In which I am book purging

The very hardest kind of purging, don't you know? Parting with books is like parting with friends, or at least acquaintances, and shoving them into grocery bags for the trip to the library donation rack is like deliberately avoiding someone on the street to whom you really OUGHT to say hello. (I can't even tell you which books I purged because it feels like gossiping. That's not normal, right?) I'm purging from the "novels I love" shelves, from the "research" shelves, and sadly, from the "to be read" shelves. Some of those books I've had for years and honestly, if I haven't read them yet, I'm really not going to. Some were purchased when I planned to improve myself; some were given to me at trade shows, but all represent a moment when I thought I would commit the hours to read that particular book and cutting them loose feels a bit like shutting the door on a stray puppy. (I am going to the BookExpo this year with an iron resolve not to bring home ANYTHING unless it's something I would have happily paid enormous sums of money for retail. That should cut down my usual 30 pounds to something like 28...)

And speaking of BookExpo, I've been invited to sign in the ABA Lounge on Friday afternoon from 2-2:30 (May 29), so if you're in the Javits Center and the Saturday signings don't work for you, come by then! I have no idea what it takes to get into the ABA Lounge, but it sounds very exclusive, doesn't it? As if there would be bootleg cocktails and girls in fringed costumes selling cigarettes while Marlene Dietrich sings something sad. I suspect I may be romanticizing a tad. If this year is anything like 2007, we will all be gently melting into a pool of our own perspiration. I would not mind at ALL if it turns out to be 70 degrees and overcast in NYC this year!