As longtime readers know, I love libraries. Just now I have about six books from the UC Library, three from Berkeley and another four or five from Contra Costa. But when I opened The End of Beauty, by Jorie Graham from the UC Library, I found that a previous reader had heavily underlined, parenthesized, exclamation pointed, and otherwise defaced the poems.
Okay, the weather is decidedly odd. But I refuse to jump to apocalyptic conclusions. Instead, I’ve been noodling around the web. I discovered several wonderful British blogs about books, including Harriet Devine’s blog. This led me to discover an online article about Patrick Hamilton, a previously-unknown-to-me British author. I’ve reserved two of his books.
I am a total library addict; can’t bear to pass by one without going in and browsing and taking something out. It’s sort of like dating. No commitment—you’re just borrowing a book. Then I buy the ones I want to keep, especially the best contemporary authors who need me to buy their books (like Julie Orringer and Louis B. Jones) so they can keep writing. I have two credit cards, but six active library cards—a good ratio:
And now that I can reserve books online, I have a continual stream of good books available at any one time. The more scholarly ones and obscure poets I get from UC; cookbooks, how-to, and general fiction from whichever public library near me has what I want. Continue reading “Rain and libraries”