Day 4 of love

Time and again, I like to point out the wonderful way in which books give us words to what we already know. Just recently, I had to relate to my best friend my belated discovery of finding all those seemingly lost memories and sensations perfectly intact when you sit quiet and dig them out. I’m a little late on these things, but I’m catching up. Better late than never, no?

All we need to do is remember. Amy Tan captured that perfectly.

Day 3 of love

It still comes as a huge surprise for me that a lot of the common phrases we use today were actually written by the great bard himself. It only proves that I haven’t read many of his works – which is true – but that is changing now. I have a couple of Shakespeare titles lining my bookshelf, waiting for me to open them. With what I have read, I discovered some pretty nice passages that I had never encountered but thought to be worth mentioning.

Although one of the most popular literary lines happens to be “Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou, Romeo?”, I hope to make some lesser known Shakespearean lines more popular so here’s one.

Day 2 of love

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George was my companion during a revolutionary phase in my life. There was just something about the title that lured me to it. Paris and bookshop sounded right – romantic, even – so it wasn’t a surprise that I found it filled with beautiful passages.

There will be more passages from The Little Paris Bookshop in the coming posts, so stay tuned.

Day 1 of love

It’s February already! Can you believe it? It seems like only yesterday we all stayed up to welcome the new year, and now we’re already on the second month of the year. Before we know it, we’d be celebrating Christmas and welcoming another new year yet again.

But before that happens, let’s focus on February first and celebrate this month by sharing love.

I have gathered beautiful passages on love over my many years of reading, and I thought this month would be perfect to share them. I will endeavor to post one quote a day for the rest of the month, so here’s to start:

Like a box of chocolates

Perhaps there might not be anything underlying in the fact that I started my reading year by putting down the first book that I picked up. As much as I wanted to finish Stacy Schiff’s Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Vladimir Nabokov’s wife, Véra, I just couldn’t. Now don’t get me wrong. The book is brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Schiff’s narrative reads like smooth glass … But it didn’t seem to fulfill my recently acquired secondary purpose of reading — to be distracted. As a matter of fact, it only brought me ever closer to the very thing that I desperately want to be distracted from.

I’d still recommend it, though.

Sadly, I just had to put it down. I would just have to wait until I no longer need to be distracted because Véra, like every book ever written, must be brought to justice … Someday. Not now.

Hoping for another shot at starting my reading year right, I settled on Chocolate for a Woman’s Heart, a collection of heartwarming stories written by women and compiled by Kay Allenbaugh. I was honestly a little apprehensive. What if it contains more memory triggers? What if I couldn’t finish it again? Will I put down every book I pick up? Will I ever finish reading at least one book this year?

Surprisingly, although Chocolate contained subjects that sent me down memory lane, it succeeded in what it set out to do — to warm a woman’s heart. I read it from cover to cover but I would also recommend reading it as you would eating a box of chocolates. Close your eyes, flip to a random page, and let the story fill your heart. Whether you are in need of love, kindness, a taste of success, or maybe even some condolences, this book will give you what you need. Even if you aren’t in need of anything, I’m sure it wouldn’t fail to touch your heart.

I feared that shelving Véra was symbolic of not being able to finish anything that I might set my heart upon . Chocolate disproved that. It taught me that not only could I start all over again but that I could also find simple joy in something new. Anyway, let me leave you with some passages from Chocolate.

“Some things defy explanation and logic. Sometimes we just intuitively know.”

“The legacy of love I’ve inherited is much more important.”

“I could only thank God for teaching me the truth about unconditional love. Sometimes it’s best to love from a distance … Other times, it means letting go.”

So let go.