Free for All

 Book 19 of my 2026 Reading Challenge

read from February 12 - 14

Free for All: Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas 

in the Public Library

by Don Borchert

published 2007

4 stars

Although the technology and policies have changed since this book was written in 2007, the people stay the same.  I miss the reference desk - the Internet has made many of them obsolete.  And although self-check is fine, I prefer to have an actual person check out my books whenever possible; even a sentence or two from a fellow reader makes the library experience even better.

I worked at our public library for over 5 years.  What was my most random item returned in the drop?  A fish (a real fish).  Our library is near a walking trail with a pond and someone put a fish in one of our reusable bags and put it in the drop.  The fact that it was an actual library bag made it even more memorable because whomever did it really wanted to catch us off guard!  I could tell the bag felt squishy when I picked it up so I took a peek inside and immediately handed it off to someone else.  The fish was dead but they took it back to the pond to complete the circle of life.

Maybe this book is niche but for those in the demographic, it was an enjoyable read.

*********************************

Ways This Book Met my 2026 Reading Goals:

- 19th book read in 2026 (my goal is 100)

- Title starting with 'F' (I'm doing an A-Z title challenge)