Ghosts over Toast

Sunday brunch at Blu Jam Cafe with my mom. After finishing my meal and bidding farewell to Kamil (the owner) I see Shundreya leaning over an opened book while she waits for her beverages to arrive. Just her and her book out in the sunshine. Accompanying her this beautiful Sunday is a copy of Audrey Niffenegger's Her Fearful Symmetry. She has just started the book but does know that the novel is set in England, comprising of a family's ghost stories. Shundreya found out about this book at her job. She happens to work at the Barnes & Noble at the Grove. While she is not required to read the new books that come in and write up reviews and recommendations a la independent bookstores B&N do encourage their employees to read up on the current reads so that they can answer questions patrons may have about certain works.


The last book she read was Have A Little Faith by Mitch Albom, his latest work. She absolutely loved this book and admits to being a full-fledged Albom fan. She's read every one of his novels and thoroughly enjoys his work.

When asked what her favourite book was Shundreya immediately knew the answer. Most people I encounter have a hard time pin-pointing this but Shundreya was quick in coming up with hers. "Oh, I know exactly what this is. That's easy. Jazz by Toni Morrison. I first read it in college and I instantly new upon reading the final paragraph that this was going to be my all-time favourite book."

Now that is a horse of a different color if I ever saw one! I rarely meet people who refer to a book's final paragraph as the selling point. But I can see how the final paragraph is important. It's the author's final moment to speak to you. For Shundreya it is this along with the fact that she often utilizes a book's final paragraph as a monologue. "That final paragraph is everything. It has to move you." She's an actress hence it is important for her to find something that moves her and will move her audience.

As for Toni Morrison's Jazz she's read this book in its entirety only once however she regularly reads random passages and digests it for a period of time.


Growing up she remembers Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume as being the first book to make her cry. "Judy Blume really understood the angst and anxiety of that time in all our lives. She fully captured the lack of attention kids felt and I think that is what many of us could relate to her books. Dear God, It's Me Margaret...what girl didn't relate to that book! Blume spoke to us like she truly understood how it felt to be that age."

Shundreya would love to incite a similar sentiment in her own work. She's actually working on her own book about being lonely. "I want to have a discussion about the concept of lonliness. Everyone always says to write what you know. I've been single my whole life and while most people see this as debilitating they don't realize that we are all interconnected. Therefore we are never really alone. I want to tap into this universal consciousness." Shundreya laughs a bit then tells me that her book even has "walls that talk" to emphasize that one is never alone. "I want to tap into the symmetry, the balance, and the harmony around us. I'd love to move people in hopes that they see and fully understand this."