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During the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s first ever Winter Read-a-Thon, I read a total of 50 hours and raised a total of $235 for my library!
I read the following books (links are to my blog posts concerning each book):
- Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut (audio book)
- Don Quixote by Cervantes (I’m still reading this… I’m taking my sweet time with it)
- Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O’Malley (You can read a review I did of these books here)
- The Sexual Life of an Islamist in Paris by Leila Marouane (I just finished this last weekend and didn’t really like it, but didn’t really hate it, so I’m not sure what to say about it beyond that; article forthcoming)
- Close Range by Annie Proulx (an audio book that took over Timequake’s spot in my car since I didn’t have any other metafictional audio books; I’ll have to work on that)
In addition to those 4 1/2 books (since I’m only halfway through Don Quixote), I discovered just how much time I spent reading blogs, newspapers and magazines. Those five minute breaks at work and when I’m waiting for something really add up!
The Read-a-Thon was a lot of fun and I’m glad I was able to participate. Now I’ve got the fun job of collecting all the money and getting it into the library by March 7. Hopefully I’ll be able to collect my thoughts on The Sexual Life of an Islamist in Paris enough for a real post next week (I was traveling over the weekend, hence the late post this week… sorry!). I had put a hold on House of Leaves at the library at the beginning of the Read-a-Thon but it just came in late last week so I expect to start reading it this week or next week, so there should be lots of fun stuff coming up here at The Narrative in the Blog!
Oh, and if you’d like to participate in the Read-a-Thon, it’s not too late to make a one-time donation. Just shoot me an email at narrativeintheblog@gmail.com and let me know how much you’d like to donate!
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February is Library Lovers’ Month, and Pittsburgh’s City Council will declare Feb. 15 “Love My Library Day.”
To celebrate and show my support, and to wish the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh a happy Valentine’s Day, I am sharing all the reasons I love my library. Please share why you love YOUR library in the comments!
One of the dinosaurs you can see from the library. Photo (c) 2008 Kelly Thomas
1. On the second floor of CLP Main in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Oakland, a bank of windows let you look into the dinosaur exhibit of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. There are a ton of great nooks up here to browse some books, check out the dinosaurs and watch all the kids stare up in awe at the giant skeletons.
2. CLP has an enormous book collection, and you can request books from any CLP library and have them sent to your neighborhood branch for easy pick-up and drop-off. My local branch is one of the smaller ones, but thanks to this feature I can get any CLP book, and walk a few blocks to pick it up. Pittsburgh has more than 80 neighborhoods, and while there aren’t 80 library branches, wherever you live in the city you’re never too far from one of the 19 neighborhood branches.
3. It takes me about 10 minutes to walk to my local branch, the Allegheny Library. The Allegheny Library was actually the first Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1895. It was housed in its original building until 2006, when lightening struck the clock tower and caused a lot of damage. (No, seriously, it happened! Read about it in the Post-Gazette and Tribune-Review.) In 2009 a new Allegheny library opened up the street. I attended the grand opening, and I got to sign the original 1895 guest book, which has the signatures of everyone who attended the opening in 1895, the signatures of everyone who attended the centennial celebration in 1995, and now everyone who attended the grand opening of the new building. Pretty cool, huh?
4. The Pennsylvania Room on the third floor of the main branch is the first place I go whenever I want to learn about my adopted city. I especially love the books of old photos, or the ones like Pittsburgh Then and Now which shows photos of various Pittsburgh locales in the past and the present. Another of my favorite finds from this section is The Steps of Pittsburgh, which in addition to detailing the history of the city’s more than 700 public staircases, provides walking tours for many neighborhoods.
5. CLP also has a large multimedia collection. DVDs, CDs, ebooks, audio books, eaudio books and more. I just bought a Sony eReader, and the ability to borrow electronic books from my library was a big factor in my decision. I especially love CLP’s collection of foreign movies. A few years ago I worked my way through most of the Spanish movies and found a lot of gems. They even have anime, documentaries, TV shows and work out DVDs.
