I’ve been a bit frustrated with my on line library. Â The waiting list for books is INCREDIBLY long. Â Too long.
Not long ago I was reading Mary of Country Threads’ blog. Â She recommended the book Before the Fall.
I checked my on line library. Â UGH. Â I am now #72 on the list and there are 3 copies of the book. Â Mary recently recommended two more books, The Woman in Cabin 10. Â My online library has it…I am now #75 on 3 copies. Â Another she recommended The Couple Next Door…I am #51 on 2 copies. Â Wait, there’s more….
A book I’ve been wanting to get is The Light Between Two Oceans. Â I am #111 on 6 copies. Â Remember me saying that my son Karl and I have been watching The Man in High Castle on Amazon Prime? Â Well I thought being I’m liking the series so much I’ll listen to the book. Â I put it on my wait list. Â I am #55 and there is only one copy of the book available. Â UGH. Â That is over a year wait….
I am so disappointed.
The library allows us to put 10 books on hold. Â You can see that managing holds is a little bit challenging too. Â I want to read these five books I’ve listed. Â They are five of my holds and will likely be there for a half a year or more….
Most of the books I read come from “hold list”.  From time to time I will get an Audible book.  I have one credit a month for a treat for me.  That means I end up picking some books from the listings that aren’t checked out  from the on line library and that hasn’t been the best experience.  They typically are average books…I want good books!
I did try Hoopla. Â It was okay but their audio book selection was a lot of books that were self help books. Â I want historical fiction, mystery/thriller or drama.
So what’s a girl to do? Â Any suggestions?
I like to be frugal where I can and for the most part I am pretty patient when it comes to waiting so the online library has worked. Â I’ve really enjoyed a treat to have Audible and be able to select an audio book each month. Â I’m thinking about breaking the bank and upping my Audible selection to two books a month. Â Before I do, I was wondering if any blog reader have any suggestions of what you do to make listening to audio books a little more economical. Â Are there other programs? Â Does anyone know of a free listening for a review type program? Â I’d love some input…..
I use my husband’s library card as well as my own. I browse the public library online catalog, and if I already have 10 audio books on my hold list, I just use his account and put additional holds on his account, as well. When one of the holds on his account becomes available, I just check it out with his card. He rarely (if ever) uses his card. I have his card set up so that all information about his account comes to MY email address. I keep his card in my wallet along with my own.
I’ve been hesitant to jump on board with the Audible books at Amazon because they seem too expensive to me. I just make do with the free audio books from my public library.
All I can tell you is that The Light Between Oceans is a fabulous book! My frustration with mine is that they only have some books in a series as audio books. After seeing the new Anne of Green Gables on PBS, I checked out and listened to the first two in that series. Is the third one available as an audio book? NO! I am ready to hear about Anne and Gilbert going to college, but I have NO ACCESS to the book. Why would they only have part of the series???
I also just make do with Overdrive books from my library.
I manage the list of books I want to read on Goodreads. I want d e-books a week or so before vacation, ao I sat down and looked up books from list on Goodreads at the library until I found three availble books, it took about 20 minutes.
Have you thought about havibg a linger list of books you want to read so that it is more likely a few will be available?
Would you like to borrow my copies of these books? Or do you only want to listen to them?
I love listening. I can multi-task that way. I read very few books anymore….no time.
Use your Hubby’s library card, unless his is full too.
OR – take out a library card in Ruby’s name…haha! I’m sure she’d listen if you played it for her. ;-)
Have you thought about trying podcasts? There probably aren’t any historic fiction, but there are interesting history podcasts. I’ve listened to podcasts on Alexander the Great and Rome and now am about 2/3 of the way through a history of the English language. (Language geek here.) Nell, quite a few years back, there was a whole series of Anne of Green Gables starring Meagan Followes as Anne and Colleen Dewhurst as Marrilla. Very good, but not an audiobook. I think Richard Farnesworth played Mathew.
I’m sorry everyone is having these issues…I highly recommend the light between oceans and being a Canadian girl I have read everything LM Montgomery has written….Fyi the Anne books are great but so are the Emily books and every other thing she has written……The thing is …I only ever read books ….And I get books from the 2nd hand book store or library or friends or my sister…..Cause I really like a REAL book….Not a digital version……But I bet you could get some real books …Second hand. ..For not too much…And read in your chair and great new light ??????
Does your husband have a library card? Can you reserve books on it? I don’t think our library has limits on reserves so I don’t worry about how far down on the list I am. The books will get to me eventually…and I’ll have forgotten why I wanted to read them.
