I Love You, Library.

I read.

A lot.
 
My ideal day is to sit in a soft chair with a cup of coffee and a book.  And possibly cookies.  But I digress.

We live near the only Barnes and Noble for miles.  I used to spend an inordinate amount of money and time there.  It was a weekly ritual to go, sit in a soft chair, and buy a book and a coffee.  And possibly cookies.

When my cubs came along and disposable income became a mythical creature that I rarely spot, I had to stop frequenting my favorite book store.  Instead, I became the most loyal patron of my local library.

How much did the library save me this year?  Well, let's find out.  Here's a partial list of what I have read this year*:
*It's a partial list because I know I have read more, but these are the ones I remember off the top of my head.  I started writing them down on a sheet of paper, but that has fallen into the paper vortex that clearly exists somewhere in this house.

The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan: 14 books (minus the autographed one I own and the final book I bought in hardcover) 12 books.  Costs to buy new: about $9 each (paperback), or about $110.

The Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan: 5 books about $8 each = $40

The Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin: 5 books about $10 each = $50

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss = $12

Martha: a Novel by Diana Wallis Taylor = $6

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley= $9

Luka and the Fire of Life by Salman Rushdie = $12

...and then I lost track.

If you are keeping score, that's $239 so far.

Wow.  And that's only the stuff I can remember.  Imagine how much it would be if I could find that dang paper...

The library offers other media, too!  I wanted to see the Game of Thrones HBO series, but we don't have HBO.  My library has seasons 1 and 2, so I checked them out.  That's $29 and $38 respectively.

So, now we're up to $306.

And we're not even including the kids' books, or the events, or how awesome and nice the librarians are, or the free wireless internet, or how much my kids love to play in the toy area with other kids, etc.

If you don't have one already, go get a library card.  It takes less than a minute and costs you nothing at all.

Thank God for the library!