Wrapped up in books

One of my favorite locations to hang out and spend some hours on my own in any city are bookstores (followed by airports - but more about that at a later time). I don't know why. I always liked bookshops. I remember getting excited as a kid when I was allowed to pick out books for Christmas and birthday presents and made sure to spend enough time between all those interesting stories about life, adventures and the world, while I decided which books would be my favorites and would make it to the shortlist.

When my brother started schooling, I was eager to be able to understand all these signs as well and I was bothering the older ones around me trying to figure it out and asking how certain things would be pronounced and what that was and what this stands for and so on.
As soon as I could read, I spent many hours curled up in my bed, in the car, during vacations, reading and once I started, I dived into my own world and wouldn't notice my surroundings anymore. I red book after book and was soon a frequent visitor at the city's main library and developed a desire of being a writer myself and started some stories that reflected my favorite books at that time.

I came out top of the list of the challenge for most read books in grammar school, and spent my breaks in the early years of high school helping out in the school's library. I always enjoyed German exams, as it simply meant writing about stuff. I had a constantly changing list of my top-reads and I continued my ambition to be a writer where I left off years before but now with a bit more serious stuff and ramblings about the painful moments of adolescence. Though the pieces were never seen by anybody's eyes but mine (and won't be in the future), I still like to read through them once in a while.



I always had various themes for my current books. After my passion for teen-detective stories in my childhood, I switched to coming-of-age literature in my early teen years which was succeeded by a crime-phase mixed with classical German literature stuff partly due to assignments, partly because of pleasure. This was followed by me becoming a well-known customer of the English bookstore and my interest in Black literature which experienced its renaissance when I spent a semester in Boston and did a class on the "Civil rights movement in literature" (one of the most memorable courses I ever took, by the way).

However, it all stopped once I decided to major in business and attended university. Somehow the duty to read pages and pages of boring stuff slowly extinguished my desire to read other books as I rather spent my free time in front of the TV or my computer. My ambition of writing vanished earlier, supported by me being frequently told by those, who claim to know it better, that it's hard to earn money that way and so on.

So why am I writing about all this? Because this whole trip has reminded me repeatedly of my love for books and writing. My book-craziness is making a rocking comeback, as I am now again reading one book after the other. After my not so intellectual crave for chic-lit in earlier summers, I am now on to books that deal with being yourself, dreams and the desires in life and which way to choose (hm, I wonder why ...). So I added Coelho's "Veronika decides to die" to my favorites; a great read about the expectations from life, the definition of things like happiness and being normal. ["The Alchemist", was nice, but although both are dealing with intriguing topics, it didn't touch me as much cause I can rather relate to a 24-year old wondering about what life is all about and whether it's worth living it than with a shepherd looking for a hidden treasure in the dessert ... even though I can understand metaphors.]

Besides, updating the blog had revived my almost dying passion for writing. In addition to the posts that you get to read I usually start some other random posts ones where I would jot down some thoughts that cross my mind but are not eloquent enough to be published. Also, I somehow end up spending hours in bookshops in every town a travel to. (Even in Pai - a very small village - I was skimming through the second-hand literature.) And as I anyway spend a lot of time with thinking and reflecting I also contemplated a career as a writer once again. And I don't know maybe I might do some commercial pieces sometime - that is, if I find anyone who is interested in paying for my random thoughts. But for now, it's more a mix of hobby and therapy - like some people go shopping to feel better, I write (ok, yes I also go shopping, but I write too).




current music: Youth group - Forever young