A Love Letter to Books

This week we're talking about how a good book can impact our lives.

Dear Reader,

Today I want to introduce you to a series called ‘Love Letters to the Good Things’

Good things in life are often not treasured enough, because they’re things that you take for granted. But it’s the simple things (a cup of coffee, a pretty sunrise, a walk, a story) that make life the most wonderful, and I think these things deserve a little bit of love. Or maybe a lot. That depends on how much love you have to give.

The very first good thing that I want to write a love letter to is a good book. Not just a book, but the book that changed your life, the book that brought you joy. The book that made you wonder. Now there may be more than one good book in your life, but good books only come along once in awhile and become your friend when you need it the most.

Love,

Waj

Syzygy - A Meeting of Celestial Bodies

Did you know that there’s a term for when the stars align? Syzygy (si-zuh-jee). It’s ancient Greek for when three celestial bodies align, in a nearly straight line. The word quite literally means conjunction.

We often talk about stars being aligned in terms of luck, but I think sometimes the stars also align when you find the book. Or when you meet your soul mate. Or when everything works out just perfectly, like the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle nestling into complete the picture.

Did you know that there are approximately 129,000,000 books in the whole wide world?

That’s a lot of books. Not all of them can be the book. A small handful of them might be, and when you might be lucky to find them, there will always be sparks. A literary syzygy, you may say.

It’s no wonder then that not every book you pick will be the one you fall head over heels in love with, just because of the sheer amount of books. That warm glow you get is just one of a kind of feeling that no amount of money can buy.

When you do find a good book, the book, it’s much like the meeting of soul mates, of celestial bodies lining up, of everything just falling into place. You might even say it’s kismet. This magic only takes place when the soul, the words and the moment all connect at the same time.

You may read hundreds of books in your lifetime, but only a few special books will have all three things in a beautiful conjunction.

The Soul - Books that Speak to Your Soul

I believe in books we can find stories that speak to our souls, which is a precious thing, one that should be carefully treasured.

In today’s world the number of books you read in a year is more important than how the books you read make you feel. But even if you read only one book a year, and it makes you feel, that’s so much better than reading a hundred books that didn’t pierce your soul with emotions, that didn’t leave any imprint of itself on you.

Did the book make you laugh, did it make you cry? Did you read the book slowly so you could savor each and every word of beautifully written prose? Did you clutch the book to your heart after you read the words the end, and let out a sigh in satisfaction?

But how do you know you’ve found a good book? It’s the book that makes you wish you could wipe your memory clean, and read the book for the first time again. And repeat.

It’s the book that can take you on faraway adventures without you moving from the comfort from your bed. If that isn’t pure magic, then what is?

It’s the book about witches, evil warlords, and schools of magic.

It’s the book about humans.

It’s the book about happiness, and love.

It’s the book about fairies, goblins, and enchanted forests.

It’s the book about tumbling down into a rabbit hole, landing in wonderland.

It’s the book about golden tickets, chocolate factories, and happy endings.

It’s the book about opening an ordinary closet, and finding a portal to a fantastical land.

It’s the book about heartbreak, and healing hearts.

It’s the book about you, me, and us.

It’s the book about the impossible, and it’s also the book about possible.

It’s the book about our deepest desires, and hidden fears.

These are all the good books. Because they make you, and I, feel. They make us dream, fly, and escape from our current reality.

These are the books that make a connection with our souls. These are our book-mates. See what I did there?

The Words - Fiction is Nothing but a Web of Lies

Fiction is just a bunch of made up lies. I’ve been told this a lot in my life. And I know it’s the truth. But I ask you, is that so wrong?

Sure, a good book is made up of a hundred lies. But it’s also full of infinite truth, hidden in the nooks and crannies of the words, and the sentences they string together, forming a story that evokes emotions within you.

Think about it. Thousands of words, all telling lies, yet they make you think about the truth of life. Not all books have this magical ability, of course. Some only tell lies. But some books, they use words to spin tales of glory and magic, that somehow feel the truest thing you know to be in the moment. You just need to read closely in between the lines to see the truth.

