12 posts tagged “library”

I love to read. Love it. Always have. The problem was I spent hundreds of dollars on books every year. So when I started the budget last year, books were one of the first things to go.

In turn, I've become a HUGE fan of the library. You should be too. All those books. On any topic you can imagine. All free! What more could you want out of life?

I just finished a book last night that I quite enjoyed. Just really pleasant fiction:

I have put the sequel on hold (love that feature!).

But earlier this year, I saw there were three books coming out that I really wanted to buy. To own. To support the author.

The first was a Voxer of our very own: R.G. Ryan. I received an autographed copy, but they are offering a terrific Christmas sale right now. Check him out.

The next came from the mom on one of my favorite shows: Jon & Kate Plus 8. Wow, there are a lot of J&K haters out there, all claiming to worry about the children. They really b*tch more about how much money they make now. Hell, why shouldn't they cash in while they can? (Although I do feel the "product placement" has been a little heavy of late.)

The last of the three books came out Tuesday. It's a compilation plus more from one of my favorite websites, The Daily Coyote (yes, I subscribe to the daily photo!). I think Shreve has a great writing style and while many bemoan her taking in a wild animal, I truly believe she and Charlie were meant to find each other.
I picked it up tonight since I was near a bookstore. While I was there, I just had to pick up today's latest release:
So, I bought four books this year. Sue me.

I've read a bucket load of books whose titles I've forgotten to track here. I wish the library had an "already read" view of my account.

Last night I finished The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. Loved it. Highly recommend it.

Before that I finished The Year of Living Biblically. It's probably not for everyone because it can be irreverent, but wow did I learn a lot. I'm definitely going to move on to some of the books he used to determine how to live for the year.

I read this lovely story last week and it really inspired me to do something similar. It's about a family that gives a glass jar (think pickle sized) filled with money (mostly coins, some bills) accumulated over a year to someone they think might be in need.

I thought, Why can't I do that?

So I gathered up some baby food jars and am going to work to fill them with my change this year. I haven't decided if I will give them away as they are filled or if I'll wait till next Christmas to be a Santa of sorts.

So as I posted on Sunday, I've been using the public library those mornings to surf the net. It's interesting to be there with the homeless and other oddballs. As we were waiting for them to unlock the doors, I noticed the guy next to me had a bracelet that said, "Jesus Loves Me."

As I moved away from my computer, I had to walk past his. He was looking at porn. I had to stop myself from saying, You know, I don't think Jesus loves that.

I've not been silent about my love affair with the library. But today, they made my heart expand even more. They've added downloads of eBooks, music and videos.

Skinny Bitch. I don't know whether I should laugh out loud or toss this book for its crass attitude.

"But being a fat pig will hinder you, sober or drunk."

"Soda is Satan."

"You need to exercise, you lazy shit."

"Go suck your mother's tits."

"So every time you put crap in your body, you are crap."

"Let's face it; there is no greater pleasure than taking a big, steamy dump."

However, this book also has lots of good information hidden in the "tough love" tone.

I was particularly interested in "Sugar is the devil." If that's true, then high fructose corn syrup is the devil's wife!  They talk about sugar alternatives like Stevia (good) and aspartame (bad). I was feeling pretty good about my personal choice, Splenda. Apparently, Splenda is 98% pure. The other 2% is heavy metals, methanol and arsenic. Yes, that arsenic.

The authors are vegans, so if you want to keep eating meat don't read this book. I'd read similar stuff already in my vegetarian quest, but with their bitchy attitude -- well you can imagine . . . it's pretty sickening.

They have good lists of vegan foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's nice to have a list of foods that I know I don't have to worry about the occasional animal bone or stomach lining stuck in it. Plus there's a nice list of websites, bookes, etc... for reference.

I can also recommend that if you'd like to continue down the path of eating as you are now don't read Twinkie, Deconstructed. Eww.

