Sunday, August 19, 2012

Learning tools through the library

I am always amazed by what is available through my local county library.  I treasure libraries since they have provided me with many an hour of entertainment, especially as a child when I could not afford to purchase books.  They help me keep my current book budget down to a dull roar since I am fortunate to have two different library systems to draw from (and yes, both library cards get a workout).

I have mentioned before that there are several resources that I take advantage of through the internet and my county library card number, one of which is called Freegal which allows me to download three songs per week without any piracy concerns.  There is quite a wide range of things available, including a profanity laden but hilarious recording of Robin Williams discussing the planning that went into the formation of the human body called Intelligent Design as well as the ethereal songs recorded by young Jackie Evancho and several works by some of the smooth jazz artists that I like.  I am ashamed to admit that I haven't kept up with the foreign language lessons that I started through Mango but intend to get back to them one of these days and lately have discovered that there is another educational tool called 'Ed2go'.  I am intrigued because there are a breadth of classes that can be attended at one's convenience online and I was delighted to discover that some of them address writing and publishing so I am taking a beginning class in editing.  It's amazing what is out there for free and I urge those of you with local county libraries to look into what they can offer access to, it is pretty amazing.

And, what have I been reading from the library?
Lauren Dane's poignant tale Never Enough which gives Adrian Brown's love story, the entertaining anthology Hex Appeal which includes great stories by Jim Butcher, Rachel Caine, P.N. Elrod and husband and wife team Ilona Andrews , as well as the delightfully spicy Hot in Handcuffs which has tales by three of my favorite authors in their field, Shayla Black, Sylvia Day and Shiloh Walker!  Unfortunately, I have been so busy reading that I haven't written up the reviews so I will have to rectify that.  Support your local library (I tend to donate a lot of my review books to one of my local libraries but they also can use volunteers to help shelve or perform other tasks).  My sincere thanks to the dozens of authors at RWA who cheerfully donated books to help supplement the collection at the Wanda Kirk Library in Rosamond!
   


2 comments:

  1. Using the library has always been one of my favorite things to do. Plus it keeps hubby from killing me because I've brought more books in the apartment to put on a shelf. lol

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  2. Yes, but there are times when my hubby looks at the stack that I have checked out of the library and shakes his head as he tells me that he thinks I am overdoing it...I keep telling him that some of it is research, since I need to read the first books in some of the series that I am reviewing!

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