Who would dare?
The New York Review of Books Blog has posted an essay by Roberto Bolaño about stealing books. It's excerpted from a book of essays called Between Parentheses: Essays, Articles and Speeches (1998–2003), to be published in late May.
I used to be a fairly good hand at shoplifting books, at just about the same time in my life that he was doing it. I think some of it was even inspired by Camus, starting with The Plague. In fact, after finishing The Plague, I distinctly remember stealing The Rebel. Never finished the fucking thing, but I carried it around for about two years.
I don't do it anymore. For one thing, I'm not nearly as desperately broke as I was. For another, I've got access to a good library now. But I'm not ethically opposed to the idea. Sure as hell not in chains, anyway. I guess I'm against it in independent bookstores. Real independent bookstores, anyway, not the kind that act just like a chain.
Chris La Tray wrote this on his blog recently:
I see a lot of calls to support independent bookstores, local businesses, etc. Sometimes I think the call to support independent artists gets overlooked. Support your independent artists, people!
Not gonna name names, but I get sick of that call from book and music stores that don't do shit for independent artists. They're fine to steal from, go nuts. Somebody even told me about one bookstore around here where they charge writers to let them give readings. I'd say that'd be a good place to steal from. Or even set on fire, your choice.
Anyway, the essay:
The books that I remember best are the ones I stole in Mexico City, between the ages of sixteen and nineteen, and the ones I bought in Chile when I was twenty, during the first few months of the coup. In Mexico there was an incredible bookstore. It was called the Glass Bookstore and it was on the Alameda. Its walls, even the ceiling, were glass. Glass and iron beams. From the outside, it seemed an impossible place to steal from. And yet prudence was overcome by the temptation to try and after a while I made the attempt.
