Saturday, May 26, 2007

bookworm

I looooove to read. It's my favorite hobby. I've been a bookworm since I was a little kid, and it surprised no one when I went on to be an English major in college. I still love to read. I read everything from trashy gossip magazines to, you know, real literature. The top thing I spend my disposable income on is books. Most of the time, I read one or two books a week, and that can add up.

"But Amanda," you are saying to yourself, "Why not go to the library? The books are free there, you know."

Here's the thing - I have always had a difficult relationship with the library. I have never been good at returning books on time. I remember about nine years ago when I applied for a new library card when I moved to a different town and they tracked down the fact that I had forgotten to return Hamlet to my hometown library when I was in high school. I also had my library card privileges completely revoked when I failed to return a movie that I had taken out a couple of years later. It's not that I don't want to return books and movies - it's just that I forget. Or I'm lazy.

Greg goes to the library, and recently he took a bunch of James Patterson books out for me. I just finished up the last one, and I thought, "Well, there's a good $30 saved." I decided that since I'm going to have to start spending money on big-ticket items like daycare and diapers, maybe I should try to save some money where I can.

So we headed off to the library this morning. Now that I have my brand spankin' new last name (well, not really new - we've been married for going on three years, but still, it's a new identity for this library felon) I was free to open a fresh new library account without any of my old baggage. When the nice librarian asked me if I had a library card somewhere else, I hesitated for just a second, and then said "no." I find it's good to start out a new relationship with lies.

Then I headed to the New Fiction section, and immediately found a bunch of books that I want to read that I would have inevitably purchased. I was in heaven. I know I sound like kind of an idiot - I mean, everyone knows that the library=free books - but it's been so long since I've gone to one that I kind of forgot the joy of bringing a pile of books up to the counter and walking out without having to crack open your wallet. Sure, you have to deal with other people's food stains on the pages and the books are often sort of beat up, but that didn't really dispel any of my library happiness today. And my town's library is a good one! So I'm pretty psyched. Let's hope I don't ruin everything by falling into my old bad habits.

2 comments:

Flann said...

Hah. I've been through 3 library identities in my life due to my non-returning ways. I still have a Harry Potter book from the Hartford library. Too bad I didn't change my name.

I just joined www.goodreads.com which helps you keep track of everything you read and find suggestions of new things to read based on things you previously read and liked. I'm still learning my way around, but it's pretty cool for bookworms.

The Diva said...

I have been actually banned from a Blockbuster in Chicago. I can only imagine what I'd be like at a library. I'm very proud of your community giving habits, though, and nice job saving the cash-ola.

 
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