Did you know that the library buys popular fiction along with books and periodicals meant to support your academic research? That we buy the kind of books that you might read for fun between research papers? Or kind of books that have long waiting lists at the public library?
It’s true! And these popular novels can often be found sitting on the New Book shelf as you walk in the library, waiting for someone to take them home.
1Q84 is an example of a popular book on the New Book shelf. An instant best seller in Haruki Murakami’s native Japan, it is also extremely popular in the States in translation. The book flap quotes The New York Book Review, “Murakami is like a magician who explains what he’s doing as he performs the trick and still makes you believe he has supernatural powers… But while anyone can tell a story that resembles a dream, it’s the rare artist, like this one, who can make us feel that we are dreaming it ourselves.”
Intrigued? Today, 1Q84 was sitting on the shelf here at Palomar. When I ran a search in the San Diego County Library catalog there were no copies available and 107 people on the waiting list! The San Diego Public Library also had a waiting list of 21 people. Picking it up here could save you weeks on the hold list!
Another popular novel that was sitting on the New Book shelf was Jeffrey Eugenides much anticipated third novel, The Marriage Plot. The summary from the catalog reads, Madeleine Hanna breaks out of her straight-and-narrow mold when she falls in love with charismatic loner Leonard Bankhead, while at the same time an old friend of hers resurfaces, obsessed with the idea that Madeleine is his destiny.
The wait list at SDPL was 23 people long and at the County Library there were 194 people waiting for it!
It shouldn’t be a secret, if there is a novel that you are interested in reading for fun, or maybe as part of a book club, search the Palomar College Library’s Catalog. You might luck out and find we have it on the shelf! If you can’t find it, ask a librarian for help- we can order from another library for you. Happy reading!