Yay! Free Books!

I want to apologize for not having posted for far too long. I feel terrible about it, like I've let you down big time. I am going to try to be more on top of posting- I'm chock full of ideas for posts, with many partially written posts, but I need to actually find the time and headspace to write, not to mention having my body not hurt too much to sit up and write.

Anyhow, on top of that, my family and I have been going through a lot lately. We're ok, but it's complicated.

My kids were out of school for a few weeks (they finally all started school again this past week), and while they were home bored, my daughters decided to redo their bedroom, something they've wanted to do since their big brother moved into his bedroom that we built last year. 

Speaking of that, a friend reminded me that I never posted a final post about his room... and the reason I didn't was that I was waiting until it was completely finished, but I still haven't managed to put up his loft bed (my body hurting, lack of time with my sons home to help me while I also had energy, needing to find the right equipment, etc...) so he's been sleeping on a mattress on the floor this past year... But maybe I'll do a nearly final picture even with the mattress on the floor.

In order to redo my daughters' bedroom (pretty much using only what we had in the house already) they needed to get rid of a lot of books that were on their bookshelf. Most of those books were books that they outgrew or that never appealed to them. So we sat down and sorted them into a few piles.

One pile was garbage- broken books, or other bad quality things that just weren't usable anymore.

Another pile was of books we wanted to keep on the shelf.

Another pile was books that no one is reading now, but we (or I) have fond memories of, some of them still from my childhood.

And then the rest went into the giveaway pile.

(Once that was done, we were able to consolidate what was on 5 shelves onto 2 1/2 shelves.

We have a free library in the city nearby. Ok, multiple ones, but there is one I especially like to go to since there are many English books there, and the other ones not so much. You bring whatever books you like to drop off there, and then take whatever books you want. No other rules.

We had so many books to give away that I didn't put them in shopping bags since they'd be too heavy and rip the bags, so instead I put the books into firm and large plastic laundry baskets. I had two bursting to the brim.

I drove them to the library and left them for other people to enjoy... and while I was there I found some books that looked good and I wanted to read. Yes, I know, I brought tooks to get rid of them and make room in the house, and came back with more books... but still, the amount of books I brought far outnumbered the amount of books I took back. And those went onto my bookshelves, not the girls' one.

So here's what I got.

First the fantasy books. My favorite genre!

Ok, these books aren't all from there- the book Clash of Kings, the second book in the Game of Thrones series was found by me near the trash on a walk about a week before, but I'm putting this in this pile because I then found the first book in the library, so now I can start reading the series! I also found a Fablehaven book, book 5 in the series, but I'm cool with not starting at the beginning there. It's officially a kids' book, but I don't care. Lastly, there's the Illearth War by Stephen Donaldson, which looks interesting.

Then it was thrillers and mystery books! These are my next favorite types of books, after fantasy.

Nearly all these books are from authors whom I have enjoyed their other books, some of whose books are already on my shelves. 

Lee Child is a favorite of mine, so his book Better Off Dead is a treat. (I'm currently in the middle of another of his books, Personal. 

The Chemist by Stephanie Meyers, the author of Twilight, is a different style from her other books, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it compares. 

James Patterson is wonderful, and while I've read other of his books, I haven't yet read these ones, Alex Cross, Run, and Cross Country. 

David Baldacci is freaking awesome, so I'm looking forward to reading Simple Genius and Daylight.

Tom Clancy. Need I say more? This book Net Force, though, seems different than his other books, since its about technology and specifically computer secret security. My son isn't the biggest reader, but since he likes tech I am able to convince him to try books that are tech related (he's reading Digital Fortress by Dan Brown and is enjoying pointing out the ridiculous pseudo-tech things written by people who are clueless on the topic but try to sound like they know it) so I'm hoping he'll enjoy this one and pulling it apart.

Then there's Assumed Identity by David Morell. Never heard of him before, but it seems like an interesting book, and free books are a great way to try out a new author.

The last category I'd call books from different cultures. I love learning about cultures around the world, reading novels from places or communities very unlike my own is one of the ways I do that. These look quite interesting.

Kinder than Solitude by Yiyun Li is a mystery that takes place both in the US and China. I've read quite a few novels written by Chinese authors about life in China and with Chinese parents in the US and have loved them (Amy Tan rocks!) so I'm hoping I'll like this too and learn a lot while doing so.

Spud Learning to Fly by John van dee Ruit is a coming of age book that takes place in South Africa right at the end of Apartheid and I am very curious how this book will be, especially since that is where my ex is from. 

Anyhow, I'm just really looking forward to diving into these books. Growing up in a place with a good public library system I got used to being able to read whatever I want, whenever I wanted, but now I just have to rely on whatever people are giving away, or buy it myself. So when I get a good haul like this, it's just exciting and I wanted to share.

Have you read any of these books, or things by those authors? What did you think of them? Have you gotten any free books lately? Or anything free? What was it? Do you have one of these free libraries where you just drop off what you don't want and pick up what you do near you?