Dear Sir, once more:
I wrote to you a couple of months ago about the problems of lending favorite books (namely 5 Novels) to friends with mental problems. An interesting turn of events occurred, and I thought you might be interested in how you figured in there.
My friend chose, for no apparent reason, to begin talking to me again. She invited me over one weekend, and while we were hanging out, she said, “I have your book. I’m never going to read it, so I might as well give it back.” She then retrieved it for me. We weren’t doing anything, so I said, “Let me read Young Adult Novel to you.” She said, “The whole book?” I said, “Just give it a chance.” So I started off. When I finished chapter 3, she said, “I love this book. I can’t give it back right now.” And she did not. Since then she’s improved a lot, and she’s talking to me more, and while I can’t definitely say that it was your book that did it, there’s always that possibility. To the average person, this might seem like a trivial event, but I thought, “If I were an author, and there’s the chance that my book helped a semi-unstable person who I had been previously notified of, well, you know, I would want to know.” So now you know. And I am quite grateful. Thanks.
Have you considered that by hanging out with your friend, and reading to her...getting her involved with an engaging piece of writing...that you were making contact with that part of her which is trying to heal, and giving it some stimulation and nourishment? It's not the specific book, it's your generosity of spirit that may help her.
