Friday 7 January 2011

A Library-ish Year

Something that I started doing last year, but stopped without meaning to, was to keep a list of things I have borrowed from the library, and how much they would have cost me should I have bought them full price, or on amazon. By the time I had lost track, it was April, and I was up to over £300! I really could not afford to keep myself in books if I had to buy them. One of my new year's resolutions is to resurrect the project...so here we go!

Moonraker, Ian Fleming
£7.99/£4.98
I was leaving work one evening and needed something to read for the bus. I had put another Bond novel on display, as it had been republished with a really feminine cover, and was not going to issue where it should live. Running out of time before the bus, I picked it up, and discovered that I love James Bond novels! So to take me over the new year, I chose another, and was pleased to discover that I enjoyed this one as well. I don't think I would want to buy them, unless I was going to collect vintage editions, so I am glad I borrowed rather than bought.

Goldfinger, Ian Fleming
£7.99/£5.99
Another instance of leaving to go home and wanting a book for my handbag (its funny, I think of a book as a handbag essential, along with a hairbrush, tissues, lipstick (or two!), keys, purse and phone! Oh, and a mirror!) This time I wanted something I knew I would enjoy, so picked up another in the Bond series. So far, I am only 10 pages in, but I am enjoying it.

Rose Elliot's Vegetarian Meals In Minutes
£9.99/£6.62
We are not vegetarian, but do eat vegetarian meals quite often. I don't think that we need to eat meat or fish at every meal to be healthy, and I like to eat seasonally, so books like this help give me new ideas. Plus, a book that offers meals in minutes is a definite advantage when you work and get in not long before a hungry husband on some days! This is one book that I am going to keep an eye out for in charity shops, and maybe even think about buying on amazon one day.

So, one week into 2011 and I have already saved £24.97/£17.59...not bad! What I need to do now is get into the habit of using the library like a normal person. That is, going to the library. There is a lot of serendipity about working in one...you get exposed to an awful lot of books you might not have known about. But it does mean that you tend to fill your library card in the manner of a magpie feathering its nest! Lots of books left on your desk by friends, recommended by readers, that you noticed while shelving...but there is something about purposefully browsing, going into the library with a list of books to find, or just to see what there is....so I am going to try and get out there on my lunch hour every now and again and browse properly. A whole year of reading...new authors to discover, old favourites to revisit... I can't wait!

2 comments:

Dinahsoar said...

I must comment again--sorry to be so long winded but I do enjoy what you share.

Books--if money weren't an issue I'd own sooooo many. I can never get enough reading, and books are like houses while magazines are like tents...I was taught as a child 'books are your friends'...I've never thought of magazines in that vein, though I do enjoy reading them, stacks and stacks if I had them. As it is with the price increases I've quit buying them pretty much.

I'd never think of reading Bond or Fleming--but I didn't like Poirot (David Suchet) movies/TV--until I purposefully watched Murder on the Orient Express...then I was totally smitten..you never know.

And the vegetarian cookbook sounds ideal. We too eat a lot of vegetarian meals for health sake in spite of being meat eaters.

Here in the U.S. we are watching our expenditures too...I always have as a matter of course, but many are being forced to for the first time due to our bad economy.

Until next time!

Anonymous said...

I have been checking your blog since your last post in September and was so happy to see your new posts while checking today! I just love reading about your days. I can picture it in my mind and it sounds so wonderful. Like another reader said, I find anything British and the British way of life and all of its history so very wonderful. Welcome back! Happy New Year!
Patti S.