Interlibrary Loan Sharks and Seedy Roms: Cartoons from Libraryland

By Benita L. Epstein

""Sit down, my dear,"" says the fortuneteller. ""Let's see what the future holds."" She draws her robe around the chair, addresses her crystal ball. ""You're a librarian?"" she says, rubbing the ball.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786404655
• ISBN13: 9780786404650
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: McFarland Publishing
• Length: 111 Pages
• Weight: 0.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.5" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

Witty, whimsical, good-natured -- buy it!!

Attention librarians and library lovers: Benita Epstein's cartoons exhibit true wit with a whimsical, good-natured tone. If you are turned off by the many cartoonists who are preoccupied with trite or gross subjects, check out this book!

The humor comes first

There are many fine cartoons in this collection, but one sticks in my mind like an arrow in a bull's eye. It shows a librarian at an information counter, with two patrons waiting for service -- a chicken and an egg. The librarian asks, "Who's first?" A second later, the subtle, implied punchline strikes; a wonderful, somehow profound cartoon. That same style of riddle might apply to the rest of the book -- which came first, the humor or the library themes? -- but the riddle is a simple one. I know the answer. With everything Epstein draws, the wit always comes first. This is how good the book is: when I read my copy, I did so by flashlight, shivering in a house without heat (thanks to the ice storm that snapped New England into powerless pieces), and I laughed. Along with the rest of your emergency provisions, that's a book to keep at hand.