Library Adventures: February 21, 2024

Another Wednesday, another stint done in the Friends of the Library workroom, and another list of books to read one day. One day.

But first, a short story.

The cover of Saga of Chief Joseph by Helen Addison Howard.

The front of a Christmas card.

The back of a Christmas card.

Dear Mary Ann + Family,

Merry Christmas. It’s hard to believe that it is here already. We’re looking forward to going to L.A. We leave on the 22nd. I come back on the 29th.

I hope you enjoy this book. I started reading it + couldn’t stop until I finished it –– so if it arrives late it’s my fault.

I found it to be a very interesting book about Idaho history. Sorry again for taking time to use your present before you did.

The folks are doing fine. They’ve tried to get out of the trip a couple of times but I think they are going now.

Wish you could be with us on Christmas but we will all be thinking of you.

Merry Christmas again.

Your brother,

Bill

P.S. I fell asleep once while reading the book + bent the front cover. Oops!

 

The cover of Nicole Brown Simpson: The Private Diary of a Life Interrupted by Faye D. Resnick with Mike Walker.

Holy crap. This brought back some ‘Nam-type flashbacks. There wasn’t a kid in the States during the ’90s who didn’t endure the explosive courtroom drama of the O.J. Simpson trial. By that, I mean that we had to endure the drama of our parents having the channel tuned constantly into that media circus. We gnashed our young teeth. We begged to change the channel. I promised to do my homework on time in exchange for the chance to watch Animaniacs every afternoon.

I lifted this one, but I will return it. I just feel that my inner preteen needs some kind of solace, and perhaps seeing the other side of that story will do the trick.

The cover of At Home With the Marquis De Sade by Francine Du Plessix Gray.

Any commentary I provide will be flaccid. Let’s move on.

The cover of The Missing Reel: The Untold Story of the Lost Inventor of Moving Pictures by Christopher Rawlence.

Definitely a book I’ll have to pick up some time. This went into the boxes set aside for the sale where I hope someone will find it and enjoy it.

The cover of Harry Chapin: The Music Behind the Man by Michael Francis Taylor.

My reading tastes have become more geared towards nonfiction, and I indulge in the occasional biography and autobiography. I’ve never considered reading those of musicians, mostly because any time I’ve heard about the personal antics of musicians, it was how they wrecked a hooker-infested hotel room, flashed their genitalia to a live audience, or overdosed on the popular drug of the era. Blah. But these seem like interesting stories of remarkable artists.

The cover of Wholehearted Faith by Rachel Held Evans with Jeff Chu.

A printout of The New Yorker article The Afterlife of Rachel Held Evans.

I keep seeing Evans’s name pop up when I research books on modern spirituality and the emerging church movement, so it might be time to add her titles to my to-read list. And, look, it came with a freebie! A printout of an opinion piece from The New Yorker. Since that’s behind a paywall, I’m taking the freebie and leaving the book for the sale pile.

The cover of Revelations by Elaine Pagels.

Jackpot! I’ve listened to the audiobook versions of Elaine Pagels’s The Gnostic Gospels and Revelations and thoroughly relished them. I decided to get physical copies of her books so I can make notes and study them properly. This was going into the sale pile until Jaybles said, “Well, it’s a hardcover and it has the right price tag.” Can’t argue with logic like that.

For those of you wondering if we’re allowed to take books from the workroom: yes, we are. We don’t keep a strict inventory and the FOL heads are so overwhelmed with lack of space that they encourage us to take as many books as we want. Most books end up back in the workroom, as proceeds from the book sales significantly contribute to the library’s funding (I estimate at least $24,000-30,000 a year). Keep in mind that practices may vary among FOL chapters, so this might not be a universal solution for your book habit (although it works wonders for mine).