The hardest thing for me, when getting that suitcase ready, is deciding what knitting projects to take, and deciding what books to take.
For knitting, I have to consider the ideal “en route” project, and then have a few “projects in reserve” in my checked bag. Since this is the PLA blog and not my knitting blog, I won’t bother addressing that issue further.
Now for the books – what do the rest of you print-addicts do?
I generally like to take only old, ratty-looking paperbacks – usually one each of mystery and romance (nothing like some cheap schlock to calm me down on a bumpy flight). They can be picked up and put down so easily, and even though they’re library books, if I lose one I won’t be out much moola to pay for it. Paperbacks are also suitably light and small. This time, however, I’m reading Free for All by Don Borchert. Have you seen it yet? It’s the story of his library life, repleat with stories of customers who sound so familiar I find myself visualizing the whole of it in my own library branch. I’ve been laughing out loud with nearly every chapter because Borchert has a way of putting words together that makes me hear is sarcastic smile. This is not the Feel Good Librarian, though, so don’t expect delightful, smiling children and kind, sweet librarians throughout. It’s gritty and honest and hits the urban library nail right on the head.
I know it’s terribly trite to be reading a Librarian’s Memoir while traveling to PLA, but I just can’t resist – it’s hilarious reading, and I’m only 1/3 of the way through. I am forcing myself to pack it in the checked bag, though, and only read it in the privacy of my hotel room. I have standards, afterall.
I’ve got a mystery to read en route, my first book by Nevada Barr. I’ve given it the “10 page test” and like it so far, so I think it’ll do me for tomorrow. I can sleep much better tonight, knowing my reading and knitting . . . and for that matter my first PLA Blog post . . . are ready.
Looking forward to blogging with/for you all.
Cat
There are 2 Comments to "What to pack?"
What books to bring on a trip, the eternal puzzler… For a trip this short and jam-packed, I’m planning on bringing two. Michael Chabon’s “Gentlemen of the Road” (which I’ve been saving for a “quiet” time to read, ie. a time away from our toddler…) and Madison Smartt Bell’s “Charmed City”, which is part of the Crown Journeys Series. For those who don’t know, that’s a series by Crown Books, in which they get well known writers to write a brief book about a city they know particularly well. This one is about Baltimore, and I’m test-reading it as a possible gift for a friend who is moving there. I’ve read two others in the series, and found them very mixed, one excellent (Chuck Pahalniuk on Portland, OR) and terrible (William F. Buckley on Washington, D.C.). These are both from the library, naturally (one from my own DCPL, one from Montgomery County, MD).
Oh yeah, I haven’t seen “Free For All” but will definitely check it out. I’m about 100 pages into the other public librarian memoir out right now, “Quiet, Please” and so far am finding it kind of annoying and lame.
I brought five – two fiction, two nonfiction, and one poetry – so I should be able to accommodate any mood. Four are library books and one is a withdrawn library book. Only one is paperback. With my need for reading glasses, mass market paperbacks are off my bookshelf now. I hope you get lots of good reading in.