Turning The Page On Books

June 30th, 2006 at 11:26pm Michael Conniff 2

At a time when the Aspen Writers’ Foundation was holding forth up at the Gant, the future of books was facing a different fate down the street at the Aspen Public Library.

Spread in front of the building, blocking every possible entrance to the building, were piles and piles of books, stacks and stacks of them—on tables, in boxes, and on the ground. The rows and stacks of books were all fiction: I was figuring on a dollar or two per title—maybe three bucks tops.

“They’re free,” said a woman who works at the library.

“You’re kidding?” I said.

No kidding. The hour was late and the books were there for the taking, ready to be trundled away for the cost of carriage. Had I wanted, I could have walked away with hundreds of books—mysteries, literature, commercial fiction—you name it.

I had a few minutes and a car nearby and every opportunity to clean up. That’s what I had always done at library book sales. I walked away from the last one I went to, at the Carbondale Public Library, with two dozen books easy—all kinds.

But now, with every chance to gobble up the goodies, I was stopped cold. Walking up and down the aisles, head titled in anticipation, I could not find a single book that I wanted. It was weird. There are so many different kinds of books that I like, but the best I could do was a pair of mysteries by Robert B. Parker. That was it.

The point is I like (love) books and there was virtually nothing there for me. I heard two young girls talking Russian or something grabbing a few, but nobody else to salvage the piles. The day was done: the rest of the books were probably destined to become mulch, unloved and unread.

Up the street at The Gant, I can only hope that the writers were having one hell of a good time, but in the real world of the local library the news was not good. I honestly wish I could have been there to hear the best writers around, but instead I was picking at the detritus of our reading culture. There’s a bigger story in there somewhere, one that would make a great book.

Entry Filed under: Books, Aspen, Non-Profits, Pitkin County