This week’s Bedside Table comes from Tisbury resident Lara O’Brien.
The very best part of Christmas has been the gift of books from my children. Every year my son goes to the thrift store and buys me a classic. When he was seven he wrapped and left “For Whom the Bell Tolls” by Hemingway on my bedside table. I curled up and read right through to January 1st. I never read a “classic” until later in life and they have become jewels to me. So has my son.
This year my daughter gave me an extremely old version of “Alice in Wonderland.” I just love looking through it. It’s stained and cracked and tiny. Also on my table is Malachy McCourt’s book, which I resourced as research into the Irish in America and pub culture because I’m working on a memoir of an Irish pub on Capitol Hill called of The Dubliner, which is at the heart of the political and Irish scene there. Stories about Tip O’Neill to Paul Ryan, and about the Irish peace process to shaping immigration policy, unfold in history.
I can’t speak for my husband who lives in the world of science. He is an avid reader, so these books don’t gather dust. If I ever can’t sleep, tossing with the unnecessary worries of life, I pick up one of his books and I’m out like a light. The first sentence takes you into a world of thermodynamics and particles, and it’s not my world, it’s like entering a planet on a galaxy far, far, away, and before long, I’m in a deep sleep with the stars.
Lara O’Brien, a resident of Tisbury, is the author of the middle grade novel, “Chesca and the Spirit of Grace,” and is currently working on finding the right agent for her works of fiction and upcoming Memoir of an Irish Pub. laraobrien.com
Want to share what you’re reading? Send a snap of your bedside table with the date that you took the photo and a few sentences about what’s on it, what you’re reading, and why you like or don’t like it. While we hope you will show us your bed table as is, please note this is a family publication so before snapping your photo, we encourage you to remove anything . . . erotic . . . other than, perhaps, those lines found in the books you may be reading. Email photo and descriptions to kate@mvtimes.com.
