YOUR LIBRARY IS CONDUCTING A SURVEY

I just took a wonderful nap with some friends of mine; I was reading "Tishomingo Blues;" Elmore Leonard is a friend of mine. Let me introduce you to a few of my friends. I'm on the third floor of my library; SAMMY(my Samsung ChromeBook is not such a friend) is plugged into an outlet, built right into the 'corner group,' where I have spread my stuff about, like in one of my gypsy camps. I lost consciousness for an undetermined span of minutes(probably), while communing with Mr. Leonard. Also spread about here are books; several random trips, down aisles filled with my old friends, has produced an eclectic collection, now on display(the seat-backs in this 'group,' are broad and flat, designed specifically for my use, and for encouraging an impromptu survey of the books looked at by patrons in here today. Have you ever heard a librarian say, "Don't return your books to the shelves?" There are a number of good reasons for enacting such a policy; 1)patrons often 'return' them to the wrong place; locating that book now becomes a daunting task, even for a trained librarian; 2)you will create work for an intern, who is learning to locate the correct place on the shelf, for each of the abandoned books; 3)a more than casual 'taking notice' of the titles/authors found abandoned by the cooperative patrons, provides, over time, the survey results, that will determine which discontinued volumes can then be read, by inmates in our prison system(my perspective here, perhaps a bit different from yours[tru-dat!]). It is these abandoned titles, and others like them, that clutter the many book-laden shelves, here on the third floor; the poor, undisturbed volumes mixed in among them, will be systematically eliminated, by the 'system,' to make room for the kind of titles/authors 'making the survey(the route from the third floor, to the DCJF, where I may have read it recently, has many, winnowing-stages; only the least interesting books 'in the litter,' ever find their way, into the hands of an inmate).'

My having put these seven volumes, on display here today, may help keep my friends here, from doing any jail-time! Friends...  I almost forgot why I started this conversation; you've already been introduced to Elmore(wrote "Get Shorty;" Danny Devito plays that part in the film); let me introduce the others:(starting with)Anne Rice; her contribution to today's survey is "CHRIST The Lord:Out Of Egypt" and it is fitting that you be introduced to this friend of mine first. The Catholic girl, so famous for her Prince Lestat, and the chronicles of all the years, and many other Vampires, that she has imagined for us, can actually write a historical novel, with few peers; this 'departure,' from her fantastic subject matter, has brought to many of us(her true friends), a fresh perspective, on the kind of life JESUS must have led, but on CANONICITY, as well! Not to be outdone, by an unquestionable journeywoman, Kate Mosse brings to the survey, enlightenment about Carcassonne...  about the position of the women involved(in the 'primitive' Christian church...  about the surprising facts about what made 'Crusading' popular, among the thirteenth century 'gentry.' Her "Labyrinth" is one of those books you cannot put down! Douglas Preston, again in tandem with Lincoln Child, have brought their "Brimstone," to the survey-table; many other titles, with these two names on their spines, would have sufficed, for this introduction, but a homicide, apparently committed, by SATAN himself, sort of fits the bill here today. Meet Walter Mosley, author of "And Sometimes I Wonder About You" and god-parent to his invention, Leonid McGill(the kind of character, that has his fans standing in line, at their local bookstore, awaiting the arrival of another tale about him, like so many were, when this fifth one was finally released. Meet my Cajun friend, James Lee Burke, by jumping into the middle of a saga, depicting bayou life & Detective Dave Robicheaux; he has brought his "The Glass Rainbow" to the table. Stephen Frey(sounds like what I do with floured chicken parts) wants to define for us, in a legal sense, "Trust Fund." There are so many of my friends, still on these shelves; I hope none will be offended by their absence here; speaking of absence, I have befriended many of those authors, that are no longer up here on the third floor, when they finally made the transition required, to enter the prison system; though there, with me, through some unfairness that has prevailed, their presence there did not go unnoticed, nor unappreciated.