I was thinking today that a whole bunch of series I’ve been reading have new installments coming out (isn’t that always the case) and I have been trying to keep track so I know roughly when to put in a request with the library. Usually the library doesn’t get a copy of the book until just before or just after the book is released. That’s not the case with books with serious hype surrounding them. Apparently — this I just learned, casual fan, me — Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer, which comes out on August 2nd, is the fourth and final installment in the Twilight Saga. Final. So. Bella makes the big choice, I suppose. (Spoiler: I’m 100% Edward, but that’s me; and I usually go for Weres>Vamps, too. Honestly, it’s Edward>Jacob, character-wise. I’m just an Edward fan. ANYWAY.)

So as I was thinking this — also encouraged by the signs in the Barnes and Noble storefronts saying, “PRE-ORDER STEPHANIE MEYER’S BREAKING DAWN TODAY!” — I decided to check up on the NYPL website, to see if they had it listed as request-able yet. I’d checked a while ago and nada, and after all, I am a month early. So I went and looked. Wham! Request-able! Yay! So I requested it. Here’s what came up after I put through the request:

Can I get a, “OMIGOD RIDICULOUS!” please? I suppose this is like, the new Harry Potter for teenage girls… I mean, they’re good books, don’t get me wrong but… wow. I’m a little surprised. I mean, this exact thing happened with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, but I was already buying that so I don’t remember quite how many hundreds of requests there were. At least twice as many as there are copies. Is this Harry Potter fervor, displaced onto a new source? The books are good but — like Harry Potter — much better fantasy exists in the world… though admittedly it’s not all geared at teenagers. (I smell a tangent; I’ll stop now.)

And there’s still a month left for people to get on the requesting bandwagon before the books actually ship out from the library. I wonder if any will actually touch the shelves?