The Book-Giver

I have a friend who is a really good book-giver.

I'll refer to him as the Book-Giver.

He is, as you might guess, a giver of books.

But he is not simply an average  giver of books, he is a really good giver of books.

(By the way, I think gift-giving is an art.  My mother is a superb gift giver because she always gives me exactly what I need.  My Dad was also a fantastic gift giver because he always gave me what I wanted but didn't need.  Different philosophies of giving.  Both sound.)

If gift-giving is an art, then I think book-giving the highest form of art.  Like the best symphonic music.  Or the best sculpture.  Mozart.  Schubert.  Bach.  Britten.  Michelangelo.  Donatello.  Rodin.

The Book-Giver is so special to me because his book-giving is unpredictable and his inscriptions meaningful.   I think the surprise of receiving a thoughtfully-inscribed book  makes all the difference.  I enjoy reading (and thinking about) the inscriptions as much - or more - than reading the text.

That's because the inscription anchors the book in time and space.

Inscriptions add context.  And emotion.   And joy.  And, sometimes, inscriptions resurrect the sorrowful memories of those we've lost.

(My friend Leonard Tremble gave me a book of quotations as high school graduation gift in 1986.  Leonard died in 2004 and I miss him dearly.  Leonard had a large and deep scar on the bridge of his nose caused by a German soldier who shot him as he rowed a small canvas boat across the Waal River attempting to capture the Nijmegen Bridge in September 1944.  [You can read more about Leonard on p 463 of Cornelius Ryan's magnificent A Bridge Too Far.]  You see?  That's context.  Context.  That book ceased to be just an average book of quotations many years ago.  Now it's about Leonard, his nose, the boat, the sniper, and the other exciting stories Leonard used to tell.  The book is now more than a book.)

I suspect that the Book-Giver is reading this blog entry.

If you are, thanks.  Thank you for instilling in me the love of a good book, a good inscription, and the ability to see how something as simple as a book is really much more.  I guess it's true that you can never read the same book twice.  We are ever changing.

I appreciate you, Book-Giver.

I suspect that many, many others do as well.

Dinner table question of the week:

You have witnessed a man rob a bank.  But then, he did something completely unusual and unexpected with the money.  He donated it to an orphanage that was poor, run-down and lacking in proper food, care, water and amenities.  The sum of money would be a great benefit to the orphanage, and the children’s lives would turn from poor to prosperous.

Would you:   A) Call the police and report the robber, even though they would likely take the money away from the orphanage, or  B) Do nothing and leave the robber and the orphans alone?