Thursday Library Overindulgence

I've been avoiding this post because I have again somehow drastically overextended my library card. I only read about five or seven books a week (many of them children's books). Sometimes I buy books. I have a groaning bookcase of books I've bought over the past few decades that I'm about to read, and sometimes do read. So I really only go through three or four library books a week, in a good week. This means I should check out a maximum of three books. And yet, somehow, er, my library bag is occasionally a bit heavier.

Also, I check out music for car listening. And later I put that music in my house CD player and time housework to it, which gives me a fun sense of randomness -- I must clean for five or ten songs, depending on my gumption level. Then I hit the randomizer, and wait to hear the first song -- will it be a tiny children's nursery rhyme, or the opening swells of a twenty minute orchestral piece? I like to choose my library music by having a child (or me) wander the CD section and grabbing discs blindly. This leads to nice juxtapositions -- Christmas stuff in October, followed by some Vietnamese opera, and with a African drums chaser. Or it can lead to horrible screeching.

Finally, I've gone back to checking out a handful of picture books for bedtime cuddling. So when I say that I sometimes bend the family rule that one's age should be equal to or greater than the number of items out on your card, that doesn't mean that I think I can read forty books a week. But looking at my library record, I'm wondering why I still pay full price at the movies, when I clearly consider myself eligible for the Senior discount.

This week's haul started with four books on the hold shelf:

• The book whisperer : awakening the inner reader in every child / Donalyn Miller
• March toward the thunder / by Joseph Bruchac.
• The fire king : a Dirk & Steele novel / Marjorie Liu.
• Sammy Keyes and the art of deception / Wendelin Van Draanen.

Then there were the books I found at the other library, one each from new books, children's books, and YA:

• Al Capone shines my shoes
• Even money. Dick Francis
• Ten things I hate about me

I got four CDs for the car (well, I sent P to grab them):

• Apollo 18 [sound recording] / They Might Be Giants.
• The destroyed room [sound recording] : b-sides and rarities / Sonic youth.
• Gregorian chant [sound recording].
• The Christmas album.

And I found a few fun looking picture books:

• Dinosaur! / Peter Sis.
• I wonder as I wander / written by Gwenyth Swain ; illustrated by Ron Himler.
• Louie! / Will Hillenbrand.
• Oh no! Time to go! : a book of goodbyes
• Mr. Lincoln's way / Patricia Polacco.
• No mush today / by Sally Derby ; illustrated by Nicole Tadgell.
• Papa do you love me? / by Barbara Joosse ; illustrated by Barbara Lavallee.
• The true story of the 3 little pigs / by A. Wolf ; as told to Jon Scieszka ; illustrated by Lane Smith
• Superhero School / Aaron Reynolds ; illustrated by Andy Rash.

The kids made dinner again that night, which I should have called a sausage meal. It wasn't pleasant to see the process, but the result was tasty. Overtired elementary school kids make very cranky cooks, with many tears at obstacles such as not knowing which drawer hides the oven mitts. But finally everything came together -- toasted pizza burgers, french fries, and fruit salad.