Two months ago, I read Ella Minnow Pea and started this post. A couple of weeks after that, I started a great entry and then lost it because I closed the browser without remembering to save my draft. This entry will not be as good, but since it has lain on my desk for more than two months, I'd hate to turn it back in to the library on Tuesday (when it's finally due, without the recourse of more renewals) without writing a couple of words.
The title itself is great, especially when pronounced by a computerized reader: Ella Minnow Pea: a Progressively Lipogrammatic Epistolary Fable. (Try saying that one five times fast!)
I was going to elaborate, but I don't think I will. The title says it all, really.
pjm says:
I read Ella back in January. I think I read it in one sitting. It's pretty startling. Actually, positively cliff-hanging; I wanted to see what he'd do next.
Anonymous says:
I think it's too bad that the library patrons didn't have access to that book while it sat on your desk.
Laurabelle says:
I think it's too bad that you hide behind anonymity to make vague accusations. What's your point?
As a patron, I was not in violation of any circulation policies. The library owns no fewer than thirty copies of Ella Minnow Pea, twelve of which are currently available. If at any time when I attempted to renew my copy, there had been active holds on it, I would not have been able to renew.
Yes, ideally I would have been more prompt, but it's not as if I was really depriving anyone else, as you imply.
You also seem to imply that as a library staff member, I shouldn't keep books checked out and away from real patrons. I was not acting as a staff member; I was acting as a patron. The fact that I work for a library gives me neither more nor fewer privileges than any other patron.