Letsgoloolala with Lily Anne
Sat 14th Chez Béa
Raphael, the man who liked to smell books suggested a little display of magic. He explained that he could distinguish old books from new, while blindfolded. When travelling to France I brought three old books, all written in French. Remember that I was determined to improve my French during these four months in Perpignan!
I offered him the three older books. L’homme qui plantait les arbres by Jean Giono, Lettres de Mon Moulin by Alphonse Daudet and one by French Canadian Jacques Godbout, Salut Galarneau!
The new books included a book of poetry entitled Thinking Allowed published in 2007 and bilingual short stories Strange Fruit published in English and French and English and Spanish in 2019 by Irish author Anne Murphy.
The challenge of distinguishing new from old didn’t seem a difficult one to me but he did succeed and we applauded royally.
The atmosphere that day was friendly and light hearted. We moved to the sunbeds on the other side of the house and although I wasn’t aware of it at the time, the marriage of my young house sharer was proceeding with simplicity including a small gathering in her family home in Madrid.