Tag: reviews

personal thoughts

Reading Books Can Be Just Like Meeting People

nhpureandsimple


Well… finally, I’ve finished  the book I was reading over the last month.

By the way August was  a good month with all its hustle and bustle. It’s the month of the warm, bright summer and long off work, off school break. It stirs in you that unique mixture of memories; your old time school holidays, family gatherings, and some special celebrations. Don’t you love it, even with its shocking heat waves?

Now,  back to the book: The Ambassador by Henry James. Or is it James Henry? Oh my… my brain can’t even digest the man’s name. So, this is the book that gave me a headache every time I opened it over the last month, and a few days from the month before. Have you read it? If you have, and if you enjoyed it then mes félicitations! And if you haven’t or are thinking about reading it, please go ahead, and don’t reference my experience as an excuse.

I don’t intend to share a book review in this post, perhaps I will do later on my book review blog. What I’m sharing today is the thought that struck me after finishing it: how reading books can be just like meeting people.

Have you ever experienced those feelings when you meet people for the first time? Sometimes, you feel excited, relaxed, and comfortable. Other times, you feel totally the opposite. And sometimes, you feel nothing, just neutral. That’s all expected, and that also happens when you read a book. But there’s another kind of experience, something deeper than first impressions.

The book reminds me of how you can meet others and how, for no clear reason, you choose to challenge your feelings, silence your inner voice, and keep socialising… or keep reading. As time passes, you give yourself a chance; one, two, three, maybe tens, to find something mutual, something interesting, or even honest, but … you barely find any.

But, isn’t that, in the end, why you can congratulate yourself?
Why not?
You tried to reach out. You tried to understand. And, you didn’t judge the book before reading it all.

The effort is always worthy of celebration, isn’t it? 

With hope and peace,

Nahla

Just writing

Curiosity and Adventure

nhpureandsimple


Are they closely related?

You might find yourself curious about something or someone. You might be eager to seek more details, sneaking and sniffing here and there like a cat after a mouse, and staying alert day and night like a secret detective on a top- secret mission. What you are investigating might be non of your business, or it could be part of your own business. In any case, you won’t rest, won’t give up, and will never feel satisfied until you uncover what have been mysterious for you.

Isn’t this what curiosity is? Am I exaggerating, a bit?

However, you won’t be curious unless you are interested, attached, and involved with that specific person or thing. For example, when your neighbour’s driveway is suddendly full of cars, your curiosity might soar to its highest levels. But, you won’t be as interested in a similar situation on the next street.

Hence comes the close relation between curiosity and adventure, for, of course, you won’t be glued in the spot if you’re curious about something or someone. You’ll need to move in one direction, or all directions. However, this is when problems, dangers, and mistakes become too close to happen if you’re not careful enough. Your curiosity could become like the one that killed the cat. That’s when the two cousins, curiosity and adventure, turn you blind and deaf to reason, and push you from the brink of the cliff.

Strange how both curiosity and adventure can brighten your life and also darken it!

Have you read Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier? Mary’s story might give you a living example of these two related traits?

Here’s the link for my review:

/https://nh825.wordpress.com/2025/01/27/jamaica-inn/

With all the best wishes,

Nahla