I use my amazon prime membership and read for free. I think it .99 for the audio. But I just read them
Do you or one of your kids have an ‘old’ portable CD player? Sometimes the library wait for books on CD is shorter and you can listen that way. Just an idea. And I sometimes go back and listen to older books I missed while in the throes of child rearing. Books like the Kay Scarpetta series or books by John Sanford. His Lucas Davenport series is superb as are the Virgil Flowers series. Intelligent crime novels and the setting is in Minnesota – sorta your neck of the woods. They are so good that sometimes i get the whole house tidied up because I can’t stop listening!
I couldn’t finish Light between the Oceans… predictable and no empathy for the characters!
I also get frustrated with my libraries audio books. I have found several series where they only have the second and third of a series! Where is book 1???. I don’t have any answers for you, but I highly recommend Louise Penneys series starring Chief Inspecter Geraud (sp?). They are great!
I’ve been using Hoopla through my library and have found a goodish selections of what I like to read (which I know is different than yours) Are you searching the Hoopla site from a computer or a tablet screen? I don’t find it easy to locate books via my tablet and go to the laptop to search and borrow them, then download to my tablet. And I agree that all of L.M.Montgomery’s books are excellent. My favorite is the last of the Anne books, Rilla of Ingleside, about her kids.
Nebraska Overdrive only allows 3 holds per account. I think it helps. One big problem I see with Overdrive and wait times is that when people finish a book they don’t properly check it back in when they are finished so the next person in line can have it. Just because someone deletes a finished item from their device doesn’t mean it is returned. To do that one must actually log into the program used to download the item and follow the proper procedure to return it. I harped & harped on that to the patrons when I was the local Librarian and nobody listens. Nobody wants to be bothered. It makes it difficult for everyone.
Now this isn’t exactly kosher, but you can find many books here and download them: http://freebookspot.es There is a section for audiobooks. I really don’t know how the variety is because if I’m looking for something it’s an e-book.
Try the app “OVERDRIVE”. It lets you search for books numerous ways – we use the one for available now. You can also be put put books on a waiting list…
Project gutenberg has free books that are out of copyright, so 70 years old or so, I think all the lm montgomery bools are there. I have them all as ebooks, love the anne of gren gables best but they are all good.
1st, ask the library to increase the number of holds. Explain your logic. My library has 25 as the limit. Right now I’m 255 on a book I am suppose to read for book club. See if the livrary has lther audio source suggestions. Read the Louise Penney series. First book is Still Life and there are twelve. Read in order. Try Sallie Goldenbaum’s knitting mystery series or Dianne Mott Davidson’s series with Goldie, the caterer. Also, the “Chocolate Chip Cookie Mystery” series. Read all of those suggestions in order as the main characters age. Good luck! Thanks for your blog posts. You’re one of my favorites.
With any luck, all the books you have on hold will come in within days of one another, during a busy time when you are exhausted! If you are looking for historical fiction, especially about women, I highly recommend Jane Kirkpatrick.
I think people have already said this, but you could use your husband’s or your kid’s library cards.
Does you library subscribe to “Overdrive”? its a free, online, downloadable service for books…they have different formats available and you can create a wishlist, put books on hold, and check them out for 7 – 14 days or sometimes longer…You use your library card to check books out…when books are available you et an email alert…very easy to use…I use to use this all the time with my mp3 players and now use it with my Kindle type reader…
I am right next door to you in Wisconsin…many of the library’s in the state subscribe to this service…next time your in La Crosse check with their library to see if you can get a card through them to use…
Have you tried Loyal Books? That’s an option if you don’t mind listening to some older books read by volunteers while waiting on your library hold list. They have free public domain audiobooks and ebooks. I listened to Anne of Green Gables on there a while back.
Jo, I was searching through your blog and came across this post – I too use Overdrive with my local library, but most of the time they don’t even have the books that I’d like to ready. And they aren’t obscure titles. I finally caved and applied/paid fee for an out of state library card for Brooklyn Public Library. Wow. I’ll finally be able to ready the books on your most recent list that you made for Kelli! I figure I’m saving the money in the long run . . . and I can place hold/check more out at a time. Link so you can take a look if you are interested: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/
https://www.bklynlibrary.org/sites/default/files/documents/ebooks/Downloadable_OverDrive_for_Kindle_May2017.pdf
I’ve only just started using it, so don’t have a complete review yet. :-)
This looks fun El. I’ll have to check it out.