The Dust Jacket Dispute

There are two types of people in this world: people who keep the dust jackets on books and people who discard them. I am the former, my mom is the latter.

This difference can bring about some tension. I remember walking in on her throwing away my dad’s dust jackets years ago. That was the first time the conversation came up. She was adamant that they were a waste and I was adamant that they were essential to a book’s make-up.

About a year ago, she tossed the cover of a children’s book into the fire. My brother Ryan overreacted and pulled it out. I’m still not sure what was going through his mind, pulling out a flaming paper, but he did it. He ended up throwing it on my mom and her arm hair got scorched off. I personally thought it was KARMA. You don’t throw away book covers.

The great debate continues. Our house is currently in a state of disarray as we are remodeling. During the course of the remodel it was decided that new carpet should be installed in 2 out of 4 bedrooms. I think we all know what that means…packing. That’s right. I am currently in the middle of packing up my small library of books and transporting them to a separate room. I now understand why people are buying electronically. This is how I was greeted when I arrived home from the gym:

Mom (opens the front door abruptly): HI! Dad thinks you’re going to be mad at me.

Me: Ugh. Oh. What did you do?

Mom: I had a fun idea! So you know how you have A LOT of books? You know how you like to see people’s books out when you go to their homes?

Me: No. No. No. I see where this is going. Where did you move my books?

Mom: I put them on the shelves in the living room. It’s so cute.

Me: No. No. No. YOU TOOK THE COVERS OFF!

Mom: Right. I don’t like them. I have them all upstairs. You can have them back when you leave.

Me: Where am I supposed to put 20 book covers? No. We’re moving them back. Let’s go.

Me: Wow. Selfish.

Me: Are you kidding me? YOU TOOK THE COVERS OFF!

Dad: See. I told you not to touch them. Didn’t I say that she wasn’t going to handle this well? Should have listened.

I know you’re impressed by my reading choices. In my defense 1776, East of Eden, Pride & Prejudice, and the classic Charlotte’s Web were in the pile I’m holding…The camera just didn’t capture those.