Against the grain

Some things just go against the grain. Like leaving food on your plate at a restaurant without taking it home, or having to throw away food that's still good. I can only throw food away when it's really bad already. I discovered something else today that goes against the grain. Our shop often returns books that are out of print. The publisher instructed us, this time, to only send the cover and title pages and leave the rest. As I'm watching my colleague rip the insides of the book out I just can't help thinking it's just not right. All the effort and money that went into writing, printing, publishing and shipping the book, and now it is just being ripped out and used in a bonfire for all I know! It's just wrong. When my husband lays down a book (open) on its pages I preach to him about how it damages the spine, and scramble to find a bookmark and rescue it before it's too late.

Mom: your lessons and warnings on how to treat books correctly have definitely been ingrained in me forever.