#ReadingMyLibrary Week 3 Update

On Friday, I did my post of books I took out last week.  See here.  I also starting looking for stuff for the scavenger hunt on Friday, but forgot what some of the things listed were or to jot them down before going to the library.  I took shots of what I could remember off-hand so I am off to a little of a start.  Will try to get more before the end of the challenge.

The topic for this week's update is why you love libraries.  The answer to that is simple: getting books for free.  And not just books, but getting to read newspapers free since I had to stop subscribing to one paper (on a budget right now).  Also getting DVDs, but only every so often, since I am a Netflix user. I may just find a season of a TV series on DVD at the library and borrow it, since I'm one-disc at time Netflix user, and it will take a while to finish the season thru Netflix.  But if getting the show through Netflix is the only choice, I'll gladly do it that way :-)  BTW, the library only allows  DVDs out for one week, where as most everything is three weeks.

Another thing: my rather old computer may not let me get onto to some sites, so if need be, I will use our library's computers.

And you can see info about events on the kiosk in the front entrance.

What do you love about your library?

#ReadingMyLibraryChallenge: Week 3: Books Out this Week

  Here are the books I  have out this week. 

I am in the process of reading the below, which I took out on Thursday last week (April 9).  I  finished The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop all in one day (yesterday, the 16th).  This book is due back on the 30th.

I also took out the following audiobook. Since it's only three discs, I finished it last night and returned it this afternoon.  Note: Audiobooks used to be only allowed out for two weeks, as opposed to most materials being allowed out for three weeks (DVDs are one week only).  But now audios are allowed for three weeks, though the 14-day-book stickers are still on most of the audiobooks. 

And I also took out the following yesterday:

I've read a lot of Mary Kay Andrews's books already, but have yet to read Julie Crusie. 

#ReadingMyLibraryChallenge: Books Out This Week

Here are the books I have out this week from the library, as part of the #ReadingMyLibraryChallenge.

I still have the following out, due back on April 24.  Will be reading them by next week.

And in the picture below are those I took out this past Thursday.  The one on top is an audiobook, which I am finishing listening to as I type this entry.

#ReadingMyLibraryChallenge: Week 2 Update

I am participating  in the #ReadingMyLibraryChallenge this month.  This Wednesday is the last day to sign up if you wish to do so.  See here for details. 

This week's update topic is books you would like to suggest to your library.  

This is a hard one, as I always see or hear about books I'd like to read.  I often pray that the library will get the book, so I won't have to buy it new or wait till it turns up cheap in a second-hand store (who knows how long it will be till that happens).   But if I want it bad enough, I will buy it new.  I had a Barnes and Noble gift card and had to use it (and I wanted to use a B&N coupon I'd received in my e-mail) two months ago, so I had to find some books I wanted and did not want to wait to see if they turned up at my library.   I now just saw that one of them now is at our library.  

But even if the library doesn't have the book, an inter-library loan request is always possible.  But I don't want to have to make so many of those.  And if the county library in Hollister doesn't have the book, I could try to go to the one in San Juan Bautista to see if they might have it.  There have been a few occasions when I'd borrowed a book from the SJB library that I did not know was also at the San Benito library.   In one case, the SJB library got a book I wanted before the county library got it.  See last week's update for more info on my local libraries.  

So if I wanted to suggest some books to the county library, I might ask for the rest of the Lunar Chronicles books.  Last year, I borrowed the first two books, Cinder and Scarlet, and am eager to read the next one, Cress and the novella, Fairest, and Winter, when that one is released. 

 

I would also like to read more of the Savannah Reid books. They only have one, and I just got the first one as an inter-library loan.  

This is all I can think of now.  

#ReadingMyLibraryChallenge: Week One Update

I am participating in the #ReadingMyLibraryChallenge hosted by Stefani at Caught Red Handed and Amy at Read What I Like.  Since I already frequent my library, I knew this was the challenge for me. I intend to keep going to after this month, though :-),  as well as go through my TBR pile at home.  I joined a great deal of challenges for which I have no books at home, so this requires going to the library.  

I am keeping tract of the books I read week on my original sign up post here.  Below is a shot of the books I took out early this week (two were inter-library loans, received this past Tuesday) and the others I took out on Friday.

For the first week's update, the hosts are asking the participants to tell a little about their hometown library, and include pictures of possible.

