This week at the university seems to be going crazy, because it is the time people should be finally “delivering” their papers for the masters or pdh´s. It is a strange feeling to watch the air of anxiety and, at the same time, the air of relief. I must say, as I couldn’t delivery my own paper yet, that I just felt quite jealous of observing those beautifully printed papers. I´m just getting there, I know I am.
Only today I found out why we need so many copies of it: 5 copies in paper - to be more specifically - and 2 more in cds. Well, some of them will stay at the university and some of them will be going to the National Library in Lisbon. I felt like “wow, really”? It seems to be a quite important matter.
It means, as the way a Portuguese guy put it, that “we are now gonna live forever” in these publications. It is almost like writing a book - I guess you just suffer the same way - or the verb “deliver” wouldn’t work as a metaphor for both terms – writing (a paper, a thesis) or a book.
Now, speaking about books…I actually don’t know if it is because I have been spending so much of my time inside libraries, but I grew such a passion of being around books. By saying that, I just don’t get how people can actually be able to ready an “e-book” on computer. Well, I cant. It is so strange to me not feeling the smell of old or new pages, not being curious to get to the next page. Maybe I am just way behind the evolution of technology, though i must say I love computers to play games and watch music videos on youtube. But, sometimes, i´d rather be in company of a book.
Being around books, physically or spiritually (when I think through and through about some stories), brings another fact: everytime I go to the malls I enjoy spending my time at bookstores, especially if there´s also a stationary store inside it. Oh, how I love all the colorful and neatly organized shelves of notebooks, pens, pencils, markers and moleskines...they make me calmer! :)
I have a very nice history with books, because I developed the love of reading since I was a child. Later, as I was growing older, books were my company at school (at a time of my life in which I was very shy and lonely). I remember that at 16 I started reading Fernando Sabino, still one of my favorites Brazilian writers. One of my great memories of this time was that I used to spend my Saturday afternoons inside of my hammock reading my fave Sabino´s book: O menino no espelho. He was from Minas Gerais and I remember now that I would have loved to be born there just to be like him. He is still such a wonderful storyteller to me:
The master Sabino...
Since I met my husband – at the time he was only my boyfriend at college – he influenced me to read another kind of book: the comic books. Before that I already loved Peanut´s strips, but I just read them at internet. He showed me the marvelous universe of Spider-Man stories, especially the universe of 60´s decade when spidey just started being a superhero and was written by Stan Lee and drawn by Steve Ditko. Although my knowledge about comics is not big we still spend some time talking about the stories he reads from Marvel and DC.
The web-head!
In my teen years I already had decided that I would like to be an English teacher someday, although i could never imagine that i would end up dedicating my life to literature. It is still a very pleasant surprise to me, although it is all the same a very tough life. But i like it and i feel that i´m still gonna like even more, for the rest of my simple life.
Amê, your work is going to be on the National Library?! How nice! Very cool [and scholar] indeed.
ReplyDeleteI feel the exact same way about e-books! Nothing compares to the feeling of a real book. I also love spending time on libraries. I, as Borges once said, believe that heaven is a library.
I’ve read some of Sabino’s chronicles last year. He’s really a marvelous writer and I hope I get to read more of him in the future.
PS: I love the way you write in English. It feels so natural. Luv u.