As a teenager I loved reading and I am still a compulsive reader. Growing upon a land where books were scarce meant that one had to re-read books a number of times – especially the good ones. It was here that my love for books and reading took shape. I suppose also that this may be one reason why I am not easily duped into buying every new book that the market tells me I ought to read. I need lots of time to discover good books and I have no problem in re-reading all the good ones still on my shelf over and over again. I often wonder if I would ever manage to read all the books in our house; this is besides the fact that one can never be able to read all the excellent volumes published. So why waste money on books that should never have been written or what the "firm" tells you that you should read? Writing in the August 2007 issue of the New Internationalist the Cuban writer and journalist, Leonardo Padura Fuentes tells of “The joy of rereading” without losing the thrill and excitement of the first reading. He writes:
“…given the impossibility of knowing whether a pretty cover hides a jewel or a jackass, I prefer to wait until time sort things out and pick from the detritus of the market those flowers that always bloom. In my library I have enough fine books to re-read to satisfy me for a long while.”
Let me savour again City of Joy (Dominique Lapierre) and If This is A Man (Primo Levi).
copyright jagessar
