books n' reading (repeat)

i read a lot.

not so much for myself these days, but when we visit the pediatrician and the nurse asks how many minutes we spend reading to our daughter, we chuckle. "uhhh, not minutes, hours" is our answer.

we supplement our book collection with frequent visits to neighboring libraries. selecting a book for a toddler is not as easy as it might sound. unless we all go as a family, one watchful eye is on her and the other is scanning the book quickly for content, illustrations, non-offensive gender stereotypes, a topic that might be relevant to her world, and the oh-so-important characteristic: repeat readability. few books are read once in our world, in fact, as i type, i can count no books under our roof that were read just once. repeat. that's our motto. or from her, "uh-gan!"

a friend mentioned the other day how hard it is to find decent books for her almost-3 year old. i concurred, sharing that i've been planning to blog about the goodies in our world, both for our own benefit--i hope to notice patterns and be reminded of good authors--and for anyone else who might stumble upon or be directed to my blog.

and so it happened that what spurred my first post on this topic was not a book, but a magazine. i don't subscribe to any magazines right now, but i picked up a Saveur at the grocery store a few months back that continues to move around the rooms in our home as someone reads another article. (the subtext to my first sentence being that our reading habits include slowed pace and a hunt-and-peck quality.)

our daughter is a talented narrator of her world, and when she sees this magazine, she points to the cover and yelps, "sandwich! sandwich!" the image of a gigantic bread-laden sandwich delights her in its relevance to her own eating habits, and it was this knowledge that coaxed me to sprawl on my bed with her and page through the varied sandwich concoctions. we talked about the ingredients she recognized and about those she didn't (sprouts, for one), about the different types of bread, and about elvis, who was pictured eating his favorite sammie: creamy peanut butter, banana, and honey, a combination she could happily imagine.

this activity brought me back to our visits to the pediatrician and the concept of minutes. reading isn't just a 16-page story between 2 boards. it's ascribing words and letters to meaning. it's taking moments--hours, even--to imagine a world outside our own. it's fun. and lovely to share.

the plains have my imagination

the last two books i read were about the spaces in between spaces, the literal ones, the plains. set in colorado, the first novel coasted on the precipice of something deep, of qualities unmasked by an exterior roughened, yet shadowed by an emotional content of which the characters were unprepared to express. the second novel delved into the tragedies that define and envelope those who inhabit a small nebraskan town.

coincidentally, these two depictions of life on the prairie are surfacing in my own life, as i travel to colorado to meet with those from the heartland, and to visit a new friend who lives in a community where the library is the only non-residential building in town.

what luck to have these thoughts as my travel companions.

no mercy

a friend at work sent this around to a few of us library peeps:

http://consumerist.com/363274/6-days-in-jail-for-overdue-library-books

best comment: "I, for one, feel a lot safer with these ruffians off the street."

you are all in my imagination

my good friend becky (known in these parts for donning the shoes i dissed in an earlier post) was just published in a book of 6 word memoirs. authors are famous (steven colbert, joan rivers, dave eggers) and authors are obscure, including my buddy becky.

what was her memoir, you ask? read the title of this post.

brilliant. nice work!

line read three times yesterday and once today

i'm reading "heydey" by kurt andersen right now, an epic 620-pager about nyc in the mid-19th century. this passage in particular caught my attention...

"But Fatty and his b'hoys didn't just speak in slang, they were themselves human slang, and like new words had sprouted mysteriously and suddenly in the less respectable city streets and cellars."

"human slang" is brilliant, and the construction of the sentence is curious. a pause--not necessarily a comma--after "like new words" seems helpful, but not required, either.

WANTED: a cozy spot to read

in city, preferably near public transportation, but not required. would like fireplace or suitable heat source, near plush chair. potential of hot drinks favored, but comfortable environment prized over all.

it's raining.
i want a comfy spot to curl up with a book.
i also would like to leave my house.

the rainier beach public library branch of seattle public had a pretty sweet spot in a corner where i liked to read. the fremont branch had nice high-backed chairs, too. my branch in the mission doesn't have comfy chairs, and nor does my old fave in the castro. where to?

bookmobile book

today someone at work left me a mysterious voicemail, saying she "had something for me." later in the day i walked by her cube--without memory of her earlier call--and heard my name follow me down the hall. i pivoted, remembering i was supposed to stop by her desk, and she handed me a book. a book! a novel about a bookmobile in kenya. she picked it up at ala last year, and thought of me.

my coworkers are so kind.

i started reading it on the bus tonight...

downy soft

i finally broke down and relieved my down feather mattress from its warm weather hiding place. nene and i went to bed early and got up late... lots of purrr seshes and book reading...

getting up for work is gonna be tough.

top 10 lessons learned in hawaii

1. bananas, quite possibly my fave food, are local (holy crap: i may have to move there!)
2. not much else is, food-wise, unfort. (guess i won't move there.)
3. holl and i have been friends--good friends--for 20 years without a rift, pause, or break. ('cept for one ill-advised detour on a road trip that caused a bit of feather-ruffling for a few weeks one college summer.)
4. often, we were the youngest and friendliest tourists around (maybe someday i'll blog about the overwhelming percentage of tourists with entitlement and rudeness issues).
5. sand, giggles, and long talks make for quite a restorative sesh.
6. Tales of the City was best read out loud, on a beach. we loved it SO MUCH, and had SO MUCH fun reading it, that we plan to read the sequels during each return trip (did i mention we've decided to make a january trip to hawaii a habit?).
7. my room last year was not haunted (holl decided to sleep in it this trip just to be sure. what a good friend!).
8. shorty pants (what holl calls kids) surfers are more fun (and thrilling!) to watch than their elders.
9. best food is found at Sunshine Markets (kauai farmer's markets) where lady finger bananas and butter avocados are in abundance. mmmmm....
10. returning to seattle (dreary) was much harder than returning to the city (sunny).

