Library Thursdays

Thursdays are currently my family's Library Day. We have two libraries, our local Renton Public Library, which is great for browsing and has a wonderful children's area and warm, helpful librarians, and the branch of the ginormous King County library. I reserve books at Fairwood Library, and they also have nice librarians and a good browsing section. On school days the kids are only really good for one library, so I do one while they are at school and then we all zip over the the other.

Today I went first to Fairwood, where they had three books waiting for me.

• The Demon's Lexicon, by Sarah Rees Brennan. I've seen this reviewed in many places, so I finally put in a request. It's a YA about a boy who isn't sure if he's the hero or the villain.
• Saplings, by Noel Streatfeild. I stumbled across a web page devoted to her while checking on how to spell her last name, and there I discovered recommendations of some of her adult books. I'm a big fan of her kidlit, so I called on the library.
• A Poisoned Season, by Tasha Alexander. I enjoyed the first book by this author, so as I reviewed it I tagged the second.

Then I tried to escape, but unfortunately I was tackled by

• What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, by Haruki Murakami. I believe I have this on my to-read list, because of a recommendation by BookNAround. Of course, she may have recommended something completely different; it's not like I had my list with me, but the book looked interesting.

Then I picked up four more passengers, and headed for the next library. This is my browsing library, and the kids' favorite place for videos and DVDs. My children, for example, checked out NO BOOKS but several alternate forms of media. But I got

• Good Poems for Hard Times, edited by Garrison Keillor, which is the book club book for tomorrow
• Welcome to Lizard Motel, by Barbara Feinberg, which was on a display. It's a memoir about reading, about books you pick and books the school hands you, about what it means to be a book for kids. I think, anyway -- that's what I remember from reviews I think I read a few months back.
• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: The Junior Novel. My nephew recommended I get this, as he thought I'd enjoy reading it to him, and that it would console him for the slowness with which new Transformer DVDs are being made. I must say, I'm not looking forward to it. But he was the only kid asking for anything with text...

On the brighter side, my son brought home an imperfect behavior report. Apparently he's been ignoring everything in school and choosing to read instead. I got all stern and told him that if he doesn't shape up, I'm going to confiscate his books at night. HA!