Regular library columnist Linda Wilson and her husband have gone a trip and she asked me to cover the library beat for her for this week and next.
The library is between big events, having just completed a very successful Summer Reading season. The furniture at the library is back in the traditional spots and the library is ready for several activities this fall. This week will be the third and final class on managing diabetes through food choices. The series was held on Tuesday evenings from 5:30-7p.m. Watch the sign on the square for the date to start “Ready –To-Read” and for the time. It will start back after a school starts next week.
I called Georgianna and April to ask what the hot books seem to be just now. They quickly answered Where the Crawdads Sing. There is probably a wait list for checking out this book. It is a murder mystery which takes place in a very deserted swamp. It remains number one on the New York Times bestsellers list for fiction.
The ladies told me that there are quite a few new large print books and more are coming as there was a donation from the Light in the Mountains Foundation to buy more of those books. There are quite a few patrons who really enjoy the bigger print. Also, the Guidepost Mystery Series has arrived and contains 12 books for readers of series books.
We discussed how many people are using RBDigital, the electronic and audiobook service which is provided to Georgia PINES libraries. I don’t love reading books electronically as well as a paper book, but I love having the option.
But I am a big fan of audio books. If I worked in Chattanooga and had to make that drive every day, I am sure that I would read one book while driving each week. I have stopped buying paper magazines because RBDigital provides more magazines than I can ever read (about 140). I signed up with my library card and then chose some favorites and they are dropped on my tablet each week or month.
I just realized that I get magazines that cover all the sides of my personality. I read The New Yorker, HGTV Magazine, American History Magazine, Family Tree Magazine and Soap Opera Digest, and then there are Time-Life Bookazines. Bookazines are the ones at the checkout counter in the grocery store which feature one subject and cost about $12.95. I have recently enjoyed The Women of the Bible, The Moon Landing and Elton John. If you love magazines, own a tablet or an Ipad and can no longer afford magazines as a luxury, then check out how easy it is to read your fill.
The library is really cool (temperature-wise, so bring a sweater) (as well in the other sense, as in a great place) and if you are looking for a place to beat the heat and read something, make something, research something or even record something, or if you just want to sit and relax, then make a visit to the best hangout in Dade County. It belongs to all of us.
If you aren’t visiting this library, then you are missing out.
Donna Street is Dade's preeminent local historian, the Dade County Public Library's longtime warrior princess and a fierce crusader for the correct pronunciation of the acronym SPLOST. You may email her at donnam.street@gmail.com.
