Out of Print

                                              Out of Print

Yesterday….

On our fidgety elevator, I cradled The Power Broker in my left arm, juggling my bag and keys in my right   (eager to release the weighty tome to the re-cycling table in the lobby….)

A sudden deja vu:

It was maybe five years ago that I toted Caro on this same elevator

When a lovely woman (we had been on nodding acquaintance) got on and exclaimed:

“Oh, isn’t he remarkable! That book was the highlight of my journalism seminar!”

 

Thus, another brief encounter that fueled so many subsequent exchanges and a warm connection.

How many connections…in the elevator, in the subway, on the beach….have been forged by a spontaneous response to the sight  of a well-remembered book!

(You know where this is going!)

We used to feel we knew someone by what they were reading.

Dostoevsky or Danielle Steele??

Whole life stories were woven from these fleeting observations.

Now, of course, we only see the Kindles….with nary a clue to character, or idiosyncrasy, or affililiation.

Lost stories, lost conversations, lost friendships!

Oh, Gutenberg, you should be with us in this hour!