Discussion: Local Library Love

Today is a Discussion Day here at Cover2CoverBlog. I am trying to start these a little more since they seem fun :) I hope you enjoy and if you have any topic suggestions let me know in the comments.

Today's Topic

I love my local library, I don't go often, and they are pretty small but I love everything about a library, so today I wanted to talk about it a little.

When I lived in Northern Virginia I had a library card and went almost every weekend - my husband was working and I had days to myself to search the never ending shelves for great reads, and I had the whole giant NoVA library system at my finger tips... there were a lot of books! 

But when I first moved to Vermont, I didn't think to seek out my local library, we were still getting settled and deciding on where we wanted to buy a house. Once we did we were unpacking, fixing things, settling, and you know - the snow. So the idea of library time fell to the sidelines for a bit and I work for a college and they have a pretty good selection (more on that later) and it just didn't occur to me to see out a more local library.

I live in VT but work in NH, so I on my way to and from work I pass about 3 NH libraries. "My" library is actually in the opposite direction from just about everything and it is in a tiny town next to mine, so I don't get over there too much. So it took a while before I realized where it was, and that while not near anything on my to-do list it was within driving distance and I needed to be a part of it...

This is it...

(Image borrowed from the Library's website)
 

Isn't it wonderfully cute and quaint? 

It is pretty much an older home and the various rooms are different sections of books. The main floor when you walk in has a foyer of informational stuff about the town and a place to buy used books to help out. There is an office area for the librarians and the main room is mostly Adult Fiction/ Non-Fiction and a few computers for public use. Then the basement is the best place - it is all Young Adult, Middle Grade, and youth books! They have the whole basement. There are toys for young kids and a table for activities and some beanbags to relax and read in. It is rare that I hang out, but if I was a teen I would be there A LOT! There is also an upstairs and there is some more Fiction overflow and then a room for genealogy research, mostly files from what I can tell, I have only walked up there once.

SO MUCH love for this place. Along with the books here and the online catalog that Vermont has, the library also rents out DVDs, so occasionally I grab something I have seen before but that isn't available on Netflix. I really like this aspect too.

Aside from this library, like I mentioned, I have the college library. While mostly books used for academia, there are actually a lot of fiction classics, graphic novels, and books that I never thought they would have - so if you have access to a college library it is a great thing to check online. When your local library doesn't have what you are looking for, see if the college one does AND many colleges operate on a consortium, so they link to OTHER college libraries and will ship books to your institution for you to check out.

Do you use your local library? 

What do you love about it?

Discussion and Giveaway! Getting Rid of Books?!

Today is a Discussion Day here at Cover2CoverBlog. I am trying to start these a little more since they seem fun :) I hope you enjoy and if you have any topic suggestions let me know in the comments.

Today's Topic

Getting Rid of Books...?

AHHHHHHH, this topic always hurts me a little on the inside. Getting rid of books - who would do that? Why would we want to? Where do they go? Well in today's discussion I want to hear from you in the comments but also I am going to tell you what I have been doing with my 'extras'...

First off, obviously I blog about books because I LOOOOOOVE books... so it is expected that I have some... some might be an understatement.

Here is just a taste of the mess that is my house... 

I have a few shelves as you can see here - we have a built-in that the hubs made me in the office, it holds mostly Adult Fiction. Then I have a tall shelf and a short one with Young Adult books, and then another short shelf with Middle Grade books.

   

[It should also be noted that I have comics all over the place and more books and reads on my desk and I have NO SHAME]

We recently re-did the dining room and that is where all the bookshelves were. we decided to move them all to make the space more dining room like and less of a library (I want ALL the rooms to look like a library ... but apparently that is not pleasing to the eye for some 😜).

So we moved one shelf to the upstairs hall and the other ones into the office. I have to admit they look nice in their new homes but before getting them pretty I had to do a bit of paring down... thus the purge. 

I touched all the books.

For the YA shelf, which was moved to the office, I took all the books and piled them on my desk - mostly to get them back into alphabetical order by author, and then I decided I needed more space. So I started to go through the books, the ones that I have bought and then never read or that I won in a giveaway pack that weren't really for me,  and the ones that I had read and just didn't really enjoy but was still hoarding for some reason. 

