because we are the kind of people who assess each other's quality of life by the kind of library access each has, this is just too good not too be insufferably smug about: remember how i used to crow about being able to check out seventy-five books from the charlottesville city libraries? i woke up this morning and went directly to the cambridge public library as soon as it opened and got a membership card on the spot. how many items am i entitled to take out on my card? one hundred and fifty. i kid you not. if that's not ludicrous what is? all the better for pillaging the library.