Weekly Book Chat {What Makes Me Spend Mah Money}

From TGIF Reads
Q. Buy or Borrow: Where do your books that you read come from? The bookstore? The library? Do you prefer to own a book, or have it on loan?

99% of my books come from the library. I can borrow from a multi-county library system which is EXCELLENT. I request all my books online, and barring a few really popular titles, I get my requests within 1 day - a week. I don't buy books often mostly because at the rate I read, I would run out of space quickly. But I do purchase books I consider keepsakes - usually beautifully illustrated non-fiction wonders.

The last 2 books I purchased includes, What Color is My World, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Raymond Obstfeld, A.G. Ford (Illustrator), Ben Boos (Illustrator). A handyman named R.E. Mital teaches a pair of twins about great African-American inventors and scientists as they explore their new house. Thus, turning on a light bulb opens a discussion about Lewis Latimer, while cleaning the bathroom cabinet leads to information about Drs. Percy Julian, Daniel Hale Williams and Charles Drew.

Also, MLK: A Celebration in Word and Image. A striking collection of twenty-nine black-and-white images combined with powerful quotations by Dr. Martin Luthur King Jr.

And those 2 books are my Friday Recommends (inspired by Pen to Paper).

• Paranormal young adult book covers: sartorial splendour meets submissiveness. I say - Enough with the skinny, young white girls on YA book covers already. Check out that article to see the ABUNDANCE of covers that have done this. In my opinion, this is beyond all covers looking the same - but more that these covers portray this as the only model of beauty. Now, I do like a few of these covers - but seeing them over and over again - well, it makes me think that fashion magazines aren't the only ones promoting a certain standard for what is considered beautiful!
• The Books Behind the 2012 Academy Awards ... 6 out of the 9 nominations for the Best Picture category are based on books. Plus there are more from other categories as well, including, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, a book which I loved (haven't seen the movie yet though), and The Help by Kathryn Stockett - a book which I need to get to reading!
• 10 Sources of Inspiration - for me, the shower & driving in the car is at the top of the list ... I don't listen to music or audiobooks because I like the quiet time to think.
  Awards
• Youth Media Awards Wrap-up - Alex Awards, Printz, Odyssey ... and quite a few more. Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley won 2 awards.
• National Book Critics Awards Finalists announced Jan. 21, 2012 - I've only read 1 book, The Marriage Plot: A Novel by Jeffrey Eugenides, which I thought was ... interestingly written.
• Costa Book Awards, which recognizes outstanding writers based in the UK and Ireland, announced the winner for Book of the Year - Pure by Andrew Miller. The category awards were announced on Jan 3rd, and includes Blood Red Road by Moira Young, for the "Children's Book" category.