edit: Oh the embarrassment! I was so excited to share this story, that I published it a day early. Shelf Control is a Wednesday feature by Literary Potpourri; I'll get it right next week!
Shelf Control is a weekly feature hosted by Literary Potpourri to discuss unread books sitting in our to-be-read piles.
One spring, when I was a young teen, I borrowed Kon-Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl* from my teacher's classroom library. Kon-Tiki is the recounting of the 1947 journey taken by Heyerdahl and five companions, as they travelled across the Pacific Ocean on a balsa log raft. Their trip from Peru to the Polynesian island of Puka Puka took them 4,300 nautical miles and three months. (insert astonished verbalizations here)
I packed this most promising read in a basket along with a snack and a throw rug, and took off through the woods across from my house, ending in the meadow. I sat down on the rug, ate my snack, and enjoyed the sunshine. Then, packed everything up -- book unopened -- went back home and promptly forgot about the book in the basket.
At the end of the school year, I was stunned to get a note from the teacher addressed to Mom, saying that I had never returned Kon-Tiki and must either do so or pay for the replacement. I had no clue where the book was, had forgotten it's very existence, and cried hard over the horror of a lost book. Mom paid up, no problem there, and the incident was dismissed.
Until, that is, I got out that basket over summer break, and discovered the missing book. Imagine my shock, embarrassment, and dismay.
This same copy (see below) has been on my shelves for over thirty years now, waiting to be read. Maybe it's time?
What about you? Have you read Kon-Tiki? Got any books on your TBR with interesting stories?
