Book ’em, Benno

“Book ’em, Danno” is a stick-in-your-brain phrase

I’ve no memory for this. A book is mentioned and I’ll remember if I’ve read it, and how long ago, and whether it was paper or audio, as I also “read” about 1 1/2 books a month on CD while commuting. (There’s no best verb for drinking in a recorded book so “reading” when it’s being read to you will have to do.) Yet I enjoy seeing other people’s book lists; click here for one and here for another. It’s a less obnoxious habit than checking out a home library during a party, which doesn’t stop me.

Yes, this is an application of the Golden Rule, the sunny positive one that’s supposedly superior. It’s actually disguise for “it’s all about me me me.” The writer who writes for himself rather than for the market is taught, because it’s the only way to write well, “If I’m interested in the subject, others will be.” The world is big enough — probably just Fayetteville is big enough if not my cul de sac — for that to be true. Hence a Golden Books Rule: If a book strikes me well, then some readers may be interested in it, too.

Brick now will offer Mr. Boo Klist, my book list but named after my dad’s pet name for me, Mr. Boo. I will offer general links to books mentioned, but not to Amazon or anything like that. You know where you like to buy books. Maybe it’s a second-hand shop. Maybe you go for the ooh-la-la chairs and coffee of Billions of Books in a Barn (Barnes & Noble, Borders, Books-a-Million, Hastings). Maybe you love online shopping for price and convenience. Maybe you support your local independent bookstore. Don’t forget the library.

The problem is this short-term memory. I know what I’ve got open now:

• The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland
• The Art of Column Writing by Suzette Standring.
• I just grabbed No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy from the Fayetteville Public Library; if I’m not seeing the acclaimed movie any time soon, then why not its source?
• Oh, that’s right: The last recorded book before the current one, The Innocent by Ian McEwan, was
• The terrific The Road, the first book of McCarthy’s I’ve ever read or “read.”

I’m prevented from listing my 2007 titles, or just a select few, because nearly all of my reading and listening comes from the library, and I am not allowed access to my own records. Below is an email on this.

From: Fayetteville Public Library Questions
Date: Wednesday, October 3, 2007 1:19 PM
Subject: RE: Ask us message to Fayetteville Public Library System
Dear Ben,
Arkansas State Law prohibits the library from keeping records of the books you have checked out in the past. That option in your Patron Account cannot be activated, even if you specifically request it. We apologize! Some of our patrons keep their checkout receipts for future reference.”

I’m miffed about this. After all, by federal law everyone has access to their credit rating; privacy laws govern what others have access to. The individual should know what records are kept; the library claims it is required to delete them. You think? -30-