patronage of a different sort

at work, i'm the library person, the one who lives, breathes, and supports institutions that support free access to information.

and so i wasn't surprised when after i visited the local library during lunch yesterday, a few beach reads sitting on my desk (thanks marianaria!) started a conversation around libraries. specifically, the topic turned to remorse.

and guilt.

and money. my coworker owes some hefty fines, and is filled with a level of embarrassment that keeps her from returning the books and submitting her overdue fines. because of this guilt, she hasn't visited the library in years. because of this guilt, she can't muster up the moxie to return them. i suggested to her that librarians are nice people; they'll be happy to get the books back, and she can consider the late fees (somewhere around $75) a nice donation to a crucial civic institution. i even offered to join her on her walk of shame and i offered to slip the books into the drop. she declined, sheepishly.

and then, during a casual conversation in the hallway, another coworker admitted the same feelings of guilt and remorse. i shared the story of our coworker, and suggested they link arms and visit the library together. power in numbers! support your library! i thought i may have found the missing motivation.

and then, today, the second remorser stopped by my desk with a smile on her face and confidence in her step, on her way to the library to settle her fines. she remarked that my words had convinced her it was time to "face my demons."

haven't yet heard how her demon session went, but it felt good to help at least one former patron become a current one.

(in recent news, nyt published a story about the ny public library and their use of collection agencies to control violators. the library listserv world was aghast about this practice. some librarians even postulated about getting rid of fines all together...)

beach reader

life repeats itself sometimes, and like last year, i'm seeking some beach entertainment, in the form of a good book. in order to spark ideas and to give before receiving, here are some books i've enjoyed lately:

After This, by Alice McDermott (read this on the beach a year ago--a good, looong, book that performed well in the sand)
Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen (devoured this during a rainy spate in the city)
My Life in France, by Julia Child and Alex Prudhomme (loved this one!)
Prodigal Summer, by Barbara Kingsolver
The Spellman Files, by Lisa Lutz
Hotel of the Saints, by Ursula Hegi
The United States of Arugula, by David Kamp

and now, the questions:
1. has anyone read nick hornby? would i like his stuff?
2. what about Tales of the City, by Armistead Maupin?
3. or joyce carol oates?
4. or anna quindlen?

what has grabbed you lately?

tagadelic

i've just spent way too much time checking out personal tag clouds, but gosh it's interesting.

this one is how other people tag my (very few) librarything entries. cool, huh?


and this one is of my blog.


i'm a big fan of the zeitgeist view of things: puts a whole mess of ideas into a unique perspective.

thou shall not steal, i mean...

i follow a lot a library blogs and library listervs. Every so often, I'll read about a protestation over a book's content, but this one caused me to pause: "Maine Patron Keeps Library Book."

This is not your average protest. Rather than burning or demanding the book be pulled from the shelves, she checked it out--multiple copies from two branches--and refused to return them. In a conciliatory turn, she wrote out a check for the amount of the books, and sent it to the library with a letter explaining her actions.

I can imagine the puzzled looks and head scratching that followed.

What do you do? In this case, the library returned her check along with a form to register her complaints, and asked that the books be returned. The patron refused.

The result of all this silliness? The book is in high demand, of course.

For more in this story, read the article in the Portland Press Herald.

i'll be somewhere else for a bit.

i've been pretty busy and having a bunch of fun preparing for a trip. a cool trip. a super rad magic bus trip!

here's the deal. i work on a project that helps libraries maintain and support their public computers. in a nutshell, we talk to librarians all the time and share their stories, tips, and techniques on our web site, in articles, and in free guides you can download from our site. so many times there's someone out there who has figured out a practical way around an issue, and we try to capture those moments and share them with public libraries--and with everyone. right now, we're focusing on the most rural and isolated libraries--often the most underserved and underfunded.

another local non-profit and new kind of library, the internet archive, also supports public libraries by scanning and making available for free books in the public domain. the organization has a bookmobile they use to raise awareness of the public domain, and to show how books are made. this bookmobile doesn't have books inside, but can download and MAKE books in minutes. this bookmobile hasn't seen much action lately.

until now.

to promote and support the libraries that are doing the hard work in rural northern california, we're taking the bookmobile on the road for the next two weeks, talking with librarians and staff members and sharing the incredible work each library is doing to keep public computers available and access to information free. each day, we'll arrive at a library in the bookmobile, demonstrate how books are made, and print and distribute free books filled with practical tips and techniques from public libraries along with free books from the public domain. cool.

keep up with my travels and check out the photos!

i'm a reader

i remember one of david's college buddies, fresh in the flush of dating a new woman, describe his new mate as "a reader."

this label caught me off guard--doesn't everyone read?

apparently not. and this particular characteristic was a welcome and atypical development in his love life.

i digress. i'm a reader. i read all the time, and most of the time i read books that are heavy--not in the per pound way, but in the mental heft, the jugular, the depth, the gravity, the...

okay, now i really digress. (and i fib!)

and then i found lisa.
lutz, that is.
i first found her when her new web site was announced.
and then i met her when she toured the west coast.
a couple months later her book turned up on my hold list and i started reading it.
the next day i met her at a dinner party in seattle.
3 days later, i finished the book, and not without giggles, fits of "no way!" and deep sorrow (tinged with a tough, cynical edge) over leaving the fine spellman family behind.

read it. you'll laugh. and if you live in sf, you'll laugh harder.