Somehow the burning of millions of books felt more brutally obscene than the killing of people. All men must die, it is their single common heritage. But a book need never die and should not be killed; books were the immortal part of man.-- Robert A. Heinlein, Farnham’s Freehold (1964) –
Have a great Thursday!
On a lesser level, I know the pain a bookburner may feel. When I worked at Chapters, in Shipping/Receiving, we had to return pocket paperbacks to the vendor if they didn't sell. Well, that's not entirely true. We only needed to send back the cover. Our job was to tear the cover off and place it in the mailing bag; the rest of the book was to be torn in two along the spine, and thrown into recycling (to prevent people stealing coverless books from the garbage). I couldn't do it for the first months I was there-- my hands hadn't the power. Eventually, I was able t bring myself to do it... starting with Harlequin romances.
ReplyDeleteThey were the easiest to tear.