As the Page Turns (the Book Thread)

[puglover]

The new Lee Child - Jack Reacher "Blue Moon" book was released today in NA. The reviews I read on Amazon are very positive for those who enjoy his somewhat formula approach to writing for the big guy. I do like it so I am excited to enter the world of Jack Reacher again.

 

[Susan1]

The new Lee Child - Jack Reacher "Blue Moon" book was released today in NA. The reviews I read on Amazon are very positive for those who enjoy his somewhat formula approach to writing for the big guy. I do like it so I am excited to enter the world of Jack Reacher again.

It's on my list, but I've got two more to go before I get to that one. There might be another by then. I skipped Night School. It was about his earlier career and I just couldn't get interested.

 

[cygnus]

I love the Icelandic writer Yrsa Sigurdardottir's mystery series, so I thought I might enjoy one of her novels on my past trip to CA and SC. But I found The Undesired so bleak and depressing with its plot of child abuse and infanticide that I couldn't finish it- something I rarely do. So I dumped it in a neighborhood library box in Vancouver and bought Hope never Dies a fun mystery involving Barack Obama and Joe Biden teaming up to solve a mystery- funny, and more to my taste right now.

 

[genevieve]

So I dumped it in a neighborhood library box in Vancouver and bought Hope never Dies a fun mystery involving Barack Obama and Joe Biden teaming up to solve a mystery- funny, and more to my taste right now.

Oh, man, just two years ago I would have been so into that. But I feel like we're living the sequel, Hope's Promises Dashed and it's just bleak.

 

[Susan1]

I just read a cozy mystery from the library over the weekend and took it back with a couple others Tuesday. I was on my page on the library website this morning to reserve some books and it said I had a $10 fine for that book. I called right away. He said it was damaged. I said how. (No! I didn't mark in it with pencil. haha) He said it was stained. Yeah, when I got the book the side edges were all dark, like somebody dipped it in a bowl of coffee.

It's not the first time I got a book that was stained or spotted (looked like chocolate) or drawn in on the inside with a purple pen (yeah, really) or the binding was loose and I had to paperclip the pages together. I gave the broken/torn ones to the person at the desk when I took them back. Don't they check them when they send them to another library? Or put them on the reserve shelf?

So this time, they thought I did it? I looked up the book and it says it is in the "workroom". They aren't going to be able to get that off. It didn't bother me at all. It didn't interfere with the text or anything. The pages weren't warped like they were wet at some point; I have had books that were. How stupid.

Anyway, he said he would take the fine off. I clicked onto my home page when I hung up and it was gone. I wanted to tell him to check with whoever had it out last from whatever library it came from to my library. It's a 2019 book, so it's not like it's been hanging around dirty for a decade. Heck, a librarian could have done it. Now that you have to put them individually in the drop box that checks them in, they don't see you bring them back. Geez.

Now every time I pick up a book, I will have to check it over and tell them if I see any "damage". Remember that one book that did not even have a title page or copyright date page or anything? I guess I'm lucky they didn't think I tore it out. Yeah, I'm still irked. Can you tell?

 

[MacMadame]

When I read The Scarlet Letter, I got to the end of the book and the last 40 pages were missing! However, I hated that book so much that I decided I didn't care.

 

[MsZem]

When I read The Scarlet Letter, I got to the end of the book and the last 40 pages were missing! However, I hated that book so much that I decided I didn't care.

In the Hebrew edition of The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons, either the translator or the publisher decided to leave out about 80 pages near the end. I'm surprised it took so long for that mistake to be noticed/fixed.

 

[Jenny]

That happened to me years ago when I read someone's copy of Peyton Place. Read nearly the whole damn thing (it's really not that great a book) and was left hanging. Found a copy at the library so I could finish it and was totally confused because there was a new character all of a sudden - found out later that due to a lawsuit one of the character's names was changed in later and international editions.

 

[Susan1]

That happened to me years ago when I read someone's copy of Peyton Place. Read nearly the whole damn thing (it's really not that great a book) and was left hanging. Found a copy at the library so I could finish it and was totally confused because there was a new character all of a sudden - found out later that due to a lawsuit one of the character's names was changed in later and international editions.

I snuck read my mom's old copy of Peyton Place when I was in 7th or 8th grade. I didn't understand a lot of it (grown up stuff). I've watched the movie since, but they didn't put the "dirty" parts in that, so I kind of pieced it together. Scandalous. There was a t.v. show too, but I don't remember it or Return to Peyton Place?

 

[MacMadame]

There was definitely a tv show. We weren't allowed to watch it.

 

[Prancer]

Don't they check them when they send them to another library? Or put them on the reserve shelf?

No.

 

[Bunny Hop]

Don't they check them when they send them to another library? Or put them on the reserve shelf?

