Essays, Pianos, and Drugs

Lunching on Thursday at the 8486 Cafe on 3rd and La Cienega I see Yaron walk in with a giant book under his arm. On my way out I plop in the chair across from him as he's reading and eating. I ask him what he's reading and he flips the massive book around to show me the title on the page: Cynthia Ozick's "A Drugstore In Winter". It's actually part of The Best American Essays of the Century anthology that he's reading for his English 101 class. He's a student at LACC (Los Angeles Community College) studying business. English 101 is just a pre-req.


He doesn't normally read essays. Actually his response was "Oh no no no" accompanied by a head shake. He prefers biographies or any book that showcases someone's life somehow. The last book he read was a biography on Lang Lang, a Chinese pianist. It was a recommendation from his friends because he's a pianist himself - been playing the piano for the past 10 years now! (Impressive). If he were to write his own book it would be a book of songs/music and poems.

Yaron has other favourite books. They are mostly in Hebrew and he had a hard time trying to think of their titles in English. But he does enjoy the Harry Potter books. These he read in English :) I asked him how he felt about the movie adaptations and if you could've seen the scrunched up face he made - Yaron admits that he isn't a fan of the movies and prefers the books. "It's just not the same..."

When he was younger he had many favourite books but one in particular stuck out to him. He had an older sister who had a book called "My Name Is Christina P." (he couldn't remember who wrote it and I can't seem to find it on Amazon) about a girl who goes through a drug addiction that started when she was only 10 years old. Yaron explains how the book was very controversial and his older sister had forbade him from reading it or even touching it!

Knowing that he wasn't supposed to read the book made him want to read it even more! So he stole the book from his sister one day and was automatically hooked! The book follows Christina through her drug addiction and the madness that followed. He couldn't get enough of it and was fascinated about reading about someone his age going through such a crazy rollercoaster ride of a life at the age of 10! Yaron was only 9 when he read this. :)


Was there a specific book that you weren't allowed to read as a child?

Was there an "adult" book that you read when you were younger? What was it? Did you enjoy it? Did you understand what was going on?