Ten Books, Three Weeks

I read. A lot. More than I used to, and definitely more than my book buying budget can keep up with. With books now costing $20-$30 each, my reading habit was turning into a real expense. Last summer, I finally decided to start using my public library, and its completely changed my reading habits.

Through the library system, I have access to books from all across Alberta. It’s rare that I want a book and they don’t have it available somewhere in the system. I put in my request, and then I wait.

The waiting game is its own small adventure. Sometimes a book shows up for pickup almost right away. Other times there’s a hold list ahead of me, and in those cases I genuinely have no idea if it will be two weeks or two months before my turn comes up. Once it does come in though, the clock starts ticking and I have three weeks to read it. A book can sometimes be renewed if there isn’t a waiting list behind me, that’s it. Three weeks, no extensions, next.

The problem with that system is that I don’t get to control the timing. I put requests in for 6 or 7 books over the course of a few weeks, and then, one day, they all decide to arrive at once. That’s exactly what happened to me this week. I currently have 10 books sitting on my side table, all checked out, with the three week countdown running and no real way to read them in any order except as fast as I can.

It’s a little chaotic. Also, if I’m being honest, its part of why I’m doing so well with my reading goal this year. A couple of years ago, I barely read. I loved to read but with lots of other things on the go and not making reading a priority, I rarely picked up a book. This year I set out to read 50 books in 2026. As of today, according to my Goodreads tracker, I’m at 45 with a little bit less than half the year left to go. Ten library books landing on my table all at once isn’t really a problem when you are trying to hit a reading goal, its more like fuel.

There is another small thing about my library that I genuine love. Every time I check out a book I get a printed receipt. The receipt shows the books I checked out and the date they are due back. But at the very bottom of the receipt, it shows me how much money I have saved by using the library instead of buying my books – both for the year, and since I became a library member. As of today, I’ve saved $1,,347.63 since January 1st, and over $2000.00 since I started using the library in June of 2025. Those are not small numbers. Every time I see it printed at the bottom of that little slip of paper, it makes the whole system feel even better.