Review and reading
My review of Quiet, Please, Scott Douglas' memoir of working in a public library, is in today's edition of Solares Hill and on The Citizen website. I liked the book, but not as much as I'd hoped to. But it's still a great behind-the-scenes look at life in the library. And definitely check out Scott's blog. I also FINALLY finished Samantha Hunt's The Invention of Everything Else, a historical novel about Nikolas Tesla and a young hotel chambermaid. It's mostly set in the early 1940s in New York though it contains extended flashbacks, mostly to Tesla's life. I liked it a lot and hope we may see Hunt down here for the 2009 Literary Seminar. It's going to be a great one, and there's lots of reading to do. Lots and lots.
And some really great news: We're getting a lot of new titles onto the shelves at the college library, from donations and other sources. Every day I go in and find a new book I just have to read. Since I don't finish a book a day, this is a bit of a problem. But at least they're library books so I have to give them back and they won't add to the book storage issues already occupying my house. (And I always assume people know this but many don't: YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A COLLEGE STUDENT TO BORROW BOOKS FROM US!!!!!)