On Library Books.

I love the library. Growing up, I was the girl whose mother refused to drive in more than once a week. If I had been able to drive at seven — or see over the wheel, or reach the pedals, or drive stick — I would’ve gone down every other day.

Luckily, I don’t live with my mother anymore (though I still don’t know how to drive stick).  I can bring myself to the library as often as I like, and since I’ve gone a little crazy requesting titles that sometimes means a few days in a row.  I’m serious when I say “crazy.”  Let’s put it this way: the last time I went in, the librarian was surprised I was only borrowing five books.

Those five brought my stack of borrowed books up to twenty-three, all of which I lugged up to Maine with me this past week.  My goal was to get through half, and even though I didn’t, I came pretty damn close with eleven (more on those specific titles in a later post).

• American Rust by Philip Meyer
• Awake by Elizabeth Graver
• Bangkok Days by Lawrence Osborne
• The Best American Short Stories 2004 edited by Lorrie Moore
• Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater by Frank Bruni
• Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It by Maile Meloy
• Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood by Taras Grescoe
• Breakfast with Scot by Michael Downing
• Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival by Norman Ollestad
• Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals by Jane Mayer
• The Echo Maker by Richard Powers
• Everything Matters! by Ron Currie, Jr.
• The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World’s Largest Unsolved Art Theft by Ulrich Boser
• Genealogy by Maud Casey
• Generation Kill: Devil Dogs, Iceman, Captain America, and the New Face of American War by Evan Wright
• The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade by Ann Fessler
• Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz
• The Good Soldiers by David Finkel
• Green Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer, and Driving Less are the Keys to Sustainability by David Owen
• The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
• It Must’ve Been Something I Ate: The Return of the Man Who Ate Everything by Jeffrey Steingarten
• Little Children by Tom Perrotta
• The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean
• Raising Steaks: The Life and Times of American Beef by Betty Harper Fussell
• Reasons to Live by Amy Hempel
• The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
• Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
• Unravelling by Elizabeth Graver
• What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell
• The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon
• You are Not the One by Vestal McIntyre

I’m not taking bets on how fast I’ll be able to read through my stack, but I will tell you that if I feel strongly about any of the titles, you’ll be hearing about it.

Oh, and here’s my new thing with reading: if I’m not captured by the end of the first page, the book goes back.  There’s just too many books out there to read, and sometimes I just have to act like a mercenary.

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Tags: American Rust, Amy Hempel, Ann Fessler, Awake, Bangkok Days, Betty Harper Fussell, Books, Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater, Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It, Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood, Breakfast with Scot, Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival, Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals, David Finkel, David Owen, Debra Dean, Elizabeth Graver, Evan Wright, Everything Matters!, Frank Bruni, Genealogy, Generation Kill, Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village, Green Metropolis, It Must've Been Something I Ate: The Return of the Man Who Ate Everything, Jane Mayer, Jeffrey Steingarten, Joshua Ferris, Judy Blundell, Laura Amy Schlitz, Lawrence Osborne, library, Little Children, Little Sebago Lake, Lorrie Moore, Maile Meloy, Maud Casey, Michael Chabon, Michael Downing, Norman Ollestad, Philip Meyer, Raising Steaks: The Life and Times of American Beef, Reasons to Live, Richard Powers, Ron Currie Jr., Stephen Crane, Taras Grescoe, The Best American Short Stories 2004, The Echo Maker, The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft, The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade, The Good Soldiers, The Jungle, The Madonnas of Leningrad, The Red Badge of Courage, The Yiddish Policemen's Union, Then We Came to the End, Tom Perrotta, Ulrich Boser, Unravelling, Upton Sinclair, Vestal McIntyre, What I Saw and How I Lied, You are Not the One