You all have a favorite book, yes? It can be "Goodnight, Moon" for all I care, (it is deceptively symbolic) but you have one... right? How many copies of that book have you owned?
My favorite book is Pete Hamill's "Forever". It was recommended to me 7 (yikes!) years ago by a guy I was working with in my life as an actor. This particular gentleman also has the distinct honor of introducing me to a certain nerd with whom I would begin a relationship and about whom I would start to blog. Remind me to buy him several beers.
I devoured "Forever". Pete Hamill, over the course of his distinguished career, wrote for/edited the New York Post, The New York Daily News, and The Village Voice. This man knows New York, and wrote a sprawling novel that begins in Ireland several centuries ago and ends in modern day New York City. I am being purposefully vague. This book moved me. I have been trying to share it with, or possibly thrust it upon, pretty much everyone I like ever since.
I have purchased several copies as gifts, including sending a copy to my brother, who was deployed at the time. I have loaned it out more times than any other book in my memory. [Side bar: I'm not great at loaning books to people. I am meticulous with my books. As a child, I brought old books to donate to the library and they told me they only wanted used books. My mother had to tell them that I had read them all several times. I do not break the spine, I do not dog-ear a page, and I certainly do not make notes in the margins, not even in pencil.] That I have wanted so passionately for people to read this book that I have given it up so often is kind of a miracle.
The first copy I lost was to a guy. (Wah wah). We had been on one or two dates, and we were talking about books, and I loaned it to him. His mother was a librarian!, I thought, How could I go wrong? I never saw him, or the book, again. [Another side bar: He acted like a jerk and *then* I decided to never see him again. I don't think it was a great book-stealing scam or anything.]
I bought a second copy. I loaned it out again, to my nerd, among others. This copy was returned to me several more times, until I handed it over to a friend. Several weeks went by, but I thought nothing of it. One day, I received a package in the mail from Amazon. Inside was a copy of "Forever", alongside a copy of "Bright Lights, Big City." There was also a note that said (and I paraphrase), "I damaged your book in a New York City rain. Here's a new copy, and as a thank you, a copy of my favorite New York City book." That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you borrow a book.
I read "Bright Lights..." and enjoyed it. I was getting ready to re-read "Forever", my first time reading this new copy that had come to me. A friend of my nerd's was over the other night, and we were talking books, and I sent him home with my copy of "Forever" instead. Will I see it again? Probably. But if not, I think it's pretty clear that I don't mind spending 15 or so dollars on the same book every once in a while.
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