Paul Gallico - The Poseidon Snow Goose Adventure

As a teenager, I did a week’s work experience in the local library for a week one summer. As a voracious reader each summer, I regularly enjoyed the random set of books that I picked off the shelves.

For each morning that week, in the half hour before the library opened to the public, I had to make sure that the hardback fiction books were in proper alphabetical order. People have a tendency to pick books off the shelves, discover that they’ve more than that they’re allowed to borrow, and then put the extra one back roughly (but not quite) in the right place.

It was fascinating work ... and maybe if the IT sector collapses, I should look for a job in a library. Not that it’s exactly booming with cuts to the budgets of the soon-to-be-merged education and library boards.

As well as reading through the ten-part Mission Earth series by L. Ron Hubbard, I tucked in to some more normal tomes.

Paul Gallico is one author’s name that comes to mind. There were two of his books in the library, The Snow Goose (the story of a friendship along with a wounded snow goose being nursed back to good health) and in complete contrast The Poseidon Adventure (well known for the 1972 movie original and the 2005 and 2006 remakes – so good they remade it twice).

Since then I’ve doubled my age, but haven’t heard a thing about Paul Gallico. Never read another book he authored, or heard anyone discussing him. Maybe reading bookworms will comment on his other great works ... or reason for his lack of notoriety.