or, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Fear and Loathing at a Public Library Reference Desk


Hidden Pleasures

   January 15th, 2009 Brian Herzog

food porn books in a corner of the librarySo one morning this week, before we opened to patrons, I was walking around the floor tidying up.

In the furthest back corner of the stacks, the one that is most secluded and is the only place in the library we find condoms et. al., I came upon the scene pictured here.

I'm used to this corner being the place where kids go to hide, so I kind of laughed when I came across this stack of dessert books. Not the reside of illicit sex, or Playboys, or drugs, or a pile of barcodes removed from books and DVDs. I could just visualize someone tucked away, hiding their guiltiest pleasure from the world: graphic books featuring cakes, pies, ice cream and cookies.

But it makes me sad they couldn't bring themselves to check them out. Maybe the temptation to prepare these recipes would be just too much if they took these books home. Good thing the library will always be around when this patron needs another fix.



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