#ReadingMyLibrary challenge – Library Scavenger Hunt!

Posted in #ReadingMyLibrary Reading Challenge, 2015, For the love of books, Reading Challenges by rebeccabook17

So! As part of the #ReadingMyLibrary challenge, the hosts came up with the brilliant idea to organize a library scavenger hunt! I completed the scavenger hunt at the Terryville Public Library today with my mom. So here are the guidelines for the library scavenger hunt. If you want to participate in the giveaway, please find at least TEN (10) of the following things in your library. If you are unable to find ten of these things, leave a note in your post explaining that. This scavenger hunt was great fun! I used to work at the Terryville Library so it was a little easier for me since I already knew where most things were and from shelving books for 5 years I could think of a few different books to meet the requirements needed. Everyone should try this, it is a great way to get to know your library better!

Make a post on your blog (or Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc) with pictures of the following things:

Your library
Library Card
Old School Card Catalog (we know that not all libraries have one of these, so take a picture of the catalog on a computer instead!)
Your Librarian / Circulation Clerk (ask nicely and I’m sure they’ll let you!)
Date Stamper
Bookmark
An audio book
A DVD
Withdrawn or discarded book (can be controversial, but a part of a book’s life at a library. Most end up for sale)
Fun library furniture
Your favorite library book (could be broken down into F, NF, YA, JF/MG, E, etc)
A large print book
Your library’s event calendar
Flyer for an upcoming event
A fun display
A book from the 800 non-fiction section (a book categorized in the 800s of the Dewey Decimal System)
A set of encyclopedias
Newspaper/Magazine
A graphic novel
Fun round (take a picture with all these books together – make sure you take the stack up to the circ desk when you’re done so they can in-house the books!):
Find a book with a girl in a dress on the cover
Find a book that’s green
Find a book with an author who has the same initials as you
Find a book with a number in the title
Find a cookbook
Find a picture book
Find a book with a picture of someplace you would like to visit
Find a book with more than eight (8) words in the title
Find a book with a one (1) word title
Find a book about libraries or with the word library in the title
Find a book with a duck on the cover

Here is a gallery with all the items from the list I found in my library!

18Apr2015

2015 Book #33 – Cat Out of Hell by Lynne Truss

Posted in #ReadingMyLibrary Reading Challenge, 2015, Book reviews, Fiction, Reading Challenges by rebeccabook17

Title: Cat Out of Hell
Author: Lynne Truss
Date finished: 4/18/15
Genre: Fiction – Not really sure what genre
Publisher: Melville House
Publication Date: March 3, 2015
Pages in book: 162
Stand alone or series: Stand alone

Blurb from the cover:

For people who both love and hate cats comes the tale of Alec Charlesworth, a librarian who finds himself suddenly alone: he’s lost his job, his beloved wife has just died. Overcome by grief, he searches for clues about her disappearance in a file of interviews between a man called “Wiggy” and a cat, Roger. Who speaks to him.
It takes a while for Alec to realize he’s not gone mad from grief, that the cat is actually speaking to Wiggy . . . and that much of what we fear about cats is true. They do think they’re smarter than humans, for one thing. And, well, it seems they are! What’s more, they do have nine lives. Or at least this one does – Roger’s older than Methuselah, and his unblinking stare comes from the fact that he’s seen it all.
And he’s got a tale to tell, a tale of shocking local history and dark forces that may link not only the death of Alec’s wife, but also several other local deaths. But will the cat help Alec, or is he one of the dark forces?

My rating: 3.75 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: This book will count for the challenge I am participating in for April, the #ReadingMyLibrary reading challenge. I checked out this book from the Simsbury Public Library. I saw this book in a recent BookPage publication I think and a couple other places so when I saw it at the library I thought I would give it a try. To be honest I thought this book was going to be a funny book. It wasn’t especially. Looking back I think there were some parts that were either funny or were supposed to be funny. Overall I found the book to be scary though. Like horror movie scary. Cats that can talk and can kill you just by hissing at you? If that’s not the stuff of horror movies then I don’t know what is.
That being said, the story line was very interesting. The book was only about 160 pages so it was short and well-paced. The story was fairly easy to follow. A lot of people died though. And I am a pretty big fan of cats so the idea of murderous talking cats was more than somewhat unpleasant to me. The story line had a good flow though from one section to the next and I honestly just loved the Sherlock Holmes and other literary and cultural references. Very good book.

The bottom line: Not what I expected but I have to say it was interesting. A bit like a horror movie. But sometimes kind of funny.

Link to author website
Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

18Apr2015

#ReadingMyLibrary Challenge – Weekly Update #3 April 18th

Posted in #ReadingMyLibrary Reading Challenge, 2015, For the love of books, Reading Challenges by rebeccabook17

Thank goodness tax season is over! Now that I’m not going to be working quite as much, I’m hoping to get some work done on my house and also get some more reading done! Over this past week I was able to read three books for the reading challenge: Every Boy’s Got One, The Magician’s Lie, and I just finished Cat Out of Hell this morning (book review to be posted later today). The first two books I got from the Terryville Public Library and the Cat book I got from the Simsbury Public Library.
As part of the #ReadingMyLibrary Challenge, you get an entry into the challenge giveaway for reading one book as part of the challenge but you get an additional entry for reading 5 additional books (up to two additional entries so 10 extra books). Since Vintner’s Daughter was my book 1 for this challenge, that’s my one book for the first part of the challenge. My next 5 additional books were last week’s Cure for the Common Breakup, You’re So Fine, and Find Me and this week’s Every Boy’s Got One and The Magician’s Lie. I’m hoping to get through another 5 books in the next 12 days so that I can get that second additional entry into the giveaway!

So as part of the #ReadingMyLibrary Challenge, there are optional weekly update posts. The topic for this week’s post is: Why you love libraries or why you love being a librarian. I worked at the library in my town all through high school and when I was home on breaks from college. I’ve always loved books and reading, ever since I was little. Late in middle school though I really started to get addicted to reading. When it came time for me to find a job in high school, I could think of no place I’d rather work then a library. Luckily for me, the library was within walking distance of my high school. I begged and pleaded with the library director until they gave me a job. I was a big talker (loud too) early in high school so I think they were nervous about giving me a job at first. I have to be honest, I was a pretty rambunctious kid and I think working at the library is really what settled me. I relished the quiet and peace of the library and realized how much I loved and needed those periods of silence through the day.

Another reason I loved working at the library is that I’m absolutely addicted to books. I can’t walk into a book store or a library without buying/checking out a new book, even though I already have a stack of 50 books to read at home and I know that I absolutely do not need another book. And the thing that really fed the addiction is that working at the library I could check the same books out over and over again if I didn’t have time to read them. I think I had one book checked out for almost a year. So really the library was just about the perfect place for me.

Over the years I have learned that I love not only working at my home library but also just going to any library and browsing the books there gives me immense pleasure. I have about a million (might be a small exaggeration) books on my TBR list and coming across one or two of them at different libraries and checking them out to read is a great feeling. Each new book is a new adventure for me and I’m able to travel to so many places through reading. Libraries provide me with that. What could one possibly not love about a place like that?