Back in May, I hosted a brunch at my place, and there was a German woman there on her way to rural BC who asked to borrow this book. I told her this one was a good read, and quite informative about the people of Canada. I said that she could keep it for as long as she took to read it, then I promptly forgot about it. That is, until I was on my way to New York a week ago and found it had worked its way back to me, accompanied by a letter! (It even travelled to New York and back in the back of my car.)
I bought Timbit Nation for peanuts at a charity book sale at my previous workplace. How fitting that it would travel across the country on its own! With the rare exception such as travel guides, I usually only buy used books because I’m a big fan of the public library system (it was the best part of my childhood) and sharing books rather than collecting them and having them gather dust on the shelf.
When I was constantly travelling, I would get my reading material from book exchanges at hostels: read a book, leave it behind for someone else, pick up a book that someone left behind, et cetera.
While in northern Australia I shared a tent for a while with a French guy from Brittany who could barely speak English. He’d given up entirely on the John Irving book A Prayer For Owen Meany, which he turned over to me and I completely devoured. Upon finishing, I made an attempt at translating the plot for him but my French was wholly inadequate for the bizarreness of Irving’s storytelling. We had a good laugh over it, anyway. When I remember the book I can’t help but think of Bruno and his mop of curly brown hair, big smile, and teeth that would only excite a dentist. I have lots of stories like this locked up in my memory vault — stories of books and people and the intersection of both. The only thing better than having your imagination stirred is to stir someone else’s!
Related posts:
August 30, 2007: On Patriotism and Being Canadian
