An interesting conversation

So a student comes up to me today and asks, "Mr. Adler, is it true you've read every book in the world?"

I burst out laughing, then answer, "Oh gosh no! A person could read every moment from the day they were born to the day they die even if they lived to over a hundred, and still not have read the barest fraction."

Student: "Really? They're that many?"

The scary part is that in no point during this conversation was the kid anything less than completely earnest, and was legitimately surprised when I replied "an incomprehensible amount, and that does not even include books that have been lost" after which I told them of the tragically lost Library of Alexandria.

Then, later, a different pair of students asked me if I had read every book in the library, or just most of them. Naturally I told them neither, though I could claim a decent amount of the Fantasy section.

 

For the record, I never did or said anything that could have planted the seeds for these (or past somewhat more fantastical) rumors. I tell riddles and like any good librarian make book recommendations.

My father and I just finished Nobody in Particular by Sophie Gonzales

My father and I just finished Nobody in Particular by Sophie Gonzales. 

For the record, I am NEVER agreeing to read a so-called Rom-com again unless I verify that is exactly WHAT the book is! Why? Because THIS book was a heavy emotional drama that became a prolonged heart-attack bound in paper and ink! Do not ask me why I found Princess Rosemary of Henland and Danni Blythe's absolutely forbidden relationship more stressful than the literally life and/or world-threatening tales I am used to in Fantasy, but I absolutely did. I suppose it MIGHT have to do with all the many reasons I felt Henland - or at least its paparazzi and press - ought to be burned to ground, and goodness knows I loath drunken foolery, unfeeling emotional manipulation, and obsession with scandal and duty over familial love... but still. Anyway, thankfully the ending was as cathartic as desired. A true Happily Ever After. Just as well, because anything less might have killed me.

"It's an odd and wonderful thing, to barely dare to hope you might be tolerated as you are, only to find out the real you is beloved the way the false you never was." - Princess Rosemary of Henland