Third Time's the Charm

You’re a wiley one, Anne Frank. Your diary was such a game-changer that it spawned a trillion (rough estimate here) spin-offs and observational essays. Everyone wants to give their two cents on the girl in the annex.

My sisters, mom and I are reading The Diary of Anne Frank for our book club this year month and I’ve had some difficulties getting it out of the library. The first time I put it on hold, it was some mammoth volume with essays from historians and experts and absolutely no excerpts from the actual diary whatsoever. The second time I put it on hold, I was relieved when I went to pick it up and saw that instead of being 800+ pages, it was a manageable 200 pages or so. I brought it w/ me on the train the next morning, opened it and saw a table of contents. Not a good sign; I don’t think Anne was divvying up her diary to read like a textbook. This particular edition was a bunch of history and essays about the Frank family and disputes over the validity of the diary. Strike #2.

Since I was having absolutely no luck with the online catalog, I decided I should look for the book in the actual library. I went after work yesterday, determined not to leave without a copy of this damn diary. The clerk/librarian/employee-that-hates-his-life who helped me didn’t seem to have ever heard of this book. No biggie, it’s not one of the most prominent books about one of the world’s biggest indiscretions or anything. And it’s not like he works at a place where iconic books are loaned out and he ever has the need to discuss such books. Oh, wait…

Long story short – the diary was located! It was in the upstairs section of the library, rightfully called the “attic” b/c it was dingy as shit and smelled like mold. There were literally five other editions on the shelf next to the actual diary, which warranted my visit; if I had put it on hold again, it inevitably would have been one of these impostors (and they probably would have flagged my account b/c who is honestly that interested in reading eighty three versions of a young girls diary). That Dewey Decimal was one complicated bastard.