I know we have some readers in our group, so I thought you'd be good people to ask.

I'm feeling guilty about my $10 library fine. (I had no idea you could only keep movies for 3 days!!!). So, I'm finally go to pay that and get a book or two. I've been reading a lot of chic lit in the last few years, but I like all types of books. Well, except for some of them that a few of you are reading for school

Any ideas?

I am so discouraged by our library, so I tend to read online books like classics. . .Pinocchio, Wizard of Oz, et cetera. Hard to read at the computer for very long, though. Our library charges $12/year for a card. I understand but it is just not something I can shell out right now. The last good book I read was called The Ugly Duckling by Iris Johanssen. Might have spelled the last name wrong.

Steph, I love anything by Milan Kundera, especially The Unbearable Lightness of Being. My all-time fav book is called One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Neither is light, beach-time reading but they are beautifully written and haunting.

Steph: If you haven't yet, you must quickly read The Devil Wears Prada. DE-LIGHT-FUL! Yes, it's chick lit, but it's so magnificent and wonderful and...*sigh* I love this book. Once I finished it, it made me want to continue reading other books, which I think reading should do. Another really fantastic one is Slammerkin. I read that puppy for a rhetoric course last semester, but it's so marvelous and non-school-ish. It's all about a prostitute in eighteenth-century London and what trials and tribulations she has to undergo. FABULOUS.

Maggie: One-Hundred Years of Solitude...*sigh* I read it for the same rhetoric course that I read Slammerkin for (mentioned above ), but unfortunately it came during a terrible time in my semester when I was expected to read about an average of five novels on any given weekday. So I didn't devote my whole attention to it, which I regret now. Fortunately for me, I retained my copy, so one day...when I'm not reading 67 works for my comps exams, I'll go back to Marquez' magical world.

There's a part of my soul that just gets so giddy when people talk about reading. Ah. I am a true literature nerd.

~Amanda

I higggghly suggest 'The Devil Wears Prada' too, it's a sensational book. My all-time favourite book is 'A Fine Balance' by Rohinton Mistry. It's a looong book, 700 or 800 pages, but it's beautifully written. It's about social inequalities in India in the 1970s...kind of heavy in spots, but it's a really interesting and captivating read.

Thanks for the suggestions!!! I'll check them over at the library! I forgot to mention though--nothing scary!! I'll be freaked out for weeks!

Hippo, I never heard of a library charging a yearly fee. This is the 5th city I've lived in, so I must be lucky!!

Yeah, feels like a book rental more than a library. Just seems off. Must be some weird taxes here. I do not think it is horrible of the library to want to charge it, but I have no clue if I will be here for long enough or be able to get to the library enough. . . You book lovers should check out this book club (is it okay to post this since it is not a competitive site??) Book Crossing. It is pretty fun if you are in a decent-sized city. Basically, when you are done with a book, you leave it somewhere (like a park bench, a table at a restaurant, et cetera) and then someone else takes it. As such, other people leave their books all over and you can take them. Is kind of like a big treasure hunt, yet free books are involved. Is also really fun to see how far the books have travelled.

hippohips, thanks soo much for the link! I've got a box of books that the used bookstore won't take, and didn't sell in the garage sale so I'm going to release them into the wild lol.

hopefully I'll get some back as well.

Glad to hear it. Hate to think of books setting on shelves collecting dust never to be read again. I like making drop offs when I am travelling. Is fun to leave a book in each city or state or such.

Oh yeah! I've heard of that project! Unfortunately, I haven't seen any books lying around here...though, of course, I live in a college town and books are a hot commodity these days, lol. But it's a wonderful idea, and who knows? Maybe it'll help curb the nation's illiteracy! (A literature student can dream, can't she? )

I love reading too I haven't bought a new book in forever though.

I should really check out the libraries in this area, since I cant buy any books at the moment

~Liz