Recently I’ve been thinking about a couple of things that happen to me quite frequently. There’s nothing particularly uncanny about them, but they are a little strange.
Firstly, when I’m reading, I often stop in the middle of a chapter, rather than at the end. And when I pick up the book again, perhaps days later, my eyes are immediately drawn to the exact place I left off. Sometimes, I go back a couple of paragraphs to make sure that I’m right, but I always am.
And when I’m browsing a newspaper, I may suddenly decide to read an article which normally wouldn’t attract my attention, but which turns out to include something relevant at that particular time. For instance, last week I was looking for a bed-time book, and picked up Hilary Mantel’s memoir Giving Up the Ghost to re-read. The same evening, I came across a newspaper interview with Amy Tan, in which she was discussing her favourite books. Umm, not compelling, I thought, and turned the page – but immediately I turned back and read that one of the author’s favourites was Giving Up the Ghost. Continue reading