The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, by Alain de Botton

This has been hanging around for over a month with very little movement. Throwing it back, though only because I'm just not in the frame of mind for it. It's well-written, just not a good time for me.

Free for All : Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library, by Don Borchert

Add this to the required-reading list for anyone considering working in a public library. Some of the stories I've told elsewhere about 'unusual' things that have happened in our library would fit right in here. The only real difference I see between the author's library and mine is the staffing numbers and arrangement, and the fact that it's pretty much a union shop. Otherwise...yep. I can relate to everything in the book. I even laughed at his description of catalogers, which is far from complimentary, wildly inaccurate in my experience--I would say that, though!--but funny as heck.

My only quibble: I think he must have been forced to leave out some of the Big Stuff because there were very few stories about bodily fluids--poop, vomit, blood--or animals in the library. Oh, and no one in his book ever falls off things when they are drunk. That's a semi-expected occurrence by us. ;-)