libraries

National Read an Ebook Day

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Any excuse to read!

I almost always have my Kindle with me, and it often has a half dozen or so books on it, available or in some form of partially read and currently reading. The most used app on my Kindle is probably the Libby app and the Kindle app itself. Of the books in the above photo, a screenshot of my Kindle home page, three books are finished, one is not started, and the sample of Fr. James Martin’s newest book is still in the deciding stage of buying or borrowing.

A little bit about some of the books currently pictured:

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins is a prequel to The Hunger Games. It falls between Ballad of Snakes and Songbirds and The Hunger Games, and follows the story of Haymitch Abernathy. Well worth the read, it gives some background and really shows how Haymitch became the man we see when he meets Katniss and Peeta.

The second book pictured, Jesuit Relations, edited by Allan Greer, et al, is a book I bought for research for my own book about St. Kateri Tekakwitha. I am writing a chapter on the Jesuit influence and work in New France that Kateri was exposed to since childhood and certainly contributed to her conversion.

Skipping to the seventh book, How We Learn to Be Brave by Bishop Mariann Budde Edgar was one I had started to read, but then was assigned as a group reading at work, so I’ve re-read the first three chapters and will continue as the group continues. It’s really a good view of Bishop Edgar’s memoir as well as how she put herself out there, to be brave, and to move forward in her life and her career. It offers advice and direction.

Lieutenant Nun: The True Story of a Cross-Dressing, Transatlantic Adventurer Who Escaped From a Spanish Convent in 1599 and Lived was a Man by Catalina De Erauso, the third book pictured tells almost the whole story in the title, which is what attracted me to it in the first place. It’s a wild ride!

Three to Recommend:

  • The Writer: A Thriller by James Patterson & J.D. Barker
  • A Serial Killer’s Guide to Marriage by Asia Mackay
  • Standing My Ground: A Capitol Police Officers Fight for Accountability and Good Trouble After January 6th by Harry Dunn

Three on My Next Up List:

  • Black Elk: The Life of an American Visionary by Joe Jackson
  • Mark Twain by Ron Chernow
  • Patriot: A Memoir by Alexi Navalny

What’s on your e-reader?

Put your recommendations in the comments!

Election Connection – Book Banning/Challenge Update

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This is specific to a Texas school district, but challenges are happening across the country.

A federal judge has ruled that the books in question be returned to the library within twenty-four hours and left accessible while the case is ongoing. They are prohibited from removing any books while the case is in litigation.

According to this CNN article, while the Texas school said the books were removed as part of their normal weeding procedures it is clear that there were outside influences at play based on the subjects removed, including topics of race and LGBT+.

Disagreeing with the subject matter is not a reason to remove the books from the library. I also disagree with the comment in the article that pastors should be involved. Absolutely not. The separation of church and state is critically important both to the founding of this country and its ongoing evolution of welcoming all, despite the recent contradictions to that.

Part of the problem is the ignorance of those complaining about the books. They call many LGBT+ books pornographic when they are not sexual in nature and simply talk about feelings and gender as any adolescent character in a book would do. They are also trying to restrict CRT (critical race theory) which none of these books teach despite perhaps being written by a person of color or are about a person of color. As has been explained over and over again, CRT is not something that is taught in the schools, not even at a high school level. It is typically a subject in post-graduate and law schools.

As a writer, I understand that not all books are for everyone, and I agree that parents can determine the appropriateness of books for their children within reason (as I have done for my children without banning books for everyone), but I expect that we should trust in the schooling and expertise of librarians and teachers who have studied this field for a number of years.

I am also concerned about a random group of uneducated people coming in and removing books rather than letting individual parents and children make the determinations for their families on what is age-appropriate.

I hope the country steps back from the abyss; we are well beyond the slippery slope, and we need to offer modern books with timely subject matter while also encouraging the reading of classics while explaining the reasons that some of the material isn’t appropriate, and maybe never was.

Times change. We should change with them.

Are Libraries Still Essential?

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Libraries are the thin red line between civilization and barbarism. – Neil Gaiman


I originally saved the Vox link, thinking that this was a fluff piece; a ridiculous headline that they easily debunked in the article. I hadn’t realized that someone had actually written in favor of getting rid of libraries in favor of Amazon bookstores/coffee shops.

I need to preface this by saying that I happen to love bookstore-slash-coffee shops. Whenever my family goes to Barnes & Noble, I find a comfortable space in the cafe and read or write. I frequently (before Howard Schultz began running for President) went to Starbucks with the specific intention to get something to eat and drink and to write. There is a comic book store that is also a coffee shop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that is on my list of places to visit. I love bookstores and coffee shops, together or apart.

However, I don’t confuse them with libraries. Libraries have a whole different feel to them. They also have a different necessity to them. In fact, I’ve just come from my local library. I meet a group of people there once a month for a writing group. We’ve been getting together for about seven years, although they had been meeting prior to my joining them. I woujldn’t have met them if not for the memoir workshop that I began to attend, which not only gave me a wonderful learning environment but was also one of the important things that led me out of the darkness of my depression.

I returned two of my daughter’s books that she had finished reading, and I collected the forms to file my taxes.

In summer, I bring my kids for special programs as well as their summer reading program that includes prizes and a special celebration at the end of the summer. My older son attended a Harry Potter evening in costume and my younger kids met therapy dogs and learned some cooking techniques during two separate events. We’ve attended Olympics activities and Halloween parades. All of these activities were either free or for a nominal activity – one or two dollars.

I almost always see people using the computers, checking their email, searching for jobs, and whatever else they’re doing that they can’t do at home, either because they don’t have access to the internet or because it isn’t safe to (domestic abuse victims and the homeless).

There are several daily newspapers and hundreds of magazine subscriptions.

On my Kindle, I will often have the maximum loan of four library books. I am currently reading Timothy Egan’s The Immortal Irishman. I can hold books and sign up for programs through my Kindle.

Libraries often have local art exhibits, both from local artists working in several different mediums and school kids showing off their artistic talents from art class in school in all grade levels.

I’ve attended concerts and lectures, and will be attending a storytelling event on the first of March.

Last year, one local library had a comic book convention with activities, free items, and displays both to see and/or for sale.

I remember being a kid growing up in NYC and having the bookmobile come. What a special day that always was.

Every community needs a library.

If you don’t believe me, listen to Neil Gaiman; or to librarians.]

What was your favorite thing to do at your local library?

What was your favorite book?​