Treasure Hunt, Adult Style

One thing I've learned since moving to Southeast Texas is that treasure hunts are HUGE here. Most festivals have a treasure hunt associated with them. The college I work for does a treasure hunt during homecoming week that community members and students can participate in. I've even heard some of our fans referring to themselves as "semi-professional" treasure hunters now that they are retired and can participate in many of them. My idea of a treasure hunt is a little different.

My idea of a treasure hunt is finding a book on my massive list titled "Books To Read" that lives on my phone. My library is a little...interesting, and that's why I love it. The most popular genre, that I can gather from the website stats, is African-American erotica. (A demographic that I do not fit.) There is also a VAST collection of large print books. (That I need. Not because of my age, but because my eyes suck.) Most of the books on my list are not at my library, but that doesn't mean that I don't make the rounds every week to try and find them there.

The day I found Lisa Scottoline's Have a Nice Guilt Trip, I happy danced in the middle of the new books section! It was the first book that I could scratch off of my "Books To Read" list! This book was the gateway drug to my Scottoline addiction, and I'm working my way through EVERY book my library has by her. (So far, all found in the large print section. People with poor eye sight have good taste.)

But very recently, I found TWO books on my list in the new books section. Landline by Rainbow Rowell and Mrs. Lincoln's Rival by Jennifer Chiaverni. I knew that I had a busy September of games ahead of me, so I did what I thought was sensible and picked only one of them to take home. Well, I finished Landline in 4 hours, and returned the very next day to claim Mrs. Lincoln's Rival as my new library BFF only to find ... that someone had checked it out. I was devastated. So devastated that I began tearing up in the middle of my ghettofabulous library that I love with all of my soul.

Every time I have gone back to the library, I've made sure to go when they are restocking shelves. I thin stalk the library attendants as they put books back in the new to us and large print sections. I pretend to look at the other books they have to offer me, but in reality I know I'm a stage 5 clinger and those attendants cannot put the books up fast enough to get away from the crazy lady stalking them around the library.

Sure, I could put my name on the wait list and have them call me when the book is returned, but what fun is that? It's not near as exciting for me to wait by the phone hoping that my crush  library will call me and tell me that they  my book of choice is ready for me to take it out on a date check it out. No, the joy for me lies in the hunt. Nothing brings me the same happiness as waltzing through the shelves of my library for at least an hour, always in the same order, and stumbling upon a book on my list that I haven't seen before. (Waltzing order for the curious: New To Us - Large Print - Regular Print Non-Fiction - Regular Print Fiction - YA - Children) We're coming close to the 21 day checkout period for Mrs. Lincoln's Rival and I intend to descend upon that library as soon as I get off of work on both possible days. I will scour the shelves. I will stalk each attendant reshelving books. And I will either leave victorious, or not-so victorious. If it's the latter, the library always offers me options to ease the pain, and because of that, I will at least never leave defeated.