Miss BiblioManners

What is the first thing you do when you walk into someone's house, a house where you haven't been before?

I am probably wildly ill-bred (raised by wolves in a barn with the door wide open and all...) but I make a beeline for the bookshelves. Nick Hornby said in Polysyllabic Spree that "All of the books we own, both read and unread, are the fullest expression of self we have at our disposal." (Nope, no pressure there! Excuse me while I go burn my Judith Krantz collection : ))

So I walked into David and Marisa's house last night, ostensibly to watch the SuperBowl with friends, and parked myself in front of the bookshelves. David's a sci-fi guy, not my interest, but Marisa....Marisa had books on her shelf I have 1) read and loved, 2) wanted to read and haven't gotten to yet, or 3) read, wasn't crazy about, but was thrilled to find someone to talk to about them anyway. And even better, she lent me a book at the end of the evening. Does it get any better than that, I ask you? Screw the SuperBowl (the "Pastriots" won; Simon was mad...), I came home with a Paul Theroux I hadn't read, and several author recommendations. Yay, Marisa!

I am so excited to have discovered (been pointed in the direction of) Paul Theroux. Becuase I don't have nearly enough books in my to-read pile now...

And speaking of bibliomanners and lending books, I think I have to severely restrict my booklending-out. I have too many books floating around out there that I am obviously never getting back. And it upsets me. I hate to buy To Kill a Mockingbird and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn AGAIN - I have other, new, books to spend my fifteen bucks on. But I still want to own them. And stupid me, I even lent out books that had sentimental value. Dumb. If I spent my teen years reading and rereading a copy of a certain book, I want THAT copy on my shelves, darn it! So, unless I turn Librarian-Avenger, I have to suck it up and be very very careful about lending my books. What a world, eh?