply bad for him. She saps him of his lifeblood, of his money, of everything. And yet, after she cheats on him and leaves him, when she comes crawling back, he takes her in only to finally realize how wrong she is for him after too many years of torture and hell. It was an inspiration. A hundred years ago Maugham wrote Of Human Bondage and it's message was relevant to my life today. It was one of the Modern Library's list of the 100 greatest books of the 20th century and I soon delved into the others.

Over time I've discovered that there are great books in all corners. I love fast-paced, action-filled books and I love slow-burners like Sons and Lovers.

I recently watched "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" and immediately sought out the final two books of the Harry Potter series. I once again fell in love. And now, here in Florida, I'm working on Malcom Lowry's Under The Volcano. I hope it is as great as it sounds. So far it is funny, sad, and beautiful.