How long has it been since I had a library holds mishap?  Too long – I’ve been way overdue.  (<–see what I did there?).  Yep, it was bound (<–okay, I’ll stop) to happen again soon.  I’ve been good.  Too good.

It’s been slightly easier to resist the holds queue because the Buffalo library system actually charges for placing a hold.  Only $0.25 for a book, and I don’t mind giving a quarter here and a quarter there to the library, but it has had the effect of deterring me just a little bit (and making me feel cheap as a result).  Until the other day, when I went crazy with adding books I’d been wanting to read, that weren’t available at my home branch.  I had them delivered to the library near my office, went over one lunch hour, and came back with my tote bag bulging and my evenings spoken for, at least for awhile.

Here’s the status:

Due back July 2nd: The Girl With All the Gifts, by M.R. Carey; I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You, by Courtney Maum; To Rise Again at a Decent Hour, by Joshua Ferris

Due back July 8th: The Golem and the Jinni, by Helene Wecker; My Life in Middlemarch, by Rebecca Mead

Due back July 16th: Among the Janeites: A Journey Through the World of Jane Austen Fandom, by Deborah Yaffe; Misery Loves Company, by Rene Gutteridge

Due back July 17th: The Cloister Walk, by Kathleen Norris; Peaceful Parents, Happy Kids: How to Stop Yelling and Start Connecting, by Laura Markham

Awaiting Pickup: Delancey: A Man, A Woman, A Restaurant, A Marriage, by Molly Wizenberg

Here’s the strategy:

• I’m actually finished with A Life in Middlemarch – I wrapped it up during a marathon reading night on Wednesday after putting Peanut to bed.  So that one’s ready to go back.
• I’m midway through The Cloister Walk, which I started before I realized that reading order was going to be strategic.  I can renew that one, though – I’ve already renewed it once – so it’s on the shelf (<–okay, really done with the puns now) for the time being.
• I’ve started I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You and I can already tell I’m going to blaze through it.  Then I’ll read the other two July 2nd books (they’re all 7-day new releases) – not sure in what order.  I’m probably going to have to renew at least one of them, so my next choice will be governed by which one is more likely to have a queue forming and preventing my renewing it.
• I’ve got a big trip coming up and I think The Golem and the Jinni will make perfect reading material.
• Somewhere in there I’ll also have to pick up Delancey and slot it in ahead of others, both because it’s likely to have a queue and because I just really want to read it right away.
• Then it gets easier!  I think the rest of the choices should be renewable, so I’ll just take them one at a time, but…

Sheesh.  How do I get myself into these messes?  I never, ever learn.

Do you struggle to control yourself around the library holds system, too?  I have issues.