Love Story

(R-nak)


When I’m arguing with St. Peter at the Pearly Gates, I’m going to tell him to ignore the Books Read column, and focus on the Books Bought instead. "This is really who I am" I’ll tell him. "If you let me in, I’m going to prove it, honest."

I don’t want anyone writing in to point out that I spend too much money on books, many of which I will never read. I know that already. I certainly intend to read all of them, more or less. My intentions are good. (Nick Hornby, The Polysyllabic Spree – essays)



The only person who misses my regular writings here is probably me. That only one person makes me feel different from the rest. But. Even if I don’t write regularly, I’m very careful with the instinct that attaches me to black letters on white paper. They are still in me and they will be always there.

So let’s just take it as a temporary state that will turn into this dimension sooner or later. Assumingly, with a more colourful background, if we count with other dimensions for the sake of this one. I could tell you more about this, but I my true intention is not telling you what I haven’t done in the last couple of months. I would like to tell you what I did. For example, I bought some books.

The shop which supplies me with my passion nr1 deserves a full entry (something I wrote already in my head. Writing something in your head is like swimming without water.), now I’m just focusing on the treasures I digged out from this golden mine. Correction: the books in the picture are not all from this shop. These books are the ones which describe my last couple of months (and most of which had direct contact with my personal golden mine.)

I hunted for Bernlef in Dutch for a long time. I thought my first Dutch book had to be written by him. I put trust in him after I read Hersenschimmen in Hungarian. Great book. But the offer of the shop was also great, so one day I just couldn’t handle the tension anymore (what if I find another interesting book in Dutch which is not by Bernlef?) and I didn’t wait any longer, I entered a tabac shop with a book section in it, where I found what I was looking for. My first book in Dutch by Bernlef: De roode droom.

I started to look up the words with much enthusiasm. I remember one word: (I love long, completely useless Dutch words): prikkeldraadversperringen (szögesdrótakadály). After couple of weeks when I bought my second Bernlef in Dutch in the golden mine (J. Bernlef Doorgande reizigers) I opened the book randomly looking for validation. I found the word: prikkeldraad. My way of validation. (And the 20th anniversary of the fall of Berlin Wall is completely unintended, but very welcome at the end).

The books are - ergo sum:

Katten en hun caracters (for a special project)
Annie M.G. Schmidt: Pluk van de Pettflet (from Chris)
Nigel Hicks: The Digital SLR Bible (from Chris)
Michael Cunningham: Specimen Days
Michael Cunningham: A Home at the end of the world
Michael Cunningham: Flesh and blood
Nádas Péter: Párhuzamos történetek 2. (kölcsön Sanyától olvasásra)
Nádas Péter: Párhuzamos történetek 3. (kölcsön Sanyától olvasásra)
N. Goldberg: Writing Down The Bones (from Chris)
Leonard Cohen: The Favourite Game
Engels Nederlands - Nederlands Engels dictionaries
Bernlef: De roode droom
Harry Mulisch: Het Zwarte Licht
Aldous Huxley: Along The Road
William Blake: The Songs of Innocence and Experience
Sylvia Plath: De glazen stolp
Nick Hornby: Long Way Down
Nick Hornby: The Polysyllabic Spree
Andy Riley: The Book of Bunny Suicides (from Chris)
Agatha Christie: Een olifant vergeet niet gauw
De Saint Exupéry: De kleine prins
Neszlár Sándor: Inter Presszó
Bernlef: Agyrémek
+1 Milan Kundera: The Unbearable Lightness of Being (I bought it for Chris)

This week I almost entered a library (it was closed). It looked small and cozy from outside and it reminded me of you. A place where you could have met the love of your life. We were still young and you told me that you attended the library more often since you had seen Love Story, because the lovers in the movie meet in a library. Then we grew up and you became a librarian. I think about this with admiration: You have a life based on a true movie experience.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Wrong on one account: I too miss your regular writings here and look forward to each new posting with infinite enthusiasm. So keep them coming and keep buying those books as they provide companionship and above all, hope that one day you will possess all those precious words hidden inside them.
November 23, 2009 at 11:30 AM
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