海角大神

It鈥檚 been a year now since I posted a聽Chapter & Verse聽blog post declaring my New Year鈥檚 resolution to fret less about books lost from my personal library, especially those borrowed and not returned. My teenage son, Will, had borrowed my cherished copy of Ralph Waldo Emerson鈥檚 essays and lost it on a bus 鈥� something he grieved about since he鈥檚 a typically responsible young man.

鈥淚n an age when the decline of reading is often lamented, I have a teenager who聽wants聽to read Ralph Waldo Emerson,鈥� I told readers last December.聽鈥淚鈥檇 rather have my books embraced and used, regardless of the risk, than simply entombed like the heirloom china that family members revere but don鈥檛 enjoy.鈥�

Letting books go 鈥� even for a bibliophile who counts them as a treasured possession 鈥� can be liberating, I鈥檝e learned these past 12 months as I鈥檝e tried to honor my resolution. Inspired by his reading of Emerson, my son has been working his way through my books by naturalist Kathleen Dean Moore:聽Wild Comfort,聽Holdfast,聽Riverwalking,聽The Pine聽Island Paradox. He鈥檚 so in love with them that I might never get them back, and that鈥檚 OK. It鈥檚 been a joy to see him as enthralled as I am by Moore鈥檚 magical prose.

Will also recently borrowed "The Sound of a Wild Snail聽Eating," Elisabeth Tova Bailey鈥檚 chronicle of a tiny creature who comforted her through an extended convalescence. With my permission, he loaned it to a friend, and it probably won鈥檛 make it back to my living room shelf, either. Some of my other books have circulated this year, though the circle seldom brings them back to me. Slowly, I鈥檓 learning that the more you let books go, the easier it is to let them go. Practice helps.

Not that I haven鈥檛 thought from time to time about 鈥淲ould You Mind If I Borrowed This Book?,鈥� Roger Rosenblatt鈥檚 funny essay about the perils 鈥� and the promise -- of being a book lender. 鈥淚t is the supreme selfless act, after all,鈥� he says somewhat extravagantly of loaning a book. 鈥淪hould we not abjure our pettiness, open our libraries, and let our most valued possessions fly from house to house, sharing the wealth?鈥�

I suppose so. Readers are, I have found, an alternately聽 exhilarated and discouraged lot 鈥� cheered by what they find in books, yet disappointed that the community of fellow bookworms isn鈥檛 bigger.

One way for lovers of literature to widen the circle of readers is to share their books more freely, far and wide, even if it means never see them again.

Or so I鈥檓 trying to remind myself as I renew my New Year鈥檚 resolution to let my library roam a bit, assuming that parts of it will find homes somewhere else. 聽聽聽聽

Danny Heitman, a columnist for The Advocate newspaper in Louisiana, is that author of A Summer of Birds: John James Audubon at Oakley House.