"Writers imagine that they cull stories form the world. I'm beginning to believe that vanity makes them think so. That it's actually the other way around. Stories cull writers from the world. Stories reveal themselves to us. The public narrative, the private narrative - they colonize us. They commission us. They insist on being told."
-- Arundhati Roy in 'Come September'
These words for some reason resonate in me. I seem to agree with her at some level and not just for stories, but books too...
Bookstores are special places. They give me this special feeling - of friendships to be made, of good old friends, of interesting strangers and of indifferent bystanders all in one place!! Some books just call out to you, some sweep you off your feet, some put you off, some are daunting by sheer volume, some intrigue you while some just linger in your mind space till you finally succumb to the temptation...
If i were a believer, i would have talked of fate and providence and of destiny's role in bringing me closer to books i have wanted within pretty short notice... but since I am not, I like thinking of the amazing coincidences and the rare probabilities that actually materialize as I meet new books... Books I would have heard of or read about in recent times.... they just pop right in front of me all of a sudden and then it is only a matter of going with the flow... While I know that confirmational bias may be true, i just can't help succumbing to it, time and again. It sometimes feels like a divine conspiracy in bringing me together with a book, sometimes with an elaborate courtship as i mull over and over at the prospect of buying a book for a few months; or sometimes like a brief passionate relationship, where i succumb to the flow and get carried away; some books are like an old flame, which keeps coming back to you each time with a new premise and some books, are like family, which you just want to have around...
With all the pleasures that they actually hold, bookstores can also cause a lot of angst too, especially, when you have to leave books behind out of a sense of duty towards those you already have or in the interest of that bank account which needs some dough in it... bookstores tempt me till no end... and more often than not, I succumb to their charms... :-)
Books like stories find us and give us a life... a new life...
-- Arundhati Roy in 'Come September'
These words for some reason resonate in me. I seem to agree with her at some level and not just for stories, but books too...
Bookstores are special places. They give me this special feeling - of friendships to be made, of good old friends, of interesting strangers and of indifferent bystanders all in one place!! Some books just call out to you, some sweep you off your feet, some put you off, some are daunting by sheer volume, some intrigue you while some just linger in your mind space till you finally succumb to the temptation...
If i were a believer, i would have talked of fate and providence and of destiny's role in bringing me closer to books i have wanted within pretty short notice... but since I am not, I like thinking of the amazing coincidences and the rare probabilities that actually materialize as I meet new books... Books I would have heard of or read about in recent times.... they just pop right in front of me all of a sudden and then it is only a matter of going with the flow... While I know that confirmational bias may be true, i just can't help succumbing to it, time and again. It sometimes feels like a divine conspiracy in bringing me together with a book, sometimes with an elaborate courtship as i mull over and over at the prospect of buying a book for a few months; or sometimes like a brief passionate relationship, where i succumb to the flow and get carried away; some books are like an old flame, which keeps coming back to you each time with a new premise and some books, are like family, which you just want to have around...
With all the pleasures that they actually hold, bookstores can also cause a lot of angst too, especially, when you have to leave books behind out of a sense of duty towards those you already have or in the interest of that bank account which needs some dough in it... bookstores tempt me till no end... and more often than not, I succumb to their charms... :-)
Books like stories find us and give us a life... a new life...
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