It's a long time since I worked in libraries, but in my experience there's no time to check books for damage when they are transiting through the library system. It will be noticed if it's really obvious (i.e. pages fall out when its picked up), but otherwise library staff rely on the borrowers to report that sort of thing. And even then there may be nothing that can be done (e.g. when people have corrected typos or alleged grammar errors in pen...).

 

[Susan1]

It's a long time since I worked in libraries, but in my experience there's no time to check books for damage when they are transiting through the library system. It will be noticed if it's really obvious (i.e. pages fall out when its picked up), but otherwise library staff rely on the borrowers to report that sort of thing. And even then there may be nothing that can be done (e.g. when people have corrected typos or alleged grammar errors in pen...).

But they noticed the staining of the whole outside edge of the book (WHICH I DID NOT DO) after I returned it? As I said, I have picked up reserved books where the spine was broken and a hunk of pages fell out when I opened it. I even had one of those cozy mysteries with the recipes in them (maybe Joanne Fluke?) where someone cut out the page with the recipe on it that had a page of the story on the back. I was like, wait a minute, the top of this page doesn't make sense. ha ha Then I looked at the page numbers. I turned that one in when I took it back too.

 

[snoopy]

I just finished Dead I Well May Be, a novel about a low level Irish gangster in 1990s New York. I picked it because it was so out of my wheel house. It took about 3 chapters to get into it but then my interest increased as the book went on, and overall really enjoyed it. It’s crimey and violent - double crosses and a long play at revenge. A lot of it takes place in seedy locales (and a Mexican prison), gets into Dominican areas and Harlem. The main character isn’t necessarily likable but you definitely root for him. And the story really is all about him. I thought this was very well done by the author, Adrian McKinty. There are two more in the series and I will pick those up too. Will also pick up Chain, which I guess is his break through novel. Glad to have found another author I like.

 

[Prancer]

Two books I had had on hold came in as Speed Reads--I had to read them in seven days. Screw grading and foward ho!

The books were The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Where the Crawdads Sing, and I have to say that I was disappointed in both of them. I guess all the good reviews raised my expectations too high. Of the two, I like Evelyn better. Crawdads really annoyed me; Kya spends one summer with saintly Tate and not only learns to read at a high level within weeks (even though she's 14? 15?) but completely loses her dialect as well . Everyone has a dialect and an accent, but only some people are written that way (not just in this book), which really bugs me. But to completely remove the dialect from a character like that, symbolic or not, just makes it worse. I guess it isn't too surprising that Kya makes such an enormous leap, however, given all the other enormous leaps she makes. And then there was the end . The descriptions of the North Carolina swamp are rather stunning, but the rest--meh for me.

 

[PrincessLeppard]

One of my students recommended The Past and Other Things that should Stay Buried by Shaun David Anderson, and I read the whole thing last night. Dino's former best friend comes back from the dead (but she's not a zombie), and while there are some humorous moments, it's also a story about two flawed individuals trying to figure out why everything went so wrong. I also cried like a complete drip, which I blame totally on the drugs I'm taking and not at all because I felt so much sympathy for both characters. 10/10 would recommend.

The main character is gay and his boyfriend is trans, but it's not something that the reader is bludgeoned with. They just are.

 

[Susan1]

New library thing - You used to be able to sign in to request an interlibrary loan, and put in your information and the title, author, ISBN, etc. of a book that was not in our system. Time consuming having to look up the ISBN, but I had a whole list that was done for when I felt like taking the time. I'm way behind on my J. A. Jance Detective J. P. Beaumont books that aren't in our system and I saw a new one on the 7 day shelf the other day.
So I go to the page and there's a SearchOhio to click on. All you have to do is put in your library card number and password and the title of the book and it brings up a list of all the ones in Ohio. You can pick an available one. And the library you want it sent to. Pretty cool. I did three of them. One was Cincinnati, and I didn't recognize where the other two were coming from.
But I tried a fourth one - Seeds of Deception by Linda Castillo that's been sitting there waiting for me to interlibrary it forever. But it is not anywhere in Ohio. There is a Seeds of Deception by someone else. You have to call the library to request anything not in Ohio now. I don't know if "I" have to read them the whole ISBN when I call. You can't just fill out the interlibrary form anymore. Maybe someone at the library can do it, and find the ISBN themselves? I'll have to see.
Apparently, they don't "work" at the library anymore. The "desk" is clear in the center of the room away from the self-check ins and outs and actual "books". (There are two or three people sitting there all the time. I don't know what they are doing.) And you can do practically everything online.
Edited to add - they even have "hold lockers" in the lobby so you don't have to go inside to pick up and check out the book you reserved online. I don't know how they work, but I can imagine books not getting put in the right place.

