“The Little Professor” writes:
“Picture me, innocently arriving home on a pleasant (for upstate NY) winter’s day, greeted by an envelope that clearly contains a book. Books, of course, are frequent visitors at my humble abode, but there is always room for one more. (Well, strictly speaking, there isn’t always room for one more. Still, I try to observe the code of hospitality whenever a wandering book is concerned.) I tote the envelope over to my dining room table and–ably assisted by the resident felines, who always materialize when there’s a package to be investigated–I open the envelope.
“Two things immediately call themselves to my attention. The first is that, yes, there is an old book in this envelope. The second is that even packed up in its protective wrappings, the book exudes an odor somewhat akin to the dirty socks worn by a marathon runner who has just finished a race in Arizona. In the middle of the summer, no less. Matters fail to improve for my poor proboscis once the book is fully denuded of the surrounding tissues; in fact, they fail to improve after I move several feet away from the offending object. Even the cats, looking dismayed, head for parts south.” ….
Read the rest here. “The Little Professor” is a great blog for book lovers as well as thoughtful feminist academics.
