Dust in the Wind

A

tAe wor/a'j vedt-de/u/ia aumor t'd jAe/ve'/ia Aid vooA coi/ectcffp anaaee/ia virai

do not have many books. Some years ago I made certain choices in lite, led by the idea of trying to obtain maximum quality with a minimum amount of things. This does not mean I opted for a monastic life or have stopped reading—quite the contrary; when we have the choice to possess an infinite number ol objects we have immense freedom. Some of my friends complain that because they have too many clothes they waste hours of their lives picking out' what to wear. Since I have reduced my wardrobe to "basic black," that is one problem I do not need to face.

However, I am not here to speak about fashion but about books. ' To get back to the essentials, 1 decided to keep only 400 books in my. library'—some lor sentimental reasons, others because I am always ' rereading them. This decision was made for several reasons, one being the sadness at seeing how collections carefully gathered during * a lifetime are then sold by the pound without the least respect. And I asked myself, Why should I keep all these books at home? To show my friends I am cultured? To decorate the walls? The books I have bought will be infinitely more useful in a public library than in my house. % I used to be able to say that I needed them because I was going to consult them. But today, whenever there is any need for any information at all. I connect the computer, type a.key word and •what I need appears before me. That's the Internet for you—the biggest library on Earth.

Of course I still buy books—no electronic device can possibly replace them. But as soon as I finish a book, I let it travel, give it to someone or hand it in at a public library. My intention is not to save forests or be generous; it is just that I believe a book has a course of its own and should not be condemned to remain immo­bilized on a shelf.

oeing a writer and living off copyrights, I may be advocating N against myself—after all, the more my books sell, the more money. I earn. But that would be uniair to the reader, especially in coun­tries where many government programs for library acquisitions do

not use the basic criterion for a serious choice, namely the pleasure of reading a quality text.

So let our books travel, be touched by other hands and enjoyed by other eyes. As I write this essay I remember vaguely a poem by Jorge Luis Borges that speaks of the books that will never be reopened.

Where am I now? In a little town in the French Pyrenees, sitting in a cafe enjoying the air-conditioning since the temperature out there is unbearable. By chance I happen to have the complete collection of Borges at home, a couple of kilometers from where I am writing this— he is a writer I am constantly rereading. But why not try the test?

I cross the street. I walk five minutes to another cafe, equipped with computers (a type of establishment known by the trendy and contra­dictory name of cybercafe). I say hello to the owner, order a very cold mineral water, open the page of a search program and type some words from the only verse I remember, along with the name of the author. Less than two minutes later I have the complete poem in front of me:

"There is a line by Verlaine that I'll never remember again.

There is a street nearby that is widowed of my footsteps.

There is a mirror that has seen me for the last time.

There is a door closed till the end of time.

Among the books in my library «

There is one that I'll never open again."

In fact, I probably would not have reopened the books I {hose to give away—because something new and interesting is always being published, and I love to read. I think it is vital that people have librar­ies; the first contact children have with books is usually through curi­osity about those bound volumes with figures and letters. But I also find it moving when at a book signing I meet readers with very used copies that have been lent dozens of times, which means the book has traveled like the mind of the author traveled as he wrote it.

¦JfTraiulaletl by James Atulbolland ¦

Paulo Coelbo .'• latest novel, The Winner Stands Alone, it available in bookstores now.