Tuesday, April 17, 2007

If there's clutter.....


There is only one place that I can stand clutter. It's my nightstand, and it can only be books. Stacks and stacks of books. The library is one of my very favorite places to go. I take my kids at least once a week, and I hope it instills a love of reading in them. If not, I hope it teaches them to take advantage of the incredible FREE resource that it is. Books, movies, music, cultural passes, information, activities. All free, and just waiting to be taken advantage of. I could write a book on all the resources available at the library and still not tap into everything that it has to offer. I particularly love my cities library. I can go online and reserve any book I want. Then, once it has been pulled from the shelf or sent in from elsewhere, they send me an email notice that my book is ready to be picked up. Then, a few days before my articles are due I get an email notice that they are due. I really couldn't ask for more than that. I've said this before, but I LOVE books. I love that there is a book for every season, mood, whim. Right now I'm on a murder mystery kick. Love Mary Higgins Clark because her books have great plots, are easy to read but are as clean as a murder mystery can possibly be. Some weeks I can't stand "easy" reads and only want the classics or non fiction. Take Henry James for example. Most days I don't have the patience or serenity to read something like Portrait of a Lady. Or Fyodor Dostoevsky. I love a murder mystery, but it almost killed me to get through Crime and Punishment. I really like Leo Tolstoy though.....Or the Transendentalist writers. Like Emily Dickinson, can tolerate Thoreau but really don't have the energy for Emerson. Isn't it great though that there is something out there for everyone? If I had all the time in the world, I'd spend a lot more of it at the library, and next time I have "alone" time and all my errands are run, you can bet I'll be at the library.

8 comments:

Laura said...

Angie-
I love the library too. I also love reserving online and renewing online saved me money! I just finished two Mary Higgins Clark (books on cd) on my Ipod. I love doing this, I still have not bought any music. I just love reading and don't have enough time. Listening while cleaning or working out is nice. I would love any of your favorites so I could reserve them online... so email me a few. I think I am going to get Little Women next. We have SO much in common. We can share good book titles between us even through the distance. My parents always had us reading and myself and all my siblings are always reading books. I do think its a "learned" love! Oh and if thats your only pile of clutter I am NEVER letting you come to my house! I hate clutter too, but it overtakes me. Oh let me know when you ever get all your errands run if I waited till that I would never get to the library. Reward yourself early :)

Shannon said...

Ok, Ok I am going to take advantge of my local library ASAP. This is something that I have been thinking about since we moved into our house (2 years ago). My library is a short walk from my house and every summer I think that I need to take my kids for story time. Thank you for giving me the final push I need to do it! I have the unfortunate habit of feeling like I need to go out and buy the books I want.

Debra said...

Angie-
I loved your post. I spent 4 hrs at the library on Saturday by myself with No kids! It was heaven. I cannot even tell you the number of books I went through. I love to read. I am trying to instill that in my children. It seemed to sink in better when we did not have Dish Network in short term housing. Joseph and Emma were reading 2 chapter books a week then. I always have books piled up in my home too.

I also love the summer activities that the library has for kids. So many activities. Michael takes the 3 older kids to "Papa's and Pj's" on Wednesday nights for a daddy storytime.

I really love our local library... it has a drive up window! I reserve online, they pull the books, and I just drive up! Best drive up I could have ever asked for!!

Heather said...

I love to read to. But honestly, sad to say, the last book I read was Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby. I love historical books, like non-fiction biographies. I love seeing what other people do in their lives. I often think that we all have at least one thing in common and that is time. We each have the same number of hours in a day, and the same number of days in a year. But some people do amazing things with that time.

Doug & Stacy Fournier said...

i couldn't figure out how to contact you, but you asked on my site how to get the videos in the right format and i wanted to let you know, that i don't have a clue.....lol. the video is from my digital camera and i just pop the xd card into my computer and it loads it on and then i download it to photobucket and then use the code to put it on my blog. that's the only way i know how to do it. sorry i couldn't be more help!!!

Casey's trio said...

Hi Angie,

Thanks for stopping by our site and saying hello! Your kiddos are beautiful...love the pictures of the twins and their mohawks:) I am jealous of your nightstand piled high with books. Reading used to be my favorite hobby...don't get around to it much anymore, especially since I have started blogging!

Take care,
Casey

Casey's trio said...

Hi Angie,

I was able to read a few more posts of your blog tonight! Read your post about the twins and your hospital stay and delivery. Sounds like you had amazing medical care...makes all the differenc doesn't it? We aren't sure if 2 of our girls are identical or not. I had 3 placentas and they were all in separate sacs, therefore we always assumed they were fraternal and never asked about it when I was pregnant. Now that the girls are here, we seriously wonder if 2 are identical. They do have some noticeable differences in their facial features, but many people can't tell them apart. We had our pediatrician look back in the birth records and based on the type of placentas, there was a good chance they could be identical. We hope we are able to get them tested in the future so we know for sure!

Anyway....all of your kids are beautiful:)

Unknown said...

The library is an amazing resource that not enough people take advantage of. We usually go only for children's books since I'm not a voracious reader like you (mostly magazines and blogs!) and my MIL is the head of the children's dept. at the main branch in our city. Oh and storytime totally rocks! : )