Purging books from my inventory is a thankless task. As most readers know, I have a very small inventory as it is so to subtract books always fills me with some doubt. What if I purge this tonight when someone was planning on buying it tomorrow? Well, after several years of sitting silently on a shelf I do have some reason to believe that the chosen few will remain unsold. I pick and choose and pull and donate. I've learned not to donate to the places that I buy from because there is nothing like recognizing your old discards while bookscouting and again being inexplicably drawn in. So I pack them up and drive them to the dark edge of town as if I am callously relocating an undesirable cat and with a thud, they hit the bottom of a rusted out donation bin.

On my list tonight was American Stories: Fiction From The Atlantic Monthly. I looked it over, it's in great shape. I page through. This is simply a great collection of short stories. There are contributions by T. C. Boyle, Charles Baxter, Raymond Carver, Joseph Heller, Flannery O'Connor, Louise Erdrich and so many more. I want to keep it for myself but I confess, I just bought 2 new books over the weekend. I have a stack that is way out of control as it is. And it comes down to this: I can't. I simply cannot donate this one. I save you from the rusty bin, American Stories! Be free!