Booking on the Train

On the uptown 1 Train tonight headed up to see my therapist, I initiated a conversation with a guy who intrigued me with the book he was reading. It was a dog-eared paperback copy of Treasure Island that resembled a slightly burnt piece of challah french toast in his hand.

I saw the book first, not the person. But eventually, the person became better than any book could ever be. From the first words I said to him which came without filter and backed with a smile, we immersed each other in hot conversation like two old buddies in "High Fidelity"- but about books rather than records. About the same age as moi, he told me that he wanted to re-read some books of his that he still had from 7th grade, this time using older eyes. Traveling on the local from 42nd St. to 79th St., we talked about... perspective in life, how fiction is necessary to help us make sense of reality which in turn is usually more unbelievable than fiction (to cannibalize the tired cliché), that Jules Verne was very much ahead of his time which is most evident in his books that are lost from the mindscape of the masses, that Henry Miller is seriously outdated, we agreed that a book should be read and then passed on to a friend (unless it sucks), and that if there were a moratorium on writing new novels, we would be ok living with all the body of work that exists to-date. Ok nothing super deep, but damn it felt good like a surprise breeze out of somewhere.

Descartes said, "the reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest men of past centuries." I know this because there’s a plaque embedded into the sidewalk on 41st Street leading to the New York Public Library with this quote that I walk on every day going to work.
This is only partly true because a book is only active in one direction, from author to reader. A story will always be that, as it should be. Hence, storyteller rather than…I don’t know, storydiscusser?

I ended up missing my stop at 79th Street because we were so engrossed in our discussion. Before I ran out the door at 86th, we both agreed that we were going to read more books this summer, AND have more conversations with strangers on the train.