Last Saturday night I discovered I could reserve books online at my local library. And that they were no longer charging any fees to do so. So I decided to take the opportunity to reserve all the books I could never find at the library because they were always out (like anything by Jodi Picoult) or were located at another branch. I may have gone a little overboard.
By Sunday morning I had an email telling me that 2 of the books were available for collection. I went in and picked them up - a Jodi Picoutl (Vanishing Acts) and 'Pretties' by Scott Westerfeld, the second book in a fantastic trilogy about a futuristic society recovering after the Rusties (that's us) have destroyed the world with a man-made oil bacteria and beautiful white orchid that has become a weed, preventing the growth of other plants. It's kind of an updated Brave New World written for teenagers and it is fantastic.
I finished 'Pretties' on Sunday.
By Sunday evening I had another email from the library. A further 14(!) of my reservations were available for collection, including the 3rd book in the Scott Westerfeld series. Monday morning I had an email, advising me that 2 more books were available for collection.
I finished a mystery-thriller by Jonathan Kellerman (Devils Waltz) that I had borrowed from the library before these reservations, and began 'Vanishing Acts'. I was too late to collect any books from the library (which closes at 6pm on Mondays) but was able to return my 2 completed books.
Today I logged into my email to discover there are now another 2 books waiting for me! I can go to the library tonight (as it is open until 9pm) but how am I going to face the librarian picking up 18 books? Even worse, how am I going to carry them all home on the tram? And read them by all by the due date? I can only keep the books that someone else has reserved for 3 weeks.
And there are still another 12 books on my reservation list that haven't even come in!
I feel a little like I do when I have over-indulged buying excessive amounts of yarn and am facing the credit card, or have eaten an entire block of dark Lindt chocolate on my own. A little sick.
There can be too much of a good thing.
Edited to add:
I went to the library tonight and nearly died of embarrassment. I sorted through all the books that arrived and divided them into two piles. I took out 9 of them and then asked the librarian to return the other 9 to the stacks. I also cancelled all my other reserves in the queue. A total of 12 books over the next 3 weeks may be almost manageable.
By Sunday morning I had an email telling me that 2 of the books were available for collection. I went in and picked them up - a Jodi Picoutl (Vanishing Acts) and 'Pretties' by Scott Westerfeld, the second book in a fantastic trilogy about a futuristic society recovering after the Rusties (that's us) have destroyed the world with a man-made oil bacteria and beautiful white orchid that has become a weed, preventing the growth of other plants. It's kind of an updated Brave New World written for teenagers and it is fantastic.
I finished 'Pretties' on Sunday.
By Sunday evening I had another email from the library. A further 14(!) of my reservations were available for collection, including the 3rd book in the Scott Westerfeld series. Monday morning I had an email, advising me that 2 more books were available for collection.
I finished a mystery-thriller by Jonathan Kellerman (Devils Waltz) that I had borrowed from the library before these reservations, and began 'Vanishing Acts'. I was too late to collect any books from the library (which closes at 6pm on Mondays) but was able to return my 2 completed books.
Today I logged into my email to discover there are now another 2 books waiting for me! I can go to the library tonight (as it is open until 9pm) but how am I going to face the librarian picking up 18 books? Even worse, how am I going to carry them all home on the tram? And read them by all by the due date? I can only keep the books that someone else has reserved for 3 weeks.
And there are still another 12 books on my reservation list that haven't even come in!
I feel a little like I do when I have over-indulged buying excessive amounts of yarn and am facing the credit card, or have eaten an entire block of dark Lindt chocolate on my own. A little sick.
There can be too much of a good thing.
Edited to add:
I went to the library tonight and nearly died of embarrassment. I sorted through all the books that arrived and divided them into two piles. I took out 9 of them and then asked the librarian to return the other 9 to the stacks. I also cancelled all my other reserves in the queue. A total of 12 books over the next 3 weeks may be almost manageable.
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