There’s a place that lets you take home books for free. Why aren’t you there right now? | UNDERRATED column with Robert Moran
Behind those is a netherworld of junk. Beautiful junk. That copy ofa friend gifted me 20 years ago that I’m still only three-quarters through, Julie Doucet comics, collections of film criticism from Kael and Rosenbaum. I’ll probably never revisit this stuff - mainly because if I pull one book out, the whole thing tumbles like Jenga - but I like knowing it’s there.
I know why I’ve been thinking this: it’s because I rediscovered the public library. My partner and I started going there following the birth of our first kid a few years ago, mainly for their “Rhyme Time” classes where children run around in circles while a librarian mangles the clapping rhythm on. But then we remembered: the library has all the books. For free.
Yes, sometimes there’s a long queue on the reservations. For example, I’ve been waiting about three months to read the acclaimed memoirby Michelle Zauner , but I’m still just number 47 of 62 in the queue. That means 46 people, probably slow-readers all of them, are still ahead of me ever touching that book. That’s a lot of people to knock off just to save $30 and some storage space at home. But buy it on Amazon or Audible? I think I’d rather be a murderer.
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