On my bedside table, or, why I love the library

Currently reading:

The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden -- William Alexander

Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy -- Carlos Eire

A Thousand Splendid Suns -- Khaled Hosseini

The Secret History of the World: As Laid Down by the Secret Societies -- Mark Booth

How to Grow More Vegetables: (And Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains) -- John Jeavons

I have a confession. Even though I work for a bookstore, I get almost all my books through the library. My reasons for this are twofold. First, I don't want to spend my entire paycheck every week at work. I'm sure the store would appreciate it, and it would probably be a lot of fun! But that's not why I'm working there. So, no.

Second, I've gotten really picky about what goes on our bookshelves at home. We have a lot of books: floor to ceiling shelves in our family room, bookshelves in our bedrooms, shelves in our living room, all crammed full of books. (This is what happens when two English majors meet and get married: they live in houses stuffed with books.) It's great. I love it. And it's been really good for our girls: they've been surrounded by books and read to literally since day one. No wonder they're both little bookworms and reading several grade levels above their actual grade. But we're constantly running out of room, even with me constantly hauling bags and boxes of books to Goodwill, because a certain someone keeps buying more books...Okay, I'll fess up: it's me. But I don't have a problem! I can stop at any time. Really I can...

Ahem. About a year ago we put up some more shelves and I filled them like *that* and still had books waiting for shelf space, and realized that this had to stop or at least really slow down. So I went through and got rid of as many books as I could, and then instituted a 3 to 1 rule: for every 1 book purchased, 3 books need to go off the shelves and into the donate box. Wow, that sure makes a girl think twice or even three times about what she's buying. It also makes that girl get lots of advance reader copies at work and on the waiting list at the library for anything she can't get through work. (Currently #134 for Stephen King's Duma Key!)

If I really like a book -- and I mean really like, as in, I will read this over and over again AND it's something that Pete would probably like and the girls too, when they get a little older -- then I'll buy it (and then agonize over which 3 books are going to go away).

But otherwise, to the library we go. Hi ho, hi ho! And really, how awesome is the library?! Sure, you sometimes have to wait for the really popular or just-released books. But they've got lots of other books you can be reading in the meantime. And our library has this completely fabulous online system: I can and do request books online and have them ready and waiting to be picked up! I can and do also keep a book list going. And if the library doesn't have something I'd like to read, I can even suggest it for purchase. I did this with Around the World on Two Wheels: Annie Londonderry's Extraordinary Ride, by Peter Zheutlin and joy! They're ordering it. Oh, happy day.

The library. What a wonderful place. (But please, support your local bookstore and its friendly, hard-working staff too!)