and so it begins...

Recently, a friend lent me a book called The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. I was apprehensive at first because even though I love to read, I wouldn't consider myself a fan of the romance genre. However, once I did start the book I found that some of the poems- and in general the way that the author describes the art of writing made quite the impression on me. So much so in fact, that I decided to start this blog about my impressions and experiences in life regardless of how mundane they may seem to others. Note: I do not consider myself to be a writer and my goal here isn't to do book reviews.


I wanted to pass along a few quotes from The History of Love that I found moving- also, I'm a hopeless romantic.

“She was gone, and all that was left was the space you'd grown around her, like a tree that grows around a fence. For a long time, it remained hollow. Years, maybe. And when at last it was filled again, you knew that the new love you felt for a woman would have been impossible without Alma. If it weren't for her, there would never have been an empty space, or the need to fill it.”

UGH Right? I loved this, and it probably has to do with the fact that I've been madly in love. I'm not talking about a passing fad. I mean the kind that you stay up late because you can't wait to start a lifetime of adventure with that someone. When in those tender moments between wakefulness and sleep, you feel your hearts beating as one, and somewhere deep inside you know that whatever faults you have can be absolved by her goodness. Unfortunately, it didn't work out. Fortunately, it didn't work out. In the words of The Avett Brothers, "... I'm a better man for having gone through it".

Another one from Nicole Krauss:

“Once upon a time, there was a boy. He lived in a village that no longer exists, in a house that no longer exists, on the edge of a field that no longer exists, where everything was discovered, and everything was possible. A stick could be a sword, a pebble could be a diamond, a tree, a castle. Once upon a time, there was a boy who lived in a house across the field, from a girl who no longer exists. They made up a thousand games. She was queen and he was king. In the autumn light her hair shone like a crown. They collected the world in small handfuls, and when the sky grew dark, and they parted with leaves in their hair.

Once upon a time there was a boy who loved a girl, and her laughter was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering.” 

The way that she writes is so wonderful, the way that she describes love, falling into love, and the after effects thereof touched me in a way that has allowed me to see more about myself and yearn to share it.


I didn't mean for this to be mushy.