Reading programs are fun for everyone. And even though mom and dad are vegetarians we still love that the kiddos are reading on their winter break, so we are just fine with getting them some free burgers to enjoy. And even vegetarians can enjoy their french fries!
This is one more reason I love our local libraries. It is also very frustrating to see how little they are utilized. There are many, many reasons to go to the library, and yes free stuff is one of those reasons. During the summer there is a reading program that the kids get gifts. Don’t have kids? That’s fine there are adult reading programs too. I won a grill this summer doing a summer reading program. On a previous summer, I won two free bags of Trader Joe’s groceries.
We usually go to the library every weekend. Sometimes a bit less when we are really busy or the kids have gotten some books from relatives (Always a good gift). Emily who is 4 enjoys reading anything that is related to what she is watching on tv. Samantha who is 9 likes to read the Who is… and What is… non-fiction books from her school library.
I look forward to each summer because that is when I get the majority of my reading done. I look for short books that I have an interest in. There are a lot! Using this method I’m able to read a lot and get lots of entries into the sweepstakes that the libraries usually do for the adult reading programs.
A strange thing happened yesterday when I was updating my book list using Goodreads. All the books I had read since February were not listed. I was missing a bunch. Among them some of the key reasons I may be obsessed with RVing right now…Travels with Charley. We listened to this on a recent trip up the coast. For those of you not familiar it’s a non-fiction work where Steinbeck travels across the US in a ….wait for it….RV! He called his RV Rocinante after the horse in Don Quixote.
Rocinante Inside
We also visited his museum in Salinas. On that trip, we also stopped at an Autocamp, where you can stay in an airstream overnight. That was a blast, but I didn’t care for the shower.
Airstream
So again, more reviews yet to come, but I thought I would mention this little thing in a follow-up post. Happy Thanksgiving all!
Many of the books listed above I read because I was at least slightly interested and I was participating in the adult summer reading program at my local library. The last book on this list is the exception. I read that just because I loved the first two books. It took me a while to get to this last book because there are so many other books I also want to read. I’m happy to have finally read it and I will update you all with a review soon I hope.
Now that it is Thanksgiving break I finally have some time to sit down and do some work in my office that’s not related to my day job. I got some other things done as well. I scan all the girl’s artwork that they give me. I know we can’t keep it all, but I can scan it and store it on the Network Attached Storage (NAS) device we have. I also have all our movies and tv shows stored on it. I scan everything in using my trusty Canon scanner. Thankfully, they keep their driver page updated, even for those of us that adopted macOS High Sierra early.
I’ve also been watching some more TV recently as well. I started by diving into Star Trek DS9. It is the only series that I haven’t watched all the way through. I’m making my way through that on Netflix. In addition, I’ve also gotten addicted to Stranger Things. I’m early in the second season so no spoilers, please. When I’m not watching those I’ve been making time to learn about class b RVs on youtube and got addicted to the We Are The Russos.
I’m not a camper, so I have not idea why I’m so into the idea of these RV things. No idea where it all came from, but I’ve always been into the tiny homes stuff. I think it is amazing the way that people find a way to make it with so little. I have so much and the idea of paring down has always appealed to me. When I read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, I really did get rid of a lot, but it really wasn’t enough. We have a two-thousand square foot home and it is full!
Speaking of youtube. I think it would be a good idea to try that here. I’m not one to sit down and record a video, but I think it would help drive traffic to the site and I know lots of times I want to watch a video of something instead of reading a bunch of text. Sounds strange on a book blog site, doesn’t it? I think some more about that one. Lots of things to consider.
Lots of other things are also going on. Work has gotten a lot busier and I started taking my weight loss a lot more seriously. I watched Vegucated on Netflix and a few other vegetarian and vegan documentaries as well as Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead 2. All these films together pushed me over the edge to go vegan. I’m what you would call a lazy vegan. I find my self-making exceptions to the dairy rule. For example, I can not give up pizza so my give and take on that is ordering only vegetarian pizza. It’s not vegan, but at least it is vegetarian. I haven’t had meat in about four months.
I have been also going to the gym on average 5-6 days a week. Pretty much every day. I got a new Apple Watch and I’ve been trying to close all the rings every day. Most days I make it and with giving up meat, it has been pretty easy to lose a lot of weight. I’m down about 18 pounds from September. I use my Aria, a Fitbit scale, to track my weight every day. They have the 2nd version of it available now. I was thinking of getting it because mine doesn’t always sync right. I’ve had problems with it since the beginning.
I think that is pretty good for now. Hopefully, more coming very soon.
On February 8th the New York Times published Teenagers Who Vandalized Historic Black Schoolhouse Are Ordered to Read Books. The article describes a crime, where 4 young boys, vandalized a historic black schoolhouse. The judge of the case handed down a strange ruling. The boys had to read. For someone like me, this would not have been a punishment, but I also didn’t go around vandalizing anything.
Now, I don’t know if this will work. If those kids see this as a punishment then maybe not, but if they take it as a learning opportunity then maybe so. I’m not sure how enlightened kids that would do this kind of thing are, there is also their age to consider.
I did think that the list of books they were ordered to read was actually pretty well thought out. It wasn’t just, we are going to give you a bunch of books to read as a pure punishment. They thought about the books hoping to give the kids a little background and maybe teach them an understanding that they didn’t have and they weren’t learning from their parents or school.
For those of you interested (like me) here is the list:
Lots of people have new year’s resolutions to read more each year. While I didn’t make my goal of 100 books in 2016, I still think 66 is not too bad. If you think that is a lot keep reading and I’ll tell you how I did it.
