They just leapt off the shelf..

There's a very good reason, well two really, why I don't browse the actual shelves of my local library.

The first is that they have such a good crime fiction collection that I have become very adept at using the online catalogue.
Currently it combines the resources of 7 local libraries and on September 27 will join the state wide public libraries network. So basically I reserve the books online, they notify me when they are available, and I just toddle in to collect them. That way I avoid looking at shelves, spinners, and stacks.

I really have no need to buy books either, if I am prepared to wait for them to become available. But of course that doesn't stop me.

The second reason relates to the fact that I am just incapable of browsing shelves. For the same reason I can't go into a bookshop.
So I should have known better today. My husband was looking through the CD collection and I really should have  stayed where I was, sitting in a comfy seat waiting for him. I had collected one book I had reserved from the catalogue and picked up some board books for the granddaughter. But no, I had to wander off to look at the "new acquisitions" shelves. I'll just look, I promised myself.
And that's when it happened.

I found myself toting away 3 more books. I swear they just leapt off the shelf...

Balancing Books

Every 2 or 3 days comes the time to choose which book to read next.

I do make plans and in my little TBRN widget you'll see that I'm planning

• next on Kindle - BEASTLY THINGS, Donna Leon
• next library book - NIGHT ROUNDS, Helene Tursten
• next Australian - RIP OFF, Kel Robertson
• audio - THE FALLS, Ian Rankin
• also on audio - GIDEON'S NIGHT, J.J. Marric
• next Agatha Christie: THE HOLLOW (aka MURDER AFTER HOURS)

Sometimes though books stay listed there for some time, while others sneak into my hands.

I make a lot of use of my local library and often have a month's worth of library books here at home  and even more "suspended" requests at the library (these are books you have requested but the request doesn't activate for a month)

So here are the books I currently have out from the library, in order of their due date:

NIGHT ROUNDS / Helene Tursten ; translation by Laura A. Wideburg. 

A SIGHT FOR SORE EYES : a novel / Ruth Rendell. 

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? / Wendy James. ***

THREE-DAY TOWN / Margaret Maron. ***

TURN OF MIND / Alice LaPlante. 

BACKLASH : a Monika Paniatowski mystery / Sally Spencer. 

THE CALLER / Karin Fossum ; translated from the Norwegian by K. E. Semmel. 

EXCURSION TO TINDARI/ Andrea Camilleri ; translated by Stephen Sartarelli. 

FIELD GREY : a Bernie Gunther novel / by Philip Kerr. 

THE CROWDED GRAVE : an investigation by Bruno, Chief of Police / Martin Walker. 

THE BURNING SOUL : a thriller / John Connolly. 

LYING DEAD / Aline Templeton. 

LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER/ Aline Templeton.

Two of those titles *** are new to me authors so I know I will be tempted to read them out of order, but then there are also some authors on the list that I really enjoy so they will call to me as well.

Mind you, I usually only read one book at a time (with an exception to audio books which I "read" when I can only listen like when I'm driving) so while I'm reading a book on my Kindle I won't attempt to read one from the library.
And I alternate my library books with Kindle books and occasionally throw in another review book from my shelves.

Library Loot - and they want to give me more!

Sometimes I have trouble in keeping up with all my library books.

Perhaps this meme should be called library gluttony!
It is a little like the wish list that ran away with itself!

It is a bit embarrassing to realise that some of these have visited me before, and have had to be returned unread. Some of them are books that I was borrowing for a discussion, but the discussion has been and gone.

There are 26 on my list, and 2 more are waiting at the library.
Perhaps you can commend at least one of them to me.

