He started an organization called Room to Read with the goal of getting books to kids around the world, kids who would normally never get the chance to learn to read.  He’s really making some advances and it’s pretty incredible.

Here’s the link.

Enjoy!

“Let’s eat peanut butter…. jump on that giraffe”… hilarious.

(If you can’t watch that, here is the link!)

Check out my score from the last two days:

The first book there is The Doctor and the Diva, which I won from Jennie at Life is Short. Read Fast. I guess I didn’t get it at a book sale, but I got it in the mail yesterday so I’m counting it as part of my two-day book score!

The second pile is from a used bookstore in town.  We actually only have one that amounts to much and they were having a 50% off sale on all fiction. Here’s what I ended up with:  Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson, School’s Out by Christophe Dufosse, A Woman Betrayed by Barbara Delinsky, Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman, and Eye Contact by Cammie McGovern. These all added up to eight bucks.

The last pile is from the Hudson Library Sale, which I’ve proclaimed my love for before. It is incredible.  Yesterday, here’s what I got there: The House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus, Jesusland by Julia Schreeres, The Unheard by Josh Swiller, The Accidental by Ali Smith, This I Believe edited by Jay Allison, and Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult.  The damage was five dollars.

Two days, twelve books, thirteen dollars? Not bad. Not bad at all!

I was really on the lookout for lighter books.  With this kid on the way, my head is in a zillion different places and in the last week I’ve started several “heavier” books and just cannot keep focused at all.  I’ll find myself just staring at the page and not remembering the last 10 pages I read.  I needed something that I could read while totally distracted.  I think I did a pretty good job in that regard and I’m looking forward to digging into these!

The next few have ladders. Swoon!

And of course, the library of my dreams:

Belle was so lucky….

The hoity-toity neighborhood near us has an INCREDIBLE library and they have their sale the first Saturday of every month. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that I mark my calendar.  The library itself is just beautiful and I could wander around in there for days. Seriously, check this out:

Stunning, right?

I couldn’t find pictures online of the children’s area, but it is seriously cute enough to make me cry a little. I’m obsessed.

Anyway, back to the book sale.  Shelves and shelves of books, all donated, all one single dollar. Seriously. A buck. And I frequently come across brand new releases.  It’s unreal.

We went yesterday, and here’s what I ended up with:

The Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan Didion

The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho

Loving Frank, by Nancy Horan

Pharmakon, by Dirk Wittenborn

Ballad of the Whisky Robber, by Julian Rubinstein

One Thousand White Women, by Jim Fergus

For six dollars. Isn’t that amazing? I know that it just shows of my infinite nerdiness that I cannot even find the words to tell you how excited I am about my new little pile of books. Ah well.

Just a side note: On the way to the library sale yesterday, we stopped at the library that I use and got a couple of books that were on hold for me.  In the backseat, were 3 new bookshelves.  We splurged a little at Target yesterday and decided to make my book-area look incredible, so I’ll keep you updated on that. Anyway, 3 giant bookshelves and about 10 books were the whole contents of the back of our car. So nerdy and satisfying!

Most amazing thing ever.

Who else but big old book nerds even know that it is National Library Week? In honor of Library week, our local library is plastered with little slips that say “I love my library….” and people can fill in the blanks.  I saw some interesting ones when we were there the other day.  ”…..because they have all the Westerns I can read.” “….because EDWARD ROCKS!”   “… for the free DVDs!”  Ha.

Anyway.

What I really wanted to post about is more of a PSA for local libraries.  I know that our library has an issue on the ballot coming up in May.  They are asking for a replacement on the current levy.  The money that they get from this covers around 50% of their operating costs and without it they will have to reduce hours and get rid of 200 employees. Eek.

So.  If you live in Summit County, get to the polls next month and support the library.  If not, go check out your local library’s website (or better yet, make a trip to the library!) and see if they have any upcoming ballot issues.  From what I can tell from a little bit of Googling, a lot of libraries are in similar boats.

So. Get to your library this week.  Check out upcoming library-related ballot issues. Thank your librarians. That’s all.

For several years, I lived in Columbus and they really do have a great library system. However, I used it only a couple of times before they said I didn’t take my books back (I did!) and reported me to a credit bureau.  My relationship with the library just never mended.

Now I’ve found myself devouring books at a crazy pace and too cheap to buy books at full price. It’s a problem.

Our library system is actually pretty impressive and even if the library closest to me doesn’t have the book I want, they can usually get them in just a few days.  I can request and renew books online and even download audio and ebooks from home.  It’s amazing and it’s free.

So. I’m making myself be a library person.  I’ve been going regularly for the last few weeks.  I do like owning books and being able to re-read them, but I’ve told myself that if I love a book and want to own it, that I will be able to buy it later.  This just saves me buying books that I don’t love.  Beyond that, my primary source of books are library sales and thrift stores, so I usually just read whatever is available.  Being able to actually choose the books I’m reading and reading more current books is already something that I’m loving.