Birdhouse Bookshelves and Book Blind Dates

I love to read! I read from all sorts of genres, but the ones I read most are teen fiction and fantasy. Having worked in multiple libraries for about eleven years and volunteered for about three years, I feel I have somewhat of a bookish understanding and can be considered a bibliophile and a bookworm.

For a deeper look into what those words mean, I turned to Wikipedia. "Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. Accordingly a bibliophile is an individual who loves books. A bookworm is someone who loves books for their content, or who otherwise loves reading. ... A bibliophile may be, but is not necessarily, a book collector." You can follow this link to learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliophilia.

I don't collect a lot of books, just some of my favorites. I don't even have all of those because buying books costs money and requires storage space. Plus, the list of my favorites is extensive. I do use my library a lot though.

It's difficult to track the books I've read and want to read, but a great site to help is Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com. If we aren't friends on Goodreads already, let me know! I know there are still many books that I've read that I can't remember the title, but I tried  my best to remember and log them. My library offers a great service- they keep a record of everything you check out, and they enable you to export the list so you can have a copy.

Yesterday I read an article in American Profile http://americanprofile.com/articles/little-free-libraries about Little Free Libraries http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/. People all around the country are building birdhouse like bookshelves and stocking them with books. Others can come by and borrow or donate a book or two. It's a great idea! Many of them are in people's yards, or in parks, like the picture. For people that don't have easy access to libraries, this is a great resource.

Another fun idea that the librarians are doing is a blind date with a book http://www.standard.net/stories/2013/02/13/syracuse-high-students-enjoy-blind-date-book. Librarians wrap up books and give a little teaser. Patrons pick one that looks interesting and get a surprise book to take home.

Though I try hard not to, I know I judge books by their covers, which is very unfair. Authors often don't have much say in what their book covers look like. I think this is a great idea to get people interested in books they might not normally pick up.

I love to discover new books about the same amount as rereading my favorites. It was really hard, but I finally was able to pick a favorite author, Madeleine L'Engle. Her books resonate with me. She writes fiction and non fiction, and I've loved both. She writes in a way that seems to me very honest and unpretentious. She writes about religion without forcing it upon anyone, it's just what she believes. She weaves themes into her books about good and evil, pure love, forgiveness, family, friendship, anger, sorrow, joy, and happiness. She is most famous for her book A Wrinkle in Time, which is the beginning of a series about the Austin family. I was able to find some of her audio books she recorded in her own voice, and I loved them because I knew I was hearing it the way that she, that author, wants them to be heard.

Every time I read a book, it becomes a little part of who I am. Many books have made me think differently about certain topics, or even just think about them at all. There are so many things we take for granted and don't even think about, and books are a way to bring a topic to light.

There's a book for everyone, and everyone needs a book.