I decided that I would offer up these sad cast-offs on the blog to anyone willing to pay shipping, and when there were no takers I decided to print up little notes and leave them in the Little Free Library in town. I had about 20 books from my YA shelf and I gave about 6 to people at work, I saved one for my sister, and the rest I took in two trips to the Free Library. 

The notes I included said the following for the advanced copies (even if they were older) and then had my blog url because I am without shame as you know:

The book you are receiving is from Cover2CoverBlog. The book was received as a promotional item for review and cannot be sold when you have finished reading it. Please book-fairy it on to its next reader. HAPPY READING!

 

 Then a few days later I tackled the Middle Grade books and came up with another stack, it was much smaller about 10 books and most of these when to friends with kids in this age group.

I still haven't gone through my 'adult' shelves but need to at some point. Otherwise I do Giveaways!!! When I think you guys need books (and I have the $$ to ship them).

So in the spirit of getting rid of and giving away books - tell me how you pare down your books and you could win a new one :) 

Prize:

Giveaway is for a random MG or YA Book

Rules:

• U.S. Residents only.
• Winner must be 13 with a parents permission or older.
• Please no giveaway accounts, you must have other content in order to be eligible. 
• Please be truthful about your entries - I will be checking.
• Winner should respond to prize email within 48 hours or forfeit their prize to another person.
• Prizes will be mailed as media mail and Cover2CoverBlog is not responsible for anything that may occur during the shipping process.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Discussion: Genre Lovin'

Today is a Discussion Day here at Cover2CoverBlog. I am trying to start these a little more since they seem fun :) I hope you enjoy and if you have any topic suggestions let me know in the comments.

Today's Topic

Genre Lovin' - Retellings/ Adaptations

If you have been around the blog a while you know that I am LOVING retellings lately and lucky for me there are been SO many on the market for all levels of readers. 

I found this wonderful graphic from Epic Reads and it got me thinking about the retellings that I love and so I wanted to compile a list from my blog for you of some they might no t have included (and I have Middle Grade books too!)



Cinderella
Their list includes Throne of Glass - I kind of get that but not really... what do you think?
   

Snow White
 

Mythology
 

 

Jack and the Beanstalk
 

Bluebeard
 

Beauty and the Beast

Peter Pan


Alice in Wonderland

Wizard of Oz

 
The Wild Swans
This is a fairy tale from Hans Christian Andersen that I wasn't even familiar with before reading this book!

 

Sherlock 
Not really a retelling but a wonderful adaptation :)


Robin Hood

 

Compilations

These books have a little bit of everything...

     

Do you have a genre that you are geeking out about lately? Let me know in the comments below.

Discussion: Spooky Reads for October

Today is a Discussion Day here at Cover2CoverBlog. I am trying to start these a little more since they seem fun :) I hope you enjoy and if you have any topic suggestions let me know in the comments.

Today's Topic

Spooky Books for October

It is OCTOBER! You know that I love this month - it is autumn and crisp out and it is Halloween, so what better to discuss than Spooky Reads?!

So here are some books I have read that I think are great picks for this month!

 Youth Category 

 So in Youth - I went with some books that are more fun than scary but have great themes for this month - monsters, Halloween, and bats. I loved these books and think your young readers/listeners will enjoy them too :)
The images will link you back to Goodreads for some more details.

  

 

Middle Grade 

 For MG, I went with a variety of things - OMG...I Did it Again?! is the 2nd book in a series about a young witch and the hijinks she runs into, Stitch Head is on the creepier side but still cute, Doll Bones and The Swallow are pretty spooky ones, and Guide to the Other Side is about a brother/ sister team fighting the supernatural. There is a little bit of something for all MG readers in here - click through to Goodreads and check these ones out.

        

Young Adult

Here I tried to go real spooky, ones that had me worrying at night while reading them... Can we talk about Danielle Vega and how her books make me almost pee myself?! Geez they are creepy. A few others include The Hallowed Ones, the beginning of a series and is very suspenseful, and I know the Diviners isn't 'horror' but it was very creepy to me when I was reading it.

   
    

What books do you think people should be reading this time of year?! Let me know your picks in the comments below!