I live in Hollister, California, a very small and rural town known for agriculture and for its annual Motorcycle Rally each year on the 4th of July Weekend.  We are also known for having very little for the community to do as far as activities go.  Residents have complained about this for years upon years, and very little gets done to resolve it. But we do have the all-important resource known as the library.
Our library is closed on Saturdays and for a while until early last year, they closed on Fridays as well, reopening on Fridays for four hours only.   Along with the physical books, they also carry audiobooks on CD and music CDs, as well as DVDs.  I've never borrowed CDs, and only sometimes DVDs, since I get Netflix, and I only got into listening to audiobooks a few years ago.  Buying new audiobooks is expensive, and I rarely see used ones for sale (occasionally ones on cassette, and yes, I have equipment for that), so most of my audiobooks come from the library.

And of course, we have computers, maps  and other city and county resources people have come to expect from their local libraries.  And a collection of books about our town's history as well as about the history of California.

On Saturdays, the Friends of the Library has a book sale in a shed located behind the library. I've gone to this a few times, but it's early in the morning, closing at noon, and I'm not usually an early riser when I don't need to be.  If Iw ant to do it ever, I'll try to, though.

 I forgot to take pictures while I was getting and returning books yesterday, so today I went to get some shots.   

In addition to the San Benito County Library, there is one other smaller library in the county, the Carl Martin Luck Memorial Library in the nearby smaller town of San Juan Bautista.  (A bookmobile from the county library delivers books to the rest of the county).  I have a card for that one as well, but since I'm a Hollister resident, I got the Hollister one most often.  The San Juan one is nice, too, and though ti's smaller, it has some books the larger county library doesn't have.  I'll go when I can get there, but it's been a while since I last did so.  They don't open till 1PM (closing at 5 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and at 7 on Tuesday and Thursday) on weekdays and from 9AM to 1PM on Saturdays.  Below is a photo shot from the lawn in front of the San Juan Library.

And a side note--Today I was at one of my local thrift shops and saw three books I couldn't resist buying.  They were only 50 cents each, and it's hard to resist getting them for that amount. I stated in my original sign up post that if I buy any books during this period, they will not be read until after this month, when the challenge is over. I intend to stick to that.  

Bookish Bingo--Ready for Spring

OK,  I've been wanting to  do a Book Bingo this year. I was feeling overwhelmed at the beginning of the year with a lot of other challenges so I passed on Great Imaginations Bookish Bingo for January to March, and waited for the next one, for April to June. I like that there are some short-term challenges. I will try to complete as many of the categories as possible from now till the end of June.  Go here to sign up and see more details.

don’t forget that you may only use one square per book

Here are the squares I have completed:

1. Murder Mystery: Maigret and the Loner--Georges Simenon
2. #WeNeedDiverseBooks:  The House on Mango Street--Sandra Cisneros
3. Historical:  Strawberry Girl--Lois Lenski
4. Bullying: Kira-Kira--Cynthia Kadohata
5. Non-Fiction or Memoir: The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop--Lewis Buzbee
6. Forgotten Fridays Pick:  Memoirs of a Geisha--Arthur Golden
7. Dark Contemporary: Hannah--Hannah Westberg
8. Yellow Cover:  Don't Look Back--Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer
9. Illustrated Cover:  The Queen Geek Social Club--Laura Preble
10. Reread:  Madeline--Ludwig Bemelmans
11. Free Space:  Choose Your Own Autobiography--Neil Patrick Harris
12. Green Cover: Cat With an Emerald Eye--Carole Nelson Douglas
13. Thieves, Assassins, Pirates:  The Thief--Megan Whalen Turner
14. Classic: Pride and Prejudice--Jane Austen
15. High Fantasy:  Frostfire--Amanda Hocking
16. April, May, June Release:  Ice Kissed--Amanda Hocking
17. Horror: Wuthering Heights--Emily Bronte
18. Plants on Cover: Blue Ridge Reunion--Mia Ross
19. Anthology or Collection:  The Most of P.G. Wodehouse
20. Parental Relationships:  The Mother-Daughter Book Club--Heather Vogel Frederick
21. Aussie Author: On the Jellicoe Road--Melina Marchetta
22. WWII:  Summer of My German Soldier--Bette Greene
23. Rain or Storm in Title: Storm Front--Jim Butcher
24. Parallel Universes: Outlander--Diana Gabaldon
25. Part of a Trilogy: The Book of Life--Deborah Harkness

Completed on June 24

#ReadingMyLibraryChallenge

I said to myself no more challenges, but decided to allow for some short-term ones.  With three already done and one to be over in April, I decided to give this one a try.

