Public libraries are surprisingly fun
Sunday, January 28, 2007
I went to the public library in Tustin yesterday to see their Books on CD collection. Slim pickings, compared to the tape section. I didn’t even look at those. My last Walkman is in a storage box somewhere.
After a few minutes perusing the CD’s and walking around the rest of the library looking for the Black Cauldron series by Lloyd Alexander (unsuccessful… the fiction section wasn’t very organized), I grabbed whatever books suited my fancy and got outta there. It was so weird to take books home with me without having to pay. I grew up going to public libraries, but still, it’s been a really long time.
Some of my temporary acquisitions:
- A Prairie Home Companion, 20th Anniversary Collection (CD)
- The Green Mile, by Stephen King (book)
- Moby Dick, by Herman Melville (CD)
- Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe (CD)
- The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde (CD)
- The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane (CD)
- 1001 Deductions & Tax Breaks 2007 (book)
- The Hobbit (graphic novel version)
I’m excited to read/listen to these, especially the Red Badge of Courage. When I first read it in 9th grade, I didn’t understand it at all. My reading and writing skills were not always what they are today. I got a “C” one quarter in 9th grade English. It wasn’t until 10th grade when I scored under 1200 on my PSAT’s that I resolved to study vocabulary and get better at writing. I began reading Smithsonian Magazine, National Geographic, Time, and Newsweek religiously, and made flashcards out of unfamiliar words. I also took Latin I, for which I had a knack, and obtained a real understanding of English grammar.
The Latin studies were supposed to prepare me for pre-med. Instead, I became a lawyer…and it’s just as useful. God really knew what he was doing.
Oh yeah, and it’s a good thing I went to the library at all. I’ve had my Orange County library card since 2003, when I drove from Walnut to Santa Ana and back for a summer internship every day and needed to have something to listen to. Apparently, one of the books/CD’s were returned late (To Kill a Mockingbird) and there was a $4.50 fine owing on my account! I wonder if it had been compounding all this time…