Books

I had no idea that Larry McMurtry was a full-time book dealer as well as a novelist. This was a fascinating look into the world of book dealing, and book collecting. I keep trying to understand my relationship with books, and it's complicated. Reading this inspired me to pay a visit to the juiciest used book shop in Pittsburgh, Caliban books. The thing I found scary about this book was how impersonal it was, how detached. In telling the tale of his life with books, McMurty speaks with so little emotion. Never does he tell a story about how books formed the foundation of a friendship, or much about anything very personal at all. And I guess book people get that way. One concrete thing I took away - McMurtry's writing habit is to get up early, and write five pages, every day, forever. This discipline is how he's written everything. When I wrote my book, I did something like that, though not in the morning. It does take some serious discipline to keep it going.