Library or bookstore?

After having a delicious lunch thing with my girl Lisa at the local Hungarian café/bakery I favor, I decided that I needed a bit of exercise. Well, sadly the local library branch was too close but I ventured there anyway. It’s a sunny day, I was wearing comfortable clothes and sporting my new entirely too expensive prescription sunglasses, so off I went. I blame my slight overindulgence (ha, no such thing, I am just being coy) on the fact that it’s the California Independent Bookstores Day. I think my soul really just wanted to go to my favorite bookstore Black Oak Books but for some reason, it wasn’t participating (they want money?) so I consoled myself with the library.

Once I got there, I had to pay my fines (see my last loot photos) #readinggetsexpensive! And then off I went. Though this was my third time at that branch ( I normally get my books online in e-book format), I was once again struck by a certain air at that library. The book offerings were dare I say slanted towards specific ethnic groups? Meaning, there wasn’t a whole lot of diversity. There were lots of books, but there was a definite slant towards Asian themes: lots of Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese books. A disclaimer follows because I need to emphasize to my readers that I have zero problem with ethnic books. I am an immigrant myself so I crave diversity in my own reading, I read English, American, Russian, and Asian authors constantly.But I guess a library is a place where I expect a bit more choices in offerings. Could it be that this particular branch tends to cater more to Asian communities? It is next door to a Thai Buddhist temple, but this is Berkeley, not really an oddity here. And the readers in the library itself were as diverse as Tower of Babel can offer. Has anyone else ever had that experience at their local library where they saw specifically targeted books?

Afterwards, my itch wasn’t scratched and I wanted to spend some $ so I went to the local thrift-store, Savers to get some more loot. Five books for $13, not a bad looting. Though typically thrift-stores like Savers or Goodwill don’t have a ton to offer for me, books are almost a sure bet. Savers especially has a lot donated items that tend to be in good shape and book variety is up to par. Lots of rather outdated books yes, but lots of options and lots of better known authors. I think I saw at least three copies of the Red Tent and yes, I was tempted to buy it just in honor of my blog. So yeah, I did GOOD!

So whatcha all think about my loot?

From the fingertips of Eugenia S