Laura's blog

Libraries are awesome and here is why: Reason 1: Free books. Specifically, free books that don't require you to have a computer, Internet access, a Kindle, or a Nook. Libraries provide free books for the poorer or the less tech-savvy amongst us. To be frank, whenever I come across an ebook vs. book-book debate online, I have to roll my eyes. This is what well-to-do, middle-class people argue about in their free time. It's a bit elitist. My family didn't even have a computer until I was in middle school, and no Internet until high school. I still have friends without home computers or Internet connections. Where did we have to go for research or homework? You guessed it -- the library. Reason 2: Educational Child Care Whenever I visit the library, there are always families: mainly parents with toddlers. The kids read picture books or participate in a library-organized activity, while the parents read during a welcome break. There had better still be libraries aroun...

'Tis the season to be jolly! Or, now that you've finished NaNoWriMo, it's the season to put down your ragged novel with a relieved sigh and pick up someone else's book. In the holiday spirit, I recommend The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs, a nonfiction romp through one man's quest to follow all the rules in the Bible, to the letter, for an entire year. As an agnostic who is, as he terms it, about as Jewish as Olive Garden is Italian, Jacobs has an interesting perspective on faith and the faithful. As a new father who wants to raise his children, he wonders if religion (and its rules) have anything to offer in the way of parenting wisdom. As a Jewish guy, he is interested in discovering his heritage -- and as such, most of the book focuses on the Hebrew Testament. As a husband, he is dismayed when the Biblical ban on lying makes his wife start asking him random questions. As a liberal, he is conflicted over different interpretations of scripture on issues...