**note: I had pictures to go along with this post, I took some pictures, but Blogger is being a bugger. You can see the pictures (and a couple others) on Flickr, instead. Sorry about that.**
Last week, I took the boys to the local library so I could get a new card. We all know how much I love to read. Well, guess who else got to get his own card? That's right! Aiden! His first library card!
The library cards here are pretty cool, too. I got to pick from about 5 different pictures, and so I picked a nice feminine one (got to have that with all the testosterone around my house), and Aiden chose from about 4 different kids' card pictures. He is very proud of his library card.
To get to the children's section of the library, you have to go down a very large staircase and in through a large doorway. It's like a whole different world there. There is an area of about 10 tables with puzzles, a large area of toys on shelves and play toys on the floor (like small playhouses and such) and small tables and chairs, all surrounded in a circle by soft chairs for parents, rows and rows and rows of books, all seperated by reading levels, lots of computers, more soft chairs and benches, a kids' bathroom (with short sinks and everything!!), and a baby changing room with lots of counters, soft changing pads on the counters, and rocking chairs for nursing.
I love this library, and I haven't even been able to check out the adult section!
We are going to the library today to return the videos the kids checked out last week, and find some new books to read. I'm getting kind of tired or reading "Peek A Who" and "Can You Hop?" to Dallin over and over again, so we'll find something else that will bore me to tears for a few weeks, but will entertain him beyond belief. We'll get some easy reading books for Aiden, who has taken to reading all the signs on the streets and store fronts as we drive down the road (which is funny to me, because one of my few memories from about that age, when my parents were still married, is being in the car and reading all the street signs and store/restaurant signs out loud and my parents getting a little annoyed because I had to read every single word I saw!).
I need some suggestions for reading material for me. I like fiction, and stories that really draw me in to that world. I don't like really wordy authors because sometimes they take four pages to describe something as mundane as what the girl packed in her suitcase before a big trip. I do like "chick lit" (you know, like "Bridget Jones' Diary"), but that is often too short of a read for me. Too easy. I like to use my brain a bit, not just read for a couple hours of complete trashy pleasure or something. I don't want anything too challenging at this time, however (my mind is a little preoccupied!), so no Shakespeare or Homer.
Any suggestions?? You guys are the best!!
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9 comments:
I recently read Love is Eternal by Irving Stone. I liked it. It's about Mary Todd Lincoln and her relationship with Abraham. It's one of those that you have to think, but not overly much. I thought it was a good balance!
I love the library too! You know that ours isn't as fabulous as what you have there, but all the same, it's a library! Gives the kids something new to look at, lots of choices for me, and I love to check out movies for free. We checked out Mobsters and Mormons about a month ago and loved it!
In fact, we are going to go tonight before soccer practice!
When I actually get to read adult books that aren't scripture (which is becoming so rare) I'm all over the board.
I really liked The Life of Pi by Yann Martel when I read it, and that should be easy to find as it was a best-seller for a while.
The Late Mattia Pascal by Luigi Pirandello is an interesting read about a man who discovers everyone thinks he is dead and has the opportunity to start a new life. It is entertaining and not too hard to follow.
I read The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco when pregnant with Little Red. I'll admit it requires some brain cells but it's one of the easier reads by Eco (and I wasn't chasing little ones around at the time.) There are many who are of the opinion that JK Rowling got some of her ideas from this book.
Now I'm reading lots of non-fiction, like "hot to raise your child" ... let us know what you get and how you like it!
I love the description of the library. I'm curious as to which library it is? I've only ever been to the Big one on Central Ave because it was close to where I worked.
Books I'm reading. Hmm... That's a good one. I'll have to think about that for a bit and let you know later.
You can post your Flickr photos by clicking on the ALL SIZES link at the top of the photo and then copying the HTML into your Blogger post. It's way more clicks, but takes less time, and you always know that the picture will end up in your post (unlike with buggy Blogger).
For an author, you might try Fay Weldon, starting with The Hearts and Lives of Men if you can, then moving on to The Cloning of Joanna May, Darcy's Utopia, or She Devil. (You may remember the movie with Roseanne [Barr] and Meryl Streep. The book is even better.)
Another great author is Banana Yashimoto. (Yes, before Gwyneth's Apple, there was already a Banana -- she's Japanese, and her works are in translation.) She is a very quick read, but her best stories leave you with a beautiful, ethereal feeling.
I just recently finished reading Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. It's a fairly easy ready and I enjoyed it and it did make me think (a little).
I'm almost done with "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck. It's fan-freakin'-tastic. Also, you might enjoy "Doctors" by Erich Segal(the dude that wrote "Love Story"). It follows a class of Harvard Med students, with flashbacks to their backgrounds, from the day they start at Harvard till they are practicing physicians. It's really sad at parts, but so fulfilling to read. Actually, if you read "Love Story" and haven't read "Oliver's Story", read that one.
Now, I should probably go read some more Petrarch for humanities class. He's not bad though, for a 1300's Italian dude!
An amazing number of Italian authors have neen suggested, so I have to plug an old but delightful series: The Little World of Don Camillo by, um, I forget--but you WILL find it easily in the public library. Doin Camillo is an Italian parish priest. The time is 50' 60's and even into the 70's in the last books. It is the story of his parish and the dealings with the aftermath of German occupation, American occupation, religious life waning and communist/socialist ideas rising. Amusing and light, each book is complete unto itself, an light as they are, if you care to think, therre is plenty of meat there as well.
My self, however. I am currently concluding Ireland by Frank Delaney. It is essentialy Ireland's history as told by one of the last itinerant Storytellers. Well written and easy to read, it has been both edutional and interesting. The history is intermingled with the myth of Ireland and easy to "get".
Our book club just read The Prizewinner of Defiance Ohio: How My Mom Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less. It was a fun, interesting and informative Read. It is a true story. (I remembered hearing of her from my Mom who did "contesting" We had a rousing discussion including pulling out a map to pin down the exact location of Defiance and Goshen IN is another important place!(As we used to live there, no one could argue with me on that one!) Our dessert was one mentioned in the book.
Our book club ranges from age 21 to age 60? And we all enjoyed and discusssed it with plenty to say. It is also a movie, I understand., but read the book first, is the word.
Can't wait to see the fantastick library! And, yes, Aiden sounds just like you at that age with the reading. But I was NEVER annoyed by it--au contraire! I burst buttons over it--still do :)
"Suzanne's Diary For Nicholas" by James Patterson
http://www.amazon.com/Suzannes-Diary-Nicholas-James-Patterson/dp/0446679593
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"Marie, Dancing" by Carolyn Meyer
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0152051163?v=glance
I enjoy reading any book by Jodi Picoult, she has a knack for making me cry!
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is another excellent book.
(just wanted to say I read Laurals blog and she links to yours, lol)
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