Sunday was Mother’s Day in these parts. A different date to the UK, not sure why, but any excuse to ‘pamper’ myself…I thought I’d treat myself with a trip to the trastero (self-storage)…to look for my beloved books.
A Difficult Separation
In our last ‘big’ move, from Barcelona to Andalucia, I had unhappily become separated from my books. As Caliban says of Prospero in The Tempest (Act 3, Scene 2):
…Remember
First to possess his books, for without them
He’s but a sot, as I am.
Well, I’d spent too long being ‘a sot’ in my estimation. I’d sottishly let them be placed at the back of the trastero, so I couldn’t face going in to dig them out. But as any half-decent writer knows, you can’t write well if you don’t read well, and read often. Since I started blogging in earnest, I was missing my books more than ever. Especially those books which had formed the backbone of my undergraduate literature study, many moons ago…
Aint Nothin’ Like the Real Thing
essential reading
Besides missing the books, I’d also needed certain texts to be able to complete some of my posts, so I’d bought Kindle versions of some essentials like the Complete Works of Shakespeare and Heaney’s New Selected Poems. But sometimes you just want to get your hands on a nice thick papery good old-fashioned book. Such was my yearning. I also wanted to scrawl all over them in pencil. Can’t do that with a Kindle…
So gathering my courage, I drove to the trastero and prepared myself for a treasure-hunt.
Inside, all was blissfully calm. I thought of my husband being jumped on, screamed at and tormented by the children, and smiled. This is such stuff/As Mother’s Days are made on…
No Mean Feat
In keeping with the Law of Looking for Stuff You Really Need, the ‘Ingrid’s Books’ box was the last one that I came to; buried under mountains of children’s toys, brewing equipment, and camping gear. But I knew my prize was in there and I didn’t stop searching until I found it. After around an hour, I reached the desired box, triumphant. I gathered up my treasures and I looked at the trail of destruction I’d left in my wake…
It took me another half hour and lots of heavy lifting to put things back in place, but I came back happily laden with literary treasures. I hope these books will help enhance my future posts, and my writing in general. I’m thinking about some kind of ‘Poetry Challenge,’ but first I have to do my homework…
Which books inspire you most? Let me know in the comments below, or write a post about it and send me the link.
Have a great day, and remember to read on, read well, read often!
Yes, books are precious. I am glad you are reunited with a few missing gems 🙂