Used Book Sales

I love used book sales held at libraries. I live in a metro area that has about a dozen public and college libraries within a twenty-mile radius of my house. I went to a sale this past weekend and will go to another next weekend. Fall seems to be book fair season around  here. Yay for me!

I want to share with you some of my (old) new books, but before I do that, let’s take a look at some that I didn’t buy.

How Not To Read: Harnessing the Power of a Literature-free Life, by Dan Wilbur. The blurb boasts of techniques on how to fake your literature knowledge. Additionally, it states that if you must read something, tips on how to read fast and cut corners are within the books pages. That’s one hundred-seventy-six pages a non-reader has to slog through to learn how to fake having read. I love it. It’s so ridiculous!

Next up: How To Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading, by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren. This book, dubbed “a living classic,” was first published in 1940. It’s a guide for comprehension techniques for a variety of reading materials, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and so on. It’s a hefty book, four-hundred-twenty-six pages of information.

And, while I’m sharing “opposites,” how about this one?  The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living as If He Doesn’t Exist by Craig Groeschel. This title’s a toughie. I think we all can relate to this kind of behavior. I know I can. Groeschel, a minister, reflects on his life when it does not match up with scripture. The word atheist turned me off to this book. It caught my attention because of the oxymoron in the title. Now that I’ve done a little on-line research, I kind of wished I would have picked it up.

Oh, and one of my all-time NOT favorites: Who Moved My Cheese? By Spencer Johnson, M.D. I hate this book so much because I once had a principal who made it ‘required reading’ for the staff. The worst of it was that she was a lunatic and expected us to follow her lead. Every time I see this book, I cringe. And I always seem to find several copies at library book sales.But then I found Who Cut the Cheese? By Stilton Jarlsberg, M.D. It made me happy to see a parody on my most hated book ever! (It too, is a self-help book, but with a sense of humor.)

Now, on to my great buys: I found three first edition books this time! That doesn’t happen very often. 

I’ve done some research; these first two are only worth a few bucks in the book market. All The President's Men by Bernstein and Woodward and First On The Moon, by Armstrong, Collins, and Aldrin. I’ll hang on to them because of the subject matter. I’m sure at some time the asking price will rise. (Who knows if I'd sell, anyway...)

The third book was a flash-back to grade school. I remember studying the Kon-Tiki way back in the day. I looked this book up on-line and it seems to be selling in the $300.00 on up range. I hit the jackpot on a seventy-five cent investment. (But I’m not selling just yet.)

I purchased four other books of interest, for a total of $6.75. A very good investment I think.

Visit your local libraries’ book sales. They’re great fund raisers for your public library’s programming and you’ll get all the really good stuff in return! Now excuse me while I read a new (old) book.

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself.

~Nadine

Learning Stuff Like a Kid

Recently I’ve been interested learning more about the habits of hummingbirds, glaciers that moved across Iowa, and the solar eclipse that will happen on August 21st.

Glacier on Land. Courtesy of Google Images

Eclipse Image courtesy of
Museum of Aviation

Outside my window just now!

Several weeks ago I read an article in our local newspaper about creating “hummingbird feeding zones,” instead of just having a hummingbird feeding spot. It went on to say that a zone – several feeders in a small area- attract hummingbirds better than just having one feeder in your yard. I hung 4 feeders in the trees around our yard this summer and see hummers every day rather than occasionally, as I had in previous summers.

Terrace Farming. Image courtesy of USDA
and Iowa Agriculture Literacy

Then, last week we traveled to western Iowa where they have to terrace farm because the land is so hilly. Terrace farming seems so foreign for Iowa to me. 

But it got me thinking. Northwest Iowa boasts the only glacier lake in the state, the eastern side of Iowa features bluffs and cliffs all along the Mississippi River; while central Iowa has the very best soil for growing crops. I’ve heard of The Drift Plain, but what is that really? Glaciers. I want (need) to know more about how they shaped the topography of my fair state.

Courtesy of Google Images

Knowledge begets knowledge, I think.

While all of these can be researched on the internet, I find juvenile fiction books to be a perfect source of basic information. That’s how I taught myself to knit. Children’s books are direct and to the point.

A patron I have at the library is a guide/chaperone for a tour company. I can always tell where she’s going to be traveling by the juvenile non-fiction books she checks out.  Piles of books on D.C., Arizona, and Florida. Quick facts. Easy to read. It’s all there in juvenile fiction. (Don’t worry if you’re not a juvenile, it’s o.k. for you to read them!)

Oh, and about the eclipse? Well, that one is a totally on-line research topic. And it’s fascinating. Free up your calendar now for August twenty-first!

Go to the library! Check out some kids books on topics you’re interested in. Learn new stuff. It’s fun!

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself!

~Nadine

Veterans Day 2016

This Friday is Veterans Day. November 11, 2016.

I come from a long line of men who have served our country, and I believe it is my duty to honor and pay tribute to all who haveanswered the call to serve our county.

My grandfather served in WWI and WWII.

My dad served in the Korean War. My uncles Terry and Jerry served in Viet Nam. (All of my dad’s four brothers served in the military.)

When my generation of young men and women were of “going to war age,” the U.S. had relative peace- no wars to fight.

Veterans Day dislplay at the LeClaire
Community Library

My nephew, Jake served in Afghanistan, where he earned a Purple Heart. My son-in-law Phil, still active duty, served in Afghanistan, too. My son, Nate, and nephew-in-law, Corey, serve on the front lines right here in Iowa.

God bless those who are willing to confront the bad in order to protect the good.

On that same note to honor and pay tribute, I created a Veterans Day book display at work (The LeClaire Community Library.) I chose books that gave first-hand accounts of events… Also Known As: When shit goes down.

