It's no secret that I love libraries. If I were the type to say so I'd say that I big puffy heart them. For the past year I've lived without a good library system. When I was in Montreal I joined a library that was way better than I was expecting for English books but now that I'm in Ottawa I'm not only part of a library but a library system. I got my own library card a couple of weeks ago (had to wait for proof of residency first - bah!) and started my book request list yesterday and already there are two books in transit to me. If I could I'd give my library a big hug.

Scrolling through my (very long thanks to book bloggers) recommended reading list or prize lists or new release lists and adding them to my request list is my own personal version of online shopping. But it's even better than online shopping - it's FREE. Ok, so that's something to love about the library in general. But it's still awesome. And yes, I do sometimes get myself into trouble with requests. Until I lived in Toronto I never had requested books from a public library. I started off slow, only 5 books. Then 10. Then it crept up to twenty with the rationalization that I was number 277 on the list for at least one book - I wouldn't get that for ages! Then came along the autumn literary award season and it crept up again to over 30, but it would never, never, go above 40 I promised myself. The next thing I knew I had 50 books on my request list and when I tried to request another I was denied. I had hit the maximum limit.

If you aren't sure how such a thing can happen it's very easy. Just look at Penelope at Penelope's Garden.

So today I was reading the book section of the Chicago Tribune, which I like to do so I can add new books to my library request list, and happened upon a review of a novel called "Bleeding Kansas" by Sara Paretsky. The reviewer, Amy Gutman, is also a novelist, and her excellent review made me want to read her books, too, so the library list is growing a bit.

One book recommendation leads to another which leads to another and so on. As much as I read and as much as I love books (and own a heck of a lot of them) I simply can't own them all. There's not enough room for them and like most people certainly can't afford to buy them all. After becoming a stay at home parent Heather at Nobody But Yourself found that her discretionary income shrank substantially. Instead of B&N it was the library for her. Not only is she a self-confessed bookworm but her daughter is turning into a bookworm too - and is getting an early start on her own request list.

Speaking of the kiddo, she is completely turning into Bookworm, the Next Generation. Shortly after her fifth birthday last month, we went to the public library, where she marched up to the librarian and requested her very own card. She'd been counting down for over a year now, asking me each time we visited the library if she could get her own card yet, so she knew that as soon as she was five, she could have her own card. Now she does, in a green, leather pouch that she carried around for days (I also have the keytag version of her card on my keychain, just in case that card ever gets lost amidst the stuff in her room), and she's already checked out several books and even placed her first hold request (for a Disney Princess story collection, of course). I couldn't be more proud!

Willa just added a bunch of books to her library list and her justification of when to buy versus when to borrow is similiar to my own (or at least it is until I find those bestsellers in a second-hand shop...).

Some books I really just need to own, even if I'm not going to read them right away. But I find it hard to justify buying hardback copies of best sellers, and I seldom want to wait for the paperback versions. So I put them on the list at the library, wait awhile, and I'll eventually get an email telling me that the book is ready for me to pick up.

As The Lit Connection pointed out, there is a downside to the library request list - sometimes waiting for the book is a killer.

Just the thought of Eclipse sitting on that library shelf waiting for me to read it and not being able to pick it up until Sunday is killing me…

Yep, sometimes you'll wait awhile for that big blockbuster release or the latest Oprah bookclub selection. It will come eventually, even when you are number #277 in the queue. But that's ok, there's always another book (or 5) to request.

Contributing Editor Sassymonkey blogs at Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.