All the sweet serenity of books

my last actual book purchase

You know those Wish Lists everyone has on Amazon? I have one, too, and it's a loooooong one.
Only, my list isn't a list of things I'm ever going to actually buy online.
It's a cheat-sheet for my weekly (sometimes daily) jaunts to the Sacramento Public Library.
I have worked out a book selecting system in my hard little head that I find so rational and obvious that I cannot believe this hadn't occurred to me years ago.
First, I go to Amazon and click on books I've already read & loved. Then, see what other people who've bought said book are also reading. Then, if that book sparks my interest I read the reviews and add it to my wish list so that the next time I'm looking through the endless amounts of books as yet unknown to me on the library shelves, I have somewhat of a starting point.
Amazon is otherwise useless to me. I hardly ever feel the need to actually own a book. I'm more than happy to borrow one, especially when I go through an average of 300 pages a week, at the very least.
Besides, I'm not a possessor of "things". I don't enjoy having a lot of stuff to keep around.
It makes me feel claustrophobic if I am being honest.
There are the rare occasions when I check out a book that ends up changing my life in some way, large or small and then, yes, I must own the book. "On the Road" spoke to me more stylistically than in the spiritual way that it seems to affect others, but it touched my soul nonetheless. This is a book I will own.
Every book in the "Outlander" series by Diana Gabaldon shall be mine as well.

I have always loved the library.
When I was a teenager I used to skip Summer school in order to visit the library and peruse books on Post-Impressionist painters. These days I don't seem to have much time to myself, but when I do have some time, I always spend it at the library.
It's peaceful there and waiting among the shelves are immeasurable opportunities for dreaming, and learning, and love, and history, and reflection. And all of these things are available to me with no price tag.
The library gives so much and asks for nothing more than a return visit.
If you haven't visited you local branch lately, please do so, you will not regret it.