Neither a Borrower nor a Lender Be

This is Jonathan Letham - he with the neat bookshelves in yesterday's entry - quoted in Unpacking My Library:

I hate lending, or borrowing -- if you want me to read a book, tell me about it, or buy me a copy outright. Your loaned edition sits in my house like a real grievance. And in lieu of lending books, I buy extra copies of those I want to give away, which gives me the added pleasure of buying books I love again and again.

I surely understand the idea of a borrowed book sitting as a grievance. I have one I borrowed from a neighbor, The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, that rests on my bedside table that, honestly, I do want to read, but have just not gotten around to beginning it. I really must give it back.

As for lending books, even though I now have a library lending kit of my own (see it here), I may have learned my lesson. Oddly enough, of all the books that people have borrowed - and never returned - there are two that I wish I still had. I lent Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me by Richard Fariña to a college dorm mate. Never saw it again. I doubt if I would even want to read it now, but still its loss rankles. Talk about keeping a resentment!

The other book was an early edition of Clifton Fadiman's Lifetime Reading Plan. I have since replaced it with a later edition, but I would like to have my first purchase back on my shelves. Well, just because...

I have one book that I read as a library book, The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton. I loved it and bought a copy of to give to a relative. I don't know if she ever read it or not - she said she did but she was prone to saying the nice thing which is different from the true thing. She eventually gave it back to me. I am glad to have it.

Is there a book you have borrowed and never returned that 'sits like a real grievance'? Or are your grieving the loss of a book that you lent to a someone? 

The Personal Library Kit

For all of us old-school librarians!

I have the soul of a librarian. My first job was as a Page in a small branch. I was in high school, worked an afternoon a week, and got paid fifty cents an hour to shelve books.

My mother worked in the local library system for years. Eventually she became head of one of the city's busiest branches - a job she held for over twenty years. On her last day, my father and I picked her up in a limousine and feted her with flowers and champagne.

She was a kind manager but one of her favorite sayings was, "This is not a democracy." That put the kabosh on any dissension concerning policies or duties. Nothing worse than a rebel librarian!

All this leads me to tell you about the perfect birthday gift I received from a friend who knows me, oh, too well. 

The Personal Library Kit is just the thing for those of us who miss the pockets in the back of library books and the stamped date-due cards. Here all in one compact box is a collection of items to make any librarian swoon:

20 self-adhesive pockets
20 checkout cards
Date stamp
Stamp pad
Genuine pencil

All of this old-school paraphernalia will allow me to keep track of books borrowed from my own library. 

My favorite item is the Date Stamp and I can't wait to use it soon.

Would anyone like to borrow a book?