I made my second run to the library this week and picked up a couple of books: Sara Paretsky's latest V.I. Warshawski novel, Dead Land, and the new John Steinbeck biography, Mad at the World: A Life of John Steinbeck. I was surprised that I was the only one in the whole county requesting either of these titles and by how quickly they arrived.
Steinbeck is one of the first "serious" writers I ever read, and at this point in my life, I've read most everything he wrote, including a substantial collection of his letters - some of it multiple times. I'm really hoping that the bio lives up to all the hype it's received from places like Amazon and The New York Times. We'll see.
As for the Sara Paretsky title, it's part of a series I read for a long time but seem to have put aside a while back. And then it became an "out of sight, out of mind" thing. I need to sit down and see how far behind I've gotten on the series and whether or not I want to read it actively again. Dead Land will help me decide.
The best thing about my library visit, though, is that I received my first Christmas present of 2020 there - all nicely wrapped with a hint about what was inside the paper. I am a big fan of short stories, so I think I'm really going to enjoy what appears to be the third volume in a series called Short Stories by Texas Authors.
As for as COVID-19 days go, this was a pretty good one.
My library used to do book surprises like that, but I never tried one. I hope yours is good! It always makes me sad to find that a book I love is not requested by anyone else, or that when I find a beloved book in a discard sale, the last stamp on its card (back when there were card pockets) is years and years ago. But as my reading taste is not very common, I've gotten used to it and kinda count it a blessing now, that there's not so much competition for the books I want to read and own!
ReplyDeleteI've only browsed through the table of contents of the gift book so far but it does look promising. There are 23 stories in just over 180 pages, so it should be an easy read.
DeleteDefinitely both some pros and cons about finding out that no one else seems to be interested in a book you've requested. Getting the so quickly was a definite plus. The Parestsky book was probably pretty popular in the first quarter of 2020 when it waas published, but the lack of interest in a new Steinbeck biography (published less than two months ago) kind of throws me.
I'm glad you had a good day with your book requests and a nice surprise!
ReplyDeleteSmall victories seem like big ones to me these days, Jen. And even those are rare enough right now.
DeleteChristmas presents from the library...what a fun idea. Good books make for good days. :D
ReplyDeleteIt seemed especially nice this year, Lark. First time I've selected one of the little packages.
DeleteI don't quite understand - do you mean the library gave you in particular this book? Did anyone else get a present? Is the librarian a friend of yours? It is great whatever the reason!
ReplyDeleteI can remember reading Steinbeck out on the lawn as a girl - probably the same age you were when you read him, since we are the same age! I don't seem to be able to read him now though. Too intense maybe? Too much "male energy"? I'm not sure. My 28 year old daughterinlaw gave me The Winter of Our Discontent last year for Christmas which pleased me no end because she had no idea I had liked him in my youth. Anyhow, I hope to read it this winter. I can still remember some scenes. Kind of upsetting if people aren't requesting it. But then, I hadn't even heard of it till I read this post!
The present was one of several wrapped packages that were on the table where I picked up my curbside selections, Nan. Each of them had a little "blurb" about what was inside. There was a little of everything, seemed like.
DeleteThe Winter of Our Discontent is one of my favorite Steinbecks, Nan. Just seeing the title makes me want to pull out my copy and start right in on page one. That was a thoughtful gift.
I don't think that bios are very popular, in general, anymore, so that probably at least partially explains why this one was so easy to get hold of even though our system only has five copies of it on the shelves. But, I am afraid that Steinbeck (and lots of others like him) are not getting the "love" they used to get in schools and universities. I find that a bit shameful.
I came back to read your reply, and to tell you that I just ordered the Steinbeck biography. I can't thank you enough! You may indeed be right about people not reading biographies. I fear that instead they are reading those fiction books with real people in them, which I think should be against the law!! (tell me how you really feel about this, Nan). While I was in the Amazon bookstore I also saw there was a new biography of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and ordered it. Almost $60 of Christmas presents to me from me. Both of them Pisces suns and born on the same day. I just saw that yesterday was Steinbeck's "anniversary" which I've learned from my Irish friends is how to refer to someone's death date. Anyhow, a long-winded note to say thank you so very much.
DeleteNan, I've enjoyed the Steinbeck biography so much that I'm looking for more bios for next year. Thanks for the heads-up on the Longfellow one; I'll take a look.
DeleteSounds like great gifts to yourself. Did you buy the hardbacks or the e-books. Sounds like hardback prices, but these days e-books are so expensive that it's hard to tell.
I've learned so much about Steinbeck that I never knew - not all of it complimentary, and some of it rather disappointing. But for the first time, I now think of him more as a fellow human being than as a writer of classic fiction. And that's why I love biographies as much as I do. I hope you enjoy the books.
I love it when no one else is on the reserve list for a book I want to read. Yippee! Too often, I have to wait in a long line for the books I want. I need to develop more unique tastes, I guess :)
ReplyDeleteHow fun that you got a Christmas present from the library! What a nice idea.
Me, too, really. It's ridiculous to sign up for a book and start somewhere above number 200 on the hold-list. I'm working my way down the list on one right now that I started at number 231...and I'm still number 147 weeks later.
DeleteThe short story book is going on my January list. My library system is working hard with little extras like this to keep people actively using the branches. My branch is, I think, the busiest of something like a dozen branches in total. Circulation in 2019 was close to 1.7 million check-outs.