Love Your Library 23.1

Another library meme – discovering this makes my bookish heart happy! This linkup is hosted by Bookish Beck on the last Monday of each month (which I’ve just barely missed – hopefully Tuesday is close enough for the first time joining!). Participants share what they have checked out from the library, what is going on locally, and/or talk about anything library-related.

There has not been a significant change in what I have checked out since I posted for the Library Loot linkup about two weeks ago, so I won’t give the full rundown again here. For this post I mostly want to highlight the audiobook I just checked out and started listening to: Eragon by Christopher Paolini. First published in 2002, this book series was popular when I was in late elementary to middle school, but at the time didn’t really catch my eye. The fourth book in the series, Inheritance, was published in 2018. Like many readers I thought that this was the end of it. However, the author has announced a book called Murtagh set in the same world will be released late this year, and there is a lot of speculation as to whether this will be the beginning of another multi-book story arc or if it will be self-contained.

The Inheritance Cycle series tells the story of Eragon, a boy who finds a dragon egg. The official blurb reads:

Overnight his simple life is shattered, and he is thrust into a perilous new world of destiny, magic, and power. With only an ancient sword and the advice of an old storyteller for guidance, Eragon and the fledgling dragon must navigate the dangerous terrain and dark enemies of an Empire ruled by a king whose evil knows no bounds.

Fantasy is not my favorite genre to read, but there are a few sagas which I greatly enjoy. I still probably would not have given more than a passing thought to this particular book however if it were not for the fact that my boyfriend loves the series. The way that I feel toward fantasy stories seems to be how he feels toward reading in general: the idea of it is nice, but few end up being truly enjoyable. So the fact that he is excited about this book, to the point of wanting to reread the ones that are already published in order to be ready for the new release, has me looking forward to it as well.

I’m particularly glad to check this out from the library because of the variety of formats the library has available. The hope of getting through this book (and the others in the series) more quickly than I have been reading lately without pausing the other books that I already have in progress was a bit of a quandary – until I realized that the library carries Eragon as an audiobook in addition to being a paperback and ebook! So I checked out the 14-disc set, and am now listening to it while I drive. Mostly this is when I go to and from work, but as I am now completely hooked by the story, I will probably sneak in a few minutes of listening nearly every time I get in my car until I finish it.

For some books, the library even has more than one way to listen to an audiobook. My favorite is a device called a Playaway, which is an MP3 player pre-loaded with a book. These can be plugged into a car or any portable speaker via an aux cord. They don’t have to be swapped every few chapters like a CD, and don’t require a download or internet connection like e-audiobooks (which the library also offers through an app called Libby). For some children’s books, there are even copies with a built-in audio player. You can just push a button on the inside cover, and it will read the book to you! These are a pain to shelve (since they make the book an awkward shape and don’t easily stand up straight), but they are a huge help to many families and early readers.

Across the system that my library is part of, there are a lot of gardening programs going on this season! We just recently started a “Library of Things” with gardening tools that can be borrowed, so there is an emphasis on programs which go along with them and letting the community know what is available. I am not super involved with the actual programs, but it’s fun to see what is going on nearby! We’re also still doing take-home activity kits, which also often correspond with the overall programming theme. We’ve recently had a flower string craft for children and a geranium growing kit for teens. I decorated the display cabinet shelf that I’m in charge of to match.

Those are my library highlights from March! What have you picked up from your local library this month? Have you dropped in to learn anything new? Share a comment or hop over to Bookish Beck to join the conversation!

Until the next chapter,

Jana