What book are you reading at the moment?

I’m reading one that I received at Christmastime, Homer’s The Odyssey. I feared that I’d be lost in all the ins and outs of the Greek gods and their impulsive interferences in humans’ lives and especially in that of poor Odysseus, but the book is a really great read, and I find myself often feeling like I’m being transported into an utterly alien and yet enchanting poetic world. A world where “Dawn’s rose fingers touch the sky...” and where characters speak with “winged words”. Such a world just resonates very powerfully within me and I’m not sure if I can explain why.

You may have had such a reaction to a recent book. That feeling of awe and satisfaction when a book just hits the spot is what we often thirst for whenever we open those first rustling pages.

For me there is another aspect to reading. I am an aspiring author. And as such I look for inspiration wherever I can find it, so why not in tried and tested literature. This idea was confirmed to me just a bit more than a year ago. It was my birthday and my husband had arranged a surprise, of sorts, for the occasion. But as the taxi pulled up outside the Helicon bookstore at the corner of bustling Patriarch Evtimii and Vitosha boulevards one crispy October evening, the thought that passed my mind wasn’t “wow, how romantic!” but rather, “what the heck is he playing at!?” My dear hubby had a rather smug look on his face as he led me through the doors of the bookstore, and I instantly felt slightly over dressed in my little black number because I had presumed we were going to have a romantic meal somewhere.

After we entered the bookstore I saw a rather curious sight... waiters... yes waiters were mingling among the books and were offering the guests appetisers and wine in tall stemmed glasses... and another sight that you don’t see every day, the Irish ambassador and his wife greeting and welcoming all the guests.

What was going on here? Well it turned out that the Irish author, the winner of the Whitbread Book Award for literature and a nominee for the Booker Prize, was visiting Bulgaria on invitation of the Irish embassy. The evening was a celebration of the first publication of her book Two Moons in Bulgarian. She was going to sign books and have a question and answer session and some of her works were going to be read by two famous Bulgarian actresses.

I was enthralled to be in the presence of a real-life author. And when it came time to ask Ms Johnston questions, the only one that I could muster out of my mouth in the presence of those 100 or so people was, “What would be your advice to an aspiring author?” Not very original, I know, but hey, I was starstruck! Her answer to me is the reason that I am devouring Homer now. She said to me: “Read, read and read. And then write!” Quite obvious really, if you think about it. She went on to explain to me how it’s only in reading good literature and even bad literature that you, as an aspiring author, find out what styles of writing you like and what styles you loathe. So hence now I know that I love such authors as Alexander McCall Smith, CS Lewis and Tolkien but absolutely loathe Zadie Smith – far too much detail, doesn’t leave much to the imagination.

Ms Johnston added that you should never throw away anything you write, even if you think it’s crap at the time, and also never show anyone your unfinished work, why, because they could offer silly and unwarranted suggestions that may put you off your course... You and you alone are the creator of your work, and you know best how things should progress, so trust yourself.

I have treasured and been truly inspired by Ms Johnston’s words and I’m sure that Eileen Sutherland, who is currently sharing her advice to aspiring authors here in The Sofia Echo (previous articles in the series are archived at sofiaecho.com), would second Ms Johnston’s advice.

Satisfying this thirst for good literature, however, has meant finding ways of getting access to books in a more speedy way than just from my trusted Amazon.com. I’ve thus discovered that there are bookstores dotted around Sofia that offer excellent selections of English books.

Knigomania, for example, has a chain of bookstores that have a very impressive stock of English books, ranging from such classic authors as DH Lawrence and James Joyce, to the Bronte sisters and Jane Austin. They also stock more modern writers and even have an ordering service for books on demand. The Knigomania in Mall of Sofia even has children’s books with classic tales from Lewis Carroll and the Brothers Grimm, to more modern story books with titles like 305 Bedtime Duck Tales, The Most Haunted House and even one entitled The Adventures of Abdi by Madonna, (yes, that Madonna!).

Their website www.knigomania.bg will give you more information on different store locations and contact numbers for special book orders, so check it out. (As a sidenote, the word “kniga” in Bulgarian means “book”.)

Pismena in the Lumiere Cinema complex (ie, the small NDK) and also the bookstore behind Sofia University have a good selection of English books worthy of browsing through. But for those of you of a more romantic nature, “you can find a surprisingly, curiously good selection at used book tables around the city”, as a friend pointed out to me more recently.

The other day I bought the Complete Novels of Jane Austin from Knigomania. And I plan, after completing Homer, to lose myself once again, and this time in the world of breeches and corsets and, of course, our dear Mr Darcy.

So, what book are you planning to read next? As I am always in search of a good book, I would be happy to hear your recommendations. Drop me a note at features@sofiaecho.com marked “For Penny”.