Tribune Advocates for the Backlist

Last week in The Chicago Tribune's Lit Life column by Julia Keller, entitled "Ringing in New Year With Old Books," Keller took on one of my favorite topics, the lure of the backlist.

As readers of RA for All know, I advocate for the backlist frequently. Keller makes some great points about how the newest books may be the most tempting, but there are many treasures available among the millions of older books available at your local library.

Well, I guess she doesn't go that far; in fact, there is no mention of the library as a place to go for backlist titles. I wish she would mention that older titles are just as readily available at your local library as they are at a used book store. But it is hard to be too mad at her since she mentions my favorite used book store in Chicago in this article, Myopic Books.

Remember, in-print or out-of-print, your local library has (or can get in a few days) just about any book your heart desires, and we don't ask you to pay at the check-out counter.