Before leaving on vacation, I went to the shelf in my local library
that has books about book-collecting. I picked up a copy of "Booking
in the Heartland" by Jack Matthews. I have been rewarded by reading
about Mr. Matthew's particular specialty in collecting and how he
values books. I guess I knew this book was different - the first
sentence is "Everyone's life is an evasion."

This is not a book about finding rare first editions at lawn sales but
rather about treasuring a book-club edition ex-library book titled
"Herzog" by Saul Bellow. A postcard from Mr Bellow to the librarian
explaining that the use of Zanesville in his book was purely
accidental was found by Mr. Matthews stuck in the pages. The book had
been deaccessioned by the Zanesville, OH library.

Mr. Matthews finds value in the books he collects by using them to
shed light on cultural events and forces that no longer exist.

If you enjoy reading books about book-collecting with a different
spin, read this.

Art Layton
Stamford CT
(on vacation)