The author works his way through each of the ingrediants listed on a Twinkie. It's not an exciting read, but wow, the crap they put in our food.

Example: glucose. I'm sure you've seen it on an ingrediant list once or twice. It's what keeps the item moisture. It also adds smoothness, flavor and shelf life to tobacco; brings glossiness and pliability to show leather; stablizes adhesives; prolongs the setting of concrete; moisturizes air fresheners; controls evaporation of perfumes.

For both books high fructose corn syrup is beyond evil. The baby daddy of the devil maybe.

*Sigh* Thankfully there are lots of healthy foods out there to eat. But why can't we find them at "regular" grocery stores at prices the general public can afford? Some days it feels as if "they" are plotting against us and some days I'm happy to eat my orange-cranberry scone from Starbucks with my Venti Iced Soy Vanilla Latte.

"You're absolutely right. You do need to read them," his uncle said. "That's what it means to be civilized. Novels, history, philosophy, science -- the lot. You expose yourself to as much as possible, you absorb it, you forget most of it, but along the way it's changed you."

And I loved this . . .

"But Marina felt there was a strange quiet around Danielle's words, a silence in the line; and she decided that Danielle was just saying she was happy because it seemed the thing to say, because not to say it would be egregious. Marina wasn't sure whether there was merit simply in the saying: maybe sometimes pretense was the best you could hope for."

-- The Emperor's Children

You know, for someone who wants to use this to keep track of life things, I've not been doing a good job lately.

During the holidays I caught some movies: The Queen, Dreamgirls, Happy Feet, Rumor Has It and Monster House. I also read Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, who also wrote Remains of the Day. I quite liked it.

“Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom; and no such thing as public liberty, without freedom of speech.” - Benjamin Franklin

Books are dangerous. They make you think.

They make you ask questions. Books, especially public and school library books, are among the most visible targets of censorship. The bonfire was a very efficient form of censorship in an age when books were handwritten and existed in few copies. But in the era of printing and mass markets, burning a book has been reduced to merely a symbolic gesture.

Banned Books Awareness Week provides an opportunity for all American citizens, including readers, authors, aspiring authors, journalists and all those who believe in the First Amendment, to focus on issues of intellectual freedom, as they affect your community, your local public libraries, our country and generations of youth to come.

The Most Frequently Challenged Authors of 2005

* Judy Blume: Blubber, Forever, Deenie

* Robert Cormier: The Chocolate War, We All Fall Down

* Chris Crutcher: Whale Talk, The Sledding Hill

* Robie Harris: It’s Perfectly Normal, It’s So Amazing!

* Phyllis Reynolds Naylor: series

* Toni Morrison: The Bluest Eye, Beloved, Song of Solomon

* J. D. Sallinger: The Catcher in the Rye

* Lois Lowry: The Giver

* Marilyn Reynolds: Detour for Emmy

* Sonya Sones: What My Mother Doesn’t Know

 

Top Ten Challenged Authors 1990 to 2005

1. Alvin Schwartz

2. Judy Blume

3. Robert Cormier

4. J.K. Rowling

5. Michael Willhoite

6. Katherine Paterson

7. Stephen King

8. Maya Angelou

9. R.L. Stine

10. John Steinbeck

 

Exercise your First Amendments rights by reading a banned or challenged book. Encourage others to build libraries, not bonfires.

 

Downloaded from deletecensorship.org

I used to be a book buyer. Now I am a book borrower. I love being able to put a book on hold and receive an e-mail when it's ready for me to pick up.

Recently I put Alexander McCall Smith's The Sunday Philosophy Club and Friends, Lovers, Chocolate on hold. The SPC is the first in the "An Isabelle Dahousie Mystery" series. So, of course, the second in the series was ready first.

I also put his new "44 Scotland Street" novels on hold, and again, the second in the series comes first. Huh.

Luckily I have The Tenth Circle and Sisterchicks on the Loose to tide me over.BTW, I loved My Sister's Keeper.