A few years ago, in what I can only be described as a very human moment, born of love, I gifted, sold, or donated all of my books.
Not earth-shattering news to anyone. Except me. In college I had majored in English (literature) so I had acquired a sizable book collection and since then, as can well be imagined, it had expanded considerably.
To suddenly live without books was difficult at best. Clearly there was no going back; any attempt to recover what had been lost would have been futile. I know, because I tried and it was. As I came to terms with the reality of the situation, I resolved to begin again: I would create a new personal library, book by book. Some of them might have once belonged to you.
Among my non-fiction selections: “Coach” by Andrew Blauner, editor; “The Vision of a Champion” by Anson Dorrance and Gloria Averbuch; and “The Runner’s Literary Companion” edited by Garth Battista. Also, Nigel Ferguson’s doorstop of a book titled “The Ascent of Money”; “My Stroke of Insight” by Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D., a book about stroke and the power of a mother’s love to nurture her child back to health, even if that child has a doctorate and is a professor at Harvard; and Paola Gavin’s “Regional Italian Vegetarian Cooking” (my Italian vegetarian friends and I recently savored the insalata di lattuga e gorgonzola). In the spring I was delighted (thrilled!) to find a hardcover Sarah Susanka trio: “The Not So Big House,” “Inside the Not So Big House,” and “Creating the Not So Big House.” The only thing better is an in-person chat with Ms. Susanka herself.
Newfound literature, language and poetry treasures include George Orwell’s “Coming Up For Air,” Anne Tyler’s “Breathing Lessons,” and “The Experience of Literature” by Lionel Trilling; “The Collected Stories” by Amy Sempl, Calvin Trillin’s “Travels with Alice” and “Les Bons Mots” by Eugene Ehrlich; Raymond Carver’s “A New Path to the Waterfall,” “100 Best Poems of All Time” edited by Leslie Pockell, The Norton Edition of Adrienne Rich’s poetry and “The Collected Poems” of Stanley Kunitz.
Just for fun, “The (Indispensable, Authoritative, Essential) Calvin and Hobbes” by Bill Watterson.
A warm thank you to the entire community for donating the books that you do to Friends of Mill Creek Library. Your books ultimately fund a wide variety of library programs; more immediately they bring untold joy to another reader. Equally, my thanks to the volunteers who collect, sort and shelve the books for the ongoing book sale, and to the library employees who graciously make the sales. Of note are the volunteers who on any given day heft, transport and organize boxes of books — and then heft and transport them back to the library in May and September for the Friends of Mill Creek Library Book Sale. If you donated or cared for any of the books mentioned here, my deep and heartfelt thanks.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Lori Alling is a member of the Friends of the Mill Creek Library. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the Friends or of Sno-Isle Libraries.
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