I had a great surprise on Thursday morning when I called my local library (Barbara Bush Branch) to schedule curbside pick-up of three books that were waiting for me there. The librarian asked what time I wanted to pick them up...but offered me the option of coming inside and checking them out for myself anytime I wanted to because the library OPENED its doors yesterday for the first time in the last fifteen months.
As you probably guessed, I immediately drove over to the library, found my three books, and proceeded to browse the shelves on both floors of the library for the next 90 minutes. And, now, as you also probably guessed I have library books stacked all over my desk again just like in the good old pre-pandemic days.
The Great Courses video class on mysteries and thrillers has been so much fun that I've taken to creating a special TBR just from books mentioned in the videos. I'm particularly taken by some of the older stuff like the Chester Himes novel from the fifties I'm reading right now, but I've also learned about mysteries written by other minorities (Himes is African-American) and by writers from other parts of the world. Two of the books I brought home this afternoon were mysteries written by Native Americans in the nineties:
I also spotted this one by Qiu Xiaolong, who was a student in the United States in 1989 when the Tiananmen Square tragedy took place back home in China. He was granted asylum in this country, and is now a prize winning novelist and poet who is well known (I think) in Great Britain for his Inspector Chen Mysteries and their BBC adaptations. This is a new series to me, but Becoming Inspector Chin is already the eleventh novel in the series.
My reserved copy of Any Weir's new science fiction novel, Project Hail Mary, was also waiting for me today. Weir, of course, earned his fame, reputation, and lots of cash from the huge success that The Martian turned out to be for him a few years ago. I opened up Project Hail Mary while still inside the library, and before I knew it, I had read a dozen pages. This one promises to be very good and lots of fun.
And, finally, there's a series of interviews conducted by Nancy Pearl and Jeff Schwager called The Writer's Library that I couldn't leave behind. This one is subtitled The Authors You Love on the Books That Changed Their Lives, and it includes 22 interviews in all. Among the authors interviewed are several favorites of mine like: Louise Erdrich, T.C. Boyle, Michael Chabon, Jennifer Egan, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Richard Ford, Donna Tartt, and Russell Banks.
I easily spotted at least another half-dozen books I'd love to read right now, but I managed to stop for today with only these five coming home with me to join the two that were already here. Having a whole public library almost to myself (apparently word is not much out yet that the doors are actually open again) today was a total joy. Now, I'm tempted to stop by there every day until word does get out and it starts to get more crowded. After all, the library system allows me thirty total check-outs at a time, and I still have room for twenty-three more at the moment.
How exciting! And you made quite a haul there. I have taken some of the Great Courses in the past, although not the one you mention. It would be interesting though. I've wondered about Andy Weir's new book. I loved The Martian and that book featuring writer interviews sounds like something I need to search out. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
ReplyDeleteI'm about 75 pages into the Weir book right now, and the story is starting to make sense. Just as in The Martian there are quite a few rather painless science and math lessons embedded in the narration. I'll get to the book of writer-interviews in the next week or two. I'm looking forward to it.
DeleteOh happy days. Our library is open with regular hours since May 1st but, I got spoiled with curb side and this lazy lady wishes it was still an option. I do need to go inside for one book that is waiting so I may briefly browse the NEW section.
ReplyDeleteI have the eGalley of Project Hail Mary; looking forward to it.
When I saw the empty parking lot at the library, I knew it was going to be sparsely populated, Diane. There were probably more employees inside than patrons, in fact, so I felt especially safe in the environment. Until the library starts resuming all the children's activities, I expect the library to remain relatively empty. It felt strange to walk inside the doors after so many months.
DeleteProject Hail Mary is good through its first 75 pages, but the real heart of the story hasn't begun yet. So far it's largely been set-up material.
Yay for open libraries!!! I know I was super excited when my library reopened last summer. I've been checking out too many books on my card ever since. Happy library-ing! :D
ReplyDeleteYour library really opened up early in the game, Lark. I remember being very envious a while back when you mentioned that it was open for business again.
DeleteYeah, we've been lucky here in Utah. We never went into major lockdowns. Most things remained open with mask and social distancing requirements in place, of course. Now things are really opening up, and it kind of scares me, but what can you do?
DeleteIt's only natural to still be cautious; I know that we are. Some of our friends are a lot less cautious than others, but everyone has to do what makes them feel most comfortable. The more I ease back into the world, the better I feel about the way that most people are handling things. Texas is down to about 1800 new cases a day and 40 deaths a day, but you have to remember how big this state is and how many people live here in order to put that into perspective.
DeleteGreat news that your library has opened up! Ours has too and you remind me that next week I must get there. Thank you for the Native American mysteries you have mentioned. I will put them on my list because I don't know alot about Native American literature and I want to know more.
