I wish someone had told me that one day I’d own 5000+ books

Carel in his den with three of his favourite things – a book, a glass of wine and one of his dogs on his lap

“I wish someone had told me” is a series of posts that feed into our inquisitive nature at CN&CO. Each week we hear from someone in our network about something interesting or surprising that’s recently happened or occurred to them – or lessons they learnt. These blogs are a way to pay it forward and form part of CN&CO’s belief that the world can be a better place – and we all have a responsibility to make it so. This week’s post is by chief señor, Carel.

I love reading. And I am not too fussed about what I read. In fact, one of my mother’s favourite stories was that I read the Bible one year on the beach in Uvongo when I ran out of books. These days I do have a preference for non-religious books and focus on biographies, histories, travel, trashy novels and politics.

I learnt English by reading Enid Blyton books. I obtained a cum laude in English by devouring Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter’s screenplays. I get tremendous joy from reading books recommended by friends. I find it hard to be prejudiced if you are challenged by differing views in books. I love the smell of books, and how they feel. So I shun Kindle. Sitting in my library is one of the most special things I do. I have over 5 000 books and know where I bought each one and what mood I was in. Shakespeare is my hero. Authors make me weak at the knees and I am a bit of a groupie when it comes to many of them. One day I may write a book.

With all of these feelings and thoughts, it is no wonder that I wish to pay forward the absolute necessity – and pleasure – of reading. Make time to read and find the genres that move you. To get you started, here a few of my recommendations:

Anything by Shakespeare – try a few of his sonnets and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Remember that in his day he was the common man’s entertainer – and be sure to find modern day reworks of his masterpieces. Baz Lurhman’s filmed version of Romeo and Juliet is still one my best movies, ever.
Harold Pinter’s plays and screenplays – got me my Masters degree after all!
African favourites remain Bessie Head, Chinua Achebe and Ngugi Wa Thiong O. I read my first African novel when I was 17 – don’t wait that long if you can help it
Trashy heroes are Jilly Cooper, John Grisham, Jeffrey Archer
Anything on the TED book list or written by a TED speaker
The Economist and Time are my go-to news magazines. Vanity Fair and Monocle for more high brow luxury J
Poems by Mary Oliver, John O’Donohue, David Whyte
I have various version of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam – the line about how fate writes our lines and we can’t erase any of it, still speaks to me
Classics by Jane Austen and Charles Dickens still make me happy
Malcolm Gladwell’s books, especially The Tipping Point
Any of the books in my library – they all have stories and you are welcome to borrow them at any time – as long as you return them 🙂
Anything that takes your fancy in a bookshop!