Three phone calls within the past hour. All three – “Do you buy books?”

Ah – if only they grew on trees! I could spend a few moments in the orchard every morning plucking bestsellers. But then, I suppose I’d have to spend all that extra time cleaning up trashy novels that end up dropping to the ground and rotting there.

I do buy books. I look for them all the time. Drive around looking for them. Visit garage sales and estate sales and church sales. People bring in books to sell and I buy some of them. I wish I could buy them all. Every book in the world. Then, when someone walked in asking, “Do you have that book by Norman Jacksprat?” I’d answer, “Of course I do. I have every book in the world! Now, if I only had a filing system!”

It turns out, I have a filing system (of sorts) but not every book in the world. There are some books people don’t want. Some people don’t want ANY books. I’ve had people open the door and lean in, looking around furtively, as though the books might be foaming at the spine with book-rabies ready to pounce down on any nearby head. Then, gaining confidence, the person will step inside, look at me and admit – with visible pride – “I knew someone once who liked to read.”

Now, there are the electronic books – Kindle and such. Will they make reading less scary? Will I be buying used electronic John Grisham novels?

Hard to know the future. Wait a second! I’ve got that fortune telling book in the back…

Did the Big-N know he’d be a continuing seller?