bookworm passion

(picture borrowed)

it makes me feel calm. my shoulders relax. my jaw gets softer. my heart beats slower and my spine goes warm. I take deeper breaths (no its not yoga...) when I hold one of them in my hands. precious, precious. mysterious. those little unique personalities, different shapes and colours, fascinating fonts, and messages running deep.

books.. literature... words equivalently smooth to coffee&chocolate...!

books and a coffee machine. two of the necessities in life. without my books I feel naked and without good coffee life is tasteless. when I grow up (yes, when..) there will be books in every corner of my house. dandy. sometimes I talk to my books. ask them how they are feeling, tell them how beautiful they are, and how much I appreciate them. and then I smile. I think they do to :) colourful patterns decorating the book shelf. each and everyone of them are telling unique stories, passing on knowledge of life, knowledge of the world itself. broadening our horizons. they carry with them thousands of small letters cooperating to create stories bringing out astonishment, happiness, anger, excitement, passion, tears.... (and the monster book in harry potter definately created fear!)

lately I have read some south african classics:

• before I forget by andrè brink - the cover itself is magical. the novel totally swept me away. it made me feel all cottony inside - despite my desperate attempt to convince myself that men like chris minnaar do not exist.. (still not grown up, haha..) I must definately read more of brink to see if the magic lives in all his works. before I forget is a fabulous tale about love, lust & desire, fear, loneliness and life itself.

• bitter fruit by achmat dangor - a novel with many layers and complexities implicit. a hectic and gripping story. sometimes confusing beyond my appreciation mostly related to a language that didnt quite catch my soul.
  

• cry the beloved country by alan paton - wonderful. gripping. a very personal language bringing out the mood in the narrative. in a odd way this novel makes me feel like a child reading a fascinating fairytale... strange.. cry the beloved country is just as topical today as in 1948 when it was written. it scares me to read this, cause there are so many similarities with the south africa I got to know and love in 2005...

• disgrace by j.m. coetzee - partly taking place in cape town, like before I forget. thus it made a big impression on me as I had reference to what things look like, creating a certain mood. this is also a book from post-apartheid south africa and I find that it has several similarities to before I forget; about lust, fear, loneliness and the complexity of life.

I also just read

• afrika - en vakker dag (africa - a/one beautiful day) by tomm kristiansen. tomm never disappoints with his in-depth factual writing, the micro level narrative alongside his fabulous overview. this book is packed with important stories and facts, and he is making great sense of much of what is going on on the continent.
  

my good friend marte was a very special friend of mine during my late teens. a gorgeous curly spirit with a great heart and a deep love for books. recently she has inspired me a lot. marte is a librarian and she reads hundreds of books every year. the greatest thing is that she remembers them all down to detail! I have inspired her to read books from the african continent and we have exchanged knowledge, opinions and feelings. the most fabulous mistake she made was giving me a tip to this great page for online book shopping:

www.bookdepository.co.uk

- cheap, fast and right into the mailbox!
THANK YOU MARTE! (worship, worship!)

this is the recent manifestation of that matter:

anthropology and development by jean pierre o. de sardan

cry the beloved country by alan paton

ethnic cleansing of palestine by ilan pappè

freedom next time by john pilger

friction by anna tsing

the shadow of the sun by ryszard kapucinski

a thousand splendid suns by khaled hosseini

when things fall apart by chinua achebe

does anyone know a place for online time shopping? I could definately use some more hours in my days for reading ;)


literature might lead to knowledge. knowledge might lead to insight. insight ideally leads to wisdom - wisdom.... is power!

on the other hand....

we know accurately only when we know little, with knowledge doubt increases
(goethe)

..."egentlig vet man noe bare når man vet litt: tvilen vokser med kunnskap" ...