Sometimes, you just need to believe the lies in order to find the truth.

What is it about words though that makes them so special? Is it the person who is writing them that makes them special? I think so, because in this day and age where you can ask use AI to write things, it’s so easy to write anything. But where’s the joy in reading something that a feeling-less algorithm has written?

A book, and its words are made unique by the author behind the keyboard. You and I can both be given the same story to write, but we would write it differently, because we will choose words that resonate the most with us.

Words are therapeutic. For both the writer, and the reader. Some words, certain sentences are like medicine for the broken hearted. Some are portals to new worlds ready to be discovered. Not all books hold these words, but the ones that do, they are the good books.

The Moment - How a Good Book Makes You Feel

We’ve talked about the soul, and the words, and now it comes to finding the moment. Let me paint a picture for you. It’s my kind of moment for finding the perfect book, but your moment can be anything you like.

It’s the kind of day when you know there’s going to be a storm. The clouds are shades of light and dark gray, almost black but not quite, ready to weep until they feel light again.

There’s a flash of lightning, and you wait for the thunder to catch up, as the tree leaves whisper secrets within the wind. All of a sudden the world is softening at the edges, the colours bleeding into each other, much like a dreamy water color painting.

There’s momentum in the air, and you know it’s a special time. Something’s happening. Perhaps a storm is brewing. It’s a time to slow down. And what could be better than such a time to pick up a book, settle down in your rocking chair with a steaming cup of hot chocolate?

So you stand in front of your book shelf, running your fingers across the backs of books. Book titles carved in gold, silver and some in bold colourful letters. Which world should you jump into today? So many to choose from, so many possibilities.

They say not to judge a book by its cover, but truth be told that’s what we all do. I pick up books based on the way the cover makes me feel, and then of course I read the little blurb on the back of the book, trying to make sense if it’s going to be one of the good ones. But it’s always the book cover that lures me into picking up the book. Sometimes the book turns out to be amazing, but many times it doesn’t. And that’s okay, not every book can be special.

But imagine that moment, when it’s relentlessly raining outside, and you do find a book that’s the one in the moment. It’s like taking the first bite of a perfectly toasted piece of bread slathered with salty butter, or the first sip of an icy cold coffee, or simply falling in love at first sight. It’s the realization that you’re in for a story that will change your outlook on life, or simply sweep you away from ordinary life for a little while.

And when you have the soul, the words and the moment all in conjunction, that’s when you know you’ve experienced your own literary syzygy.

A Little Note on the First Book that Aligned the Stars for Me

I still remember the day I first found a good book, a story that led me to fall in love with stories. It was perhaps the first time I experienced literary syzygy, and I didn’t even know it.

I was 7 or 8 years old, and sitting in my teeny tiny room. It might have been late afternoon, the sun was warm and pouring through the window. I was sitting on the floor, and holding a book. The cover was blue, I think, I’m not sure if I’m being honest. It was the mid 90s. It was an afternoon that I would like to revisit, to experience the joy of discovering the magical world of reading.

That’s all I remember. I don’t remember the title. I don’t remember the author. I most certainly don’t remember the story. What I remember is how the story made me feel. And how I could not stop reading it, turning page after page, wanting to find out how the story would end.

Finishing that book ruined me. That was the beginning of my chase to finding that high again, of finding a story that would speak to my soul. Of characters that I would fall in love with, and think of as family.

And that’s what a good book does. It evokes feelings in you, it warms you starting from the core of your heart, swelling it up with comfort and happiness. A good book takes you places that you’ve never been because they don’t exist. A good book widens your horizon, it makes you believe.

Good books are friends that don’t judge the way you look, the grades you get or how perfect your smile is. Good books don’t care about how much money you make, or don’t make. Good books are friends, just waiting to tell you stories to heal your heart.

A good book is made up of thousands of words, like all other books in the world. But it’s the combination of words, of how they flow in prose, like a tinkling brook in the middle of a forest, that makes the difference between a good book and simply a book.

Now, it’s your turn to tell me, what is a recent book that you would call your literary syzygy? I would love to hear from you.

Wishing you a wonderful day,

Wajeeha