Books

I’ve read a couple more books that I should blog about, and in the interest of procrastinating, I will explain why I’m reading what I’m reading.

I’ve already complained about the fabulousness of goodreads.  I get on goodreads and end up adding more books to my ‘to-read’ shelf, and now it has over a hundred books. Working the day job, working the part-time job, and editing The End of the World Sucks, take up a bit of time so that hundred books will probably not decrease.

The other problem is my local public library.  I live in a one-mile square town, which they call a city, and the library’s not that big.  The old building it was in was smaller, but the empty shelves in the new space have been filled.  Also, living in a small place means that their budget is what their budget is.  

Before I get to the problem, let me say that the size of the children’s section is as large as adult library, so kudos to that.  Also, on the adult side, the Young Adult section has grown tremendously.  I’m especially impressed with the growth of the Young Adult section because my library is located between the city high school and middle school – one building, three distinct entrances.  Good stuff.

Anyway, knowing the limitations of size and money, I don’t mind waiting to receive a book through the interlibrary loan program. When the state cut funding for that program, it is one of the two times I called Gov. Christie’s office to voice my objection.  Funding was restored (I doubt my call alone did it, but getting what I asked for both times means I don’t have any tirades against Chris Christie).

Things were great again at the library, and I was getting my interlibrary loans.  Then, I had trouble finding anything from goodreads last month, so I asked for interlibrary loan slips and got a reply of ‘it’s $1.00 per book requested’.  Huh?  Am I in my town’s free public library asking to borrow a book?  They've sort of set it up that a patron would need interlibrary loans to read a complete series - for example, they own books 1 & 5 of The Game of Thrones series. 

It’s only a dollar, but if I pay it that commits me to wanting to like a book, and being overly critical if I am disappointed.  For now, I’ll stick to the mainstream books available there, and start scoping out libraries in another program that allow me to borrow books in-person from their library through a reciprocal borrowing priviledge – though not all have their card catalogs on-line, including my home town. 

This also leads me back to the quandary of why I started writing.  I was laid off from my job, while online much of the day, I went back to reading fan fiction.  Reading fan fiction, I found some stories great but others lacking, and so I started writing something I’d like to read.  About a million words later, I got a full-time job again.  Then I heard about NaNoWriMo, and thought 50,000 words, no problem.  It’s a mixed blessing, if I had more to read, then I wouldn’t write so much – there’s also the chance that I might be writing something similar to another book unknowingly.

UPDATE JULY 10:  My local library is no longer charging $1 per book for interlibrary loans as of July 1st.