During the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s 2011 Winter Read-a-Thon, Jan. 8 – Feb. 19, I will be blogging about the books I read. For more information, to see a list of books I’m reading, and to make a pledge, go here.
- Hours read as of 2/14: 42.75
- Funds raised as of 2/14: $202.38
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I love my library. I love reading. This is going to be the best fundraiser, ever.
It works like this: Between January 8 and February 19, I read as much as I can (I’m shooting for 50 hours). You sponsor me by pledging to donate a certain amount of money for each hour I read. The more I read, the more money the library gets. More information at the official website here.
To make it even better, I’m going to read metafiction. Metafiction that I get out of the library. And once I read it, I’m going to blog about it, right here!
Here’s my reading list, although the order may change, depending on availability of individual titles. I also can’t guarantee I’ll get through all of these during the Read-a-Thon as some of them are pretty lengthy, but I am sure going to try!
- Don Quixote* by Cervantes (in English this time!)
- House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski
- The Sexual Life of an Islamist in Paris by Leila Marouane
- Timequake* by Kurt Vonnegut (abridged audio book)**
- Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O’Malley (comic book)
If you like my blog, if you like me, if you like metafiction, if you like books and/or if you like libraries, please consider sponsoring me, or supporting this effort by reading my Read-a-Thon related entries (they will be tagged with clpreadathon11) and commenting on them.
The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh is one of the oldest public library system in the United States, but its facing some major financial issues. We have to make sure our state government knows how much the library means to us and how it important it is to our community — and that is only one of the reasons I’m participating in the Read-a-Thon and blogging about the books I read. CLP is working on a major initiative to find a sustainable source of funding, and public support is one branch of that.
I, for one, am proud to support and use my library! (And so are the 2.6 million other people who visited the library in 2008.)
If you’d like to donate, please leave a comment or send an email to narrativeintheblog@gmail.com. I can’t take electronic submissions, so at the end of February I’ll give you my address so you can send me a check (made out to the library, of course!).
I’ve done the math for you already:
- $.10 x 50 hrs. = $5
- $.25 x 50 hrs. = $12.50
- $.50 x 50 hrs. = $25
- $1.00 x 50 hrs. = $50
- $2.00 x 50 hrs. = $100
Between a few friends and my family, I’ve already got three pledges for a total of $80 (assuming I meet my 50 hour goal). Not a bad start! If you’d rather make a one-time donation, you can do that, too. You can also set a donation limit if you’re making an hourly pledge (so if you would like to pledge $1/hour but can only donate up to $50, you can set your limit at $50).
*I own these two, so I won’t be getting them out of the library. The other three will be library books.
**I hate abridged books, I really do. I’m making an exception on this one because it was FREE and it’s getting pretty hard to find audio books on TAPE. And listening to audio books on tape in my old school (read: lame) car is the only way I stay sane while delivering newspapers as part of my duty as assistant editor of The Northside Chronicle.
I’m taking a break from my normal commentary on metafiction this week to support a cause I believe in. The metafiction will be back next Monday, and a new episode of Ruby and the Moon will be up on Friday!
Lawmakers should pass a law that says no law can take away basic human rights.
Oh, wait. We have one of those already, don’t we?
The Bill of Rights is supposed to protect all American citizens, but unfortunately it doesn’t. Gay and lesbian couples still do not have the same rights their straight counterparts do.
They can’t file their taxes together. In many situations they don’t have hospital visitation rights. It’s harder for them to adopt. And the list goes on.
Since I am getting married in a mere three months, it pains me knowing that my gay and lesbian friends can’t enjoy the same rights that I am looking forward to.
Tomorrow, March 16, 2010, the Pennsylvania State Senate is scheduled to vote on a bill that would ban same-sex marriages.
Well, Pennsylvania lawmakers, I’m not okay with taking away basic human rights. I hope you make the right decision.
