Dog-Eared in the Dog Days of Summer

It's Sunday and that means one thing -- Mom Day, usually lunch, a movie, shopping, hunting for desserts around town, random adventures, etc. With a tummy full of food from Barrio Fiesta in Eagle Rock I dug through my satchel for my valet parking ticket. Rather than rush over to the valet I paused. He's hunched on a crate under his giant umbrella, straw hat, engrossed in a book, not looking affected at all by the scorching heat.
Could he be my first interview?

He looks up, smiling. I hand him my ticket and I take my keys from him since my car is right next to me...I can pull out of the spot myself. Got in the car, started the engine, turned on the A/C for my mom, and grabbed my pen, scrap of paper, and my camera. I'm going in.

"Excuse me but...may I ask what you're reading?" I had opened the floodgates. His eyes light up and he's excited to share his latest literary adventures!

His name is Fidel, "like Castro!", I add. He laughs. "You know of him, eh?"

He's reading a tiny book, almost pamphlet-like. My first thought was something religious. Far from it! Fidel is reading Coleccion Marcial LaFuente Estefania -- Hombres de revolves (Ugh, can't ready my writing...could be revolver or revolucion. Looked like pulp fiction of sorts)

"It's in Spanish...about cowboys back in the day...during the revolutions. It's really fun! I love reading books like these!" He continues to tell me that he loves reading in general...like LOVES it. I ask why.
"I love learning and learning about different times. And I love finding out about new people, fake or real. The characters in books...they are us."

I say books must help him pass the time out in the parking lot.

"Oh yes it helps pass time. But I like reading more to learn how to be patient. I reflect...books show me how to treat people better." I smile.


Fidel loves reading so much that he often reads 2 books at a time! He opens his drawer and whips out a fat paperback. "I like this one...it's about dreams, many dreams. You should read it, not sure if it's in English." He pats the book before going into another car. I look at the cover while he is away.
Cien anos de soledad


"Hey! It's 100 Years of Solitude! By Gabriel Garcia Marques! I like him!" I yell it out at him as he parks a car."

"Oh! You know him? You read the book?"
"No, but I've read Chronicles of a Death Foretold. Um, Chronicles? I ...I don't know how to say that in Spanish."
"Oh ok, what's it about?"
I didn't know how to explain magical realism so I just said, "Dreamy...and magical...fantastical...you would like it. They have it in Spanish, I'm sure."

Before I got into my car I asked why he only read books in Spanish. It's easier for him and the writing in beautiful and comfortable. "The original Spanish versions are more romantic to me...like music in my ears."
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Have you ever read multiple books at one time (aside from school)? Do you prefer reading books in languages other than English?