Dead authors, dead Dad

On Sundays, my Dad would take me for a stroll: breakfast and book browsing.

No ball games, no race track, no nothing. Just book browsing and sometimes, the cinema.

I often wonder if those (dead) authors had anything to say.

What good does it do to ponder over their thoughts?

“one cannot swim in the same river twice” or “everything I know, I know because I love”.

And my Dad would say, “in life, you should try everything. Do not be afraid”.

So I met new people, try new places, buy new books, and change myself as the circumstances change.

In short, I take risks and adapt when failed.

And I learn not to judge a book by its cover.

Dead authors, I found out, do have something to offer, even just a tiny crack to glimpse at the truth.

Today, we say goodbye to Saramago, whose fame only caught up with him late in life.

Earlier this year, Salinger and Stieg Larsson (Dragon Tatoo Girl trilogy).

Crichton’s book is still on sale.

And readers still enjoy Updike, Mailer and Hugo.

When you turn the page, they are right there. Never miss a beat.

Everything is air-tight.

The best of human thoughts (before Watson, the latest IBM computer, catches on).

Although they are dead, their voices come alive with each turn of the page.

“I read so I won’t be alone”, said someone.

So, when I walk among the stacks this weekend, and browse, I won’t feel alone.

My Dad’s DNA’s are still in me, and the books are not tombstones

because  authors’ names are alphabetized whether dead or alive.

And their thoughts serve as enduring testimonials of  free minds unencumbered by even death itself.

I liked the way my Dad treat his dictionaries. He scotch-taped them with a tender care of a male nurse. To this day, I still shop for used dictionaries (not encyclopedia which quickly become obsolete both because events are accelerated by, and because of Wiki) and when I saw one that needs to be “saved”, I offer my help that would make Humane Society proud. To me, books are just as alive as their authors. It’s up to us to ignore them, or be engaged and edu-cared by the subjects.