Too many books

I decided to take some time on day 2 of my mini-vacation from work and spend some time just by myself. Anna's in school, Heidi's working on something - not sure exactly what since she's between manuscripts right now - but it was her idea for me to do this. As always, her ideas, especially when it comes to managing my mindset, are golden so I took her up on her idea. I went to my chiropractor appointment at 11 today and then afterward, I headed to Cafe Diem for a pumpkin spice latte. It was kind of a risky choice because I had a pumpkin spice latte from the Burgie's at work the other day and I kinda wished I hadn't. But I decided to see if Cafe Diem could do it better and damn, but they nailed it.

I took the coffee to go and headed for the library. That's where I am now - pimping free wireless, although the more I think about it, can you pimp something that's free? There's something oddly comforting about Ames' library. It's certainly nothing on the Iowa City Public Library, which was one of my most frequent haunts when I was in college at the University of Iowa. I remember many afternoons spent roaming the stacks and then sitting down in a chair to read one of their countless hardbound copies of "Tales From The Crypt" collections. I still remember the one (immortalized in the British movie The Vault of Horror) in which a guy goes to visit his sister to kill her off so that he can get her money, only to find out that not only is SHE a vampire, but the whole town's full of them! The story ends with him upside down and hist jugular vein being tapped in order to fill glasses for the vampires.

Anyway, I digress. Shortly before we left eastern Iowa for good, the library went through a massive remodel and now, it doesn't even resemble the place that I have so many college memories. (I'm also starting to think that having fond library memories is the height of nerdy.) In any event, even post remodeling and expansion, I can still find little pockets of the library that remind of the old building, and if I close my eyes, I can see it mapped out in front of me in perfect clarity.

The Ames Library is comforting, but in a different way. I am frequently very frustrated by it because it never seems to have what I want. There's been rumblings around town that the library is going to move to a site across from City Hall, which is good and bad. I'll be sad to see this one go and would have rather they just expanded the existing structure. They are also planning on building a structure bigger than Iowa City's and I kind of question the smarts of this because Ames' population is less than that of Iowa City and the circulation is fully one-third less than that of Iowa City. I would rather they spend the money on more books so that they have what I'm looking for more frequently.

I really shouldn't be complaining and really, I'm not. There are already so many more books in my life than I will ever be able to read. I'm about 1/3rd of the way through The Worst Hard Time, which is quite good but kind of a slow read. And while I was here, I said to myself, "oh, I'll just go look at the Anne Sexton biography." If you want to know why I want to read Anne Sexton's biography, it's because of this song. I said I wouldn't check it out. Famous last words - I'm leaving with it. We'll see if it's worthy. I love a good biography because it appeals to my desire to read about other people's lives which has nothing to do with me being a snoop. (this is where Heidi steps in and looks over her glasses while saying "whatever!")

So who knows if I'll finish either of these books. I did read Gang Leader For A Day in under a week, so there's hope for me yet.