Ep 540: Please save me from my library holds

What Should I Read Next?

Retired global HR leader Amy Czuba shares her love of reading and her struggle with library holds that disrupt her plans to dive into long,

Key takeaways

• Amy reads about 50 books a year and values physical hardcovers over digital formats.

Main topics

• Balancing library holds with personal reading goals

Notable quotes

"I just went to the DMV in South Carolina to get my license. And it's been really, really hard not to drive myself immediately over to the local library and get a library card."

Conclusion

Amy leaves the episode feeling excited and empowered to embrace both her

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) I have to tell you, like I said, I just went to the DMV in South Carolina to get my license. And it's been really, really hard not to drive myself immediately over to the local library and get a library card. I know I will do it, but I'm trying really hard not to do it right away. Because why? Well, because then I'll be back in the problem of getting all the library books. Speaker 1 (0:24) Hey readers, I'm Anne Bogle, and this is What Should I Read Next? Welcome to the show that's dedicated to answering the question that plagues every reader. What should I read next? We don't get bossy on this show. What we will do here is give you the information you need to choose your next read. Every week, we'll talk all things books and reading and do a little literary matchmaking with one guest. Speaker 1 (0:55) Readers, we are airing this conversation on September 1st, which means fall is nearly here. And that means one thing at What Should I Read Next HQ. It is almost time for our fall book preview. Our eighth annual fall preview releases on Thursday, September 17th to members of Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club and our Patreon all-inclusive and bonuses and events tiers, plus our a la carte ticket holders. Once again, our fall book preview experience includes our 12-page digital PDF lookbook and an invitation to our live unboxing event happening at 8 p.m. Eastern time that night, September 17th, plus our unboxing video recording. This year, we are also offering a printed, delivered by Snail Mail lookbook that is available as an add-on to your Fall Book Preview Experience order or as a standalone purchase. This year's lookbook is different from past editions in two big ways. Maybe... Speaker 1 (1:47) Three ways, actually. The first is that, to a greater extent than in any of our previous spring and fall previews, I wanted this year's lookbook to stand alone and be useful apart from unboxing. And unboxing is fabulous and useful and will do great things for your fall reading life, and I hope you will come. But fall is busy, and if you don't feel like you have time for that, get the lookbook. It's great. It's six by nine inches, 12 pages. It has an inky kind of hand-stamped, zine-inspired, pleasantly packed with readerly goodness kind of feel. And it's more than a list of titles. I clearly lay out the four and five-star reads I've already enjoyed for the season to come. And I got to tell you, this section is a lot bigger than I initially thought it would be before I started reading from the just astounding selections that are on offer this fall. Plus, Speaker 1 (2:36) In the lookbook, there are dozens more of my most anticipated titles and short descriptions, and I do mean short, about each one of them. My team chimes in in our lookbook with their most anticipated fall releases, plus backlist favorites that feel just right for fall. You are going to want to tuck this lookbook in your journal, take it to the library and bookstore, or bring it to coffee with a friend so you can talk about great fall books. Now, this year, from the beginning, I also prioritized designing this little lookbook in a way that we could deliver a professionally printed, genuinely useful, readerly delightful, little zine kind of lookbook straight to your mailbox for right about $10, including shipping. And we did it. I hope the low cost makes it easy to say yes to our lookbook this year. Speaker 1 (3:19) Mark your calendars, get your a la carte ticket, or if you're not yet a member of one of our communities, sign up now and enjoy our original Fall Book Preview experience as an included perk. I've talked a lot about the lookbook in the past couple minutes because that's so different this year, but the full Fall Book Preview experience is... worth taking part in. And I hope you will. Sign up now, place your order, or just get more information at modernmrsdarcy.com slash FBP for Fall Book Preview. That's modernmrsdarcy.com slash FBP. Speaker 1 (3:53) Readers, today's guest wrote into our submissions page with a plea we could not say no to. Amy Zuba is recently retired. Not too long ago, she wrapped up her career as a global HR leader, then said goodbye to Massachusetts after living there for nearly 40 years and moved south to Charleston, South Carolina, where she's now enjoying soaking up the history of her new hometown. She enjoys pairing an active reading life with being active outside, getting out to walk, play golf, and tennis. As you'll hear, she is excited to have more time to read in retirement. She wants to find good books, and in particular, long books that she can really sink into. But