Speaking of stealing books, the novel that comes to mind is ‘The Book Thief’. This is a book about a small girl taking a book that doesn’t belong to her. The book is the undertaker’s book (“Stealing books – the clever and the stupid way,” Sept 25, Gulf Today).

Books enthrall those who allow themselves to be enthralled. But like the writer says, not all book robberies are because people are enthralled by books. There is money to be made from antique and single or first edition books. The Romanian family is an example. Who knows, perhaps the plot to steal was adapted from a book itself.

Books have been written about every imaginable thing. That’s because stories derive their flesh from life as we know it.

About stealing reference books, I believe that textbooks are very expensive. And if you have 8 semesters in college, you can’t be spending that kind of money on textbooks because you’ll be broke at the end of the degree.

Reference books in the library are a sought after thing. There are limited copies available and people vie for them. Also it isn’t feasible to thoroughly read a reference book in the confines of time and space in the library. And so, students want to take these home to do better justice at reading them.

Joyce D — By email