A Little Secret about Books

Everyone is always talking about reading more. It's getting harder to easily throw cash away on books, especially if you're not even sure if you'll like the book (unless of course you love books and plan on having shelves and shelves them later on in life).

What are some cheap solutions?

First, you could always check out a used bookstore. Being from Fort Wayne, there's one called Hyde Brothers. A friendly atmosphere combined with every book lover's favorite, wall to wall shelves full of books on just about every subject (they also have multiple rooms filled with books and movies and music in the basement). Still, because everything is more or less on sale, books can add up and before you know it, you've spent $40 on books (albeit you did get more than you would have going to Barnes and Noble or Borders). Also, some book stores seem to have more romance books than anything else, which is fine if that's what you're into.

Second, you could borrow from family and friends. My grandmother keeps recommending books for me. She let me borrow White Oleander, Atlas Shrugged, Racing in the Rain, and a series involving an Irish country doctor (the first one is called Irish Country Doctor). While I've enjoyed most of them, I still have gotten to Atlas Shrugged (however I think that's due to a grudge held after reading The Fountainhead in high school). While it gives family members and friends something to discuss and bond over, again, selection is limited. You could also have radically different tastes than your grandmother, mother, other relatives, or your friends. They may also have different philosophies about how to handle and treat books (some people are more lax, leaving books open to the page, taking them to the pool and dripping water on them, tearing pages, etc.) and not everyone appreciates having his or her books mishandled.

Lastly, you could go to the library. It would involve getting a library card, but who doesn't love those little plastic cards that lets you get free books for a two or three week time period? It lets you check out books that you've always wanted to read or own, but weren't sure about purchasing (in case you didn't like it) or maybe you've always wanted to look into books about cartography, Oscar Wilde, or dinosaurs.

Well, guess what?

They're now at your disposal. And most libraries have a system so that if they don't have the book you want, they can get it for you from another library either in the same system or at least in the same state.

What's more?

They're usually a quiet place where you can also spend some time on the internet (so long as you have a library card), rent some dvds and cds (also for free), and they usually have programs from summer reading programs to adult computer programs to a lot of programs for kids.

The only thing you need to do? Well, make the time for reading. After all, you probably don't need to spend half your day stalking people or playing games on facebook or losing hours on tumblr and other websites like it. You now know the secret to getting free books. Now all you need to do is find the time (and it's there) to read.

Reflection

Before the visit, I didn't know what to expect. What we would be doing was not exactly clear, as our instructor had been very vague. We knew that we would be doing some kind of service, but that was about it. After we arrived, we waited in the soup kitchen area (which was familiar to me from helping with Trunk or Treating last year). We had to wait for our instructor to arrive and for the guy in charge to collect us and show us what we would be doing for the hour and a half that we would be there (although most of us arrived at least fifteen minutes early, so patience was thinly spread).

When Jason showed up, we went over to the clothes closet to help there. We were told about why the area had fallen on hard times, what they did (for the most part), and we were shown around the downstairs before being left in a room to sort through clothes that had been donated.

I was surprised by the lack of organization. Maybe it was just that day, but it didn't seem too organized after they left us alone in the sorting area. We also ran out of boxes as women seem to be the dominant donating group.

Lastly, I didn't feel like I did much. I keep trying to convince myself that going through so many clothes was helpful, but I didn't leave the clothes closet feeling very accomplished or helpful. If I go help out again, I'd probably either try to stay longer or try helping in a different area of the center.