My New Best Friend

It must be the old days -- the leftover memories of blasting through those doors on the last day of school. The smell of pencil shavings and my teacher's coffee breath fading away.

I have no idea why it happens, but as soon as summer rolls around, all I can think about is what I'm going to read.

It's not as if I'll be sunning myself on the beach for the next three months. I live near enough, but am not that good at sitting still, or lying still, while slowly baking from within. I miss the roof of my old building in New York, where I used to sit in a beat-up old lawn chair, reading anything I could get my hands on.

And right on cue, just as summer was about to start, a friend told me about Book Mooch.

Have you seen this web site? Where you give away old books you don't want anymore and list the ones you want to read?

Every time you send one out, you get a point towards obtaining a book you want to read. The only cost is postage for sending books back and forth.

At first, I wondered if this was kosher, given I'm a published author, and make my living from the sale of new books only.

But finally, I realized that the endless circulation of books not only kept the spirit of reading alive, it may actually spur more sales. After all, I won't stop buying new books just because I may be able to get one for free some day.

I'm not that patient a reader, and not that patient a person.