Libraries are great even if some of them are ugly.

Ugly library;

Beautiful library;

These are, of course, value judgments and your values may vary.

Regarding the graphica Nefud, you could borrow mine if you want and if I can dig them up. PM me if want.  Another option is The Worlds Greatest Bookstore (The Elliott Bay Book Co.) has stocked them in the past, you could just read them there in a time honored comic book tradition.

Speaking of great graphica,  Osamu Tezukas' eight volume (!) Buddha biography is right up there. Buddha as superhero.  Every time I read them I hear Queen singing 'Buddha, oh oh oh. He'll save every one of us!'

"It's not so bad as long as you can keep the fear from your mind." - D. Cooper

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer." - P. Atreides

"Whoever can see through all fear will always be safe" - L. tzu

I can see that. (Your feeling that way, not the item itself.) It must be acknowledged that the one it replaced was pretty ugly as well. (Now that I think about it the new one seems like a transformer version of the old one.) The one it replaced though...  When I saw a picture of it I could have cried.

"It's not so bad as long as you can keep the fear from your mind." - D. Cooper

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer." - P. Atreides

"Whoever can see through all fear will always be safe" - L. tzu

True crime can be awesome. I'm reading The Search for the Green River Killer right now for a school project. If I like it, I'm going to get Capturing the Devil: My 20 Year Quest to Capture the Green River killer.

Have you read Lustmord: the Artifacts of Serial Killers? I lost my copy, but what a great book. Especially the chapter about that guy who invented the Mr. Body anatomy education models that ended up killing his family. THe pictures of the clay sculptures he made in lockdown of this happy man diemboweling someone, then looking at the guts like "oops, how did this happen?" were priceless. I guess when he lost it, he painted all the rooms in his house in loud, primary colors. Cannibal Killers: The History of Impossible Murders is another of my favorites.

My dad used to sing this song "People... people who eat people... are the hungriest people in the world..." to make me laugh on long car rides. 

Yeah, if you smeds or anyone can recommend some decent true crime...  The Crime Library is a great place I, uh, kill time online at.

Other favorites:

Teach Me to Kill (The Pam Smart case, that To Die For was based on.)

The Embrace by Aphrodite Jones (based on the Rod Ferrel Florida vampire slayings) 

Invisible Darkness- The Strange Case of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka (the redhead from That 70's Show played Karla in the film.)

QUOTE: QUOTE: i think half the reason i read so many comics You read a lot of comic and you collect toys. I can't imagine the kind of crap you go through with older relatives or other people. Or maybe you keep it a secret. It was a little annoying when I had long hair to be referred to as a girl ().

Now I really have to see a photo, Booth! 

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

 just seconding this.

 also, alan moore's from hell is really good, but taking it seriously would be silly.

I read all the time, I scarecly have more than a day between ending one and starting another (or sometimes, ending one and going back and starting again!)

I adore reading, I get lost in new worlds and lost in myself, nothing moves me to laughter or tears like a good book.

My step-kids dont read much, they prefer DVD's, it annoys me!   I am always trying to get my partner to encourage them more with books.   I grew up reading Enid Blyton and that taste for fantasy - the Magic Faraway Tree - and adventure - The Famous 5! - has stayed with me.

I love JG Ballard, JG Farrell, Louis de Bernieres, Angela Carter...I loved The Secret History by Donna Tartt and I still love childrens books...

I find I'm doing more pleasure reading these days, though it's turning out to be an odd combination of total throwaway pop fiction and historical fiction of the Native American variety. I blame the heavy amounts of scientific reading I have to do in school for this turnabout in my book selections. Usually I read from a wide variety of genres, my favorites being classics like Anna Karenina, A Tale of Two Cities, or even good ol' Shakespeare.

I've tried to be more conscious about the books I've chosen for my summer reading list this year (last year I spent a fair amount of time reading the Twilight series and three masters theses on timber salvage). Here's the ones I've already bought and am hoping to wipe out by the end of August:

The Wolves Chronicles by Joan Aiken (six books, all from my childhood)
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (also from my childhood)
Winterkill by Craig Lesley (historical Native American fiction)
I'm Down: A Memoir by Mishna Wolff (the cover sold me; fictionalized biography)
Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas
Death Pans Out by Ashna Graves

I bought a couple more but already cleared through them during the week I had off between spring and summer terms. oops.

Speaking of libraries, Fun Amanda Fact: at the precocious age of 8, I put my entire personal library on the Dewey Decimal system. Complete with labels on the spines and a card catalogue. Carried this on through junior high before boys became a more important use of my time. Have recently entertained the idea of implementing this system again, especially now that I've amassed many years of National Geographics and more than enough "keeper" textbooks. I desperately need organization. And maybe a little culling of the herd...especially since I can't possibly squeeze another IKEA bookcase into my tiny house.

~ Amanda

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave..."

Here's my favorite library.   Some years back it was a victim of arson.  One of two complete sets of the 26 Volume Warren Commission Report on the JFK Assassination was destroyed but so were thousands of other books.  They rebuilt the main library and added the Library Tower.  It is a fantastic place to spend a day in downtown Los Angeles.  Oh, and it was also the target of a foiled terrorist attack back in the early days of the 21st century but who can remember way back then...

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

 one of my idols has something to say about this topic:

What your reading for?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uvs2g5Nj0NI

i dont believe i've handed my gun over to anybody in my ENTIRE LIFE!!.......you wanna know something else i've never done?........I've never crossed the ocean.....Never got to China!

I love reading....although sadly I think the practice is very much on the decline.

The greatest thing about reading is 'the private interiority' that it allows.

I love books & reading.