The Book vs. the _Idea_ of a Book
At The Morning News, Victor LaValle’s “Scribble,” on books as objects, with a good story about getting turned down by a woman:
I shut the book. “Can I borrow this?”
She smiled and put her hand on my shoulder–so nice!–and said, “No.”
I almost dropped the book. It bobbled between my hands so she grabbed it from me and slipped it back onto the shelf, right where it had been before.