I'd known about Richard Preston's The Hot Zone since high school, at least, and had always wanted the read it. There was just one problem: I couldn't bring myself to touch the book. Whenever I saw it at a bookstore or library, I'd stand in front of the shelf, wringing my hands and wondering how I was supposed to take it down, much less read it. The rationale (if you want to call it that): by touching The Hot Zone, the Ebola virus would seep through my fingers and, in a matter of hours, I'd be ravaged by the disease before dying in extreme, horrifying pain. When I finally read the book a few years ago, I did so wearing rubber gloves.

I also have a big problem with library books. This is why I don't have a library card: whenever I think about library books, I think about all the people who've touched them. I imagine someone coming out of a restroom without washing his or her hands and then wandering into the H section, taking down an Ernest Hemingway novel, then putting it back. (I realize this should hold true for bookstores as well, but neuroses never make sense.) Or I imagine someone taking a book home and reading it while sick with the flu, or while spending some uninterrupted quality time in the bathroom, or after an evening of wall-thumping, Iron-Man-marathon, keep-the-neighbors-awake sex.

(Inspired by ...)

Comments

[Courtney]

God, I'm never going to look at a library book the same way again.

[Alli Rense]

I like library books for a similar sort of reason. I like to think about the other people who have read and enjoyed the book before me.

But lately I've been buying the books that I read because a) I often like to reread. I have a horrible memory for stories and it's often just as good the second time around, b) the bookstore is easier to get to, and c) the library rarely actually has the book I want on shelf.

[bookslanduk]

I read it long back referring to the library. and i recommended many to read these books. some times these stuffs can be even available in online book store