ReplyDeleteI only learned of the Native American books via that Great Courses lesson on Mysteries and Thrillers. According to the lecturer, there are very few mysteries written by Native Americans. Half of that particular lecture, in fact, featured the books of Tony Hillerman.
Delete"Indian Killer" is cleverly titled to lead you to believe that it is a story about someone killing Indians. It is, in fact, just the opposite: a story about a Native American serial killer who kills and scalps his white victims.
Open all the libraries! I've read several of the Inspector Chen novels by Qiu Xiaolong and liked them! Also liked Project Hail Mary. I'm interested in the two by Native Americans. Great haul, Sam!
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that you vouch for the Chen novels...I knew someone had written about the series but couldn't for the life of me remember who it was.
DeleteProject Hail Mary gets off to kind of a slow start doesn't it? I'm about 15% of the way into that one and I'm still waiting for the main character's "helper" to appear. I'm enjoying the scientific and math tidbits that Weir always includes in his science fiction novels; no one can ever say that there is not enough science in his SF novels, that's for sure.
Those look like some great books- and it's quite telling that you're already so far into Project Hail Mary. My library has been open again for quite some time- but since getting my vaccine I have only gone twice indoors there. I don't know why- it's lovely to walk the stacks in such silence, but also feels strange having it so empty- only a few other patrons, only one person at the checkout desk, no kids' voices in the children section. And I felt odd to be the only person in the whole building it seemed (ours is all one floor, open plan) walking with a crick in my neck to scan titles- the few other visitors were studying at desks. I don't know, for some reason I'm still more comfortable whittling away at the 500-plus unread books in my home library!
ReplyDeleteEven though mysteries are not really my thing, I'm curious to hear more about the two native american titles you borrowed! Several years ago at a library sale I found quite a number of books that must have been donated, narrative nonfiction on native american culture and history, and some native american memoirs. I'm very interested to read them. Sad that it must have been in someone's collection due to their specific interest, and ended up as discards when they passed (or so I imagine).
It certainly was different in my library to find it so empty and so quiet, Jeane. There were just enough people walking around to make it seem near-normal, though, and I quickly just started enjoying browsing the stacks. We've started to get out more now that the whole family is fully vaccinated but we still use masks in large groups of "strangers." The library does require a mask and hands them out at the door to those who didn't bring one with them.
DeleteI've started reading "Mean Spirit" but I'm finding it's not so much a mystery - at least so far - as a recounting of what happened to the Osage Tribe in Oklahoma when vast reserves of oil were found beneath their property. So far at least, the story is following the facts of that tragedy pretty closely, but I'm only 40 pages into it.
Project Hail Mary is my kind of SF because I enjoy the science and math that some authors include in their plots as much as anything else about SF. Weir is really good about giving painless math and science lessons to his readers. I'm absolutely hooked on the story now, but I know there's a nice twist coming and I'm growing a little impatient for the book to get there.
You are right about it being sad that someone's prized personal library ends up being all too often discarded. I often wonder what will happen to my books when I'm gone; I really need to get my granddaughter back in here so that I can refresh her memory about which of the books are valuable and which are not. She already considers the library here to be hers, but I know she will never have the room to keep all of them.
By the way, I posted here a few minutes ago that I am having trouble leaving comments on a few Blogger blogs. Turns out that yours is one of them. Have you seen anything from me in the last few days?
No problems here, yet- you commented on 'Quiet' and 'the Plague and I' recently- and mine's at WP now- but it does have a slightly aggravating issue that on the home page feed, the comment count doesn't show for posts. But if you click to the individual post, they're all there. It's a temporary thing- the count shows up eventually on the home page. I haven't figured out why yet.
DeleteRe the collections: I think about this more and more, lately. Who would love my odd conglomeration of books when someday I'm gone? Once at the library sale I saw two or three boxes completely filled with Louis L'Amour, under the table. If I'd been a fan, I would have snatched those up! I kind of regret passing on them (having never yet read any of his books). I wondered about the person who -it looked like to me- had probably collected L'Amour's entire ouvre.
I do wonder if maybe that's what I was seeing this morning when I looked at your blog, Jeane. Three others are still not showing up for me, but I think you hit on the answer for yours. Thanks.
DeleteYour comment on collections in boxes coincidentally came on the day I opened up a box of old Ruth Rendell papaperbacks that had been sealed since around 2005. I was thrilled to find about 35 old paperbacks of hers in the box, including the earlier Wexford novels. I thought I'd thrown those out...or given them away...when I moved back to Houston from London. I really want to re-read Rendell's novels, so this will save me a small fortune. LOL