this intrigued me:

sitting in the stacks amid the smell of dusty paper and buckram, she began to envision a kind of parallel library, as if the society’s could somehow dream itself a new existence...

i also found this amazing... how could it be...? a book locked in a vault for 23 years...?

its description [this is a story about a nearly 100-year-old book, bound in red leather, which has spent the last quarter century secreted away in a bank vault in switzerland. the book is big and heavy and its spine is etched with gold letters that say “liber novus,” which is latin for “new book.” its pages are made from thick cream-colored parchment and filled with paintings of otherworldly creatures and handwritten dialogues with gods and devils] reminded me of the prospero's books ones. you can read all about it [here]

and, finally, proof that books are, indeed, dangerous tools (as i claimed at some moment or other): "according to the consumer product safety commission, some 10,433 injuries were caused by books, magazines, albums, and scrapbooks - which sounds bad until you consider that another 9,081 were caused by toothpicks or hors d'oeuvres picks." (ny times, 9.20.09)