Author Jenny Colgan and Public Library Love

This week’s public library treasures!

Part of the “homesteady” lifestyle, to my thinking, is being thrifty.

And that includes one’s reading habits. As much as I would LOVE to support our local independent bookstore and treat myself to the latest releases from my favorite authors—or even buy books that simply catch my interest—I’m a library girl.

I wasn’t always—when my daughters were young wanted to go to the mall, I used to have weekly splurges at B. Dalton. But life has changed.

Since moving out here to the Foothills, and a much smaller house, I just don’t have the room for more books—our bookshelves, as well as every nook and cranny, is stuffed to the gills already! My husband John is a huge reader, and what he couldn’t fit in the house he stored in our shop/garage. 

A shop with LOTS of mice living in it. Mice will chew a book to bits—and did.

You may ask, what about ebooks? They don’t take up any physical room.

You’re absolutely right. The thing is, the only time I have for pleasure reading is at night, after dinner and doing the dishes. However, I’m very sensitive to the blue light of digital devices, and even glancing at a screen any time after 8:30 will literally keep me awake until 6 am. 

Which leads me to my other reason: I don’t have the wiggle room in my budget to purchase 2-4 books every month. Last time I checked, print books were around $16 for your standard paperback and around $27 for a new hardback. Ouch.

True, ebooks are less expensive, but then, I’m back to my nighttime screen problem. 

Anyway, when a Christmas book by my favorite author, Jenny Colgan, comes out in November, I always put it on hold—and since she’s very popular, I often have to wait until early spring to read it. But that’s okay. Her warm, and life-affirming stories, full of endearing characters, and all about family and falling in love, are worth waiting for! 

Finishing Jenny’s latest holiday book this week turned out to be sort of timely: it snowed!

You can put in a request for any of Jenny Colgan’s books at your neighborhood public library—and it applies to pretty much any current title you’re hankering for. 

And if you’re interested in my books, my homesteading memoirs are available in paperback and ebook by request at your local library, and all my novels are available by request too, in ebook format!