I don’t buy books . . . well, not usually, anyway. Occasionally I will purchase an e-book edition of a currently “hot” title because I can’t wait to read it, and it’s less expensive to buy the electronic version (though e-books, like most things, have increased in price over the years). Most books I read are borrowed from the library. As someone with a long career in libraries, I support my local library by using it. Unfortunately if I’m eager to read a new popular title, I either have to wait for it to decrease in popularity and become more available, or get on a waiting list. I don’t have the patience to sit on a waiting list; I want to read a book when I want to read it, not when the library tells me it’s my turn. So sometimes, if I don’t go ahead and buy the book–and I usually don’t–I put the title on my own personal to-read list and wait until a later date when it becomes more readily available at the library.

Sometimes I visit my local bookstore to browse and buy bargains, books reduced in price to six dollars or less. I have found some real jewels that way (e.g.The Mango Bride by Marivi Soliven and Waking Up in the Land of Glitter by Kathy Cano-Murillo). But my latest visit yielded no precious finds. I was disappointed by the lack of significant bargain books. My husband commented that this could be a sign of an improved economy. In other words, the bookstore might be doing better business and hence doesn’t have to sell as many items at a bargain price. That’s good for the bookstore, I guess, but too bad for me.

Though I enjoy browsing and occasionally buying at the bookstore, there is no better place than the library to find the kind of books I especially like to read: novels by authors of color. The bookstore is sorely lacking in fiction by diverse authors. For those novels, I rely on the library.