Public libraries are public treasures … duh

One of the nice things about having more, uh, time to yourself is that you discover things about regular life that a 40-hour-a-week job seldom allows you even to explore.

Today, for example, I went looking for books on CD to borrow at the downtown branch of Spokane Public Library . And I left with more material than I’ll be able to listen to in the three week that I’ll have them.

But I couldn’t help myself. Here’s what I borrowed:

“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Primary Phase,” by Douglas Adams. This is a 3-CD collection of the recordings of Adams’ wacky stories as done by the original BBC cast, with Simon Jones as the clueless Earthling Arthur Dent.

“Moonraker,” by Ian Fleming and read by Simon Vance. This was Fleming’s third novel, first published in 1955, featuring the British Intelligence assassin James Bond.

“The Naming of the Dead,” by Ian Rankin and read by James Gale. The Scottish crime writer Rankin had, through 2007, written 17 Inspector Rebus novels. This one, which concerns the death of an MP and a serial killer targeting social deviants, is No. 16.

“A Clockwork Orange,” by Anthony Burgess and read by Tom Hollander. Burgess’ 1962 novel, which Stanley Kubrick made into a 1971 film, concerns a murderous street hood and his gang in a scarily futuristic Britain.

“The Other,” by David Guterson and read by Mark Bramhall. Guterson, the Puget Sound author of “Snow Falling on Cedars,” has written a novel about two high-school friends who live very different lives but, as the back of the package explains, “are drawn into a web of secrets and often agonizing responsibility, deceit and tragedy …”

Yeah, I know. It’s an eclectic lot. Same as my taste in movies.

Below: The first 10 minutes of the original BBC television version of Douglas Adams’ “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.”