Happy Tuesday, friends! I promised I'd come back in two weeks for another glimpse around the town I call home—Collierville, or lovingly known as The Ville.
In the first installment of this series, I wrote about my home away from home—my beloved church. You can read all about it here.
This week I'm sharing about my other favorite place in town and additional home away from home—our local library!
(I love the little picnic area pictured above that runs to the side of the library building.)
Here is the front—it's not a great picture, but you get the general idea. I am a HUGE advocate for using the local library, friends. I know not every town has one as nice as this one pictured, but even if you have to drive a town or two over, I cannot recommend joining the one closest to you enough. It has saved me literally thousands of dollars by borrowing books from the library. I love that when I check out there, on the receipt it shows me how much that book would have cost had I bought it in a store. If you are local to me and need some help with this, I would be willing to meet you there to help you get started!
Did you know that anyone can join any library? If you don't live in the actual town, you can pay a small yearly fee and join that way. I think this makes an excellent gift idea for the readers in your life and it's my favorite gift to give. We do this every year for my step-dad Bill. It's nothing expensive and he has used it for years and years now. He loves it and I love that he loves this place as much as I do. It's my happy place, but it's his as well and that's one thing I love having in common with someone.
I never go and just get one book, I get a whole stack of them, because I never know if I'm going to love it or hate it, and because I often try new authors. This is my favorite kind of thing to get lost in.
Now I never thought I'd be saying this, but I no longer read physical books. I am not done with them forever and ever, but my sweet hubby bought me a Kindle over the summer for my beach trip with girlfriends and I've not looked back since. I love the backlight and that I can adjust the font size. It's a paperwhite, so there is zero glare, which is perfect for reading outside.
Even though I read on this Kindle now, I still use my library! I have the app "Libby" on my phone and I connected my library card number to the app, so I when I read books on this device, they're still considered borrowed library books. I wouldn't be able to use that app on this if I didn't have a library card. I think? I'm not sure. I also have the "Hoopla" app that works the same way, but it's not an app that Kindle supports. If I were reading on a tablet of some sort, I'd be able to use that app as well.
When the boys were little, one of our favorite things to do was go to the library. We went to story hour and they'd walk away with so many books in their stack that they couldn't carry them all in their arms. They all used to love to read, but I don't know what happened. As a homeschooling family, the library also helped us out with things we would go and get to supplement our curriculum.
Basically it was a great place for them to explore and sometimes run off some extra energy around the lake in the back of the library.
I can smell this picture, can't you? There is nothing that is more beautiful to me than rows and rows of organized library books. (Notice I said one key word there—organized.)
Aside from the actual library, there is also a small bookstore inside the door called Friends Again Bookstore. I love it in there as well, but I don't make it there very often. They sell books and movies/shows on DVD. I would love to join the book club there that they offer, but for now it's over Zoom only. I applied there recently, but the job position was filled. I'll be honest, though...it's kind of my dream job to work here. I know so many people in our little town and I love to read so much that I know I would be an asset to them, should I ever decide to apply there again.
Have I inspired you to go to your local library yet? You should! I can remember loving a library/bookstore ever since I was a very young girl. Our old library was off of our town square and I remember going there with my mom at a young age. I have loved to read since I was in the first grade, and had a wonderful teacher named Mrs. Shaw who instilled in me this lifelong love. Growing up, my mom was also a good example of this, because she also loves to read and I often witnessed her sitting with a good book. Once I was older, we often traded books back and forth and I still love to do that with her. One thing I know—if you read in front of your kid and make sure they have lots of choices of books to choose from pretty often, you'll have a reader on your hands. (In most cases this is true...mine are the exception and I'm rolling my eyes as I write that.)
Speaking of books, if you missed out on yesterday's blog post, you can click here to read about the books I read in September.
Thanks for reading my blog, friends! Love to all.
Love me a library.
ReplyDeleteI love my Kindle just for the font size!!!! saves my eyes so much.
I also love my library because sometimes I get the large print books :) After looking at a computer all day, sometimes that regular book font looks itty bitty.
You ahve so many of my favorite books in those stacks!
I love our local library though I don't go into it often because I download almost every book that I read onto my kindle. But I download the books from the library so I get to read them for free. I hardly ever read hard copies of books. Your library building is a very pretty building. Our library has some charm but not as much as yours!! And I love that you have a used bookstore in yours. That is a really neat feature :).
ReplyDeleteSuch a pretty library! I haven't been to the one in Collierville, but maybe I need to!
ReplyDeleteRebecca Jo- the Kindle is worth every penny just for the font size! I don't consider myself done with physical books forever, just until the newness of the Kindle wears off. Which may never happen. Ha!
ReplyDeleteMaria, that is the great thing about using a library, though...it includes the downloadable books. I love that about mine and the apps that our library uses for different devices. I love this building! I recently saw someone post about their library that was inside an historical home. That one was VERY charming! But I love ours, too. It's on a beautiful piece of property.
ReplyDeleteMarilyn, maybe one day when your schedule allows you could come and visit and then we could go to lunch! I think that sounds like a fun idea. :)
ReplyDeleteTotally loved this post. You have a beautiful library. I haven't been inside our library since you know what. However, I've gotten lots of books on Libby too, to read on my Kindle during this time. I so love doing that. Also, I get audible books through my library that I can download to my computer and listen to while I'm at work. That's always nice. Thanks for sharing your library.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Cathy! I love it there. I don't go in that often anymore, since I've started reading on my Kindle, but I do still like to just go and browse from time to time. My dad loves to go there as well, so one of these days I need to do that with him on a Friday. I hope you've had a great week!
ReplyDeleteI love your Library. And I use Libby all the time to get books. I run our local town library as a labor of love. Yes -I am thanful for it and will post pictures.
ReplyDeleteHey there, Lisa! That is so awesome that you run your library...what a gift you are to your town! I can't wait to see some pictures. Have a great weekend!
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