Return Those Library Books!

My parents taught us to use the library instead of spending money on buying books. I figured that my folks read an average of about 4 books a week between the two of them.
If the average book cost $10.00 (hey, they read both hard-back and paperback), that would be a savings of $40/week. In one year they saved $2000...or over 50 years ~ WOW! $100,000!
So, why don't more people use the library?
People say, "well, I don't like reading what others have held in their hands"...oh, PLEEZE! Then you had better not ever turn a doorknob or use a shopping cart!
Some others will offer this as an "excuse": "I like to keep them around so I can re-read them" I understand! That's why there is a LIBRARY.

I just read two stories in the news...one where a gentleman was returning a book he took out in 1960 and owed $171.35 in fines. The library had written this over-due/missing book off but the guy decided he wanted to "do what was right"...
The next story is a little different. A woman in TEXAS (you know, that state that wants to cecede and be it's own country) was driving her car when a police officer pulled her over for a minor traffic offense. As he checked her record, he found she had no insurance and her license had been revoked. He was getting ready to write her a ticket for all those infractions when he found that she had a warrant out for her arrest for unpaid library fines that totalled $118.00. Out came the handcuffs and off she went to jail. I guess in Texas, you can drive like Annie Oakley but don't you be dodging the "library law".

I probably have paid for a wing of our library in fines. I must average $1.10/book in overdue fines but it sure is better than buying them. Don't get me wrong, I have a huge library of my own filling six floor-to-ceiling shelves. My excuse is the books were either given to me as presents; the books are of such an unusual topic that no library will carry them or they are reference books or they have been personally autographed.

By the way, two HIGHLY RECOMMENDED books that you will soon want to read are Humor Can Be Kinda Funny, and 55 Jobs in 55 Years, both books due out in March/April written by a not-so-famous author, available at local bookstores and Amazon.com. You do NOT want to borrow these from the library. You DO want to buy them and many other copies for friends, family and strangers. I also can get them autographed for you.

Now that I think of it...libraries are closed half the time...and many times there is a problem parking and the weather is usually hot, cold, rainy or snowy as you walk from the car to the library, where they don't always have the book you want when you want to read it...
come to think of it, who needs libraries? Amazon.com forever!