Life’s whims

“Life is full of whimsical happenings, Watson.”

Thus said Mr. Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street and he couldn’t be any more correct in such a statement.

I turn to books for affirmation because I can needlessly say that our experiences, though unique in themselves, are never unheard of. In my everyday quest for an inspirational book, I am always struck at how life gives me just the right book I never knew I needed. I remember the first time I fell in love and life had to rub it in by giving me this avalanche-like flow of Anne Tyler novels. Time and again, I try to define the certain je ne sais quoi that draws me to that great American writer, but I can only succeed with a few life comparisons.

Reading Anne Tyler is like getting comfortable in your favorite chair in the dead quiet of the night, exciting book open in front of you, and a hot mug of honey tea within reach. Reading Anne Tyler is like taking a refreshing shower after a long day and tucking yourself under crisp cool sheets. Reading Anne Tyler is like enjoying the comfortable silence with your loved one. In short, reading Anne Tyler is like life in its best little moments.

What’s not to love?

This is not supposed to be a praise-Anne-Tyler post. I intended to write about the accompaniment of the right books at the right phase of our life, but it is what it is. Just as how life can be whimsical, the books that come our way may well be the same.

What is left

Finishing The Little Paris Bookshop has left my journal with more scribbles, my mind in confusion, my heart in more pain, and my reading list with one book down. I don’t know how the universe does this, but there seems to be some kind of power when I enter the bookstore that leads me to the right book. I am suddenly reminded of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and one of its good lines:

“Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.”

My fellow bookworms can attest to this. Haven’t we all experienced it? Don’t we sometimes leave the bookstore with the perfect book that could provide all the answers that our surroundings refuse to divulge?

The Little Paris Bookshop did just that for me. There is one drawback, however. I shouldn’t have read it too soon. My soul is still in turmoil and reading those words only affirmed what I am going through. I may have to give it a little more time to give it its due reward. Perhaps a year (or two) and a re-read from now, the book will hold its place in one of my comfort books.

What books have brought comfort to your life, dear reader?

Crossing a bridge

They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. I don’t. I normally don’t. However, just recently, I found a picture of the Pont Alexandre III on the cover of a book called The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

The Pont Alexandre III. Paris. Bookshop. At that time, they sounded good together, like eating strawberry gelato while taking a walk in the park on a fine summer day… So I allowed myself to judge the book by its cover and its title.

I’m glad to say that it didn’t end up a disappointment. It’s a slow read for a reader like me who likes to write down good lines. Every paragraph seemed to offer advice upon advice on life, in general. Take these, for example:

“It’s amazing how unimpressed people are by being loved when it doesn’t fit in with their plans. Love irks them so much that they change the locks or leave without warning.”

“If someone left you, you had to answer with silence. You weren’t allowed to give the person leaving anything else; you had to shut yourself off, just as the other person had closed their mind to your future together.”

“But I wanted to do what love thought right, and doesn’t it say do what is good for the other person?”

But wait. Isn’t it called The Little Paris Bookshop? Bookshop. That’s right. So why is it talking about love?

Let me tell you, dear reader, that there’s just so much love to find in a bookshop. Brokenhearted? Head to the bookstore. Disappointed? Head to the bookstore. Elated? Head to the bookstore. The only thing is, most of the bookstores from where I live are manned by people who just want to get by on something. They aren’t manned by someone like Monsieur Jean Perdu, the main character of The Little Paris Bookshop. To sum him up in one word, as described by his mother (Was it his mother? I can’t recall.), he is a TRANSPERCEIVER. Now what on earth is a transperceiver? Is there such a word?

Say you’re in the bookstore and you can’t decide what book to buy. The salesman/owner takes one good look at you, comes up to you, and offers you just the book you didn’t know you need. That’s Monsieur Perdu to you. That’s a transperceiver – a person who knows just what your heart is bursting to feel. Now wouldn’t that be nice? Doesn’t that make you want to know someone like him? Wouldn’t that save much of your time?

There is one drawback to it, however. I’ll let you and your emotions find that out for yourself.

See the lamp post from the bridge?

 

Anne Tyler came into my life at the perfect moment

Whenever I buy a new book, I would write the date of purchase behind the back cover along with my initials — PMCJ — so that when I feel like picking it up again, I would see the date and remember all the things that would have happened from then. This practice I only started in the middle of 2014, so since I discovered Anne Tyler way before I started this, I can never know when exactly did I discover her. That must have been in February 2014. I remember sneaking out of the office to grab some fastfood and dropping by the secondhand bookstore.

At that time, I didn’t know what I wanted to read. I knew that I had grown out of fantasy novels and since I had finished all of Jane Austen’s novels, I wanted something … good. So I grabbed a copy of The Amateur Marriage and — I don’t know what pushed me (I didn’t normally do this) — read the first line of the first chapter.

Everyone in the neighborhood could tell how Michael and Pauline first met.

Because of an old college joke, I remembering thinking it would be a good idea to show it to my friends, so I left the bookstore with the book in hand. Fast forward to four years later and I now have sixteen of her twenty-two novels, and I won’t rest until they’re all complete and happy on my bookshelf.

What is it about Anne Tyler exactly? What is in her style that makes her readers long for her next novel? One critic said that reading Anne Tyler is like falling in love. I couldn’t agree more. Only, it’s the kind of love that’s familiar. The kind where you automatically have a deep and soulful connection the moment you meet that person. Is that it? Is it the soulful connection we recognize in her every single book?

I’m yet to meet a fellow Anne Tyler fan from where I live. I know there are a lot out there. To my fellow Anne Tyler fans, how are you? How has AT affected you?

This was the last AT novel I read.

Thank you

I would like to say thank you to my dear little Yunu for making my header. This kid’s got talent, she was able to whip up that header in less than five minutes. She’s going places, I’m sure of that.

Thank you very much, Y-U-N-U-M-Y-U. I love you very much! 🙂