So I got everything done - lawn mowed, because it was so hot I thought I'd pass out yesterday, showered, nails cut, air in tires, and all in time to get to the library to return books before fees started adding up. 

All in time to get home for Jeopardy.   (My mom and sister ended up getting me addicted to Jeopardy.)   So I get to the library, drop off my books, pick up a ton of books*, and then get the book I ordered from the interlibrary loan - Backlash.   (I didn't even realize another book had come in, because they were under the pile of Pretty Little Liars* I had gotten.   And a couple robot/computer books I found as well as Scarlet Gospels.)   I get home, and am ready to jump into feminism - and realize I got baking and math instead.

So I'm like, just my luck, they'll be picking up the book when I'm at home!   So I end up looking for something I had lost - which I promised to do when I'd gotten home, and which I found quickly and I had to bring the books in anyway, right?   I realize I have time to go back to the library, and I do.

So I'm like I'll make a joke out of this: "I got a notification that Backlash had come in, and I didn't check until I got home.   I'm sitting down to read about feminism and realize I have baking and math instead!"

Yeah, I used that line.   Not only was it not as funny as it sounded in my head, but I got the stink eye, and grilled. 

'So you took a book home that wasn't yours?'

I hadn't anticipated this.  I thought I was doing a good thing.   'Um, I had a pile of books that I took out,' I said, flinching slightly.   'Like close to twenty.   I didn't think to check and didn't until I got home.'

She looks a the book, studies me, and starts firing off questions.   'Are you sure you didn't pick this up.'

'Definitely not.'

'When did this happen?'

'Just five minutes ago.  I live really close by and I turned around when I had noticed.  I imaged this person coming in when I had it at home, and I didn't want them to panic, or get upset.'

'Are you sure this isn't from our library?'  A brief pause, then she adds, 'No, this isn't from our library!'

So there are a couple more questions, she looks up who took it out, and it was my mom. Alright, then.   They normally don't allow people to take out books for someone else, but the librarian, realizing what had happened, apologized, looked up my mom's number and made an exception.  (What had happened was that the first librarian whom I didn't see around then didn't really look at the first initials, just the last name, by the way.  And must have seen I had two books in and assumed those two were mine.)

I called my mom to tell her I picked it up and would be bringing it to her when I see her at the summer house on Saturday.   She was all like, huh, I didn't order that book.   Oh, K must have done it!   She does that for me sometimes.   (K is a good family friend who works at a library.)

So, she's happy, I'm happy, and I have Backlash.   But, yeah, that was interesting.   I thought I was going to make things all funny, and it turned into a brief accusation, and then me going home with my book.   Yay!

*Suck it up, teens.   Yes, I took, like, all of the Pretty Little Liars.  I think I need unlikable characters, and this has that in spades, plus a mystery that fascinates me, mostly due to the fact that Shepard knows how to use technology like texting in a natural way to make this way freakier.   You could see this happening. 

First Thoughts: This book shows how LITTLE things have changed since the 80's/90's. How much we still have left to do.

To put this in perspective, I was born in 1989, and this book was published in 1991. This book was published about TWENTY-THREE years ago.



This book made me angry, and also depressed me at times, because of the above statement.



I had to put it down for a while because I couldn't handle it all in one dose.

I suggest reading my updates for quotes.

I got on page 58 in two months. DNF.

I managed to get through the Finnish foreword, and I'm sure there are many pertinent facts in this book. But if the original author's style is anything like the translators, I'm going to be overdosing my quota for preachiness within a few pages.

In fact, I think I already did.