Book (R.J. Ellory)

Here I find a friend who does not judge. Here I find a friend who regales and entertains, who educates, edifies, enlightens, amuses, horrifies, challenges, disturbs, comforts, consoles, identifies, relates and reasons.

Here I find a friend who is there when I want them, also when I need them, and yet is absent when I desire solitude.

Here is a companion who is the very best of company, and yet does not take offence when I wish to be alone.

Each hour I spend with this friend is a transport to some other world, some other reality, and those worlds and realities can be as close or as far-removed from my own as I wish.

This friend takes many guises, and yet always appears to be the same. Time stretches and bends, distorts, returns to what it once was, and yet there is always something different. There is no exchange that has resulted in some injurious effect. The commitment of hours to this partnership are always hours well-spent, hours never regretted, because the return on the investment is not only a hundredfold, but serves to complement investments made elsewhere. From this partnership arises subjects for conversation, moments of humour, the rationale and reasons of humanity, the confirmation of one’s purposes and interests, the founding of greater tolerance and patience and compassion and comprehension. From this partnership one sources knowledge that contributes to one’s ever-expanding identity and personality.

I first discovered this friend when I was a child, and this friend has never left me, never betrayed me, never been too late, too early, never misled me, lied to me, never deserted me for another, and yet understands why I feel the need to share this friendship, and does not consider this need as anything other than a recognition of its value. The more people I tell of this friendship, the stronger the friendship becomes.

My friend is silent, and yet communicates more than anyone or anything else I know.

My friend, the book, will welcome your friendship too.

Pour citer cette ressource :

R.J. Ellory, "Book (R.J. Ellory)", La Clé des Langues [en ligne], Lyon, ENS de LYON/DGESCO (ISSN 2107-7029), avril 2014. Consulté le 20/04/2024. URL: https://cle.ens-lyon.fr/anglais/litterature/entretiens-et-textes-inedits/book-r-j-ellory-