Loneheart Felt the Sorrow of War
And took it, along with Charles Bukowski's Tales of Ordinary Madness. He spent six years of his youth incarcerated, and during that time read everything from books on Taoism to lock-picking to ninjas. He recommended I get a copy of Behold a Pale Horse, by William Cooper. The product description on Amazon.com says the book is about "information kept secret by our government since the 1940s. UFOs, the J.F.K. assassination, the Secret Government, the war on drugs and more.."
Brisa Found Her Brave New World
She mentioned that she'd been in mental institutions in the past, and I asked her if she'd read Susanna Kaysen's memoir, Girl Interrupted. "Yes!" she said. "That was basically my life." She said she'd been with a lot of unwell people, but that she also no longer believed in the whole field of psychiatry. "More like 'diag-nonsense,'" she said. She was very excited to find Huxley's Brave New World. She's been meaning to reread it for ages. A quote from Kaysen:
Was I ever crazy? Maybe. Or maybe life is… Crazy isn’t being broken or swallowing a dark secret. It’s you or me amplified. If you ever told a lie and enjoyed it. If you ever wished you could be a child forever..
Allen Took Still Life With Woodpecker
He said it's his first Tom Robbins, and he's looking forward to trying it out.
Halo Might Be on the Young Side for Stieg Larsson
But his dad, Hobbs, thought his mom might enjoy reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Next week I'll have something a little more your speed, Halo.
Keith Took The Eyes of the Dragon
He is a very faithful patron, and usually shows up at the same time each week to return his book and check out a new one. Happy reading, Keith.
Sue, Guest Librarian, Blogs About Her Shift
Read about Sue's latest adventures with Street Books at www.suezalokar.com
Brian, Meet Black Elk
Brian was on his way to Gresham for an appointment, but stopped to check out Street Books before he boarded the MAX. "I like real stories," he said. So we looked at what books were left after a busy day of lending and found, "Black Elk Speaks."
Tina Blew in on the Afternoon Breeze
She strolled up to the library waved her hands over the cart with her eyes closed and selected a book at random. She did that two or three times and left with a book for her and each of her children.
John Came for Some Non-fiction
He was thrilled to find a few titles he had been looking for, mostly non-fiction, like the writings of Ghandi. As he browsed the book selection, he gave me his best impersonation of Mohammad Ali. Local visiting filmmaker, Travis Shields was ready to tape John and other Street Books patron's throughout the day.
Todd Finds a Book to Fit His Fancy
Todd came sleuthing for detective stories and found one he liked.
Mark Weathers "The Perfect Storm"
Mark selected the book "The Perfect Storm" by Sebastian Junger. He's seen the movie he said, but he thinks the book will be better.
Ben Selects a 'Cold' Book for a Hot Day
Ben is a loyal patron of Street Books and shows up most days we are in operation to return his book and borrow something new. This week? Charles Frazier's "Cold Mountain."
Pamela Takes on a Cave Bear
Pamela was excited to find this copy of "The Clan of the Cave Bear" by Jane Auel. She said she hopes it is as good as "Black Boy," a book she recently borrowed from our library. She and Mark spent the day at the fountain, keeping time and reading books in the sun.
The Street Books Bicycle, With the Pit Crew
Fresh out of the Mercy Corps building this morning, this librarian discovered one very flat tire on the mobile Street Library. Fortunately help was right around the corner, in the form of Waterfront Bicycles. They have a seriously welcoming, can-do approach, and they had me biking away on a new tire in the space of 15 minutes. Plus they didn't let me pay them for labor. Hats off to the great people at Waterfront Bicycles. While I was waiting, a bearded man named Sonny said, "Are you the street librarian?" I said, "Yes," and he handed me two dollars. "For incidentals," he said. Thank you Sonny. Below: Jeff & mechanic Katherine Pauman do the hard work.
Shane Checked Out A Clockwork Orange
He approached while the Street Books bicycle was getting a new tire, and I was happy to send him along with the Anthony Burgess classic.
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Brian Returned Two, Took Two
He was sporting a very handsome haircut, but still declined to have his face in the photo. Happy reading, Brian. Always nice to see you at the Street Books library. He said he'd read The Hobbit in 7th grade, but was looking forward to revisiting it.
Dustin Came to Apologize
He said "I have some terrible news." I was finishing the check-out with a patron, so I said, "Yikes, give me a second to prepare myself." When we were alone, I took a deep breath and said, "Okay." I was pretty sure Dustin was going to tell me about one of our patrons being hurt or killed. "I totally ruined the copy of Hellboy you lent me," he said. "It got wet in the rain, and now the pages are all stuck together and it's a mess."
I just about hugged him. "Listen," I told him. "I operate this library based on the hope that patrons will do their best to get books back to me, but on the assumption that they have bigger things to worry about than that book. Please don't worry about it."
He was unconvinced. He still felt terrible about it, and wouldn't check out another book for the day. He did agree to be photographed with the library card from the Hellboy pocket, though.
Thanks again for coming around, Dustin.
