I’ve been lucky to have access to some amazing libraries throughout my life, especially in my home town—my high school library was pretty good, and my home town library, where I volunteer a lot, is part of the statewide system in Georgia, which means I get access to books from all across the state. But I didn’t donate to my home town library for Bochus Yule; I donated to the library system in the county I go to college.
When I first came to college, getting a public library card was a must. While I hadn’t started blogging at that point, I had started reviewing books on a fannish outlet, so it was vital to my reading more. I was turned away twice for not having the proper documents by an Eastern European woman who didn’t seem to like me very much; my suspicions were confirmed when my third visit got me a library card and sympathy from the librarian who gave it to me, since I’d brought in a lot of superfluous paperwork (including my invitation to my brother’s wedding to prove that I received mail at my school).
But that inauspicious start has not dampened my love for this library system. What it has over my home town library is a certain democracy of categories—things are separated by audience, not by genre, so there’s just adult fiction, adult nonfiction, young adult, and children’s. The library closest to me is the main library for the system, so it has three floors—I like libraries with elevators, for some reason. It’s nice to be able to request any CD or DVD I want without worrying if its in my local system or not (home town library). It’s also within walking distance and in the middle of our tiny downtown, so a trip to the library usually involves some photography and other errands. And, perhaps most importantly, this system, through its collaboration with the Georgia Center for the Book, hosts popular authors all the time, such as Gregory Maguire, and the fact that it’s a county system means reasonable travel time for me to any library. In fact, this very day sees Cassandra Clare at my local library, as she promotes the latest book in The Infernal Devices.
In short, this library system is awesome. They currently have a program where you can buy them a book on their list (which is one of the reasons I decide to start Bochus Yule!), so I considered purchasing The Marriage Plot for the library, but I decided to go with a slightly larger donation to the library system as a whole. I sincerely hope others who use the library do, too; it’s a wonderful library system and I would hate for it to cut back unreasonably. Happy Bochus Yule, library! I hope your gift serves you well.
Finals is upon us—which is, oddly enough, usually a pretty relaxing and fun time for me, since I only have three or four things to do and a lot of time to do them in. I did manage to finish Born Round this week, and I hope to polish off Wildthorn before I go home on Tuesday. Today, however, I need to start putting in holds at my library at home—I’ve only got two weeks at home before my trip to Ireland!
The Baen Free Library is full of free downloads, including The Shadow of the Lion and On Basilisk Station. Night Shade Books is offering Butcher Bird and Grey as free downloads at the moment. Vertigo Comics is offering free downloads of the first issue of several series, including Fables, The Unwritten, and Y: The Last Man. (And you will go download The Unwritten.) Small Beer Press offers several of their books as free downloads, including Kelly Link’s Magic for Beginners. If I’ve missed your giveaway or freebie, drop me a line!
Happy Bochus Yule, everyone! Are you celebrating?
The Literary Omnivore 
What did you think of Born Round? I enjoyed it, but felt it ran a little long. Exam week was always pretty relaxing for me too. Just some papers that I tons of time to write.
I felt ultimately pretty neutral on it. It wasn’t awesome, it didn’t suck. It didn’t go into much depth, which I think hurt it in the long run.