The biggest mystery in my life at the moment is what's going on inside my 94-year-old mother's mind.
One thing is certain: she can no longer hold information in her head for long enough to make reading a novel a viable proposition. Which is a huge pity, because she always loved to read, frequented her local library, um, frequently, and was always a willing recipient of books as birthday and other seasonal gifts. Not any more, alas; these days she struggles to get to the end of a newspaper article, and I'm not talking inside pages of the heavier-weight broadsheets.
And as my siblings and I prepare to pack up the apartment she's been living in and move her into a very pleasant care home (before anyone thinks badly of us for not taking her to live with us, none of the three of us owns a house which would offer suitable accommodation for her), I'm moved to ask myself, how would I cope if I couldn't read?
My house is practically lined with books. Every available wall space in three rooms out of five (I don't keep them in the kitchen or bathroom) is covered in bookshelves, and half the closet space in the fifth room is full of books too. And that's not counting the trunkload in the loft space, or the boxloads in my workroom. I've read maybe ninety per cent of them (some are husband and daughter's taste rather than mine), and I probably shan't read most of them again; mostly they're there because I can't bear to part with them. And I keep acquiring more. One of the very few things I have in common with my mother, at least as she used to be, is that a book is always a welcome gift; I'm incapable, probably at gene level, of coming out of a bookshop emptyhanded; and I review for an e-zine. So the books keep coming.
Meanwhile, my mother has always had a propensity for decluttering, and her previously bulging bookcase now contains a few ornaments and family photographs. I doubt we'll find many books in the apartment. I don't even know where they went; I just hope it was to good homes.
Me, I couldn't live like that. If I couldn't read, I might just as well not be breathing. And that's the only circumstance under which I'll be abandoning my books.
Loved this post. I cannot imagine not being able to read or enjoy a book. Do you think she could do an audio book? I love audio books for when I am crocheting or driving. This post really moved me.
Posted by: Crystal Toller | October 13, 2017 at 01:42 AM
Thanks, Crystal.
Unfortunately, my mother wouldn't be able to cope with an audio book either; she can read in a physical sense, but the problem is holding enough information in her mind to make sense of the story. It's sad, but it's how things are.
Posted by: Lynne Patrick | October 13, 2017 at 08:18 AM