Finding a book at Hualien WOW

Afternoon sunlight falls across the bookshelf. Its blue-green paint has faded a little, and the wood shows through at the corners. One book leans against another, their spines rising and falling. Light slips through the gaps, catching a small patch of shadow at the back.

This is where Organic Bookstore finds its place in everyday life at Hualien WOW. Books share the wooden shelves with cups, models and small souvenirs of journeys. Your eye follows a little aeroplane, then drops to a title that catches your attention. A finger moves along the spine; you draw the book out. You had not meant to read it. A few pages in, you are no longer in a hurry.

A sign on the shelf reads: ‘We do not sell books. We promote reading through exchange.’ Someone who has read a book passes it on, and someone else receives it. Pages once turned beside a bed or carried in a backpack have made their way to Hualien, waiting for another pair of hands.

With a book chosen, you make your way to Wow Bar. A long wooden table runs beside the window. By the brick wall, an egg chair curves in around you. Set down your backpack, lean into the chair and let your shoulders relax. The book lies open on your lap. A fine edge of light from the window catches the paper.

When you reach a sentence you like, there is time to look away. At the grain of the table. At the leaves turning towards the window. The sentence is still with you, its meaning not quite settled. There is no need to read on just yet.

A trip usually comes with a list of places to go. Street names marked on a map, cafés saved on a phone; halfway down one street, you are already thinking of the next. For these few minutes of reading, the map goes back into your pocket. Hualien becomes a chair by the window, a patch of sunlight and the soft sound of a turning page.

It is a very small sound. You have to be close to hear it.

Sometimes a book describes somewhere far away, yet brings your own home to mind. A character speaks like a friend you have not seen in years. An ordinary supper recalls the lamp at home. You are sitting in Hualien, but your thoughts have followed the words elsewhere. When you return to the room, your hand is still resting on the same page.

An afternoon may amount to only a few pages. Partway through, you keep a finger in the book, lean back and look out of the window, thinking of nothing in particular. The sunlight has moved. The paper is a little less bright, and a new strip of light lies across the wooden table.

Hualien WOW joins the I See You Taiwan Hostel Alliance in supporting Organic Bookstore's invitation to travel with a book. Share one you have read; if you would like to exchange it, ask reception how. The one you cannot bear to part with can stay in your bag and come along for the next stretch of the journey.