 

[puglover]

Several weeks ago our group had an evening with presentations by representatives from "JustServe.org". It is a sort of clearinghouse for service opportunities in your own community in need of volunteers. One of the speakers was from Calgary library services. I was amazed at the many, many programs that they offer for children, immigrants, you name it. Their longest going program - over 40 years - is a service that brings and exchanges books for shut ins - those who for one reason or another cannot get out to access the library. An avid life long reader myself, never once did I wonder what happens when people are alone and house bound. Sadly, the library services presenter mentioned that for a significant number of people they take books to - this is the only consistent visitor they have. I cannot imagine my life without books. I am pretty involved right now with commitments but I can see this being something I would like to do.

 

[genevieve]

My book was due today and I hadn't quite finished it, so I stopped by the library after work and read until I was done so I could give it back on time

Picked up a memoir - In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado. I've not heard of this writer, but this book had me at the prologue

 

[Susan1]

I checked my page on the library website around noon to see if any of my interlibrary books were in because they did not call at 9:30. There are five that said "shipped 2 (or 3) days ago". They were all the ones from Ohio and you could walk them here by now. So I took 2 books back to the library and thought I'd ask. She said it only means that they have left their home library and they could be sitting on a truck somewhere. So, huh? A truck drives all over the state and picks up books and eventually they end up in the right library? Are all five of them on the same truck? Is that why whenever I have a bunch of reserves, they all come in at once? Because they hang onto them in a truck somewhere. They put received books out on the reserved shelf several times a day. Do they just leave a truckload of them sitting in the back till they feel like processing them? I didn't ask her that.

Then I get home and there is a letter from the library dated October 30 (today is November 8th) that I owe $10 for a book that was "returned in a condition that is no longer acceptable for our collection"............and "will be held for 14 days (14 days from the letter? It's already been 8.) for your inspection, after which it will be discarded." "Reason: Splatter on edges of pages."

"Your earliest attention to this matter will be appreciated." ha - it took 8 days to get here (2.3 miles).

As I mentioned I called on November 1 and he took it off my record. I read the damn thing with "splatter on edges of pages" perfectly well. That's no reason to discard it. I wish I would have known about this when I went to the library. I guess I should have checked the mail right before I left.

Then I sat on my glasses and had to go to the eye doctor to get them straightened out and I could have gone then, but I didn't want to be a pest twice in one day.

 

[Prancer]

So, huh? A truck drives all over the state and picks up books and eventually they end up in the right library?

Yes. How did you think it happened?

Do they just leave a truckload of them sitting in the back till they feel like processing them?

No. The trucks follow prescribed routes. It takes a long time to load and unload all the books, given how many books there are and how many libraries they visit. The drivers are allowed to do things like eat dinner and sleep and have regular working hours, so the trucks are parked while they are living like normal people

Again, how did you think interlibrary loan across the state worked?

ha - it took 8 days to get here (2.3 miles).

Except anything sent by regular mail is not just 2.3 miles. Should a library aide walk it to your door?

 

[MacMadame]

Again, how did you think interlibrary loan across the state worked?

I thought they used commercial services like UPS and FedEx. Do they have their own trucks? That seems wasteful.

 

[Prancer]

I thought they used commercial services like UPS and FedEx. Do they have their own trucks? That seems wasteful.

I don't know if they have their own or they contract out, but the trucks work just for the interlibrary loan system.

We have the same setup in the university system--there are library trucks out picking up and delivering material five days a week.

 

[MacMadame]

Wow. That's both interesting and surprising. I guess there are more inter-library loans than I thought!

 

[Susan1]

No. The trucks follow prescribed routes. It takes a long time to load and unload all the books, given how many books there are and how many libraries they visit. The drivers are allowed to do things like eat dinner and sleep and have regular working hours, so the trucks are parked while they are living like normal people

I don't know, I thought maybe they had vans or something that would travel from Cincinnati to Dayton or county to county or something like that - like central hubs.

So....maybe that's where the book got "splatter on the edges of pages" - in the truck for three days. Maybe there was a leak in the truck, or they spilled coffee on it while they were eating dinner or they dropped it in an oil puddle or something and it dried by the time it got to Miamisburg.

Except anything sent by regular mail is not just 2.3 miles. Should a library aide walk it to your door?

8 days is a little much. I saw the notice on my page the day after the letter was dated and he took it off that day when I called. The nasty letter probably hadn't even left the library yet. It's a good thing I saw it on the web page then before I got the letter so much later. I would have forgotten what book it was by now (I've probably read three books since I took that back) and the brown stuff on the edges that did not interfere with reading at all. What a waste to "be discarded". I bet they don't. I bet they just tried to get $10 from me and they'll put it right back on the shelf of whatever library it came from. I'll never see it. (I should reserve it again to see!) It's also a good thing it wasn't informing me that I had 3 days to pay or I was going to jail or something.

