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My grandfather and his books.
What associate my grandfather the most, or his most prized possession, are probably books. He always looks after them and hold every single one he owns very dearly in his heart. Ever since I was little my father’s father would teach me the importance of reading and how much it would matter to me in the future. What I can say is that I am very proud to have inherited his little library.
Each Sunday I would visit my grandfather at the other side of the city. It was long drive, but I honestly couldn’t wait to see my grandpa, and needless to say, his books. I loved his house because it was flooded with fat, old books, dictionaries and stories. There were also law and constitutional books, my grandfather was a lawyer. I love the smell of old books when you enter the house, and it feels like a place that’s completely frozen in time. Everything feels old in my grandfather’s house.
Every time I went there he’d be in his study reading Don Quixote, it was his favorite book out of the hundreds, maybe thousands books he had tucked away in shelves, bookcases and even boxes. But Don Quixote never had dust piled up and the bookmark was always in different pages. I tried to read it myself when I was younger, but to no avail, I didn’t understand any of it. So my granddad explained some bits to me, especially the most interesting ones, like the one Don Quixote fights the windmills. He always told me that scene was very special to him and was probably his favorite piece of literature he’d ever read.
I think my grandfather was so close to books because when he was younger he used to read a lot. Actually, he had no home when he came to the city and was my age, and asked to be a janitor in the UNI exchange for shelter. He stayed in the library, alone with only books to keep him company. After years of that, he read all the law books the library had to offer and took an admission exam and was allowed to study with a full scholarship.
If I was ever asked ‘well, why is the windmill passage from don Quixote his favorite one?’ I’d say that my grandfather fought his own windmills in his youth and succeeded. Maybe he liked to look back into his past to see his victories portrayed by people who may have had similar problems 400 years ago. Maybe he’s preparing me to fight my own windmills.
