I spent a very productive morning yesterday cataloging some more of my books at LibraryThing.com. I opened my Lifetime account back in January when I read about it on Franklin's blog (and he heard about on Cast-On - I just love the diversity of the knitting world!). I put about 80 books on, and I thought I was doing great.
It took me four hours to enter 207 books, which is half a bookcase. I have four bookcases left to go. And that's just the paperbacks. Don't talk to me about the "reference" section (gardening, beading, knitting, quilting, cats ...)
On the plus side, I am inordinately proud to be the LibraryThinger with the most Ed McBain books (77). My nearest rival only has 76 (hah! in your face, whoever you are!). I'm not sure when spending money in a bookstore became a competitive sport, but there you go. It's nice to know I can excell at collecting other things and not just yarn.
Of course, as Ed McBain, aka Evan Hunter, aka Salvatore Lombino (and numerous other names, de plume and otherwise) passed on in 2005, there is a finite limit to my collection. It is so strange to think that we will never know if Bert manages to convince Sharyn to take him back (tailing his own girlfriend, like she's some sort of criminal) or whether April and Mark will escape being thirteen and (not) popular. (April, what were you thinking? Shoplifting and smoking pot, and you a detective's daughter.)
Ah well. Such is life. The world keeps turning, with or without us. Sometimes the sun even shines.
If you're looking for something to fill the McBain void, maybe you should try the Spellman Files. This might be a total dud recommendation, since I've never read any McBain, but there's something about your description of family+detective that makes me think you might get a kick out of it.
Posted by: Robynn | Monday, June 11, 2007 at 09:12 PM