First Fruit Free For All

This will be my first post about the books I have been reading. I think this can be a fun way to check out what we are reading, get suggestions for new books to read and share thoughts on what we think about them. (Now for the fun part... the books of course!)

I just started reading the Fruits Basket series of graphic novels (by Natsuki Takaya) my niece recommended. They are manga books and you have to get used to reading from the back of the book towards the front and also from the right to the left. It feels like what it must be like to drive in Europe on what would feel like the wrong side of the road. I just started the second book, after having read the first, and I guess there are like twenty-some books in the series... so if I like them it could get expensive. The story reminds me of Inuasha which I haven't seen in a couple years (is it still on?). I haven't decided if I like the books yet, but I am learning a bit about Japanese culture like their horoscope. There seems to be a lot of do you like this guy or that guy... it is written for teenagers... so maybe I am getting old but that kind of soap-opera-y thing kind of annoys me. I do like the independence of the main character... but I guess anyone would have to be independent being an orphan.

The other book I am reading is called Free For All: Oddballs, Geeks and Gangsta's in the Public Library by Don Borchert and it is about being a librarian. Sound boring? I don't think it is. He has some interesting insights about how librabries work and the interesting people who tend to work and hang out there, and they are not alll reading the books. It also reminds me of the time I worked at the library in Billings. It was my illustrious court appointed community service for driving too slow (way embarassing as a teenager) and not wearing my ugly glasses. I had to go before the judge and plead guilty (scary) then to make matters worse the judge gave me a lecture about not having my dad pay the fine but working it off (as if my dad wouldn't make me work it off... his favorite method was having me pull nails from two-by-fours he had salvaged). When I showed up at the library the librarians thought I was hilarious since all of their other court-appointed workers were always shop-lifters (wouldn't they steal the books?). In the end I liked working at the library, putting order to the chaos of books felt good and when I was finished I could find a nice quiet table and read. Some things don't change, I still love to read and I still don't really like my glasses. Thank goodness for contacts.