Okay, okay, the Martin series is back on the to-read list. :)

It was the walking dead people that sucked me in, and so far we haven't seen much of them. But this story has a plot! Along and complex plot, with books that last a thousand pages. One frustrating thing -- each chapter is told by a POV character, of which there are multiple to each book. A chapter will end with a cliff-hanger, and then the next one will move to a different character on another continent, and it will be five chapters or more before the cliff-hanger is resolved. That's why I'm reading so fast.

Spoken like someone who never read or valued a book in his life. Society's 'moochers' can get free Wi-Fi at McDonalds.

Ohh, I couldn't disagree more. Libraries need to be saved, not closed!

Libraries are changing with the times. One is able to check out e-books and e-readers at most of them. Societies "moochers", as you so affectionately call the "have nots", have every right to information from the Internet as you do. They just cannot afford the equipment. Libraries have always been in the forefront of the dissemination of information to the masses.

I've never actually tried to do this, but it would be very useful for me to be able to check out an e-book online without having to be physically present at the library.

Not that I want to give any credence to what Pennypacker is pushing, I do believe that libraries should be targeting the poor and disadvantaged rather than acting as free bookstores in wealthier areas.

There is only so much public funding available. Do we really need to have our suburban libraries holding Harry Potter parties every time Rowling rolls out a new book? That funding could be used to help keep an inner city library open, or to buy new books or pay for a computer for a library located where the average person cannot afford to buy a book or computer.

I don't discount the importance of libraries, but I do believe that they are more necessary for certain segments of the population than they are for others...

Someone please tell me what libraries offer that Google does not. I know Google doesn't offer free WIFI or free DVDs and CDs, but what else? Free books? Go buy them you cheap ass liberals.

The public library offers the ability to borrow and read a book rather than to buy it and then have to store it. It shares resources, but that is a concept foreign to Pennypacker.

There is actually a place called Project Guttenberg which offers free epub downloads of books that are in the public domain, so Google helps you there. But something tells me that Pennypacker is not a scholar. One learns more from a complete book than from a page on the net.

I have a bachelors degree from a well known Jesuit university along with a MBA from another well know Jesuit university. I am pretty sure my clipped toenails have more 'scholarly' intelligence than you, Randall, and the rest of the limp wrist liberal males that frequent this room.

Don't bet on it, Pennypacker. You still don't strike me as someone who reads a lot.

If the well-known Jesuit university is Marquette, big whoop. It's turned out its share of fools.

@H.E. Pennypacker...Go ahead and put your CV up and let's take a look.

Google does have a 'books' feature...

http://books.google.com/bkshp?hl=en&tab=wp

...though it seems more like a store than a library.

Please don't put down Marquette, Randy. While it may have turned out 'its share of fools', it also turned out its share of educated people. I'd like to think that I am among them...

I notice you are listing your current reading material, Pennypacker. Do you read at all?

I have my own Wi_Fi, actually, but it's nice to know that the library is there for interruptions in service, and for those books my own library doesn't have.

Oh! Which Lamb did you read and did you enjoy it?

_The First Day of the Rest of Your Life_. It was the only one of hers at the library. I was afraid it would be typical chick lit, but it started out strong and was highly entertaining. Then it delved into darker topics while maintaining a veneer of humor. I enjoyed the rich life of the protagonist and her family. She sort of spoiled it all with the ending, though. It should have ended with her triumphant "coming out" at the convention. But Lamb had a need to give everyone a happy ending, so both sisters got boyfriends and Grandpa found his long-lost son and a huge extended family. Oy veh! So overall, maybe a 7 out of 10. I would definitely pick up another one of hers, but if she throws in lavender, pink and cute animals again I will put it back down.

I think my old library card has expired, but it should be no problem to renew. I'm out in Waukesha County, in that federated system. It would really be great not to have to schlep to the library for a book I'm looking for.

I started selling my books on Amazon 5 years ago when my son went to college. I literally made 30k - just 3k short of a year's tuition.

I kept a few of the most treasured, and a few that mention me or family members. Of course, a couple hundred others had no value and are still here.

@Jay Sykes - They totally should! I'd buy it in a heartbeat! :)

I think it would be pretty easy to simulate "Downtown Main Branch" if that would suffice, Jay.