her library holds keep wreaking havoc with her well-laid plans. Amy is here today seeking ideas for those long books that she's craving. Speaker 1 (4:40) She would especially enjoy a book that teaches her about a topic she might not otherwise learn about. Amy also has a goal to read more books from her as-yet-unread pile of titles that she already owns. This is really important to her, and she has already identified a major obstacle in making this happen. She cannot resist a shiny new library book that's available for checkout at her local branch. Amy wants to know if I can save her from her library holds. Amy, I hope so. I have ideas. We will see what she thinks. Readers, let's get to it. Amy, welcome to the show. Thank you so much, Anne. I am super duper excited about being here and probably still having heart palpitations from the email I got. Well, I'm excited. You're excited. Thanks for coming on. Yes, my pleasure. Amy, we'd like to start by giving our readers a glimpse of who you are. Can you tell us a little about yourself? Sure. Speaker 1 (5:33) So I'm calling from Charleston, South Carolina. My husband, Steve, and I just recently moved here a few weeks ago after living in Massachusetts for 40 years. So that was a big move for us. But the other recent big thing for me is I just recently retired a couple of months ago. Retired, I worked at a large global technology firm. I used to say in the... least technical person working at a technology firm. But I was a director of HR. I had a global team of HR chat reps that I managed. Really super fun job. I miss the people a lot. But one fun fact about that is that I took your podcast format and I used it for my quarterly check-ins and year-end annual performance reviews. So the format that I used was tell me three things that went well, one thing that didn't. Speaker 1 (6:23) that didn't, and what you've been working on lately for your development. And it was just such a great format to kind of kick off those conversations and kind of hear from people. Oh, well, I love that. Thank you. You're welcome. And I just gave credit in my meetings. I'm like, you guys know, I got this from a podcast that I listened to. And so it was always fun. When I'm not reading, I enjoy staying active. I like to go for walks, maybe jump on my Peloton bike. My husband and I both golf. He is pretty... Speaker 1 (6:50) A little bit better. I'm pretty terrible at it, but I do enjoy it. Play a little tennis. Anything to kind of just keep moving. We also recently learned how to play Mahjong, which is, you know, sweeping the nation by storm, I think. And that's been a lot of fun. I personally love going on historical tours. So Charleston has been a great city to move to for that. Of course, New England was great, living in Massachusetts all that time. Speaker 1 (7:14) And then, you know, we also just enjoy going to the beach with a great book. That's very fun as well. And then also as a family, we love Disney and we tend to go about once a year. And I always bring, or not always, but I have been known to bring a book in my backpack into the park so that I have something to read while we're standing in line or while I'm waiting for the rest of the family to get off a ride that I don't like to go on anymore. So I always have a book with me for sure. I mean. Speaker 1 (7:42) I believe that's a rule many of our listeners live by. Absolutely. Now, Amy, this is brought on purpose. Would you tell us about your reading life? Sure. So I tend to read about 50 books a year. I don't watch a lot of TV. So that gives me time to read. I do love to read every night before I go to bed. And I'll sneak it in throughout the day whenever I have a few extra minutes. Like I mentioned, I try not to go anywhere without a book. Although the other day we went to the DMV to register our cars and get our new licenses. And I was so wrapped up, Anne, with all of the paperwork that we needed that I left my book on the counter of our kitchen. And so luckily we didn't, the wait wasn't too long, but as I was driving over there, I'm like, oh shoot, I forgot my book. I think I read half a book the last time I was at the DMV. I'm glad it wasn't too bad. I believe that. Speaker 1 (8:34) And the thing is, is I like a hardcover book. So I'm not going to pull up a book on my phone. I don't even use my Kindle anymore, really, for the most part. I like the actual book. I do like audiobooks, too. I mean, love audiobooks. I've read some of my favorite books on audio. But I always listened while I was commuting to work. And so to be honest, I really haven't listened to an audiobook since I retired. So I'm a little sad about that. The types of books that I love to read, like my go-to genre has always been historical fiction. That's my favorite. Speaker 1 (9:02) but I really love narrative nonfiction. I like literary fiction. I love biographies and memoirs. And when I want to mix things up or get like a palate cleanser, I love a good mystery or a crime thriller. And I feel like those are kind of my comfort reads when I need to mix something up. I'll go back to a series with the same characters that I just love having them solve another mystery. And I'm the type of reader, I don't try and figure out the mystery. So I'm always surprised at the end, which makes it great. Speaker 1 (9:30) I'm in a couple of book