People often ask me what my favorite book is, and I always have a lot of trouble answering. There are so many books that have imprinted my heart and mind. Right now I’m loving Ann Leary’s The Children and Ann Patchett’s Commonwealth, but next week I’ll be touting some other titles, I’m sure.
Easier to answer is the question I don’t usually get about my favorite bookstore, which is Malaprop’s Bookstore and Cafe in Asheville, NC. I went there last weekend and was as excited as a kid in a candy store.
Malaprop’s is a down to earth place, just like the town it resides in — but has it all. Not just books, and interesting ones at that, but people on hand to talk to you about the books they have loved and you should read. My favorite thing there is the wall of books wrapped in brown paper with words written in Sharpie to suggest some of what lies beneath (see photo — “Blind Date With a Bookseller”).
The store’s name, taken from the word malaprop, alludes to that thing that happens when someone uses the wrong word for something and the sentence that results is highly entertaining. The most famous character to have this problem is Mrs. Malaprop from Sheriden’s 1775 play, The Rivals (Ex: “He’s the very pineapple of politeness”).
I have always loved malapropisms. I’ve certainly said a few of them in my lifetime (although never one so witty as the famous one from Yogi Berra, “Texas has a lot of electrical votes”). Students make them all the time without knowing, and it can be fun to talk through where and why we get the words wrong.
We all get things jumbled up from time to time. We hear things incorrectly, or translate what we hear to fit what we think we know (“The Sixteenth Chapel” instead of “The Sistene Chapel”). It’s part of being learners, of being human.
But even if we are not always aware that what we have said is not what we have meant, words matter. The best way to understand the words we say and know is to listen, question, and read. For ideas on what to read this holiday season, check out some of the best books of 2016.
