Getting Away from it All in Books

We've started visiting the local library with LBA and SoBA. Well Mrs. BA has (I have yet to be inside yet). This is unusual for me as I used to work in the local public library and growing up was always in the summer reading program and usually on a first name basis with the children's librarian (but Mrs. Flukinger was always Mrs. Flukinger, even after I started working there. And then again, I also ran afoul of the school librarians on more than one occasion. And I used to tell people that during my undergraduate days, I was more apt to be anywhere but in the library. Of course, now I am an archivist, which for many people is hard to tell the difference between us and librarians.

LBA enjoys the library and SoBA also enjoys getting a pile of new reading material. SoBA likes to bring you books to read to him, though very often he moves on to a new title before you finish the first one. And the word "WHY?" has made it into his vocabulary as in, "I can't read that to you right now, I getting dinner together." "WHY!" This is often spoken as he pulls you into the other room to sit and read to him.

One book that I recall reading growing up was My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George. What pre-teen didn't dream of the day when you would run off into the woods to live by yourself for a while. The story was recently profiled in the Washington Post Magazine, where the author actually did it. Later the Post ran an online chat with the author of the article and Ms. George, who still lives in New York State, where the book is set.

I enjoyed working at the library growing up. It was a good time and it gave me access to books that I might not have read otherwise. I started reading non-fiction because I wanted to not because I had to from working there. The first non-fiction book I read? Fatal Vision, by Joe McGinnis - the story about Jeffrey MacDonald and the murder of his family at Fort Bragg.

I'm currently plowing through the new Stephen King book, Under the Dome, which was a birthday gift from Mrs. BA. At over 1,000 pages, I was afraid it would take me some time to get through it. However, it's really good Stephen King and I am already halfway through. I just have to be careful when reading it in bed. For if I fall asleep while reading it, I might break my nose when the book falls on my face.

Some time ago, kottke (of course), profiled a new architectural design, bookcase stairs. Created for the apartment dweller, it allows the voracious reader more storage for their books. I usually put my extras on Half.com along with a fair number of books that I am attempting to move from the family collection, but I still keep a good deal of books. For which I use Library Thing to keep track.