Today, I finished 'The book thief' by Markus Zusak after it's been lying on my shelf for over five years. Which is completely ridiculous, because it is one of the most wonderful and touching books I've ever read. I remember the exact moment I bought this book, as well as where I bought it. I was on vacation with my family, we were travelling the West coast of the United States. Something I always do before going somewhere, is looking up if there's any interesting bookstores in that place. If you're a booklover, like me, you will definitely know what bookstore came up first when I looked for bookstores in Los Angeles. The last bookstore, this magical place in a depressing neighbourhood in downtown LA, where there were artpieces and tunnels and furniture all made out of books. I felt the magic of all the stories contained in those pages pressing down on me, and I could have stayed there for hours but my family always gets impatient in bookstores. I bought The book thief there - secondhand, and you could see it was read and loved by someone else before.
The last bookstore, this magical place in a depressing neighbourhood in downtown LA, where there were artpieces and tunnels and furniture all made out of books.
I remember that, back when she was still into reading, my younger sister was always very particular about her books. She would not buy them if they had the tiniest dent or the slightest creased page. She would read her books half opened, so that the spine wouldn't crack. I'm not like that. I want my books to show the journey I, as a reader, and the book went through together. The emotions felt, the laughs and the tears. If I did not fully disappear in the world of the book and the character, and I would still have thoughts of my own, I would probably write those thoughts down in the margins as well. That's why I love buying books secondhand, because it feels you're sharing something with the past reader. They went on the same journey you're about to take, and stories are not meant to be kept locked up, they are meant to be shared.
(I feel like I need to explain why it took me 5 long years to finally read The book thief. It's an easy explanation, actually. Since I was still around the age of 16 or 17 at the time, and my English was still quite horrible, I simply thought it was too hard and quit reading halfway. I'm very happy I decided to read it now, when my English is good enough to fully appreciate the beautiful words of Mark Zusak)
