Post by Default UserPost by Dorothy J HeydtPost by Default UserPost by Dorothy J HeydtThere are bookstores in plenty down in Berkeley, but you'll recall
that I am old and weak (75 this summer, 30+ of those years with
CFS) and I live atop a hill, and I don't drive. So if I buy a
used book, I get it from Amazon. Occasionally.
Locally, the St. Louis County Library system has senior services for
"housebound" patrons. That mails materials with postage-paid return
labels. Possibly your library system has something similar.
Well, the library system in Vallejo doesn't have anything worth
reading anyway. It contains
(a) multiple copies of the latest best-sellers,
(b) a stack of self-help books, and
(c) a comprehensive collection of histories of Solano County
(where Vallejo is), which I think must have been somebody's
private collection, and in which I have no particular interest.
It's the UC Berkeley library I'd like to be able to get at, but
fatigue and transportation difficulties as above.
And I don't think it has a mailing service; it's for the
University community, whicch AFAIK implies you're able to get on
campus.
If you mean the Solano County library, then they do have a service
http://www.solanolibrary.com/1368/
Are you going by what you found in the physical library at some point,
rather than the entire catalog? I would be surprised to have any major
county library system that didn't have a wide selection.
Remember that the City of Vallejo is broke; they went into
bankruptcy after the Navy moved out of Mare Island, and only got
out by cutting all kinds of services to the bone.
Post by Default UserUsing their catalog search for science fiction turns up some 600 pages
of hits. The first few I looked at had SF books old and new.
http://ls2pac.snap.lib.ca.us/?config=SOLANO#section=search&term=Science%20fiction&page=0&sortKey=Relevancy
None of the titles on the first page meant anything to me --
except _Mockingjay_, which sounded vaguely familiar, so I googled
it and it's _Hunger Games._ No way.
What I need, if I'm going to buy SF, is a library or bookstore
where I can open the volume and read a few pages, or else a
*really* intriguing review from James. So far, none of those
I've read have elicited anything stronger than "Hmmmm."
(There is nothing whatever wrong with James having somewhat
different tastes from mine, and I was really touched when he
reviewed _The Interior Life._)
So I did a search for "Carolingian history," my current topic of
interest.
http://ls2pac.snap.lib.ca.us/?config=SOLANO#section=search&term=Carolingian
history&page=0&sortKey=Relevancy&db=ls2pac&branchFilters=["1","3","4","6","7","8","15","18","19","20","21","22","27","30","42"]&facetFilters=[]
To save you the trouble of linking to that, it had about four
books on World History (all of it), one on Vikings, one copy of
_Charlmeagne and the Early Middle Ages_, which I already own, and
several videorecordings.
Post by Default UserNaturally, searching for a specific title or author is another approach. Have you tried that?
What title, what author? I've been broke for long enough, and
away from a bookstore for long enough, that I don't know what's
been published since, hmm, 2008 when we moved to Vallejo.
I have gotten to Fogcon last year and this year, though, and they
had a dealer's room where I bought a few books.
In any case, thanks for the link to the Vallejo library; it is not
impossible that I might someday look through their list and find
something I wanted. Just slightly unlikely.
--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com