Re-Reading Books

The book budget is frozen. I must not buy any books until I’ve finished re-reading the ones in the laundry bench I call a library. I’m not counting books in old bags and bedside tables.

The pandemic spoilt all the fun for authors. They used to have book signings, to boost sales. The part they miss the most is the adoration.

I love all your books.

All?

Yes.

What’s your favourite?

Hmm …..

Lost books. Lost in memory because we didn’t finish them. Those are the ones I plan to re-read this spring and during the summer, if it ever gets here. I don’t finish books:

1. that read like a Hollywood movie and there are many of those around.

2. where the main character is an author having problems with the publisher, because it is fraud. Authors are talking about themselves, their industry. Where is the fiction in that?

3. where maids, drug dealers and ex-convicts are black.

4. where the FBI or CIA are hiding in a van parked outside.

5. where girls say I hate you mum.

6. where the main character worked in Africa or Asia teaching mothers the value of breast feeding.

I’m like you. Your favourite books are a mess, all dog-eared from 20 readings. My current favourite is about things I thought I knew, like e-mail, voicemail, the computer hard drive, my internet service provider, identity theft, hyperlinks etc. It turns out they have special names. I will keep re-reading that book because I cannot afford to go Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.