After a staggering 5+ year stint of forgetting libraries existed, I’ve finally rediscovered them. This is all thanks to one of my roommates and friends, MaryEllen, for dragging my butt over to our local branch.

The trip itself is a wonderful walk. It’s only about ten blocks away, so we can get there and back in about half an hour if we walk fast. And it’s all through residential backstreets, which are gorgeous. Have I mentioned how much I love not living downtown?

Anyway, in the last few years, basically since I graduated high school and realized I had my own money to do what I wanted with (which was slightly untrue, thank you common sense, but I was young and silly and college loans felt like free money), I fell into the pattern of buying books. Lots of books.

This was partially due to the realization that while I owned a frightening amount of manga (to be fair, back in ye olden days, you couldn’t find any manga worth ready at libraries–this has since changed. Hallelujah), I owned very few actual books. So I went on a crusade to reclaim my bookcases’ honor.

Well, I’ve reclaimed, and now I’m running out of room, living on a tight budget, and more addicted to books than ever. I can no longer afford to buy everything I feel like ready, especially when I have no real idea whether or not I’ll actually like it.

Enter, the Library.

Ours is tiny and lacking in most of the books I actually want to read, but it can get almost any book I would desire in a matter of days. It’s easy and convenient. I can just put a hold on the book, from the comfort of my own desk-chair (I love the magic of the internet, don’t you? How did people survive for so long without it?), and scapper over a few days later to pick up my books.

To celebrate this, I just checked out 12 books. There are 2 more on their way.

Now, before you fall out of your chair in horror, let me explain. I’m going on a two week road trip with my parents, visiting our relatives in Montana, and I’m going to need every book I can get my hand out.

Now, Montana is a beautiful state, and I’m looking forward to the trip, but I know from past experience that long days of driving + lack of cable + lack of internet = Lucy will be going through books like chewing gum.

I can’t wait.