Thursday, July 26, 2012

PEOPLE COULD LOOSE THEIR LIVES IN LIBRARIES. THEY OUGHT TO BE WARNED. - Saul Bellow


Just returned home from a trip to the library. I had requested a book from another branch in the very extensive interconnecting conduit of the county I live in. The library system is linked to several other counties in the state of Mississippi including Ole Miss! Very impressive. I still long for a Memphis Public library card though. And I will have it in time. Mark my words!

The book is a 1934 edition of Einstein's "The World as I see it". I am blown away by the condition of the book which is very bad! you could not sell it on Amazon. If you did you would have to note that the spine is broken, front and back, the book is cracked, front and back, no dust jacket, loose pages and lot's of pen marks, bent pages and underlining. A mess! It should be out of circulation, but then again, it was the only copy in the system! Lucky me. Imagine the number of people who have held this book?

I came from " J C Fant Memorial Library, Miss. Sate college for Women, Columbia MS". 
It is second from the top of my current pile of books to read in the next several weeks.
1) Norwegian Wood -Haruki Murakami. Also borrowed from another regional library in Kosciusko, Ms. Must be read and returned by Aug 2nd, so it is first. Read somewhere that this is a very cool book. I shall report back if it indeed is cool and how long it takes me to read it.

2) The world as I see it - second because it also is from another branch and must be read by Aug 9th (I think!)

The rest in no particular order...
As I lay Dying - Wm Faulkner. Because I have just begun reading Faulkner and he is mind blowing good (so far)

The Crimson Petal and the White - Michael Farber - recommended in a book a just read (non-fiction!)

Stuffed -  Adventures of a restaurant family  - Patricia Volk. 

Slammerkin - Emma Donoghue Irish back story and I heard it was very good

Medium Raw - Anthony Bourdain - because I almost picked up this book at a Goodwill and thought instead of shelling out $2.99 I would check out of the library. Actually it was Kitchen Confidential but my library did not have it on the shelf so I grabbed this one.

That's seven books I give myself three weeks to read! Let's see if I can do it!
Do you purchase books? Amazon? Book store? Or do you head to the library?




6 comments:

alphawoman said...

I am having a very difficult time with the edit function of Blogger. It turns up totally white in my preview page! So sorry about the crummy lay out. I throw up my hands!

Nelle said...

I was in Goodwill yesterday and there were no books that I could find. Our public library has so many people who use it extensively that they now buy a dozen new best sellers and rent them to you for 25 cents a day. I have just begun to read again. Mary, have you ever invested paperback swap? Rob and I do a lot of that. We also trade books we have read with others at Rob's job. One lady buys many books and gives them to him when she is done, including the entire Wicked Series. I bought Rob a Nook for Christmas and he recently downloaded Fifty Shades of Grey for me to read. I have just begun it. It's hard for me to read now as my mind, my concentration is not what it used to be. I always have a doctor's office calling or some other distraction. When I try to pick up I have forgotten some of what I read. VERY frustrating. I know it's a stress thing and will pass when things ease up. Glad to know you are enjoying the reading now.

Nelle said...

***investigated not invested...sheesh

TARYTERRE said...

That's a bunch of heavy hitting books. Hope you reach your dealine, reading them all. My hubby and I used to go to the library together every Saturday morning. But we haven't gone in quite a while. I usually buy my books from Amazon, GOODWILL and THRIFT shops. Hardback bestsellers at GW and thrifts are only $1. GREAT deals.LOVE the quote at the top of your piece. So TRUE.

Lori said...

For the past several years I only buy a book that I know I will read again or that I want as part of my library -- because it is a collector's item, part of one of my collections, or a reference book I know I'll use more than once. I buy from Amazon, eBay, local thrift sales, etc. I like to use Paperbackswap.com for books I want to read but know I probably won't want to keep after reading once. And I LOVE my local library!!

alphawoman said...

Read Stuffed and Norwegian Wood. Einstein - well, I would have needed to take notes to understand (lol), but skimmed through some good parts regarding his philosophy on life and God. Could not get into Slamminkins and had to return rest of books to library. Read other things lol.