We started with this on Durant:

2520 Durant

It made me think of this:

Chaguanas, Trinidad

Or this:

V.S. Naipaul’s house, Nepaul Street, St. james, Trinidad

Between 1956 and 1960, V.S. Naipaul wrote five novels set in his native Trinidad, celebrating the culture and community of Indian immigrants.  I read these books in my twenties.  I bought first editions at Moe’s and Shakespeare’s.  I wasn’t a collector, I was a reader.  I liked the hardbacks, I liked the dust jackets, I liked the smell.

I was enchanted with the novels.  I was reading magic realism at the time.  Naipaul didn’t go there, but his slice-of-life really appealed to me.

I tried the sixth book he wrote, Mimic Men.  No humor.  Not set in the Caribbean.  It didn’t do much for me.  I tried a few more, but soon decided that the five I loved were all I needed.   Here they are:

I pulled the draft of this post up on my screen to show my friend.  He urged me to take him to Trinidad.

I don’t see it happening anytime soon, but I didn’t rule it out.  What I wanted right then was his taken on the Naipual book covers.