If you sign up for Amazon's free Audible trial you can listen to Crawdads for free. Maybe you can do that while you are waiting for a read copy.

Maybe someone in your book group will loan you their copy.

Zero. :-( I'm sorry I don't have a copy to send you, but books are REALLY cheap to mail if you use Media Mail, so maybe some kind soul here has a copy they'd be willing to send. Or if you have a used book store in your area, it might be possible to buy a used copy then sell it back (usually for credit).

Depends on how many renewals are allowed!

Bpath, no renewals on reserved books.

Graywings, you made me laugh with your response :)

Lucille, thanks for the tip

Georgey, we all use the library and don't buy the books.

Oly, thanks!

I am not opposed to buying it. We have a local bookstore in town that I try to give my business.

I didn't think this would be an issue as I could have put my name on much earlier. I usually don't like to read the book too early as I tend to forget most of it if I do.

What I have found when i reserve is that all of a sudden the numbers jump down quickly. For example when i have had a few on order, one is 200 another is 100 somehow they both come to me at the almost the same time. Go figure.

Thanks to all here. I liked reading different solutions.

If all else fails and you have Amazon Prime or a friend of yours does, you can get a copy in two days for $15.00. :-)))) That's for hardcover.......you have to check out all your options, new verses used, shipping fees, free shipping etc. for best deal.

Also check to see if there are any large print copies that might be available at the library sooner. Probably not in time, but for something I really want to read, I will put a hold on both regular and large print copies and the large print is almost always quicker to get.

Oly, good to know. I'm going to do that now.

OMG! Well now I'm on the large print list as 102 with 59 copies. I think this just might work. What a great idea!

I'm keeping both as they didn't' knock the first one out of the running, as my preference is regular.

Depends on your library. My township library is part of a larger county wide system. If a book becomes available that belongs to a township library, it goes first to a cardholder in the township. Sometimes I get a book faster than I thought I would for this reason. Kind of confusing. For Crawdads I think I gave up and bought it and then I didn’t even like it very much. I donated my copy to the library.

Here the various branches all have book clubs but they have one copy for each person. They stagger the clubs so when finished in one branch the books are sent on to the next. I know of two general reading and mystery and I think there is a third but it is not held at the branch I normally go to.

Ded, that's exactly why I don't want to purchase the book. I probably won't like it either.

I usually only buy books at the airport when I am going on a vacation. Other than that, I only read library books.

I know many like Kindle etc. but i really like to hold a real book.

Mailfluer, yes sometimes no rhyme or reason as to why I get books when I do or how fast they come.

I used to live in London, had library card there, moved to a municipality nearby that has libraries in towns and villages, have a library card here.

When I show my library card for the municipality, London's library will give me one of their cards, and a nearby city, St. Thomas, gives me one of theirs, and as well.

Might such interconnection services in your area allow you to get a card for a neighbouring library system, thus have acess to (millions?) of other books?

ole joyful

When I wrote the "joyful" forgot to hit "space", then "backspace" ... so it disappeared, and all I was left with was the "ole"!

Ole joyful, when I put my name on the list, it includes all the libraries in my county.

You can buy it on Ebay for 99 cents and free shipping. Here's the linkl.book That would be one you could read on the link they send but further down the list they have the hardcover for a bit more.

Be very careful about buying books online like that. Many are fake, and it's a growing problem. This article is about Amazon, but it applies to eBay and other online vendors as well: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/19/technology/amazon-orwell-1984.html

A couple lines from a shady eBay listing.

-This is Not A Physical Book. This is an eB00k. (PDF EPUB MOBI Format)

"*** Delivery Within 30min ***"

And they have the gall to charge $1.50 for delivery?

If they would pull that one I seriously doubt they have the resale rights they claim to have.

The audiobook is on Youtube in three parts. Not like flipping back and forth in a physical book but...

1 of 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcytV4Barek

2 of 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntBVAPk-C1c

3 of 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZksLvb2rbA

My answer to your maths question is: None of the above.

I think you'll manage to get it from the library in time. (But you might have to read it a little fast.)

My mother bought a copy of All The Birds Singing because she didn't want to wait for a copy from the library. When she started reading it, she screeched to a halt. She didn't like the language. Anyhow, she ended up donating it to the library and they were thrilled.

Surely, many of those waiting for the book will not find it to their liking.

Where the Crawdads Sing has >19,000 reviews on Amazon, 85% of which are 5-star.

I was #356 on the waiting list for my library for an ebook or audio book. So I put my name on the list for a large print book & was able to get in about a week.

I don’t read a lot of fiction, but I loved this one.

I'm #2600 for an ecopy at my library!