I already frequent my library but have only checked about a few books this month.  I wanted to try reading from my piles of books at home (I always join a TBR challenge and am making sure not to neglect it), and will try to do so for the rest of this month.  I need to read more for my Dystopian, Nonfiction, Mental Illness Awareness, LGBT, Graphic Novels, Feminism, Fairy Tales Retold, Curvy Heroine, Diversity, Erotic Romance and Classics challenges and have one more month for the Play challenge.  I don't own a lot of books that fit these challenges (in most cases, none at all), so borrowing from the library for a month will help me catch up on some of these.  I get most of my audiobooks and picture books from the library, and some of my other challenges have categories of books I will need to borrow.

I'm going to try to see if I can go without buying books for all of April.  Most of them I buy at second-hand stores, including one in my town that sells then for 50 cents to one dollar.  If I do buy any, they will not be read until after April.   I think I can do all this.

Here are the details for the challenge. Sign up by April 15 at Read What I Like.

Both Stefani at Caught Read Handed and Amy at Read What I Like work in libraries, where they order tons of books each month that come in and are put on the shelves. As any librarian will do, all the books they order are ones they wish they had time to read themselves but they seldom have the time to do just that. This challenge started in the comment section on a post about bookish resolutions – one of which was a book buying ban. What better way to save money on buying books than checking out books from your local library (or the one where you work)? Just in case it wasn’t clear – THERE IS NO BETTER WAY! The challenge started as a buddy read of library books and turned into a month long celebration of libraries and all that they offer. The hashtag #ReadingMyLibrary came out of the need for a catchy, simple hashtag and a desire to make it clear we appreciate our libraries. We hope you’ll join us!

Make sure you check out THE RULES and THE SCHEDULE and THE QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE pages

More about the challenge:

• The #ReadingMyLibrary Challenge will run from Wednesday, April 1 – Thursday, April 30, 2015.
• You only have to read ONE (1) book to participate in the challenge! If you happen to read more, it just means more chances for you to win the #ReadingMyLibrary Challenge giveaway! You get an extra entry for every FIVE (5) books you read over that initial ONE (1).
• There will be HUGE library scavenger hunt that will run from April 15 – 30 which will include its own giveaway.
• There is no required amount of time you must spend reading, commenting, tweeting, etc. The scavenger hunt and giveaways are all optional.
• We would LOVE if you shared your TBRs, current reads, library recommendations, library pictures, or really ANYTHING you want to share about your library using the hashtag #ReadingMyLibrary!

Signing up is super easy! Create a post on your blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube (really anywhere that you can share something) announcing your participation and linking back to either Stefani’s or Amy’s sign up post. Post it and go here to link up! It’s that simple! (If you wanted to include the button/banner for the challenge and/or a list of your TBR, we’d love that too, but it isn’t required)

Here is what I am reading:

Week One (April 1-4)

1. Zoot Suit and Other Plays--Luis Valdez
2. Maigret and the Loner--Georges Simenon
3. The House on Mango Street--Sandra Cisneros (audio)
4. Just Desserts--G.A. McKevett

Week Two (April 5-11)

1. Strawberry Girl--Lois Lenski
2. Suddenly You--Lisa Kleypas
3. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian--Sherman Alexie
4. The Selection--Kiera Cass
5. Kira-Kira--Cynthia Kadohata (audio)
6. The Elite--Kiera Cass

Week Three (April 12-18)

1. The One--Kiera Cass
2. The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop--Lewis Buzbee
3. Memoirs of a Geisha--Arthur Golden
4. For God, Country and Coca-Cola--Mark Pendergrast

Week Four (April 19-25)

1. Little Bitty Lies--Mary Kay Andrews
2. Bet Me--Jennifer Crusie
3. Hannah--Hannah Westberg
4. Don't Look Back--Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer

Week Five (April 26-30)

1. The Queen Geek Social Club--Laura Preble
2. Mama Cat Has Three Kittens--Denise Fleming
3. Madeline--Ludwig Bemelmans