50 States - check!

We are currently in  a month layoff from tour and the time has been quite productive. I am currently sitting in one of my favorite coffee shops from college, drinking one of my favorite drinks from said coffee shop. It has been very nice being back here in Salisbury, NC. I have gotten to see some of my beloved friends, and professors, and will hopefully see a few more in the next few days.
I came to NC from Hawaii! My dad flew out and met me in Seattle, where I spent a few days visiting friends, and we spent about a week there. One of the major reasons I wanted to go to Hawaii was that it checked off all 50 states for me before my birthday. It was an amazing week, even if I did only go to the beach twice for a couple of hours because it was overcast/rainy almost the whole time. We saw some great sites while we were there and had some amazing meals.
I will be staying here probably through Sunday, and then heading to my dad's/g-parents for a few days before heading home to finish layoff and then play Norfolk with fiddler for a week.

Junto:


Today's Junto comes courtesy of Coffee News, my favorite free little paper that you can find in numerous cities and towns. The one at the coffee shop today has the quote, "It is books that are a key to the wide world; if you can't do anything else, read all that you can." Jane Hamilton. I cannot agree with this quote more. I am very grateful that my family instilled in me a love of reading at a young age. As a child there were numerous times that I would lay on the couch in my living room and not get up again until I finished a book that I had just started. When I am home, it is not uncommon for me to have 2 or 3 books going at the same time. For about the past 5-7 years I have been working my way through the classics. I read Les Miserables, Don Quixote, and I am currently working my way through War and Peace. 
The quote put my thoughts perfectly that I have had while reading War and Peace. While the book is extremely long, there have been numerous life lessons that still apply today. One major point Tolstoy has been making throughout the book is that while people like to think they are acting on their own, they are actually acting based on numerous influencing factors that are surrounding them, that no one decision changes the course of events, but numerous little ones, that most people don't even realize they have chosen.
While I will probably write another junto or two about quotes I have found in War and Peace, Tolstoy also states, "...one need only admit that public tranquility is in danger and any action finds justification." A quote which we could apply to our own current political environment, a couple hundred years later.
Besides life lessons, reading also teaches us history, it teaches us about other cultures and people, it teaches us new ways of doing things. Have you read any books that have helped you gain  new perspectives on your life, other cultures, or opened you up to new ideas?