Used Books, Annie Dillard, and the Vanity of Life

Send us Fan MailEach year at this time, our town holds a used book sale at the local library. Like Jesus’ sojourn in the grave, it usually lasts for three days. Hardcover books sell for two dollars, softcover books are a dollar, and paperbacks are fifty-cents. On the third day, the books aren’t resurrected. They are left on the lawn for those who pass by to take home for free. I look forward to the sale everyyear. As a reader, I love it. Especially on the third day, when I can take asmany books as I like for nothing. I’ve found books by my favorite authors,Bible commentaries, even a few obscure reference books. But as a writer, thesale always makes me a little melancholy. There is something about theexperience that always makes me think of the grave. I recognize many of the names onthe books. I can remember shelving them when I was a student in seminary andworked for B. Dalton Bookseller at a local shopping mall. There are books aboutleadership, books about spirituality, cookbooks, and out of date computermanuals. There are novels, of course. Boxes and boxes of novels and series ofnovels. Almost any type of book you can imagine. Many of the titles I see as I wander among the boxes were the “it books” of their day. At one time they graced the shelves of bookstores or in someone’s home, with shiny jackets and unfrayed corners. Now, cast down from their former glory, they lie discarded on the library lawn. No one will buy them, even at a discount. You can’t even give them away. After a few days, the remainders will all be consigned to the recycling bin. I suppose this view is pessimistic. Some would marvel at the longevity of these books. After all, these are only the books that didn’t get sold. A few days earlier hundreds of people were handing over their dollars and quarters and extending the shelf life of these old books. They carried them away by the bagful. Many of the leftovers still found a home. The day after the sale, I saw a woman crossing the street with both arms loaded down with free books she had retrieved from the library lawn. So what if the leftovers are recycled? Recycling is good for the environment. But I find myself wondering how the authors would feel to see their books in the sale. Maybe they would be happy about it. After all, the more popular the book was in its day, the more likely it is to end up in some used book sale. Most writers want to be read, even if they don’t get the proceeds from the sale of their used book. Besides, all the books in the sale were purchased by somebody at some point. Everybody wins in the end. Still, there is something about the library book sale that reminds me of the Preacher’s lament in the book of Ecclesiastes. It all seems like vanity. When the Preacher speaks of vanity, he’s not talking about pride but futility. “Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body,” he says in Ecclesiastes 12:12. “The more the words, the less the meaning, and how does that profit anyone?” he complains in Ecclesiastes 6:12. “There is nothing new under the sun,” he says (Ecclesiastes 1:9). As I scan the spines of thesebooks, I see names that I recognize and wonder whatever happened to them. Some arestill writing, of course. Some are dead. But many have passed into obscurity.Their fifteen minutes of fame is over. Some are easily forgotten, but othersdeserve better. On more than one occasion, after the sale is over, I’ve comeacross books by Annie Dillard in the discard pile. She’s one of my favorite authors,and it disturbs me to see her work lying there. I feel that I should rescue it,even though I already have copies at home. Would she be bothered to see herbook lying abandoned in the grass?  A while back, I read an article in The Atlantic, which purported to explain why Dillard doesn’t write anymore. But after reading the piece, it seemed to me to be only a survey of her work, mixed with speculation and a few back-handed compliments.Dr. John Koessler is an award-winning writer and retired faculty emeritus of Moody Bible Institute. John writes the Praying the Word column for the Lifeway publication Mature Living and is the author of 16 books. His latest book, On Things Above: The Earthly Importance of Heavenly Reality, is available from Amazon.  You can learn more about John at https://www.johnkoessler.com.