So, tell me, what books haven't you written?

My son sent this link to an August 2, 2004, article on the BBC web site. It's about two librarians, inspired by a novel by Richard Brautigan, who went around England asking people if they'd ever thought of writing a book and if so, what would the book be. Their research resulted in the Library of Unwritten Books.

No, really, they wrote these book ideas out and published at least some of them as booklets "distributed to libraries, pubs, community centres and doctor's waiting rooms."

You can read some of the unwritten books--in this case, that's not an oxymoron--here.

I have mixed reactions to this.

On the one hand, lots of people have one book in them, I suppose. On the other, most people should keep their book ideas in them. You know, save a tree. And even if a book is published in electronic form, an unwritten and unpublished book that someone decided not to present in condensed form may save other things, like our brain cells. There are books I've read during my lifetime that, I'm sure, actually depleted my brain power and, in the case of some assigned college reading, temporarily decreased my will to live.

Oddly enough, I woke up yesterday with an idea for a book, a novel. In that place between sleep and wakefulness, I worked the whole thing out in my mind: cast of characters, pacing, dialogue, denouement, and who I'd want to star in the movie adaptation. But then I woke up. I realized that here was a book that not only would remain unwritten, but deserved that fate.

Of course, five years from now, when I get wind of a bestseller about to be turned into a movie starring Brad Pitt (not my choice for the star, by the way), I'll have a sensation mixing vindication and regret. I'll tell my wife, kids, and friends, "I had an idea for a book just like that back in 2009." And my wife, kids, and friends will say patronizingly, "I'm sure you did."

Sigh.

What books haven't you written?