Books

So I started reading a book.

A real book.

Actually, it started shortly after I posted about how I don’t read anymore because blah blah being a midwifery student is so busy. And I thought, really? Really really? Because I love reading. It defines me, or used to. And I thought, what about my daughters? If they don’t see me reading, what will make them readers?

So I picked up a book. It felt nice in my hands. And it was about NYC, and the Twin Towers, but not heavy-handed, just a story, a remember when kind of tale.

And then I was reading the book.  Let the Great World Spin, by Colin Mcann. It’s an amazing book. It’s smart and beautiful and heartbreaking, and it takes place in the 1970s, and okay, so I wasn’t born until 1975, but I swear I can remember the prostitutes under the Major Deegan just as he describes, they come to me suddenly, a small girl looking out the car window on a dark night and bright women under the bridge, waiting.

And: there’s a character named Tillie.

And then I idly turned to the acknowledgements at the back of the book, because of course I love reading the acknowledgments at the back of the book, and I saw there was a photo credit, so I turned to look for the photo, and it wasn’t there, and neither were 50-odd pages of my book.

Stopped me cold.

How could I keep reading knowing I’d hit a gap? I was lost. It was terrible.

I hadn’t figured my way to a solution –the chain bookstore downtown, get them to replace it, but when and with what receipt–when my wonderful in-laws showed-up. And by showed-up I mean came to town to take care of Eva & Tille while Jordan was away at a conference and I was on-call and please, could you come all the way from Ontario to help out, and, yes, they could.

And what should my mother-in-law be reading but Let the Great World Spin, and an intact version.

I’m all caught up now. Thank goodness, as it was Tillie herself whose voice was missing from my version.

Don’t let me forget to read fiction again, okay?

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