The Hunger Games

So, on WriYe, everyone is going off on the Hunger Games. (Well, not everyone, but a bunch of people in my circle of friends there.) Anyway, I wanted to know what the deal was about this book, so I looked it up in the library database. I was FLOORED! It was obviously INSANELY popular, as there were over 400 holds on it! That was the regular copy of the book. There are about 100 copies of it in the 45 libraries our system encompasses. I looked up the large print edition and found that there were 125 holds on that one! (I didn't even bother to look at how many copies at that point.) So I decided to try the electronic editions. We have a free online library system, might as well look. I found that the audio book download even had something like 7 holds on it! So I figured I wouldn't be reading this book any time soon.

Last week, I was at Walmart and saw it there. I contemplated buying it, but I need another book at home like I need another mouth to feed. So I decided not to.

This brings us to yesterday. Yesterday, one of my kids received Mockingjay in the shipment. I know this is the last book in the trilogy, so I looked up Hunger Games again to see if it was still crazy like it was two weeks ago. It was. For some reason, I scrolled down the list and saw that some of the copies were marked "express." Now there's a couple things about books marked "express." "Express" books can only get checked out for a week and they don't get sent to other libraries. (That last part is like our DVDs or our loaned books at the library I work at.) "Express" is usually saved for new books or books that are INSANELY popular as Hunger Games obviously is. So I limit my search to my local library. (I work out of town, so sometimes looking at my local library is a good thing.) And wouldn't you know, they have 3 copies of Hunger Games and one of them is listed as "ON SHELF." All three are "Express" copies. This was a 4p that I noticed this. So for the next two hours, I watch this book. I go as far as to going to the online catalog and looking it up. The copy that is "ON SHELF" on my screen, says it's "Recently Returned" in the online catalog. This tells me a few things about where I might find the book. I look up my local library's hours, just to reassure myself, and find that they are open until 8 that night. So I decide to go by there on my way home from work.

When I get there about 6:45 last night, I head straight for the YA/Teen section. I look on the cart that reserved for "Recently Returned" books. Hunger Games isn't there! So I look on the shelves reserved for "Express" books. I don't see it. So I head over to the online catalog just to see who the author is. Maybe I overlooked it. I find the author and it still says "Recently Returned." I go back into the Teen section and look around. Before I even get to the cart or the wall of "Express" fiction, I find Hunger Games lying on a table! I snatch that book up like someone is going to take it from my hand, even though I'm the only one in the area besides the aid who is shelving books, and I think he left by the time I went back to get the book.

I go to the express checkout (because at my library, the only reason you need to go to the desk for the librarian's help is getting a library card, renting a movie, or checking out a book on hold) and find the few changes that had been made the first of the year but I never saw because my library is too small to see any of the changes. This confuses me momentarily, but I manage to get the book, get my due date receipt and head home. Yay! I can finally read Hunger Games and find out what all this noise is about!