This is how I read 66 books last year with two kids to watch and taking 3 online courses, not to mention a regular job every day that regularly required more than 40 hours a week. The biggest secret to my success is probably audio books. I listened to 3.7 days of audio last year. 14% of all books I read (consumed) were audio. Listening to books is easy to do. Sometimes I can do it at work on a break or when I’m doing something boring and reparative. A long commute is a godsend to consuming lots of books. I also listen in the gym and when I go on short walking breaks during the day. Another big part of listening to books is not to buy them, at least not physically. I download all the books I read from Overdrive, a company that sells audio downloads to public libraries so the patrons can download and listens to books free. That’s right, free. Download to your smartphone and listen as much as you want for free.
Reading Kindle at Old Street Tube by Annie Mole
Buy a Kindle. It will pay for itself in no time! I have the new oasis. Whenever I’m heading out somewhere that I will have to wait or think I may get bored, I grab my Kindle. I read every night in my daughter’s room. She likes it if I lay on her floor while she falls asleep, so I need a quiet activity to keep myself awake. I read. Usually for a good 20 minutes before she nods off.
Lastly, use your local libraries. That’s right plural. You probably have a bunch within about 15 miles from where you live. Use all of them. Librarians are there to help and they do a great job! You can usually find what you want, but sometimes you have to get in sent from another branch, its worth the hold fee, some don’t even have a hold fee! Try to plan a weekly trip to the library to keep some books in stock and ready to read. Better yet visit a used book store and buy some books to have ready for to read, that way you don’t have to worry about returning them before the borrowing period is over.
It was fun to have 4-year-old Daliyah Marie Arana of Gainesville, GA as “Librarian For The Day.” She’s already read more than a 1,000 books. pic.twitter.com/MQfwlUrakO
This little girls is now reading college level texts and her mother reached out to the library of congress to help her find new books. When they heard about her they asked her to come spend the day. What a nice story. Read the whole ting from the Washington Post.
Time for my yearly post about all the books I read in 2016. I did not meet my goal of reading 100 books last year. I didn’t even come close. I only read 66 as you can see in the above image. Work got busy and I also enrolled and completed two certificate classes in data science from University California, Irvine.
What you won’t see in the infographic below is that I borrowed 43 books from my local library. If I had bought them on Amazon, I would have paid $561.30. That savings is worth your free library card, and a bunch of hold fees!
WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 2: (AFP OUT) U.S. President Barack Obama holds up a book given to him by author Eric Metaxas, who was the keynote speaker at the National Prayer Breakfast February 2, 2012 in Washington, DC. Obama also spoke, defending his economic policies in an echo of his recent State of the Union address. (Photo by Chris Kleponis-Pool/Getty Images)
I couldn’t resist posting this list of books. The following list appeared in the November Wired magazine. It is a list of books that Obama recommends for future leaders. I love book lists! BTW the book above is Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy
The only book on the list that I have read. My Goodreads review: “Overall, I enjoyed this book however, I thought it was slow and overly technical at times. If you are into the why and how extinction occurs you will enjoy this book. For me the last chapter was the best chapter. The chapter on Wolly Mammoths was also very entertaining.”
The #1 Best Seller on Amazon in the Ecology category
I’ve been at the San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) for the last three days. I have been lucky, and gotten to go to Comic-Con for the past several years. The last three years, I have concentrated on getting complimentary advanced readers copies (ARC) from publishers at the event. All the big publishers are there: HarperCollins, Disney Publishing, Penguin, Del Rey, etc.
Pictured above are those books which I was able to meet the author and get their books signed. Only one above, Life Debt, was paid for. This is one I have been excited for, so paying was no big deal!
Obtaining books at Comic-Con is not difficult but it takes some research. I plan out my days before hand. Looking to see who will be signing in what booth at what time. But much harder than the planning is getting tickets. Approximately 130,000 people attend Comic-Con and getting tickets to the show is extremely difficult, but tickets are open to everyone.
Unsigned SDCC2016 Books
The photo above are the books that I have gotten from the first three days, Wednesday – Friday. I’m going to go again tomorrow and on Sunday. Today alone I received 15 copies of books, well 14 books and one audiobook. My backpack was VERY heavy!
I’m very happy to have the opportunity to meet the authors and publishers of some of my favorite books. I thank them all for being there! I’m excited for the last two days of the show.
The summer has started and that means that libraries around the country have started their summer reading programs encouraging patrons to check out books and visit their local library branch more often. For my part I visit my local libraries (at least 2) once or twice a week. During the summer and the rest of the year, but summer reading programs are fun!
There are usually freebies attached to the number of books you read. Summer reading programs are not just for kids either. While my kids are enrolled in summer reading programs so am I. Both my nearby libraries have adult reading programs running in parallel with the kids programs. Why would adults want to participate? How about a winning an iPad mini or $150 Target gift card? These are the top prizes that both my local libraries are giving away to participants in the summer reading program.
In July of last year (when the reading program starts) I read 20 books in a single month. That’s a lot for me! I currently have a list for all the books I want to read as part of the program. Next to each title is the call number (book library location) for both of my local libraries. Meaning by reading one book I can claim credit for reading it in both libraries programs.
I’ve finished 4 books MTD this July, so I have a lot to read to keep up with what I did last year. I have about 30 books listed on my summer reading list and more being added all the time. I hope I can get to them all. I’m always looking for more time to sneak in reading. Wish me luck and go check out your local libraries summer reading program.