It's just very distressing to be accused of something I did not do. I do not eat or drink when I am reading. Completed books go on the chair in the living room where I keep my purse so I can take them back the next time I leave the house (to any of the three libraries I would be the closest to while out).

Geez, I just took a book back today that had some wrinkly wavy pages from the middle of the page down like somebody put a wet glass on it and wiped it off. I hope they don't blame me for that.

I need to switch back to West Carrollton as my home library. I changed because the road was closed for awhile (first the railroad track and then the bridge - which it would have been nice for them to take care of while that library was closed for construction for over a year, but no) and it takes forever to get there the long way (traffic lights, one way street). Now there is construction across the street and only one lane each way and people turning left and dust and trucks......

 

[clairecloutier]

I was just recently hearing (from someone doing research on the subject) that inter-library loan programs are actually really costly for libraries, if looked at on a per-loan basis, I guess. Apparently, it's a service that libraries offer in part so that each library can keep its inventory in a manageable state--i.e., to not have to keep copies of every available book on hand--but it ain't cheap to process all those book requests and transport the books around in mini-busses, vans, etc.

Maybe we should appreciate that the service exists. If we wanted to get inter-library loan books at Amazon speeds, our taxes would probably have to go up.

 

[pat c]

I was just recently hearing (from someone doing research on the subject) that inter-library loan programs are actually really costly for libraries, if looked at on a per-loan basis, I guess. Apparently, it's a service that libraries offer in part so that each library can keep its inventory in a manageable state--i.e., to not have to keep copies of every available book on hand--but it ain't cheap to process all those book requests and transport the books around in mini-busses, vans, etc.

Maybe we should appreciate that the service exists. If we wanted to get inter-library loan books at Amazon speeds, our taxes would probably have to go up.

Plus it services areas that really use them - rural, remote, shut ins, etc etc. A couple of years ago, a brain dead politician in my part of the world thought that would be a good idea - to shut down the inter-library bussing service. Then they looked into the alternatives and a whole bunch of people got po'd. That idea died.........Be grateful for the privilege of having an inter library loan program, no matter if you have to wait a couple of extra days. The alternative isn't nearly as good.

 

[Prancer]

Wow. That's both interesting and surprising. I guess there are more inter-library loans than I thought!

The university service isn't nearly as busy as it used to be; back in the day, it would take about five days to get material. Now it's usually three.

But print books and DVDs are still very popular with interlibrary loan within the state.

I don't know, I thought maybe they had vans or something that would travel from Cincinnati to Dayton or county to county or something like that - like central hubs.

"Truck" does not mean a semi; sometimes "truck" means a van. But it usually means a small delivery truck like this one.

So....maybe that's where the book got "splatter on the edges of pages" - in the truck for three days. Maybe there was a leak in the truck, or they spilled coffee on it while they were eating dinner or they dropped it in an oil puddle or something and it dried by the time it got to Miamisburg.

Highly unllikely, as the books are kept in the back, not in the passenger seat, and they are usually held in containers particular to a destination.

I highly doubt that they would charge you $10 for the book and then put it back on the shelves. For one thing, you could easily find it and point out the issue.

I was just recently hearing (from someone doing research on the subject) that inter-library loan programs are actually really costly for libraries, if looked at on a per-loan basis, I guess. Apparently, it's a service that libraries offer in part so that each library can keep its inventory in a manageable state--i.e., to not have to keep copies of every available book on hand--but it ain't cheap to process all those book requests and transport the books around in mini-busses, vans, etc.

It is very expensive. And while it isn't likely that they will cut the service, I expect that they will cut the number of drivers, which will make wait times longer.

 

[her grace]

[Where the] Crawdads [Sing] really annoyed me; Kya spends one summer with saintly Tate and not only learns to read at a high level within weeks (even though she's 14? 15?) but completely loses her dialect as well . Everyone has a dialect and an accent, but only some people are written that way (not just in this book), which really bugs me. But to completely remove the dialect from a character like that, symbolic or not, just makes it worse. I guess it isn't too surprising that Kya makes such an enormous leap, however, given all the other enormous leaps she makes. And then there was the end . The descriptions of the North Carolina swamp are rather stunning, but the rest--meh for me.

I'm with you. I liked the descriptions of the flora and fauna and she does an excellent job making scientific explanations engaging, but the plot was unbelievable.

 

[genevieve]

I do not eat or drink when I am reading. ....

Geez, I just took a book back today that had some wrinkly wavy pages from the middle of the page down like somebody put a wet glass on it and wiped it off.

Maybe this isn't the time to mention that I was reading my new library book in the bath last night
I was careful but did wonder what I would tell the library if I dropped it (don't worry - I'm too much of a goody two shoes and LOOOOVE the library so I would pay for the book if I ruined it).