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Spice of Life: Antilibrary, my emotional support of unread books

ByPallavi Singh
Jan 07, 2025 10:35 PM IST

Books teach us to be free from prejudice, to accept our own and the follies of others, to be brave in the face of challenges and give us hope to imagine a better world.

These days I trip out to the garden, settle myself in a cozy corner, the winter sun pouring on my back at 11am with Lyman Ward, a cripple and eminent historian, documenting the life of his grandmother in the western ravines of Grass Valley, California, during the early ’90s. His self-deprecating humour is charming and I’m fascinated by his story-telling abilities as two stories, past and present, unravel and mingle with the dark shadows of his own, largely celebrated life.

Last week, I was laughing till my sides hurt with Ignatius Reilly, an obese, slovenly, slightly repugnant but still endearing self-obsessed scholar, who was sent out into the world by his weary mother to earn an honest living. Many a time, I had to wipe my streaming eyes and stifle guffaws while I pursued his antics as a hotdog vendor and his brush with the law in the form of the inept police officer, Mancuso, of New Orleans, US.

These two and many more characters from acclaimed novels are my companions, my stimulants, my consolations and the best of friends.

Books can change lives and make us live a thousand different ones. They are a beautiful escape route from the tedium of the sameness of a daily routine. They teach us to be free from prejudice, to accept our own and the follies of others, to be brave in the face of challenges and give us hope to imagine a better world. The best ones are those that once you close the pages and sit back with a deep, contented sigh, evoke in you a feeling of goodwill and enhance your sense of well-being just like the release of endorphins.

I remember in school when we were made to study boring topics and subjects, I would long to open the novel hidden under my desk. Our library periods were few and far between so today it is with greedy pleasure and a thrill of anticipation that I choose a particular book and embark on a beautiful personal journey where there is just me in the comfort of my home and the author, uncaringly, gut wrenchingly spilling his story on to the pages, just for me.

My antilibrary is my emotional support of unread books. I treasure them as one would something rare and precious. These are the books I have yet to savour, caress, open and devour. Just looking at it growing bigger gives me solace because I know that there is yet another one waiting for me. I have this habit of prolonging gratification and usually save the ones with the best reviews for a special trip or when I am without any distractions.

“Have books happened to you? Unless the answer to that question is yes, I am not sure how to talk to you.”

I wish I could have the confidence and certainty of conviction that fame and eminence bestow to one like Haruki Murakami, the august and widely read author of the above quote and many other notable novels, but it does deserve a thought.

The writer is a Jalandhar-based freelance contributor and can be contacted at pallavisingh358@gmail.com

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