Cover to Cover

I love our library! Here's the thing. I used to go there ALL the time when my kids were little (way pre-internet days for researching). But even then, I never used to go for me.

I was watching an episode (no, I think it was the movie--the first one, didn't see the second--nor did I want to) of "Sex in the City." There's a scene when Carrie's in bed with Big reading. He says something like "Are you the last person in New York still taking out library books?" She answers, "I love the smell..." The book cover crinkles. That scene had been floating around in the back of my mind for quite awhile. I kept picturing her smelling the book & the sound that the pages made when she turned them--quite romantic.

So the next time I heard about a book I wanted to read, instead of buying it, I actually went to the library to see if they had it. They didn't. I had to reserve it. There were a gazillion people on the waiting list, BUT it turns out that there were a ton of copies and my wait wasn't that long. Either got a text message or email when it was available and they held it for me. And it was the HARD COPY! The kind with the cool, cellophane-wrapped cover on it! Just like Carrie's in the movie!

So I got lost in the book, read a lot of it on vacation. It actually felt kinda cool carrying around a library book. Guess what? I'm on the waiting list for another one. Hope it has the cool cover and smells like the imaginations of everyone who read it before me!

And, oh yeah...you can check out five DVDs at a time for FREE! (Just don't return them late; It's $1 a day late fine if you do.) And my other obsession has been books on CD for my drive to work (unfortunately, not at the Beach). And music CDs too!

More about my love affair with the Beaches Branch Library to come.