Suddenly Sunday (April 18)

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Happy Suddenly Sunday everyone! Hope this finds all of you well and happy. I apologize in advance for the long post but I have lots this week. First, an update on my possible faculty position. As long as students sign up for the class, it is all mine to do with as I please. I was told to be creative and make it fun, so I have been thinking on that. As for me returning for my masters, the program has yet to be approved. If it receives approval, it starts in January 2011. It is definitely something I am interested in, however there are some tax considerations. Like my employer will wack my check at any time for some taxes. It's a long story, but something I need to figure out before I can go back. I'll keep you posted.


On the book front, my review for Lost Letter will go up on Tuesday. Good read, sad story. I also finished City of Bones by Cassandra Clare which was entertaining. I seem to have problems writing YA reviews though. I think it's because I get sucked into the adventure, and keep reading until it's over, never analyzing along the way. Or is it because they are teenagers and not as complex as adults? It's an interesting question to say the least. In any case, I will be writing some down and dirty reviews on City of Bones and some other books that have been languishing in my Drafts folder.

Now for the long bit, this weekend was the Free Library Festival at the main branch of the Philadelphia library. There was some food, author signings (but no one I was keen on seeing), and oh yes, books! As far as authors go, the only one I was interested in was Beth Kephart, but she was appearing today and I went yesterday. As far as books go I got 12 books. Yes, 12 books, and let me tell you, I could have bought more but I couldn't carry them. I already have a ton of books to read at home, and this totally breaks my whole reading resolutions thing. Oh well. Here are some pictures of what I got. And by the way, I totally swooped in when I saw them, like there was a stampede or something. (Sorry, but I can't get the last one straightened out.)

My best part of the day thought was the tour of the library. Now I have spent a fair amount of time at this branch, but this was a tour into the bowels of the building. It was AWESOME! I tried to take as many pictures as I could, because I'm a geek and thought if I liked it you would too. Here are some facts:

*Built in 1927 and the building next door (Family Court) is exactly the same. There are two exact same buildings, next door to one another like these, in Paris, France. I would assume the Philly ones are replicas.

*The amount of marble utilized in this building will probably never be duplicated in another due to the high cost of today.

*The plaster ceiling on each floor is different, and refinished whenever they have the money to do so. This is not often.

*They are still a major research library and will answer any questions if you call, especially for obituaries. They used to have a telephone research department before the Internet. People from anywhere would call with questions, maybe for cross word puzzles, and they would get you the answers. I remember seeing this department when I spent quality time here in high school.

*They have journals dating back to the 1800's possibly the 1700's. The guide was not 100% sure about the 1700's. They have six floors of stacks, which stretch the entire block on each floor. The building is one block all the way around. The stacks smelled so old it was intoxicating. I love the smell of books so I was in heaven. (My mom said it was probably dirt, dust, and mold, but who cares?)

*Serves as the main post office for the Philadelphia library system and the interlibrary loan system. There are 54 branches.

*First and possibly only city building with a green roof, which is on the side of the roof garden. Unfortunately the roof garden is no longer open to the public, but can be rented for special occasions. My mom used to hang out in the garden back in the day and she said it was wonderful.

View of the city and Logan Circle Fountains from the roof top deck.

Here is a picture of the popular lending section on the left and the literature section on the right:

I don't know if they do this tour all the time, but it was very cool and I would look into it of you are ever in town.

So that was my exciting weekend.  Hope you had some fun too and enjoyed whatever book you may be reading.  Take care and talk to you later :)  Happy reading!

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