BEEN THERE DONE THAT

July 24, 2024

BEEN THERE DONE THAT

“A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading.”― William Styron, Conversations with William Styron

Hello Everybody,

HOW MANY IS TO MANY

Speaking about books is a far-reaching and complex topic, time and energy is required if one wants to define and understand them. One sure thing we probably agreed is, that most books are conserved, stored and ultimately shared. Whether the information of a book is to inform, educate, or merely entertain, depends on the individual reading the book and the content of the book itself.

How many books had been published in the world?, It is a curious question that has been in my mind for a time now. But of course, knowing the exact number is an impossibility considering that there are books being published all the time, and I know for a fact that so many had been lost or they had simply been destroyed.

What is a book?, there are many things to consider to define in a satisfactory way the word "book", which, I am not even going to explore here. However, I can say a book, to me, is a secret weapon that protects me. A book is similar to a friend that comforts me in difficult times.

UNFAIR LIST

Today, with this letter, I'd like to make a list of fictional works that I have read throughout the years, these books had entertained me to no end, and all of them have a special place in my life. They keep inspiring me and pulling me into imaginary worlds a little bit too real. They had allowed me to travel in time and space. And I know it would be an unfair list_ but life is everything but fair, is it not?

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno by Ellen Bryson
The House At Riverton by Kate Morton
The Alienist by Caleb Carr
Love In The Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

PERSONAL INVITATION

These authors, have made me love in their books what I have overlooked in life. Through their writings, they strangely, reminded me of all the places that I have been, without ever having been there. Admonished me gently, for all the poor things I have said, without having spoken a word. Vindicated me, promptly, for the terrible things I've done, without having done anything wrong.

With the turning of each page, authors have a personal invitation into their most inner thoughts, whenever I have accepted the invitation, I have put myself at risk of being vulnerable to pain and despair. But also, they have allowed me to avoid reality while my pursuit lasted. Laughter and happiness are also up for grasp. Reading books for the sake of reading, just happens to be an activity that keeps changing my life for good.

FORBIDDEN IDEAS

Of course, we live in a world where the message of a book could be found offensive for someone or for a certain group of people. Authorities all over the globe had, at one point or another, banned books. They do that in spite of the numerous attempts to convince the population of freedom of speech. Yet, where to draw the line?, for we all know that written words are powerful.

And so, I went on a search for books that had been banned, and it was quiet an eye opener, the reasons given for the prohibition is a rainbow of excuses; which of course, some are legit, and others, not so much, depending on the country and epoch the banned had been issued.

The theses of Martin Luther in the 16th Century is, even to this days, a well known controversial writing: Once the hypocrisy, the corruption, along with all the lies were exposed, the Church needed to banned Luther's analysis.

The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (A fictional novel) had also, been banned, since represents _ the same way Luther's Theses to the Catholic Church_ an offensive message of blasphemy and apostasy, to the Muslim world, and so they say.

These are just two examples, but the list goes on and on and on, but again, we all know that written words are powerful and, therefor, can be dangerous weapons of destruction, Luther's and Rushdie's works, and every SINGLE book banned _ whether deals with religion or not_ are a direct attack ONLY on the legitimacy of whomever is in power. Oscar Wilde said: “The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.”

BOOKS VS MUSIC

I apologize if I went off track a little bit, but there are things that needed to be said, such is the extend of the topic on books.

All the literature available in the whole world, could easily match that of all the music we have access today. Perhaps is the other way around, who can tell?. Books (reading information) as well as music are an inseparable part of humanity, both are present in all corners of the earth.

I wrote this piece of music to celebrate Authors and their books, to address the effort they made to help us get to know the world, for allowing us to say: "Been there and done that" through your books. Thanks to all the authors, for sharing humor, ideas and ideologies, experiences and imaginary tales with people around the world.

Thanks for reading!

Music INFORMATION:

Source: The Wonders of Music Notebook

Key: C Major

Measures: 48

Parts: Cello and Piano

Duration: 3:37 min

Pages: 4 Pages