The Book

Happy Sunday

You'd think a guy like me would have published a book by now. I have books in my bloodstream. I've always read, hoarded, coveted, and loved books — I even like to read booksaboutbooks. In fact, I would probably be working with books to this very day, if it hadn't been for a fellow by the name of Ron Reagan.
It happened like this. It was 1980 and I was looking for a job (a circumstance that's unfortunately oddly familiar right now). There was an opening at the Library of Congress in the Preservation Department — the office charged with maintaining, restoring, conserving, and rebinding books from the library's vast holdings. The conservators at the L. of C. are virtuosos of a sort. They work at the leading edge of book conservation and get to care for the nation's priceless bibliophilic treasures. Theirs was a world I very much wanted to be part of.
I had interviewed for the position twice or three times (I can't remember exactly, it's been that long) with Pet...