Picking out the perfect e-book

One of the best things about going to a library is that you get to cruise up and down the aisles, softly dragging your fingers across all of the spines...the ones that are brand new and the ones that have been cracked open for years. You never know what spine is going to jump out at you, what title is going to make you pull the book out and flip through it.

I am usually a fan of real books - I love the weight of them in my hands and enjoy flipping through the pages. And there's almost nothing like the smell of the paper and ink in a real book. But I am going on a trip where I am trying to pack light, so I just spent the last 45 minutes searching through my local library's online catalog of e-books where there are no aisles, no spines, no safe feeling that I've come to love in a place where words rule supreme.

This wasn't my first attempt to borrow e-books from my library. The last time, I had a few spare minutes to search through the most popular lists and found a book that was already on my "to read" list. But this time, with nothing in mind and apparently too much time on my hands, I was overwhelmed and frustrated.

First, I tried the most popular lists for both fiction and non-fiction; in the former I got a bunch of romance novels and beach reads, the latter, mostly titles that had a numbers in it (Lose weight in 10 days! or 9 steps to take to a happier life). After about 20 pages of search results for each, I gave up.

Then I jumped to the classic fiction list. That one was a bit more productive, especially since most of those titles are always available. I found one that I've had an interest in reading, but honestly, I'm not a classics girl.

Digging into the lists by putting parameters on the search helped (historical fiction vs. modern literature) and I was able to add a few more titles to my bookbag. Looking through the books that had been added recently was also key, meaning that the titles were most likely newer.

All in all, I wrote down nine titles that I know are available as e-books that I would have some interest in reading. But honestly, this experience was exhausting and a little disheartening. I know that most libraries are trying to decide whether to stock e-books or real books and some are even trying to stay afloat with city budgets being slashed. But I guess I was hoping for a bit more.

I should note that the Redondo Beach library is not an incorporated member of the Los Angeles County library system. That means that I can't tap in to the (I'm guessing) very large network of books that the county has. When I first learned this tidbit of information, I was quite shocked and a bit annoyed. But, I have yet to go get another library card from a neighboring city.