I have a friend who always buys The Catcher in the Rye when he sees it. I mean, I like The Catcher in the Rye just fine. It’s just never been one of those books for me. But I can’t say I blame him for feeling that way about a book.

Seeing one of my favorite books sitting on the shelf alone, unpurchased stirs a feeling in me. And I’m not talking about seeing your favorite book at Barnes & Noble (although God help B&N.) I’m talking about seeing your favorite book at a thrift store, consignment shop, or any other used bookseller. I’m even talking about Half Price Books. (I love HPB.)

Every time you’re at one of these places, it’s like a treasure hunt. Sometimes you come up with nothing. Other times you score big. I love to search for the good stuff.

My mom started taking me to antique stores when I was about four, so I have long loved this type of treasure hunt. And I don’t go as much as I used to, but I like to still keep my hand in.

Last night, I stopped at a thrift store, looking for a new dress. (This place has nice clothes, like really good stuff. It is rare for me to leave empty-handed.) I decided against a chambray jumpsuit (mistake?) and went with an olive green dress.

Then I walked by the book section. I figured there was time and money for a peek. I chased some poor guy past the science/mystery section to the fiction. It isn’t a bookstore, so things are a little jumbled. I stumbled across The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. It is one my favorite books. I read it first in undergrad.

It is set in India. The novel jumps back and forth in time and between characters, but the main conflict is how the caste system divides the characters. It is similar, but not the same, to the way race and class divide Americans. It is a beautifully, written book, but what moves me the most is the ending.

SPOILER ALERT. The lovers don’t beat the odds and end up happily ever after. At the end of the book, it flashes back to them at the start of everything, knowing they can’t survive together, but wanting it so badly anyway. Here they are defiant in their love, here they are not thinking of the future, here they are thinking only of the next time, here they are thinking only of tomorrow.

 

“He folded his fear into a perfect rose. He held it out in the palm of his hand. She took it from him and put it in her hair.”
– The God of Small Things

 

The beauty of this moment always struck me, as well as Roy’s defiance in ending the book this way. She too is refusing to give into outdated ideas about caste and who a person can love.

I saw the copy, hesitated briefly, and then added it to my stack. I have a copy at home, but I couldn’t leave this book alone on the shelf. I needed it come home with me. I wanted to make sure this beauty was passed on to someone else.

 

 

This week’s video is “Bachelorette” by Bjork. If you haven’t watched a Bjork video, I seriously recommend you check this one out. She makes some of the most delightful and astonishing videos. And weird, the videos are so beautifully weird. Oh and this lyric, “I’m a tree that grows hearts/One for each that you take.” Now that, my friends, is some beauty.