Lynness- April read: supporting my local library

    I have to say that we have a pretty good library system (well, I don't have much to compare it to, but I think it's pretty good).  One thing I like is that there are shelves near the front of each of the 9 or so branches that constantly change to display the newest adult fiction, adult non-fiction, young adult and juvenile additions to the library system's book collections (and there are HUNDREDS of new books each month spread over the branches, not to mention DVDs, etc.).  Since I don't get to browse a long time before my kids try and take off, I either have to know what I'm coming for or I just browse those.  I have found many interesting books, especially non-fiction, on topics I never would have looked up myself.  Case in point: SAND: The Never-ending Story, which I am almost done with.  Parts get a little long and technical, but other parts are utterly fascinating.  Did you know that there is a WHOLE lot that scientist still don't understand about something as simple as sand?  Or that sand, as a granular material often has the physical properties associated with liquids, unless you add about 10% or less of water to the mix, then it behaves more like a solid.  Anyway- that was on the "new books" shelf.
    The other thing that many branches have, somewhere near the front, is the "staff recommendations" shelf.  Supporting my local library was easy that way!  I picked up "The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune,and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden."  He arrived at said tomato cast by amortizing the cost of his garden over its productive life.  All I can say is that he spent a lot more putting that garden in than I ever could or would spend: a professional landscape designer, heavy-duty equipment for terracing a hill and building beds, an in-ground irrigation system, etc, etc.  So while my tomatoes won't cost near what his did, I can feel his pain in many of the chapters!!
    I also read another staff pick: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which was compelling because it was told as if a record of an actual event being written by an autistic boy.  I don't know how accurate the author's representation of the thoughts and feelings and motivations of an autistic teen are, but they were pretty convincing to me.  I enjoyed the book, but had to grimace through frequent repetition of favorite British profanities.
    I read The Departure Lounge, a true account about a woman caring for her aged mother who likes too much to drink, has a fall, and ends up hitting her head a little hard and going a little nuts.  Then add her mother's second husband, who was always a little weird, who turns out to have Alzheimer's, and you have a recipe for disaster when the medical community won't declare either of them incompetent, so although she tries to get them into a care facility (the author lives in Canada and the aged couple in NJ or somewhere close to that) or to stop sending all their money to every scammer that calls or mails, etc. she can't really do anything about it.  It starts well, but I was just glad to get it over by the time I was through.
    Finally, I don't remember which shelf I got The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society from, (help- I can't get italics off...it says it is, but it's obviously not...) ANYWAY, it was either new books or staff picks, but I haven't read it yet.  I did open it and see that it's written in the form of letters back and forth, which I'm not sure if I like.  Sometimes it works very well, but it's often annoying.  I haven't gotten to it because Spring Break ended and I have seminary lessons again to prepare every day.  I enjoyed having so much reading time and having Isaiah home and having a different kind of schedule (especially sleeping in until 6:30!! Oh yeah!)