When I thought about writing this post, I believed it would be easy. It couldn’t be worse.
I am a reader. In 2022 I read more than 40 books, and I like spending time reading fiction, comics and non-fiction books. However, thinking a list of two or three books which inspired me in my whole life, it’s quite different.
I had to look deep inside myself and try to remember books I read decades ago, and I still remember. Why I read them. I mean, how did I get to that book: A recommendation -by whom-, an obligation, just fun, or whatever…
At the end, I got this list of three books. And I would like to order them, as I remembered.
- Le petit prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
- Harry Potter, J. K. Rowling
- L'Étranger, Albert Camus
I met “Le Petit Prince” when I was 8 or 9 years old. It was a long book at that age, but I liked reading it because it has very short chapters. My mum had a hardcover and very beautiful edition that was drawn by the author himself. I liked that edition and my mum used to read it to me:
The fifth planet was very strange. It was the smallest of all. There was just enough room on it for a streetlamp and a lamplighter. The little prince was not able to reach any explanation of the use of a streetlamp and a lamplighter, somewhere in the heavens, on a planet which had no people, and not one house.
Try to put yourself on my shoes; an 8-year-old kid. Now, imagine a lamplighter stand alone in a small rock out in the universe. He has to turn on and off the light at every minute.
The scene was so crazy and fun. But it was also understandable. Besides, the little prince was a little boy as well.
It may well be that this man is absurd. But he is not so absurd as the king, the conceited man, the businessman, and the tippler. For at least his work has some meaning. When he lights his streetlamp, it is as if he brought one more star to life, or one flower. When he puts out his lamp, he sends the flower, or the star, to sleep. That is a beautiful occupation. And since it is beautiful, it is truly useful.
The picture was clear. As a child I could not understand money, power, not even noticed what is the true meaning to be a tippler. But I knew that you need to turn a light every night because of the sunset. That was true. So, I could connect reality and fantasy and I grasped the entire thing.
I stole that book so many times that my mum bought me my own one. And that was the end. I think I never read it; my own book was not so fun.
I grew up. I finished high school, and I came here to Buenos Aires to study and live. I had a girlfriend and I remembered her when she was talking about Little Prince.
The fox asked the little prince for taming him. The fox taught him what is to tame somebody. Suddenly he understood the meaning of his life. When he had left the planet, the little prince had abandoned his rose. He had tamed the rose; she had been his friend, and she was unique in the world for him. So, he regretted to run away from his home, and to leave her alone.
I remembered her telling me that and I suddenly found out other meaning about this book.
Nowadays, the fox’s words take another meaning as well. Even more powerful, because now I have a daughter and she is unique for me, she is the only one -as the rose was for the Little Prince.
Everybody says that you must read The Little Prince many times. Because as you grow, the book is changing its meaning. It is completely true. :D
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.
When I came to Buenos Aires in 2002, the city was full of foreign people from Europe, USA, everywhere. So, we have to talk in English. I had been studying the language for 9 years, but I had never talked to a native speaker during that period.
I have always watched movies in original language. So, I was trying to read books in English as well. I went to a bookshop in San Telmo that the owner was (don’t know if he still is) from England. His recommendation was to start with Harry Potter. So I met Harry for the first time in 2005. I remember It was a difficult reading. There were many words like “patronus”, “leviosa” which were new and the others that I didn’t have in my vocabulary. So, I spent several weeks with Harry and the dictionary. However, I really enjoyed, and that first book turned me into the magic world.
This journey lasted almost a decade. I remember me watching the last movie in 2012, sad, because the story has ended.
I was into Harry Potter’s world for almost 8 years. That’s like a quarter part of my entire life.
But again, as The Little Prince, Hogwarts is coming back. Now I am reading the books again with my daughter. She reads in Spanish, me in English. I think in the saga as a magic world to share with somebody -like Star Wars, anime, etc. I love to share with her. And I love most we are doing it reading.
It was also the first book I read in English. I remember how hard it was. But I have been practicing since there. I read a lot of books in English; most of them, non-fiction books. Now, when I started reading again, I fall very well. It was easier than before. :D
Mischief managed!
The Stranger by Albert Camus it has a completely different meaning in this list.
I read it in high school. It was an obligation, of course. But I remember the book called my attention.
It has always come to my mind when I try to think on a book’s list. And I can’t remember as good as Harry or Little Prince. Perhaps, I should read it again and try to find out why it is always in my mind.
I forgot the plot. However, I do remember the main character. It is the first book -if it is not the only one- in which the character is more important than the story. I am a story guy. I like storytelling too much. I studied to be a film director because I wanted to be a storyteller. I never liked the photograph, cameras, or so. I liked the different stories cinema could tell.
However, this book is a change-minder. I don’t remember the main character so deep. But I do remember how I felt when I met him.
Usually, you can’t remember why you are angry with someone. But you will always remember that he made you mad.
Meursault learns of the death of his mother, who has been living at an old age home in the country. He takes time off from work to attend her funeral but seems to show no signs of grief or mourning to the people around him. When asked if he wishes to view her body, he declines, and he smokes and drinks regular (white) coffee —not the obligatory black coffee— at the vigil held by the coffin the night before the burial.
Meursault -this character- had no emotions at all. He regretted about nothing and had no dreams not even hopes. He was like empty. But Mersault made me feel well.
Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know. I got a telegram from the home: ‘Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.’ That doesn’t mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday.
I never understood why I liked it. But I do, so it must be in the list. It’s a beautiful mystery. Like the life itself. :D
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