Beg, Borrow, or Steal

A reader/writer's dream come true....

Ok, maybe not "steal." But "beg" or "borrow" is perfectly acceptable. 

Since I'm not working full-time right now, I have had the luxury of reading tons and tons of books, but I've not had the income to afford to buy a brand new (or even used) hardback every time I am ready for the next title on my list. So, I've happened upon this magical place called the Knox County Public Library. Who knew? 

I am guilty of having purchased new books from my local Borders or Barnes and Noble over and over again, for no good reason, when the same books are available -- FREE -- from my nearest library branch. And, I can log-in online at home, browse the catalog, place a hold on a title, have them transport it to the location just down the road from me, and then they send me an email when it's ready, and I just go and pick it up. Genius!!! Why has it taken me so long to STOP buying new books and just borrow them from the place down the street? I've even gotten into checking out audiobooks, too, so that I can listen to them any time I've got a road trip, which saves me from spending gobs of money on iTunes getting new music or buying audiobooks online. There is absolutely nothing wrong with reading library books (except for the mysterious brown smudge on page 144 of Pretty in Plaid -- which I really hope was chocolate). And, I've yet to miss any of the books I've read and taken back to the library. Meanwhile, I've got piles of previously-purchased books sitting around here that I'll never re-read that cost enough cumulatively to finance an entire event season. *kickself*

Thanks to my newfound stash of literary goodness, I have hours and hours of free reading ahead of me, so I'll share the book list I've started to keep track of all the items I plan to check out over the next few months. Most of these have been recommendations or titles I've seen mentioned on any of the several social/gossip and "chick lit" blogs that I frequently peruse until my eyeballs bleed. So, here's my current list. I add more and more to it everyday; but, if there's something I never get tired of, it's reading!

Past Imperfect (Fellowes, Julian)
Titanic's Last Secrets: the further adventures of shadow divers John Chatterton and Richie Kohler (Matsen, Bradford)
A Nose for Justice : a novel (Brown, Rita Mae)
Rage Against the Meshugenah : why it takes balls to go nuts : a memoir (Evans, Dan)
Stupid and Contagious (Crane, Caprice)
Forget About It (Crane, Caprice)
The Professors' Wives' Club (Rendell, Joanne)
Crossing Washington Square (Rendell, Joanne)
Out of the Shadows(Rendell, Joanne)
A History of the Walker Foxhound (Maddux, Bob Lee)
The Department of Lost and Found (Scotch, Allison Winn)
Time of My Life : a novel (Scotch, Allison Winn)
The One That I Want : a novel (Scotch, Allison Winn)
The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein: a novel (Ackroyd, Peter)
It's About Your Husband (Lipton, Lauren)
Mating Rituals of the North American WASP (Lipton, Lauren)
Cheerful Money : me, my family, and the last days of WASP splendor (Friend, Tad)
True Prep : it's a whole new old world (Birnbach, Lisa)
No Ordinary Joes: the extraordinary true story of four submariners in war and love and life (Colton, Larry)
The Recessionistas (Lebenthal, Alexandra)
Jackie as Editor: the literary life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (Lawrence, Greg)
20 Times a Lady : a novel (Bosnak, Karyn)
On the Black Hill (Chatwin, Bruce)
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: the true story of a thief, a detective, and a world of literary obsession (Bartlett, Allison Hoover)
The Wonderful World of Beagles and Beagling (Nicholas, Anna Katherine)
Letters to Henrietta (Bird, Isabella Lucy)
Blood is the New Black : a novel (Stivers, Valerie)

The Debutante Divorcee : a novel (Sykes, Plum)
A Singular Hostage (Ali, Thalassa)
Passion (Morgan, Jude)

The Undomestic Goddess (Kinsella, Sophie)

The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic (Kinsella, Sophie)
The Species Seekers: heroes, fools, and the mad pursuit of life on Earth (Conniff, Richard)

The Debutante (Tessaro, Kathleen)

The Flirt (Tessaro, Kathleen)

Innocence (Tessaro, Kathleen)