Twee Israeli writer and NPR darling Etgar Keret has a terrific piece on the website Tablet about how he used to dedicate his books.  Essentially, he’d create intense narratives for each patron who wanted his book signed, and offer a glimpse of his fake relationship with the reader through his inscription.

In the piece, Mr. Keret reasons that most notes on the inside covers of books are so dry that a fictional well-wishing would be much more interesting. The process sounds thoroughly amusing, if not slightly exhausting. 

A few examples he offers are:

“To Danny, who saved my life in the Litani. If you hadn’t tied that tourniquet, there’d be no me and no book.”

“To Mickey. Your mother called. I hung up on her. Don’t you dare show your face around here anymore.”

Some of his customers weren’t exceedingly amused by the practice, and one such message earned the author a slap. This still didn’t dissuade him from writing the following in the book of a “tall guy with [a] Marine buzz cut”:

“Bosmat, though you’re with another guy now, we both know you’ll come back to me in the end.”

Yikes! Mr. Keret has a reputation for being deficient in the tact column. He was tapped to write an article for an Israeli newspaper shortly after the country’s flotilla raid and turned in a piece lampooning his lack of access to government officials. 

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