Day 2

Today, the thing that I am thankful for is libraries.

I love to read. If I could, I'd happily spend all day reading/wandering around/shopping in a bookstore. I could find a book in almost every section of a store that I "need", and several in the humor and fiction sections. Since I'm not currently financial able to splurge on that kind of shopping spree (except in my dreams), I have to find ways to fulfill my reading habit for free. While the internet is great, as my many hours a day habit surfing it can attest, there is nothing quite like holding a book in my hands and reading it.

Tulsa's library system allows me to not only check out an extremely ridiculous amount of books at once (as I found out a few months ago, when I ended up with at least 8 books checked out all at once and I was trying to read them as quickly as possible), but they allow me to request a book be sent to my local library from anyone in the system for free. Apparently, for a very reasonable $1 a book fee, I can check out books from outside the Tulsa City-County library system too, although I'm not currently interested in finding any specific book enough to request that.

I currently have 3 books out of the library. Hershey: Milton S. Hershey's Extraordinary Life of Wealth, Empire, and Utopian Dreams (a biography of Milton S. Hershey of chocolate fame), The Men Who Stare at Goats (yep, a book on the same topic as the George Clooney movie that's based on a real government program), and The Picture of Dorian Gray (Do I need to tell you what this one is about? Google it, if you don't know!).

When I checked them out, I was sure I'd enjoy The Men Who Stare at Goats and The Picture of Dorian Gray, but I wasn't sure about Hershey. So far, Hershey is the only one I've read on (since I checked them out yesterday), but I'm greatly enjoying it. The author is mixing in a lot of history of the U.S./the world in with the biography so that it's easier to understand what events were surrounding Mr. Hershey's life and decisions. It's fascinating and I'm extremely glad I checked the book out.

I'm thankful for libraries. What are you thankful for?