 

The summaries of the following books are courtesy of Goodreads.

FLYBOYS: A True Story of Courage by James D. Bradley

This acclaimed bestseller brilliantly illuminates a hidden piece of World War II history as it tells the harrowing true story of nine American airmen shot down in the Pacific. One of them, George H. W. Bush, was miraculously rescued. What happened to the other eight remained a secret for almost 60 years. 

LONE SURVIVOR: The Eyewittness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 by Marcus Luttrell, Patrick Robinson

On a clear night in late June 2005, four U.S. Navy SEALs left their base in northern Afghanistan for the mountainous Pakistani border. Their mission was to capture or kill a notorious al Qaeda leader known to be ensconced in a Taliban stronghold surrounded by a small but heavily armed force. Less then twenty-four hours later, only one of those Navy SEALs remained alive. 

NO EASY DAY: The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama Bin Laden by Mark Owen, Kevin Maurer

No Easy Day puts readers alongside Owen, of the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Development Group--commonly known as SEAL Team Six, and the other handpicked members of the twenty-four-man team as they train for the biggest mission of their lives. The blow-by-blow narrative of the assault, beginning with the helicopter crash that could have ended Owen's life straight through to the radio call confirming Bin Laden’s death, is an essential piece of modern history.

BAND OF BROTHERS: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest by Stephen E. Ambrose

As good a rifle company as any, Easy Company, 506th Airborne Division, US Army, kept getting tough assignments--responsible for everything from parachuting into France early DDay morning to the capture of Hitler's Eagle's Nest at Berchtesgaden. In "Band of Brothers," Ambrose tells of the men in this brave unit who fought, went hungry, froze & died, a company that took 150% casualties & considered the Purple Heart a badge of office. Drawing on hours of interviews with survivors as well as the soldiers' journals & letters, Stephen Ambrose recounts the stories, often in the men's own words, of these American heroes.

FLAG OF OUR FATHERS By James D. Bradley, Ron Powers
In February 1945, American Marines plunged into the surf at Iwo Jima—and into history. Through a hail of machine-gun and mortar fire that left the beaches strewn with comrades, they battled to the island’s highest peak. And after climbing through a landscape of hell itself, they raised a flag.
Now the son of one of the flagraisers has written a powerful account of six very different young men who came together in a moment that will live forever.

THE GOOD SOLDIERS By David Finkel

It was the last-chance moment of the war. In January 2007, President George W. Bush announced a new strategy for Iraq. He called it the surge. “Many listening tonight will ask why this effort will succeed when previous operations to secure Baghdad did not. Well, here are the differences,” he told a skeptical nation. Among those listening were the young, optimistic army infantry soldiers of the 2-16, the battalion nicknamed the Rangers. About to head to a vicious area of Baghdad, they decided the difference would be them.

UNBROKEN: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War.

ELEPHANT COMPANY: The Inspiring Story of an Unlikely Hero and the Animals Who Helped Him Save Lives in World War II by Vicki Constantine Croke

Billy Williams came to colonial Burma in 1920, fresh from service in World War I, to a job as a “forest man” for a British teak company. Mesmerized by the intelligence, character, and even humor of the great animals who hauled logs through the remote jungles, he became a gifted “elephant wallah.”  
When Imperial Japanese forces invaded Burma in 1942, Williams joined the elite Force 136, the British dirty tricks department, operating behind enemy lines. …In a Hollywood-worthy climax, Elephant Company, cornered by the enemy, attempted a desperate escape: a risky trek over the mountainous border to India, with a bedraggled group of refugees in tow. Elephant Bill’s exploits would earn him top military honors and the praise of famed Field Marshal Sir William Slim.

People, I challenge you to read at least one of these books. Use your hard-earned American freedom to read whatever you want! I’ve read Unbroken already. It was not an easy read and because of that, I still cannot watch the Unbroken movie. I’m going to start at the top of this list and read Flyboys next. My dad was an Air Force man and my son-in-law still is.

Until next time,

Thank A Veteran.

~Nadine

My New Job!

Guess what?  I have a new job!  I’m really excited because this job is at one of my favorite places on earth.  I have a LIBRARY job!  EEKK! 

I have been a library groupie (I just made up that phrase. Nope, I didn’t. I Googled it, here’s what I found.) for a very long time.  When new libraries open in my area, I go visit them.  My husband claims that my past-due book fees over the years are what financed my city’s library remodel.  As you can tell, a library job is exactly in my wheel-house!

My library (it’s mine now) is a small town one. I love that!  Because it’s a small operation, I have the opportunity to work in nearly every aspect of library business. I am a circulation clerk so that means I check books out to patrons, as well as get books ready to go to other library sites for patrons to check out.  I check books back in, both for patrons of our library and ones returned from being borrowed at other sites. (I thought after years of being a teacher I wouldn’t need to mentally run through sections of the alphabet to correctly shelve books, but I do.  I wonder if anyone can alphabetize without doing that!)

I get new materials ready to be added to our library, and fix damaged ones too.  And the very best part of my job?  I get to talk with people about books. Books they’ve read, books I’ve read, and books we want to read. WOW!!!  (And I get paid to do it!  DOUBLE WOW!!)

Friends, I’ve wondered about libraries and the effects of the e-books trade on their business.  I’m happy to report that there are many, many people out there still checking out materials from a brick and mortar building.   I think this is because libraries offer so much more than just books.  Our library has many programs for all ages of readers.  We have study rooms and a community room that can easily be reserved.  Computers are available to all patrons.  We have an area for children, and one for teens. We even have a fireplace room.  A cozy den for reading and relaxing.  If you haven’t been to your local library lately, I think it’s time for you to visit.  See you there on Saturday, K? J

As always, be good to yourself.

~Nadine