Books Fall Open, You Fall In

My sister recently started a book club called...uh...Sisters' Book Club. It's official. We have our own private Facebook page and everything. I was secretly overjoyed when Shelley suggested we start this little reading group. I've been out of college for seven months and, even though I have a minor in English, it has been well over a year since I took an English class. You may think I'm a complete nerd for saying this but I have really missed reading novels and writing analytical papers about them. (Wow, that's an idea I never thought I would admit to.)

The day after the book club's Facebook page was up and running, I headed to the Provo City Library at Academy Square. The library is just down the street from where I live and I decided it was high time to take advantage of its proximity. I got two library cards, one which resides in my wallet and the other which hangs with my keys on my lanyard. I immediately set out to find the book of the month, Divergent by Veronica Roth. When I checked the library database, however, I found that every copy of the book had been checked out and that there were 87 people on the waiting list. I became number 88 on that list, knowing full well that I would not be able to check the book out and read it before the April 30th deadline. Despite my disappointment, I walked about the library in search of other reading material. I ended up checking out two books that I saw randomly as I paced up and down the aisles: Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell and Rumors of War by Dean Hughes.As I walked out of the library, books in hand, my nerdy-ness took over. My summer prospects appeared so much brighter because I had a seemingly endless supply of books at my disposal. When I got home, I went straight to my computer and got on the Provo City Library website. I logged in with my card and pin numbers and found that I could request books from the library at home. What happened next was kind of a blur. All I know is my passion for reading overcame all reason and I was requesting books left and right. By the end of my two-minute session at the computer, I had requested five more books.

This wasn't really an issue until all of the copies of the books I had requested started flooding back into the library at the same time. To make a short story even shorter, I started receiving emails just about everyday saying that my books were in and ready for pick-up. My "hold" would expire if I did not pick the books up within four days of receiving the email. I did not want to deal with getting back on the waiting list for each of the books so I went and checked each of them out. And now...I have five books checked out from the library, all of which are fairly lengthy...and I have a weird complex about renewing books. I need to have each of these books read by April 24th.

I've spent most of the last couple of days reading and I am happy to report that I have finished Cranford and am almost done with Rumors of War. Both have been excellent reads. I'm so happy to have books to read again and a deadline to finish them by so that I actually get them done! I'm looking forward to reading the other three books I have checked out: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, The Orchid House by Lucinda Riley, and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne. I have also requested the Cranford DVDs but I'm still waiting on those.
I guess I'll just have to get Divergent from Brigitte whenever she's done reading it. I love reading! I'm so glad I fell into the trap of requesting too many books from the library, if there is such a thing as requesting too many.