clubs, so I tend to end up reading maybe some books that I wouldn't normally choose, and that's always good. I really have to have my books grounded in reality. I don't like any kind of sci-fi or fantasy or magical realism and that type of thing. And I have tried. I mean, my husband loves sci-fi and fantasy, and he's tried to get me to read some of those books, and they're just not for me. Now, the only exception to that is I recently read Hail Mary. Speaker 1 (9:57) on audio, and I absolutely loved it. But the reason why I loved it was because of the characters, not so much the science and all that kind of stuff. Romance will fill the spot once in a blue moon. I generally don't like it because I find like it's just too fluffy and obviously it's predictable, but you know, every once in a while it will hit the spot. Bookstores love going into a bookstore. I can't go into one without buying at least something. Speaker 1 (10:22) But I'm really addicted to my library. And so, I mean, I just walk into a library and think, oh my gosh, look at all these free books. And when I hear about a book that I want to read, I end up just immediately going to my library app and requesting it. And then all the library books come in at the same time. And I'm walking out of the library with a stack of books and coming into the house. And my husband's looking at me like, what are you doing? I'm like, they all came in at the same time. I can't help it. Speaker 1 (10:51) My mom just said to me this morning, I think the Franklin Library is going to go out of business since you moved. And I said, that is not true. But I do really enjoy the library and getting the books. And I have to tell you, like I said, I just went to the DMV in South Carolina to get my license. And it's been really, really hard not to drive myself immediately over to the local library and get a library card. I know I will do it, but I'm trying really hard not to do it right away. Because why? Speaker 1 (11:21) Well, because then I'll be back in the problem of getting all the library books. And I have so many boxes of books here, Anne, that we are unpacking. And so I've gotten a few of them unpacked. But like all these books that I own that I would like to read, and I had not to get to them because I'm always reading the library books. Okay. It's a problem. Amy, I think we should tell our listeners that the headline on your submission was... Please save me from my library holds. Yes. Your relationship with your library sounds amazing, except it seems, I'm imagining that it's not delivering the reading life you want, the reading experiences you want. Like what's the, is what's the opportunity cost here the right question? Just tell me what I need to know. Okay. So here's the way my brain thinks. When I go into a bookstore and I'm going to purchase a book, Speaker 1 (12:15) I want to get like the very best book I think I'm going to love that I'm going to pass off to my friends. And so I buy what I think are going to be the top five-star reads. I'm buying those in person. And now they're on my bookshelf. When I think of the library, I'm like, oh, well, you know, there's no harm, no foul. If I don't like the book, I'll just request it. And if it's not great, that's fine because I didn't pay for it. So what ends up happening is a lot of times I'm requesting books from the library that, ah, those sound pretty good, but maybe they don't sound amazing. Speaker 1 (12:43) And so I get a lot of pretty good books from the library. But meanwhile, some of the books I think are going to be the best sit on my bookshelf unread. So it's kind of a mixed bag. I mean, sometimes I get amazing books from the library. And actually, some of the very best books I've gotten from the library, and now I'm sad that they're not on my actual bookshelf. But so it's a mixed bag of problems. Amy, I did notice that when you described what you love about the library, like you walk in, you see what you want, you take it home. I did notice that when you hear about a book you want to read, you request it immediately. When you walk in, you grab what looks good. And like, this sounds so much fun. And also it sounds like there's not like a lot of filter in place. Like you may more carefully filter. I mean, you just said what you get in the bookstore. Speaker 1 (13:31) All right, Amy, this is kind of weird for me, but I'm thinking of a like clothing shopping analogy. I don't like to clothing shop. I really like to shop for books, but I'm thinking how when I'm going through the items on the sales floor, there's a lot of stuff that looks like it could be promising. But the next step is I take it in the dressing room and I like evaluate it and see if it fits and see if it works. And I take home a fraction, if anything, of what I walked into the dressing room with. And I wonder if this is kind of like the difference between Speaker 1 (14:00) shopping at the bookstore where perhaps you're like going into the dressing room and vetting them a little more carefully versus requesting things or picking things up at the library where you're like, oh, that looks good. That looks good. I guess your dressing room is at home when it comes to the library. Yes. So at some point you have to filter. Exactly. Yeah. And I'm filtering really carefully at the bookstore because, you know, I'm going to pay