THE BOOKS WE READ: RUDYARD KIPLING'S "KIM"

Lately I had been noticing that I was spending too much time watching the world go by, but not taking time to read.  So I adopted a midyear resolution and commanded myself to begin reading all the books collecting dust on a "to read" shelf.  One of the very first was "Kim", by Rudyard Kipling, which appeared in print in 1901.

Today in the United States we need to read more of the classics.  It is amazing how timeless the themes are in Kipling's work:  devotion to one's passions; persistence; the legacy of colonialism; racism; religion.  "Kim" tells the story of an orphaned Irish boy raised as a Hindu in the streets of Lahore in India.  Kim becomes the devoted guide to an elderly Tibetan lama as he searches for the River of the Arrow in India and who becomes as a father to the orphaned boy.  Along the way, Kim acquires a European education paid for by the lama and gets involved in colonial espionage.

Reading "Kim" is challenging; Kipling throws around terms from Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and Islam on almost every page.  His own father commented on the difficulty of the text.  But the effort is well worth it.  Seldom has there appeared a book that speaks more deeply to the very essence of the human spirit and all our inner and outer struggles. 

Kipling's own life was very difficult--separation from parents, abuse by foster parents and legal battles--so I suspect there are many autobiographical moments recounted in the pages of "Kim", rendering his words all the more poignant.  

Next on my list:  Faulkner's "Light in August".  Anyone else care to share their thoughts on a particular book that moved them?