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gridloreI have a simple rule about my local library: always check the Friends of the Library store. Because You never know what you will find there. Some are library books that have been pulled from the shelves, others are donations that the library proper didn't need, but it is an ever-changing world of really cheap books (and CDs, and DVDs . . . )
Today I had to pop in to pay a small fine (my bad, I think I was sick when the book came due) and pick up an item on hold. After finding my hold, and picking up yet another Grantville novel - I swear, when I win the lottery the library will have a secret door that leads to the secret room where we shelve the Grantville series and the WH40K Horus Heresy books - I ducked into the store.
And hit paydirt. Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August in the Ballantine paperback edition, and Bob Woodward's Fear - Trump in the White House. Total cost, Two bucks, plus the quarter I dropped in the donation jar.
My hold was Yellow Dirt - An American Story of a Poisoned Land and a People Betrayed by Judy Pasternak. I learned about this book in a Twitter thread about the problems of nuclear waste. In the rush to mine uranium to fuel the Cold War's nuclear arms race, the US poisoned the groundwater across much of the Navajo nation, and it will remain dangerous for longer than we can expect to last as a species.
My summer reading is set!
One fun moment in the library. Since I had errands to run after both my shifts today, I wore my new The Satanic Temple t-shirt, as we aren't supposed to wear our uniforms around town. As I was checking out my books, a lady stormed up to me, pointed to my shirt, and told me to take it off, as it was offensive.
I told my pale, flabby torso would probably be more offensive, and that this shirt was a symbol of my religion. But, I told her I'd compromise. If she took off her gaudy crucifix, I'd reverse my shirt. That was religious repression I was told in a nasty tone. I just looked at her and said:
"Yeah, doesn't it suck when a complete stranger tells you to hide your faith?" and walked out.
Today I had to pop in to pay a small fine (my bad, I think I was sick when the book came due) and pick up an item on hold. After finding my hold, and picking up yet another Grantville novel - I swear, when I win the lottery the library will have a secret door that leads to the secret room where we shelve the Grantville series and the WH40K Horus Heresy books - I ducked into the store.
And hit paydirt. Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August in the Ballantine paperback edition, and Bob Woodward's Fear - Trump in the White House. Total cost, Two bucks, plus the quarter I dropped in the donation jar.
My hold was Yellow Dirt - An American Story of a Poisoned Land and a People Betrayed by Judy Pasternak. I learned about this book in a Twitter thread about the problems of nuclear waste. In the rush to mine uranium to fuel the Cold War's nuclear arms race, the US poisoned the groundwater across much of the Navajo nation, and it will remain dangerous for longer than we can expect to last as a species.
My summer reading is set!
One fun moment in the library. Since I had errands to run after both my shifts today, I wore my new The Satanic Temple t-shirt, as we aren't supposed to wear our uniforms around town. As I was checking out my books, a lady stormed up to me, pointed to my shirt, and told me to take it off, as it was offensive.
I told my pale, flabby torso would probably be more offensive, and that this shirt was a symbol of my religion. But, I told her I'd compromise. If she took off her gaudy crucifix, I'd reverse my shirt. That was religious repression I was told in a nasty tone. I just looked at her and said:
"Yeah, doesn't it suck when a complete stranger tells you to hide your faith?" and walked out.
Library sale!
Date: 31 May 2019 01:26 (UTC)I love Friends of the Library. I picked up a big, beautiful World Atlas for a song, may even have been free; marked Discard. Philistines. True, the copyright date was AD 1976, but what of that? Have continents moved? Madrid, Moscow, Mobile AL, Morocco are all where they were, yes?
Yet there is a danger in such places, as I found out in 2006:
“What Was That Book: The Space Children”
no subject
Date: 31 May 2019 05:44 (UTC)no subject
Date: 31 May 2019 09:05 (UTC)Also, I'd love to borrow the Woodward someday. At the rate my reading stack moves, it may be a long while before I have time for it, but it is on my wishlist.
no subject
Date: 31 May 2019 14:32 (UTC)