If Only There Were a Place Like That

At my old job, I used to get free books. Lots and lots of free books and the books that I didnt get for free, I got a deep discount. It was great at first but eventually I realized that I had a problem. I had a hard time throwing away books. I also found that I had hard time giving them away (I eventually settled on wrapping them up and passing them out as White Elephants at the family Xmas party). It was a LOT of effort.

As it happens, my mother had a similar problem because I kept giving her so many books. We were sitting in the kitchen one day bemoaning having so many books in our possession. "Why is getting rid of books so hard? Why cant I just throw them away? If only there was a place where one could go where one could rent or borrow books to read so that when one is done, one doesnt have to keep the book!"

My Dad just shouted in from the other room, "you mean like a LIBRARY?"

Hahaha. I thought of that because I have finally gone to the library after not going for several years. I went because I dont have the job with the free books anymore. I got *two* books.I am rather glad, now that I think about it, that when I am done reading these books, I can take them back to the library. They wont clutter up my house more than it already is.

Sherman Alexie

Sometimes it's called passing out and sometimes it's just pretending to be asleep.

Sometime ago, I had a literature class where we read a collection of short stories written by Sherman Alexie called The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. There was one day where a friend called me to tell me that a mutual acquaintance of ours had committed suicide the night before by jumping in front of a train. That very evening I settled onto my couch to do some required reading for my class. I live next to the train tracks and trains come through several times a day and, as it happens, a couple of trains went by while I was reading.

The story was one of the most powerful stories I've ever read. The things going on my real life while I read it just made it more so. The story was A Train is an Order of Occurrence Designed to Lead to Some Result which you can read HERE

Since that time. Sherman Alexie has been one of my favorite authors. I admire him. I am jealous of his gift. I find his work entertaining. He makes me think. I guess you could say that I am a big fan.

Last night, I found out that Sherman Alexie is going to be speaking at Eastern Michigan University on Monday, November 5. Better still, as far as I can tell, the event is free!