8.06.08 WTF Wednesday

Category: dribblings

the other day at the ‘brary (shut up, justin. i know.) we had a patron at the desk who was trying to remember a book she had read years ago.

this happens all the time. and i love helping people find their favorite books. but MOST of the time it doesn’t end with a happy ending/favorite book reunion. it mostly ends up with a “christ, that was the longest 8 minutes of my life.”

because usually it goes down like this:

“i was wondering if you could help me find a book.”

“sure, whatcha need?” (note the professionalism.)

“well, i can’t remember then name of the book.”

“…okay.”

“but i LOVED it. it was SO GOOD.”

“right. who wrote it?”

“i’m not sure.”

of course you’re not. it’s your favorite book and you loved it so much that the title and author’s name didn’t seem worth noting. next.

“do you remember anything about the book?”

“it was about baseball.”

“okay, was it a biography or nonfiction?”

“it wasn’t a biography.”

“okay, so was it fiction or nonfiction?”

“what do you mean?”

“what i mean is, was it a true story or a made-up story?”

“oh! hahaha, it was fiction. sorry.”

“that’s okay, so what we have is a baseball story. can you think of ANYthing else?”

“well, the author has recently written something on the bestseller list, and when i saw his name it reminded me of that baseball book and i just wanted to read it again. i’m sorry, i know i’m not helping.”

“actually, that helps a lot. here’s a list of the bestsellers for this month. do you recognize the author’s name?”

“…no, it’s not on here.”

“well, that’s weird.”

“it might not have been a bestseller list. maybe i just saw it on something that had books that were coming out soon.”

“uh huh. so in the baseball book, what happens?”

“this kid gets hit in the head by a baseball, and… i can’t really remember anything else.”

“well, i’m looking up baseball as the subject… and all the fiction stuff is just kid’s books.”

“no, it wasn’t a kid’s book.”

she also said that the book was old, but when i asked her how old she didn’t answer. i was all, “did you read it in the last 10 years?” again no answer. she left empty handed but said if she remembered it she’d give us a call.

you can see how futile it is sometimes, right? but honestly, that lady gave us more to go on than a lot of people do. i’ve had someone ask, “hey, what was that book i read and liked so much?”

“i… don’t know?”

“can you look it up on my card?”

“do you have it checked out right now?”

“no.”

“then no, i can’t. it won’t be on your card.”

“can’t you go back and see whatall i’ve checked out?”

“no, i’m sorry, but it doesn’t work that way.”

“well, it was a small book.”

“…”

“and i think the cover was red. or orange.”

and that’s it. that’s all they remember. a color that was on the cover.

needless to say, we don’t always solve the mystery.

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