Albany Public Library discussion

Hello again. Thank you for joining us during our week of getting outside, getting a fresh perspective on life. This week's theme is Got (Fresh) Air.

I think the best way to celebrate this week's theme is to listen to an audiobook while on a hike. Like The Roaming Readers Book club did last week. They will meet again on August 5th at the Albany County Helderberg-Hudson Rail Trail parking lot located at 722 S Pearl, Albany, NY, in case you would like to go.

The first book series that comes to mind with this theme is Lord of the Rings as they did a lot of walking outdoors amid the plot. If we look more towards nonfiction, we have a lot of books on the environment and conservation.



With that out of the way you are aiming to have read 250 minutes, or 4 hours and 10 minutes, between this week and last. Of course, you can read more than that if you have the time. We are giving out the minimum amount you should read to stay on track for 1000 minutes. Keep in mind this is Summer Reading it's supposed to be fun.

A few more housekeeping things. We are still exploring if we can get printable version of the papertracker. If you haven't picked up a paper tracker, from the branch and still have question about the four APL-themed activities. I can now let you know. The four categories are Get Artsy, Explore, Build Your Book Community, and Follow Your Fun. You only need to complete one item in each category.

Our suggestions to complete that would be as follows:

For Get Artsy you can: check out a book about art or an artist, attend a virtual or in person author talk, attend and art themed program, or get crafty at the Albany Made Creative lab at Washington Ave's Branch.

For Explore you can: Visit all seven of our locations, use a museum or adventure pass, read a book set in Albany or by a local author, Attend a Local history program or book club.

For Build your book community: You've done it you've joined our GoodReads page! You can also: Download a book with Libby or Hoopla, read a book with a family member or friend, participate in one of our may book clubs, or tell staff about a good book you have read.

For Follow your Fun: Say hello when you see APL tabling at a community event, check out a book because you liked the cover, Get a picture with Bleeker, read what you want.

See easy you've kicked this out of the park already!

For this week's discussion tell us about your favorite outdoor space and or activities besides reading.

I already completed the For Explore You Can task. I read a book by a local author. Marc Renson is located in Schenectady, NY. He wrote two books, Is the Coffee Fresh? & How Will I Know?. Both I have read and enjoyed. How Will I know? is about a man who ends up with a life coach, which is the ghost of Whitney Houston. He learns to follow his dreams. It has some entertaining moments in it. He currently runs a cafe called Ambition in Schenectady, NY. I have enjoyed the food there a few times. He sells his books there also. If you're lucky to catch him there, he can sign the books you purchase.

This week, I am listening to books on Playaway. Among others, I listened to The Burning by Linda Castillo. I highly recommend her. The Kate Burkholder series is awesome. It is among my top series list, including JD Robb's Det. Eve Dallas series. I listen to them while walking and doing errands. It accomplishes those errands much faster, especially if you are out gardening.

I have read 570 minutes this week. It sure doesn't take long once you get into a good book. I also completed the For Build your book community task.
I told the APL staff about a couple books through my posts here.

For Follow your Fun: I read The Burning by Linda Castillo, among other books she written. I also read Freida McFadden.

Have fun reading everyone!

I loved Playground! I still think about the ending all the time.

I just finished The Poppy War (first book) by R.F. Kuang and there are definitely some horrific outdoor scenes.. not sure how much that qualifies as "fresh" air...

And the doggo and I have been going for some walks around ESP while I reread Infinite Jest via audiobook.

Just read Sea Legs: A Graphic Novel and it lived up to my expectations! Beautiful vibrant art and a solid little story about being a kid in a family with an alternative lifestyle. Haven't nailed down my Fresh Air book yet though (Sea Legs certainly qualifies as such, but I'm thinking of something more land-based).

Also since this year's SRC is being tracked in minutes instead of pages or books, I've decided to use a "timer" in the form of the audiobook of Robot Visions. I'm listening to it in addition to the weekly reading themes, so since it's nearly 17 hours long I'll know that as long as I finish that one then I'll be all set for the time on the challenge as a whole.

Today I finished a 12h 12m 18s audiobook (from Libby), The House in the Cerulean Sea . Charming book! I started The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World (also Libby audiobook), which fits with this week's outdoors theme.

I participated in the APL Mystery Book Club this past Tuesday, 7/8.

An outdoor activity I enjoy is trail running.

I walked around UAlbany this week after dropping my kids off at a writing camp for a few hours. I listened to On the Hippie Trail by Rick Steves, which is a bit of nonfiction about a trip he took to India when he was younger. Read by the author, so it was a nice one to listen to on audio.

I finished the book The Unseen World and Liz Moore is a writer on my radar now after also reading The God of the Woods. Next (for me) by this author: Heft.

Hi. This is Jody. I just finished El Dorado Drive by Megan Abbot. Really good to listen to. Well narrated with a surprising ending!

Whoops! The book was 10 hours long. I’m currently working on Butter by Asaki Yuzuki.

Nature memoirs are one of my favorite genres. I love the Crown Journeys series and so I read Bill McKibben’s Wandering Home this week and learned a lot about the Champlain Valley.

One of my titles this past week is certainly...a loose interpretation of the theme: "got fresh air? No but I'm trying." Given its status as a side-story to a few episodes of televsion that aired nearly 20 years ago, Suki, Alone has to manage the odd balance of having the essence and themes of a prison-break story but without the actual prison-break. Not exactly the strongest entry in the Avatar: The Last Airbender comics series, but it's always a treat to revisit this universe and I'm glad Suki got this well-deserved spotlight outing.

My apologies I am late with my post! It has been tough for me to "get fresh air" being 33 weeks pregnant and unable to deal with the air quality and heat. But I have been continuing listening to the audio book Winter Sisters for this summer. I do hope to be able to finish this and move on to another book as well. However, since I am limited on travel, for each category, I will be downloading books to my kindle/phone. Here are my thoughts:

For Get Artsy you can: I will check out a book about art

For Explore you can: I will read a book set in Albany, which Winter Sisters is currently set in Albany, NY.

For Build your book community: I have been downloading my books in the Libby App.

For Follow your Fun: I will check out a book with a cover I like.

My daughters love the playground so that’s my way to get air. The book I finished on the 7th is That time I got drunk a saved a demon. It’s a great book, there is an adventure that takes place that requires lots of travel, so needless to say. They are outdoors 😂

For Build your book community: Besides joining the GoodReads page, I frequently use Libby & Hoopla, do buddy reads quite often & read to my kids so they can grow into little readers.

hello! I've been getting outside a lot lately - and started bringing my headphones along on my walk to my community garden plot after work. I usually only listen to audiobooks on long road trips but its been fun to get into a story and get some weeding done. My plot is definitely one of my favorite outdoor spaces.