I Only Read Used Books
Three Horses by Erri DeLuca is a book about a man who is trying to escape a tormented life, by travelling to the far side of the world, where he'll find love.
It's a tale about what we leave behind, and how, however hard we try, some of it always follows us.
And finds us.
Wherever we are.
It's a story about wanting to start a new life.
In a new place.
With a new conscience.
A story where we don't see violence.
But we sense it like a background noise.
One where passion explodes to fuse together two souls.
And where an unlikely friendship will save a dream.
But will take a life.
Alberico Collina
"I only read used books.
I lean them up against the bread basket, turn the pages with one finger, and they stay in place, so I can chew and read at the same time.
New books are petulant. The pages don’t stay down after you turn them. They resist and you have to press them flat.
Used books have loose bindings. The pages go by without springing back up.
So when I go to the tavern at noon, I sit in the same chair, ask for a soup and some wine, and read. Novels of the sea or mountain adventures – never stories of the city, which already surround me.
I look up when a glint of the sun reflects off the windowpane in the door. Two people come in, she wearing a hint of wind, he a hint of ash. "
from Three Horses: A Novel by Erri DeLuca (translated by Michael F. Moore)
ORIGINAL VERSION (in Italian)
"Leggo solo libri usati.
Li appoggio al cestino del pane, giro pagina con un dito e quella resta ferma. Così mastico e leggo.
I libri nuovi sono petulanti, i fogli non stanno quieti a farsi girare, resistono e bisogna spingere per tenerli giù.
I libri usati hanno le costole allentate, le pagine passano lette senza tornare a sollevarsi.
Così alla trattoria di mezzogiorno mi siedo alla stessa sedia, chiedo minestra e vino e leggo.
Sono romanzi di mare, avventure di montagna, niente storie di città, che già le ho intorno.
Alzo gli occhi per un po’ di sole riflesso nel vetro della porta d’ingresso da dove entrano in due, lei con aria di vento addosso, lui con aria di cenere."
Three Horses by Erri DeLuca is a book about a man who is trying to escape a tormented life, by travelling to the far side of the world, where he'll find love.
It's a tale about what we leave behind, and how, however hard we try, some of it always follows us.
And finds us.
Wherever we are.
It's a story about wanting to start a new life.
In a new place.
With a new conscience.
A story where we don't see violence.
But we sense it like a background noise.
One where passion explodes to fuse together two souls.
And where an unlikely friendship will save a dream.
But will take a life.
Alberico Collina
"I only read used books.
I lean them up against the bread basket, turn the pages with one finger, and they stay in place, so I can chew and read at the same time.
New books are petulant. The pages don’t stay down after you turn them. They resist and you have to press them flat.
Used books have loose bindings. The pages go by without springing back up.
So when I go to the tavern at noon, I sit in the same chair, ask for a soup and some wine, and read. Novels of the sea or mountain adventures – never stories of the city, which already surround me.
I look up when a glint of the sun reflects off the windowpane in the door. Two people come in, she wearing a hint of wind, he a hint of ash. "
from Three Horses: A Novel by Erri DeLuca (translated by Michael F. Moore)
ORIGINAL VERSION (in Italian)
"Leggo solo libri usati.
Li appoggio al cestino del pane, giro pagina con un dito e quella resta ferma. Così mastico e leggo.
I libri nuovi sono petulanti, i fogli non stanno quieti a farsi girare, resistono e bisogna spingere per tenerli giù.
I libri usati hanno le costole allentate, le pagine passano lette senza tornare a sollevarsi.
Così alla trattoria di mezzogiorno mi siedo alla stessa sedia, chiedo minestra e vino e leggo.
Sono romanzi di mare, avventure di montagna, niente storie di città, che già le ho intorno.
Alzo gli occhi per un po’ di sole riflesso nel vetro della porta d’ingresso da dove entrano in due, lei con aria di vento addosso, lui con aria di cenere."
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