And in the Russian roulette of daily newspapers, I am presented with a column on the first day of the year. The day of hope, wishes, cleaning, lists, promises, forgiveness, promises of forgiveness, hangovers after euphoria and idleness before the triumphant return to the old life. I would like to be at a party by random whim, but I almost feel guilty because I, from São Paulo with few friends (sorry for the pleonasm), occupy the noble space on the most inspiring day of the year.
- Tania Marie. The star of “The Secret Agent” hailed by the American magazine: “A great authority”
- New Year. Learn about Ecuador’s New Year’s tradition of burning dolls and masks on New Year’s Eve
I sit down to write without a plan, and I realize that this is the first in my 52 years that I have started like this, as I begin this text, without a plan. Until the first year, we meticulously followed the plans made day after day by our mothers. Now that she’s gone and the plans are gone, maybe it’s time to invest in the counter-plan, or the no-plan. To be less São Paulo, less Capricorn, less methodical, less strategic and, 15 or 20 days a year, less me.
Perhaps being less is the plan. Talk less, think less, judge less and (ok, courage): read less. Yes, because I cannot forget the day when, after an intervention in a book fair in Bonito, Mato Grosso do Sul, in the middle of the year, the young man who had the most questions among his friends, sharp and full of wit, approached them to make a confession: “I have only read one whole book in my life.”
We judge people by how many books they read, and we feel even worse that, even trading sunny days for cool rooms, we don’t read as much as we’d like. We cling to the idea that only great readers will be truly worthwhile people. And then, while talking with this young man, I understood that his sensitivity was shaped by the story of his own life. While his friends who made fun of him read, he lived.
I thought about the obsessive relationship with books and how we are not subject to some kind of bookocracy. Is it worth more who reads more? What will it be? At the same fair I met teenagers who wouldn’t put down their books even to watch the debates. When I tried to talk to them, two or three times, it was a monotonous, disinterested tragedy. There was a grammatical repertoire, but there was no life.
I have a lot more to say on this subject, but space is running out. Too bad, I would like to continue. And to think that a few minutes ago I didn’t even have a plan. May 2026 be like this, with fewer plans and more surprises along the way.
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