Book burning

I've just finished reading Edward A____on the advice of a good friend whose lit judgment I'd once believed in.

Edward A____ is a fine essayist, but as a novelist I don't know that I've ever read a more self-pitying scribbler.

I'm going to burn the novel scribbled by Edward A____by throwing it away.

I don't feel bad about throwing a book away, if I have good reason.

In the case of ditching Edward A____'s novel, the greatest motivation is that it's a poor work. The second greatest motivation is that it's cheaply made and therefore expendable. The third is that I already have too many well-written, well-made books. The fourth is that I've arrived at the position in my own life as a reader where I'm beginning to think of creating a definitive library, those books that I will leave behind when I'm no longer here to read them.

It's summer, too hot to burn Edward A____'s novel, and there are wildfires all over the west, so I'll just throw it away.

 Covers of books spared execution, August 6, 2018, from the private library of Brooks Roddan.