Wonderlust! Do you mean Wanderlust? "No"!

"WONDERLUST" What is it? Is it real? I first saw the word in the novel, Main Street by Sinclair Lewis and as it turns out it is wonderlust that led me to read the Lewis novel. A novel published in October 1920.  I read a reference to the novel when I was revisiting a book that I was rereading over 40 years after I first read it. That book was, Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck. The reason I was rereading that book was because I had just finished a book by Gregory Ziegler, Travels With Max: In Search of Steinbeck's America Fifty Years Later. 

Ziegler's book caused me to read Steinbeck's from a completely different perspective. The reason? Ziegler showed that much of what Steinbeck wrote as nonfiction was actually fiction and that a good deal of the story was fabricated or at least embellished with half-truths.

Anyway, that is the road that led to my reading Main Street and that is where I first saw the word "Wonderlust" used. A word by the way that my computer keeps telling me is misspelled. The main character was trying to explain her penchant for starting so many sentences with, "I just wonder". She said, "I know. The Wonderlust--probably it's a worse affliction than the Wanderlust. I just wonder----".

As far as I'm concerned I "suffer" from both afflictions and while neither will ever be "cured" in my lifetime I am certainly enjoying doing whatever I can to ease both "afflictions" by satisfying them whenever possible. From a time and financial standpoint it is much easier to strive to satisfy the Wonderlust. Just give me a book and that will often lead me to another book or books and so on and so on. The Wonderlust is an affliction I have "suffered" from ever since I learned to read and I hope that I am never cured. As a matter of fact, it is an affliction that I will do everything in my power to make sure that my children and their children suffer from as well.

A symptom of my Wonderlust is a strong pull to used bookstores whenever I travel. Google has made it easy to find used book stores wherever I go. I seldom leave one without at least one book and usually more but even if I don't buy any I find the time spent looking through the shelves to be relaxing. Additionally I often find the next detour on my journey of reading.

Sharing Wonderlust

Sharing his Wonderlust

Sharing her Wonderlust

Some of the used bookstores that I've found either on Google or while running in new areas. Even if I didn't purchase anything I left each inspired to continue satisfying my Wonderlust.

Aurora, Colorado

At the bookstore in Springfield, Oregon I was talking with the lady who owned it and I jokingly said, "So many books, so little time. I worry that I won't live long enough to read everything that I want to". Her response was great. She said, "You need to change your thinking to, I'm going to live long enough to read all the books I want to read". While we have no control over how long we live and it is certainly not dependant on our desires for time to read or anything else, I do like her plan better.

No Excuses!