ABSOLUTION by Caro. Ramsay
AS DARKNESS FALLS by Bronwyn Parry
THE BAD POLICEMAN by Helen Hodgman - we are discussing this next month on oz_mystery_readers
A DARKER DOMAIN by Val. McDermid
THE DEATH CHAMBER by Sarah Rayne
DEVIL'S PEAK by Deon. Meyer
FOUND WANTING by Robert Goddard
A FRACTION OF THE WHOLE by Steve Toltz
FROM DOON WITH DEATH by Ruth Rendell
THE HEADHUNTERS by Peter Lovesey
ITALIAN SHOES by Henning Mankell
THE KEEPSAKE by Tess Gerritsen
LAST RITUALS by Yrsa Sigurdardottir.
LUSH LIFE by Richard Price
MAD HATTER'S HOLIDAY by Peter Lovesey
THE MIND'S EYE by Hakan Nesser
A MOST WANTED MAN by John Le Carre
THE PREACHER by Camilla Lackberg
RED BONES by Ann Cleeves
SCARPETTA by Patricia Cornwell
SHADOW by Karin Alvtegen - reading this one now
SHATTER by Michael Robotham - re-reading for discussion on 4MA
SOUL MURDER by Andrew Nugent
TELL ME, PRETTY MAIDEN by Rhys Bowen
TELLING TALES by Ann Cleeves
A TEST OF WILLS by Charles Todd

Libraries again: Library Loot

Libraries have certainly changed over the years haven't they?
The one I went to as a child was almost Pickwickian in nature, one of the old fashioned ones, where your withdrawals were written in a big leather book, and you had to remember the number of the page your name was on. There was a lot of "shushing" too and demarkation lines beyond which children were not allowed to go.

Books I currently have out of the library:

• The coroner / by M.R. Hall.
• A darker domain / Val McDermid.
• Devil's Peak / Deon Meyer ; translated by K.L. Seegers.
• Full dark house / Christopher Fowler.
• The headhunters / Peter Lovesey.
• The herring seller's apprentice : a gripping tale of murder, deceit and chocolate / L.C. Tyler.
• The keepsake : a novel / Tess Gerritsen.
• A matter of justice / Charles Todd.
• The murder at the vicarage / Agatha Christie.
• Murder on Monday / Ann Purser.
• The mysterious Mr. Quin./ Agatha Christie.
• The playroom / John Connor.
• Sacrifice / Sharon J. Bolton.
• Scarpetta / Patricia Cornwell.
• Second violin / John Lawton.
• Shadow / Karin Alvtegen ; translated from the Swedish by McKinley Burnett.
• The Sittaford mystery / by Agatha Christie.
• The specialist / Gordon Aalborg.
• Tea time for the traditionally built / Alexander McCall Smith.
• Tell me, pretty maiden / Rhys Bowen.
• Unseen / Mari Jungstedt ; translated from the Swedish by Tiina Nunnally.
• What the birds see / Sonya Hartnett.
• The whole truth [sound recording] / David Baldacci ; read by Alex Jennings.

****Library Loot is a weekly meme hosted by Alessandra from Out of the Blue and Eva from A Striped Armchair
My postings are rather random.

The Problem with Libraries: Library Loot

I've really only been home for a few days and already my library has filled my shelves to overflowing.
I made sure to return all books (or suspend them) before I went away just under 3 weeks ago.
But my wonderful library already had books for me to collect and so this week the total is 15.
Here they are:

• THREE BAGS FULL: A SHEEP DETECTIVE STORY by Swann, Leonie.
• MURDER ON A MIDSUMMER NIGHT by Greenwood, Kerry.
• THE HERRING SELLER'S APPRENTICE: A GRIPPING TALE OF MURDER, DECEIT AND CHOCOLATE by Tyler, L. C.
• PANDORA'S DAUGHTER [sound recording read by Jennifer Van Dyke] by Johansen, Iris.
• SACRIFICE by Bolton, Sharon J.
• TEA TIME FOR THE TRADITIONALLY BUILT by McCall Smith, Alexander
• SCARPETTA by Cornwell, Patricia Daniels
• TELL ME, PRETTY MAIDEN by Bowen, Rhys.
• THE KEEPSAKE by Gerritsen, Tess.
• THE CORONER by Hall, M R.
• A DARKER DOMAIN by McDermid, Val.
• SECOND VIOLIN by Lawton, John.
• THE MYSTERIOUS MR. QUIN by Christie, Agatha
• FULL DARK HOUSE by Fowler, Christopher
• THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE by Christie, Agatha

****Library Loot is a weekly meme hosted by Alessandra from Out of the Blue and Eva from A Striped Armchair
I learnt about it from Marg at Reading Adventures who seems to post hers on Wednesdays. Mine might not be as regular as that.