The Book Page

By Joyce

January 1, 2008 8:55 AM | Link to this

A great resolution would be to join your local Friends of the Library or the Georgia Friends of the Library at http://www.georgia-friends.org/

I am president of my local Friends group at my county’s library. Friends always need volunteers or donations for programs, book drives, and improvements.

Though I buy or receive advance copies of most of my books, I donate them to the library, so others may enjoy them. I am active in the genealogy room, where I archive obituaries and help others researching family history.

The library is also important as a continuing education location (literacy, bi-lingual books, small business training, computer training, oral history, audio books, any movie, storytelling, etc.).

If your resolution is to spend less, check out magazines and books, instead of buying them.

By retired

January 1, 2008 8:57 AM | Link to this

I am 58 and retired. I go to a public library at least once every two weeks. I check out books on tape/CD and fiction novels. I also visit libraries in the area to work on family genealogy. I usually pack a lunch and spend the day doing research when I visit the Macon library, the Covington library, the University of Georgia library, or the state or national archives.

By Voice of Reason

January 1, 2008 9:11 AM | Link to this

A bit off topic, but would anyone ever write their memoir for general publication? I’m not talking about some mundane story, but if you KNOW you’ve got a startler of a personal story—one of survival against unbelievable odds.

Consider if you’d have any concerns re: your friends learning your deep stuff; balancing people feeling “how sad” vs. “wow, how courageous/strong,” or, if the price [$$] was right, all that wouldn’t matter. I know I’ve got a story that will sell, but I’m not a celebrity and I don’t know if memoirs of non-celebs get nat’l attention for good sales (or options for movie rights). Thanks.

By Maria

January 1, 2008 12:03 PM | Link to this

I go to the library about twice a month to check out books. And between my husband and me, we get a haul. We often get DVDs and audiobooks, too. I don’t even remember the last time I used one of the library computers (though when I was a kid, I was enthralled with them. They were some of the first computers I used). When I need to do research, I either get a book, or just use the Internet at home. On occasion, I’ll take my laptop to the Sandy Springs library and write. There’s a “silent area” there that nearly always is totally silent. I love it.

I’m very meticulous about my book-buying budget. I get most classics and other older books from the library, and I use my book-buying budget to support new writers and new books. I buy a lot of debut fiction, as well as those all-important second novels. I figure that’s the best way to cast a vote in favor of a new author being able to continue his or her writing career.

By Maria

January 1, 2008 1:23 PM | Link to this

Hey Voice of Reason,

I spent about two years working as a contractor for a major NY publishing house, and about two years on top of that researching the publishing industry for my own purposes (i.e., getting ready to submit my own fiction manuscript for publication). Here’s what I know about writing and selling memoirs:

It’s really, really hard. But it can be done. Yes, even as a non-celebrity. What has to set you apart is the writing. It has to be flawless, exciting, captivating, brilliant, et cetera. Memoir is a very small market. As a genre, they don’t generally sell well, and thus editors acquire very few of them, at least when compared to the number of novels and mainstream non-fic works they acquire. What you’ll see is one or two memoirs per year that break out and get national attention — for instance, Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love, and just before that, Jeanette Walls’s The Glass Castle. To wind this back around to the topic of library use, I’d recommend hitting up your local library’s new books section and checking out a few current memoirs. You won’t find many, but you’ll be able to get a good idea of what’s happening in the memoir genre by reading, say, 5 or 6 recent ones.

What I’ve read and heard is that literary agents receive tons of query letters for memoir manuscripts, but the vast majority get turned down. Why? For most, the writing isn’t up to snuff, and / or the story material isn’t captivating. Abuse survival and disease survival memoirs are a dime a dozen. Publishing people are looking for something different.

One of my favorite online writing forums, Absolute Write (www.absolutewrite.com/forums) has a “Life Story and Memoir Writing” subforum. Several published memoir writers hang out there, as well as many other people who are actively writing and submitting their manuscripts. I recommend checking it out.

By Rosemarie

January 1, 2008 1:37 PM | Link to this

I love the library and use it often, but me and librarians do NOT get along. I pay a lot of late fines, but usually because it is the volume of books that I check out….and if I am late only a day or two then I’m racking those fines up. Once, I had about 25 books I was going to check out. This is no exaggeration. I owed about $10 in fines. I paid the fine, but still owed ten cents. I excused myself, dug around in my truck but couldn’t find even a penny. The librarian would not have mercy, and the 25 books that took me an hour to find were left sitting on the counter, crying because I was not going to take them home with me. I find most librarians inflexible and intolerant of my eccentricities. I want to borrow the books, to linger over them lovingly and to know them as if they were mine. But the keepers of the books do not actually want me to take them with me. They want the books to stay neatly on their shelves in perfect order. They don’t want me to smile much or to laugh out loud while I read. My close friends know that when I call someone a “Librarian” and use the “L” symbol on my forehead, it is not a particularly flattering compliment. However, when all my papers are in order and all my fines are paid, the government requires the librarians to let me borrow the books. I manage to retain some dignity while in the library, but I howl with manic-like hilarity when I get inside my vehicle. Mmmmmuuuuaaaaahahaha!

By margaret

January 1, 2008 4:06 PM | Link to this

I don’t go to the library because of my mind-numbing work routine. My car knows which direction home is and every day, it heads in that direction.

I do want to start going. I think I made a resolution to start going in 2008. I like the idea of reading classics at the library and supporting new authors with my purchases. Maybe I’ll try that in 2008.

I’m good at racking up library fines too though, so I’ll have to figure out how to read a book on time.

By Georgia Librarian

January 1, 2008 5:38 PM | Link to this

Rosemarie, you can call me the”L” word anytime you want. I’n proud to be a librarian. By the way the people who won’t let you check out books there are most likely not librarians. They are clerks. The librarians are the ones helping you do reasearch, navigating the morass of information available online and in print, managing budgets, seeking new funding, supervising personnel, and making sure that the information you need is classified, organized and presented in such a way as to be accessible and findable, even to sour prunes like you. They’re the ones with the advanced degrees. If you have a problem with policy,complain to the managers (like me) but please refrain from abusing the poor underpaid clerks at the circulation desk. They don’t set policy. I do. BTW: at the academic library I direct, we don’t even have overdue fines.

By Voice of Reason

January 1, 2008 6:20 PM | Link to this

Thanks, Maria! I am already published (non-fiction with S&S); but this would be a different work all together. FYI: I hear of another memoir, just hitting: Her Last Death (Scribner).

By Rosemarie

January 1, 2008 9:07 PM | Link to this

Georgia Librarian, I have never in any way abused any clerk at the circulation desk. I hope that you can see that I was being tongue-in-cheek. I love the library and dearly love books. I need to come to your library, because at ours we can’t get anyone to come out from behind the desk or their computers. And I’m not a sour prune, good night. I’m actually a whole lot of fun.

By Rosemarie

January 1, 2008 9:11 PM | Link to this

well, maybe also you just proved my point.

By Voice of Reason

January 1, 2008 11:06 PM | Link to this

Uh…exxcuse me for butting in (hehe), but Rosemarie…you sound like you need therapy, based on your 1:37 PM post. WTF? We have meds for what ails you, you know.