Getting Checked Out

One of my jokes about Vermont is that, although I have no friends or family here, I also have no enemies. I still haven't made any enemies, but I am making a friend. He's probably twice my age and he works at the library. His name is George.

Go figure he's reading a book in this picture. 

Montpelier only has one library. They still stamp the cards in the back of the book with a due date. Those of you who know me well know that I've read a book or two in my time. Sometimes a book or two a day. When I got promoted to head up the Children's and Young Adult departments, I read over 150 books to reacquaint myself with the genres. I still read a lot. I read stuff online, I get the New Yorker and Newsweek, and I go to the library. Often.

Kellogg-Hubbard (or just "the library" since the Vermont system isn't unified statewide)

Admittedly, I don't own a printer, and so sometimes my trips to the library are just for their services. I also go to volunteer at the book sale (you'd think selling books for seven years would've gotten it out of my system). But mostly I go to get books. Most of my after work time is spent reading. I miss my couch, but I get by with my rocking chair and my yoga ball (and my floor and my bed). I read until I want to read something else, which I read until I get sleepy. Then I go read Bryson.

Smart guy, smart dresser

Bill Bryson is one smart cookie. I read his "Brief History of Everything" in Minneapolis, and the first book I checked out of the Montpelier library was "At Home."It's perfect bedtime reading because it's so segmented. I read a room, maybe two, then go to bed. Sometimes when if I wake up before Ben, I'll read another room or finish the one from last night if it was too long.

Mostly though, I read other books. I read non-fiction about bicycles and Vermont. I read George Orwell and Roald Dahl and then I fake a British accent in my head. I read Haruki Murakami and Gary Shteyngart and wish that I had written their books. Today I picked up Jasper Fforde's "Nursery Crime" series. My new librarian best friend, George, told me that he liked this series even better than the Thursday Next series (which was so good I put on the audio book driving from Vermont to Minnesota and had to catch Ben up so he could enjoy it too).

Someday, I could be this great. Maybe. 

George also put me on the hold list for the new David Foster Wallace biography. More importantly, he didn't make fun of me when I screwed up the title ("Every Love Story is a Ghost Story"). I'm second in line when the book arrives. He put me on the list for "Gone Girl" last week and we chatted about literary blockbusters. At my library, you can check most items out for two or four weeks. George knows to only give me two weeks, since I'll be bringing them back in a day or two anyway. When I checked out a book of ghost stories on a Saturday,we joked that two weeks was plenty--two days would be more like it! (The library is closed on Sundays.) One of the librarians hassles me because I provided a Minneapolis employer when I signed up for my card (I'd been in town less than 24 hours! No, I didn't have a job yet! Yes I went to the library that soon after arriving!). George doesn't. Neither does the cute girl who likes my owl wallet.

Yesterday, I hated Montpelier. Today was better. I think the old man with the pony tail who checks my books out for me is the reason why. Plus, I got new rain boots.

Surprisingly handy when you have to walk home from work and it's STILL down-pouring.