If you’re not on guard, your free time can easily become someone else’s.

... thoughts about openness and choice and joy, via the metaphor of found books, in Sam Dolnick's essay "Discarded Gems" for the NY Times morning newsletter of 24 Feb 2024:

I have found a secret antidote to all that structure, a magic portal that has no clock or key. It is a neighborhood stoop, or rather, the discarded books that gather there. For you, maybe that translates into a bargain bin or a giveaway pile; wherever you can find books that are weathered, dog-eared and inscribed to someone else. They call out to me like porch lights to a bug.

Why do I love other people’s books? Because they carry no obligation and no expectations, unlike that novel weighing down my night stand, from a friend who insisted that I love it. Or that other one, that won an award I should care about. Or the one I’ve been halfway through for a year. If you’re not on guard, your free time can easily become someone else’s.

Found books, meanwhile, are blissfully dislocated from any hint of duty or “discourse.” They are deserted islands. Population: one.

Yes! – it's all about serendipity and discovery and adventure ...

_{(cf David Copperfield Book Escape (2006-05-15), Portrait of the Artist (2007-02-08), Dirda on Books (2013-09-17), ...) - ^z - 2024-02-24}