Bookending life, with stories

Bibliobibuli. The first time I heard this term, it sounded lyrical and whimsical. Maybe a cheeky tongue twister.

But when I got to know the meaning, I realized, I am guilty as charged.

A bibliobibuli: someone who reads too much.

The technical definition (hat tip: PRS), "to be drunk on books". The term was coined in 1957 by H. L. Mencken, from the Greek "biblio", meaning books, and the Latin "bibulous", from "bibere" (to drink).

Maybe I am part of a rapidly vanishing tribe - still lost in the magic of books that conjure up words and numbers in devious ways that find forever spaces in the dirt tracks of our memories. Letting the reels scroll by and the videos whizz past as I turn the page of my well-worn book.

Let me introduce you to three books that kept my world simple this year as it spins in a dizzying pace around me.

The Convenience Store Woman: What if your ambition was to be just that - a convenience store woman? This fiction book, through the journey of a woman who chooses that for herself questions the powerful fallacy of ambition. What if people around her do not let her believe that it can be her ambition? What if she is wasting her life? Is she? Read the slim book by Sayaka Murata for an intriguing and counter-intuitive answer.

Come, tell me how you live: I have been an avid reader of everything Agatha Christie has written, right from her crime fiction to her surprisingly insightful and yet far less known Mary Westmacott novels. This book by Christie is a reflection of her life at the archaeological digs. A personal memoir, it also shares a glimpse of the history of the time, as archaeological discoveries jostle with every day life in the far-off digs. The humor that cuts through the everyday mundane is the most striking tone for me in this powerful book.

Victory City: Salman Rushdie's latest, this is a devious tale, deliciously crafted, exposing both the undeniable power and the vulnerability of stories. Who tells stories? Who believes them? Why do we believe them? Through the veiled retelling of the origins of an ancient city, the book is a heartrending tale of crafting, telling, believing and living stories. From stories to myths and from myths to stories, the journey asks us uncomfortable questions through a seemingly simple and yet heartrending fable. The storyteller truly takes center stage here.

Here's to bookending life with more such stories. No deep reflections. Just an ode to simplicity. And the authentic connection that we make with our favourite books.