Monday, April 13, 2009

Mya Barrett *An Old Fashion Girl *Louisa May Alcott

So for this project, I trekked out and got myself a shiny new library card. There's just no way I can purchase all of the books, and it's doubtful I can find some of them on my list for retail sale. I figured the library was definitely the way to go, at least for a majority of them.

But a problem has cropped up. My library did not have "An Old Fashion Girl" by Louisa May Alcott. They had to order it in from another library. Out of curiosity, I asked about another book on my list, "Anne of Green Gables". They did not have that one, either. Strange, since it seems like such a popular young adult selection. Now, I live fairly close to a large city, so that means that they should be able to find most of the books I need. I'm starting to wonder, though, are they going to have some of the harder to find classics, like Anne Bronte, or Mary Stewart, or even the lesser known Faulkner books I've chosen? What do I do if they can't get them? I'd like to have a choice in deciding between e-books and paper books, but if they don't have them, then I'm afraid I'll be stuck with e-books. And a hand held device is just not compatible with a warm bathtub. Any suggestions?

11 comments:

iasa said...

I'm a library girl myself. I gave them a list of books I wanted through inter-library loan. It may take some time, but I bet they can get most of them for me.

I can't do the e-book thing, they don't smell right ;)

Alyssa said...

I'm anticipating having this problem as well. I think the five year time limit will help... that's enough time to potentially give you exposure to more than one library system. I plan to trawl used bookshops wherever I go in addition to inter-library loans and possibly some audio books.

But gee, no Anne of Green Gables?!

Jen A said...

If you have books you're willing to get rid of (I have a bad crappy mystery novel habit, so I can always find something I'm willing to give away), try a book swapping site like bookmooch.com or paperbackswap.com. I personally use BookMooch, but I know plenty of people who use Paperback Swap too. You can add the books to a wishlist, and BookMooch will e-mail you when one becomes available for mooching, or you can set up an RSS feed mapped to your wishlist. I get a lot of books that way, I totally love it.

Amanda said...

Can I just say that this post is making me so thankful that I live in a city with a huge library system, multiple branches, all available to us within a week if we request, and then an Inter Library Loan system for anything that doesn't happen to be available in San Antonio (which isn't often)? I wonder what doing this project would have been like had I still be living in Cuba City, WI, which had a library about the size of my current house...

iasa said...

Yeah, there is no way I could participate if I was in still in Belize.

moonrat said...

i know it's terrible, but i buy SO many used books for like one cent on amazon. with the rarer ones (and frequently with the classics), they're a little more. abebooks.com has a different selection, sometimes a more diverse one with better prices. we (my publishing company) uses both those sites when we're trying to find pristine copies of out-of-print classics we need to replicate. and buying used means you get to keep 'em.

also, i know i'm fortunate that i live in new york and have such a glut of used book stores around me, and i dont mean to flaunt it. but the strand has a HUGE selection, with millions of books in storage. if you ever find something there, give em a call, have them put it on hold, and shoot me an email--i can pick it up and have it sent to you.

i'm sorry, i'm just a buyer and not a borrower by nature. but the good news is books have been de-comodified and you can get many of them for next to nothing!

Mya Barrett said...

Wow, thanks for all these responses! I've gotten some good ideas on what to do if/when I run into the problem of not being able to get the books via the library. Purchasing for a penny is always a good thing, but the shipping can eat you alive. Might have to bite the bullet and see about it, though, if I can't find the books any other way. I've never thought of taking my list up to the library but I just may do that. It would give them proper warning, and I could read the books in the order that they arrive there. It's a definite consideration.

I'm not going to panic. I believe in the first rule of the Hitchhiker's Guide. It just sort of shocked me that a moderate sized library wouldn't have Anne of Green Gables. lol

Keshalyi said...

In terms of compatibliity with a bathtub, both of these books are on librivox.org, so you could listen to them...

Keshalyi said...

In terms of compatibliity with a bathtub, both of these books are on librivox.org, so you could listen to them...

moonrat said...

i wish i had a bathtub. ::sigh::

iasa said...

@ moonrat -me too. And I'm either really grateful for you telling us about abebooks, or I am pretty vexed with you. I can see myself spending several fortunes there. (just for the record a fortune is $30, although maybe I should adjust for inflation):)