Personal Blogs

"The Spanish girl in a museum suggested Don Quixote. 

A priest recommended The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis.

The Chinese student said, The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas.

The Swedish man in Växjö, suggested The Immigrants."

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Will you please take your eyes off that bookshelf and concentrate what I am about to tell you? This is serious stuff.

I am a solitary kind of person who needs a minimum of contact outside the company of my home.

And one of life’s great pleasures is sitting in a quiet corner with a cup of tea. No ordinary tea: it must be of good quality. I do not drink or smoke, but I do like a good cup of tea and if Sainsbury's Gold is not available, I settle for Co-op 99. Am I boring you? I guess I am.

Anyway, back to books. I cannot help it, but if I see someone sitting on the beach or a park bench or a train and they are reading a book, I must ask them what they are reading.

Last year when I was visiting a town in the Scottish Highland, I watched a man sitting reading a book; fully lost in the moment. My wife and I went for a coffee and met a friend. Well, two hours later, there he was, still engrossed in that book. I could not help it, but I just had to know what revelations held that man so much that time stopped for him. It was some book by a comedian. I did not dare to ask my next question.

What book would you recommend to me?

You see, depending on what a person is reading, I usually ask, “Of all the books you have read, what book would you recommend to me that would teach me a valuable lesson in life?”

One Spanish girl in a museum suggested Don Quixote. A priest recommended The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis. The man that knocked my door when I was 23 years old recommended the Bible. The woman on the Croatian hovercraft suggested A Gentleman from Moscow. A young Chinese student excitedly willed me to read The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and my Filipino wife recommended Noli Me Tangere ( Touch Me Not) by Jose Rizal. All good stuff that taught valuable lessons in life.

Now, what book would you the reader suggest that I read? Please tell me what country you are from and the name of the book.

Note: "Touch me not" were words spoken by the resurrected Jesus."

"Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God." John 20:17 (KJB).