a little something on the Salinger Mailing List

[Sojourner]

At 07:49 AM 6/5/97 -0400, you wrote:
>Tom Harberd wrote:
>> difficult book.  But then later I read that people 
>> were supposedly buying it only to leave on their 
>> coffee-tables.  I find it hard to belive that people are 
>> really this a)dumb b)free with their cash.  #15 for 
>> coffee-table decoration?  Un-uh. 
>
>Well let's see, I guess you're in your early 20s--wait till you're older
>and more jaded, you won't find this hard to believe at all.  Just think,
>for example, of suburbanite yups buying 4-wheel drive swamp buggies to go
>to the office and the B&N. . . 
>
>	Steve Maas
>

Of course we know these types, but the worst part is that we accept this.
You can buy all the jeeps you want to and eat all the imported cheese at
Sutton Place Gourmet, but leave them books alone, non-readers!!

Books are for those who desire self-education, self-enlightenment,
self-improvement.  It is an act of completeness, to pick up a bound stack of
paper with inscribed symbols, and yet somehow "eat" the knowledge and wisdom
that the writer infused into that "book".  If you need a book to weight down
some papers, that's fine too.  Or to balance your bookshelf, or to prop up a
table, those are all fine reasons to buy a book.  Or even to look smart or
intellectual.  Just don't PRETEND you read it.  That's like arriving at
Talladega with your Eddie Bauer Ford Thunderbird and think you're ready for
500 laps just because you own the right car.  Or thinking you're good to
jump with the Golden Knights because you own a parachute signed by George
Bush.  etc. etc.

Ugh.

*pukes in a shoe*