Avid Reader Checks Out the Library : Books: A Manhattan Beach patron has checked out several thousand volumes in the last 20 years on everything from mainstream topics to the history of bandannas.

Bud Hatcher is reading a comparative economics book called “Head to Head.”

The Manhattan Beach insurance salesman is also plowing through other works on finance, the stock market, business, the U.S. Navy and World War II.

And American Indians. And Montana.

And Hatcher is interspersing that reading with literary forays into his latest passion: trout fishing.

Those are just the books on the reading table now. There are more on the way.

Lots more.

Numbers are difficult to come by, but Lila Held, head librarian at the Manhattan Beach Library, estimates that Hatcher has checked out several thousand books during the last 20 years.

“We’ve got about 80,000 volumes, but we don’t have enough for Mr. Hatcher,” Held said. “We have a number of prolific readers, but he’s tops.”

Hatcher, 57, said: “With each book it’s a different adventure and a different story, and you just don’t forget them.”

Hatcher borrows as many as 15 books a week from the Manhattan Beach Library, which is only a few blocks from his home. It’s a given that he will request the books on both the Los Angeles Times and New York Times bestseller lists.

But bestsellers rarely appease Hatcher’s voracious literary appetite. Frequently, he will immerse himself in an exhaustive study, often checking out all the books the library has on a particular subject.

“He has runs on topics. Right now it’s on trout and fly-fishing. But before that it was cooking,” said April Nelson, the reference librarian at Manhattan Beach. “Before that it was nonfiction stuff, like Wall Street things . . . on Ivan Boesky.”

Sometimes getting those “have-to-have” books isn’t easy. Last year, Hatcher requested a title on the history of bandannas. During his naval service, Hatcher used to buy bandannas for family members. When he discovered there was a scholarly work on the topic, he wanted it.

But the local libraries couldn’t oblige his request: The title wasn’t checked out; they just didn’t have it. The search for the bandanna book was on.

The call went out to libraries throughout the county, state and finally teh country, but none had the tome on the bandanna. Finally, it took a library in Ft. Wayne, Ind., to satisfy the request.

“I was real surprised when they found it,” said Hatcher, who recalls that First Lady Martha Washington was fond of making bandannas for her husband, George.

Of course, anyone with a library card can check out books, but does Hatcher actually read them all? Not entirely. If he becomes bored with a book, Hatcher skims it, reading only the first and last paragraph of each chapter. He rarely reads for more than an hour at a stretch, and even though he has had two speed-reading courses, he still does not consider himself a fast reader.

Hatcher’s love affair with the word began with the Bible, the first book that he read. Today, he ranks Ernest Hemingway and James Michener among his favorite authors. He enjoys embarking on the “vicarious trip” gained through reading and takes a dim view of television and videos, branding them “one-dimensional.”

“I’ve been a lot of places mentally,” he said.

No matter where Hatcher’s book travels may have taken him, he once found himself at a crossroads where all bibliophiles arrive: Do I want to own or rent? For Hatcher, the answer led him straight to his local library.

“Most of the time, I don’t want to have the books around after I’ve read them. It’d be a waste of space,” he said. “They’d just sit around and gather dust.”

Of course, Hatcher does pay his own form of rent--in overdue library charges.

“I pay a fine every now and then, sure,” he said. He paused for a moment. “I pay a lot of fines, but I’ve never had to pay for a whole book.”