Books and other stories..

One of the reasons why I love the cold season is the early darkness that calls the whole family back home in the early hours of the day. It’s the time of dim lights, candles and cozy dinners at our home, togetherness and the time for the couple of the family or oneself once the kids are alright and sleeping. 

Even though my son is turning 10 this year and he is perfectly capable of reading his own books, we still continue our tales-before-falling-asleep tradition. We’ve been doing it ever since he was born and it has become a wonderful ritual as natural as having breakfast in the morning. It’s our time of cuddling the day and starting a new one in a calm way. 

In times when everyone is confessing there is no time, I want to confess the magic of time I have noticed in my times of hectic rush. 

I was too one of those who when asked 'How are you?' would answer - 'Very well, thank you, would go for an extra 25th hour if I could, please.' The days of non-stop running, constant wake up-work-family-home-good night-restart & proud of it. 

But then something happened. I still do not want to confess it happened with age, I prefer to call it consciousness (but my mom keeps repeating - 'I told you so, with age…' :), when I just told myself that the world will not collapse if I do my dishes tomorrow and the work assignment can wait until morning..

And this is where the love of my younger days came back - after so many years of pursuing my ambitions and taking care of the family I have found time in the day to come back to myself and open a book again. 

'So where is the magic?' - you ask. Magic is slight and hard to notice at first sight. Nothing much has changed from before, I’m still in hectic rush, but 24 hours have all of a sudden become longer (maybe deeper?), because every night, a gap of time magically appears for me to dive into another world of imagination and creativity. Into a book.

Go ahead, try it. Steal a minute of calm from your daily chores to hide with a book on a shelf and you will confess magic, I promise.

And so that your path to new discoveries is easier, I would love to recommend 3 wonderful books I have had the pleasure of spending my evenings with in the last couple of months..

The Book Thief / Markus Zusak

“A snowball in the face is surely the perfect beginning to a lasting friendship.”

The Life Before Us / Romain Gary

In my opinion there’s nothing crummier than ramming life down the throats of defenseless people who’ve had enough.”

The God of Small Things / Arundhati Roy

“If you're happy in a dream, does that count?” 

This post was intended differently at the beginning - with deeper insights into the books, maybe a review or two, but this is a better place to start. Try to find a minute to open a book and share with us what happened…

With much love and the best of intentions, 
Sincerely Yours, 
Vaida the book lover at Sondeflor