Monday, January 25, 2010

Dust Jacket Issues

<-- The dust jacket of my book is upside down.
What I mean is, I cannot put it right side up.
See, it's a Library Book and the dust cover is rather severely AFFIXED to the thing.
To rectify the problem would require a measure of surgical skill I do not possess.

The book is Death of a Murderer by Rupert Thomson.
And so I just began reading it this evening.
There I was at Starbucks [of course] and well, I should preface by saying that I rarely read a book while it lays flat open on a table. I hold it, one way or another.
Looking on, you can SEE what it is I am reading. [Getting the picture?]
Not only this, but tonight I wasn't even AT a table. I was in one of the comfy couch-type chairs at the fireplace area.
I knew it was only a matter of time before someone would conclude that I have some kind of brain disease.
I mean, dyslexic is understandable, but reading upside down?
Sure enough, I saw one or two people do a double-take. The whole experience was very distracting for me.
I even thought of going over to the shelves and getting some OTHER dust jacket off a book and putting it around this one, right side up.
People kept a wide berth around me.
"Whatever he's got, it might be contagious. I ain't gettin' any nearer!"
When I heard one man cry out to a woman heedlessly toddling towards me, "Muriel, no! Stay downwind!" I realized it was time to go home.

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5 comments:

Stefanie said...

Oh Cip this is funny! I can see how it could be distracting but what a fun mind game to play on people even if it was inadvertent!

Cipriano said...

Yep, Stefanie. I am pretty much done the book now, but this whole encounter was interesting while it lasted.
Some Librarian really goofed with this dust cover.
Would you [Librarian Extraordinaire] have committed such a gaffe, you think?

Stefanie said...

I'm sure I would never make such a mistake ;)

Alyce said...

That is too funny!

Melwyk said...

I've had to deal with this issue a few times. I can reassure you that it was no librarian who did such a thing. We get our books with the pasted on covers from a 'jobber' - a company who has minimum wage employees doing that kind of thing.