Netflix for Novels?

I've recently moved into a very crowded and *cough*messy*cough* little apartment and as sad as it may seem I simply have no room (or money) to support my very expensive reading addiction. I love going to my local library to browse new titles, check out new books and find those few obscure titles I never would have read had I not visited the library that day, however lets face it, I like to take out a lot of books at once, I'm not good with deadlines, and my library can be a bit inconvenient, you never get the bestsellers or blockbusters when you want them because they're almost always checked out and the waiting lists are huge. The closest library to me is a good 20 minutes drive away. Now with limited means (as well as limited gas) I cannot afford to drive back and forth from the library to home when I need to preserve my gas for work. I really can't buy any books because, right now I have no where to store them. I also can't bring back my books on time because I honestly don't know how I can get them all read in time for me to return them (nor can I remember to return them. Sometimes I think I have the worst possible memory in the world). The last thing I want is to rack up a huge debt in library fees and believe me it's happened before *sneeze*$100*sneeze*. So you all can probably assume I'm the worst library borrower in the history of borrowers. So what's a girl to do?

Well, I happened to stumble upon this very cool renting program. It's called Book Swim and it's basically a program where you can rent books for as long as you want and then return them when you're finished with them. Much like the same concept as Netflix, but what Netflix did for films, Book Swim is doing the same thing for books. The fees are reasonably priced: for less than $1 a day you can take out 7 books at a time and keep them for as long as you like, and yes this includes the bestsellers that you'd probably have to wait months to get your hands on. They're mailed right to your doorstep so there's no need for you to even leave your house. You just choose which books you want to rent online and have them send it out to your home. Once you've finished with your novels simply place them back into the pre-paid envelope and choose your next set of novels. 

While some of you have the patience to wait for the novel you want to read either through saving up to buy the novel, or waiting for it on a waiting list, I find I am not that patient. When I want to read something, I want to read it now! And I especially cannot wait at all to get my hands on a new book of a series I am reading. So while this option maybe costly to a few, to others, especially those living in small towns where their books may be limited, it is a god sent.

If course, you can always buy an e-reader, but lets face it, it's not the same as reading a real book now is it, no matter how anti-glare the screen may be.

Anyway I just thought I'd share this with you in case you were looking for an option on renting books. By the way, they rent college textbooks too, and if you've ever bought textbooks you know how expensive they can be. I love this idea and fully support it. You don't have to agree with me of course but I bet in your mind you're thinking the same thing as me: Why oh why didn't I think of this first?

Happy Reading!!!