blue artichoke

I'm making progress on my September resolution to read more. I finished reading my stack of September magazines. Small victory. Usually it takes me all month to read the six magazines I subscribe to (Cooking Light, Cook's Illustrated, Bon Appetit, Real Simple, Fight!, and Domino). No, the big accomplishment is that I got two library cards, one for Maryland Public Libraries and one for DC Public Libraries. I got to choose the picture I wanted for my DC card, and I panicked with indecision and chose the wrong card (frog: "Hop Into Your Library"), when I really wanted the old-world card with a map and a globe and said something like "Reading is an Adventure." Oh well, I made my choice, so now I have to stick with it. I guess I could just pretend to lose it, but that would be wasteful.

The Maryland card is plain and utilitarian. Ugly.

Neither library branch I went to was impressive, nothing like my dear Daniel Boone Public Library in Missouri, and light years from my favorite, Vancouver Public Library. I looked up several books on my summer reading list at both libraries and came up with no dice. I finally found a book by an author I like (Alexander McCall Smith), but not in the series I've been reading (The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency). That series is set in Botswana and is a fast, entertaining read that also makes me nostalgic for Africa. So, I like it. I started a new series that is set in Scotland. I'm sure it will also be a fast, entertaining read, minus the nostalgia.

I'm so excited to be reading again. I need to spend some time on the online library catalog to find out where are the biggest/best branches of Maryland and DC libraries. Or at least find one that has Pilgrim's Progress, the book I've never read that holds very little appeal to me, but that I've decided to give a whirl as one of my 31 New Things.

Getting to Know All About You: What is the worst book you can remember reading?