Did I tell y'all that I'm doing the #ReadingMyLibrary challenge, hosted by Stefani of Caught Read Handed and Amy of Read What I Like? I made an announcement, but it was in tweet-form. See all the awesomeness you miss out on when you aren't following me on Twitter?

Anyway, sign-ups are still open! The overall thrust of the challenge is to get people to go to their libraries—all you have to do to participate is read at least one book from your local library during the month of April. Check out this post for more information and other rules. You should totally join. There's going to be a scavenger hunt and everything!

I mostly failed the first week of this challenge by reading books that came from anywhere but the library: I chipped away at a purchased copy of Cloud Atlas for the #CloudAtlasAlong, made a small dent in a friend's copy of A Short History of Nearly Everything and made a more substantial dent in Loving Day, an ARC from Random House (thank you!). Like I said, anywhere but the library.

It was only yesterday that I finally picked up a library book, Yu Hua's Boy in the Twilight: Stories of the Hidden China. The good news is I've already read half of it, so I've nearly met the minimum challenge goal! Also also, today I picked up a library copy of Tell the Wolves I'm Home, April's pick for a local book club I've thus far failed to joined. Like Julianne, I'm hoping to change that. Hooray for using a library book to do so!

Stefani and Amy will post a new topic for discussion each week during the challenge. In keeping with this week's topic ("Tell us a little about your library [include a picture if you can!]."), I popped by the public library on the way to work. It's just a fifteen-minute walk from my house, and less than a five-minute one from my lab. Needless to say, I'm here a lot. It allegedly has three whole floors, though I only frequent the ground and lower levels (fiction and non-fiction, respectively). I only took three pictures that weren't super ugly—enjoy!

This building is over 100 years old. I looked it up.

A super windy marble staircase in the lobby I've never seen anyone use. Possibly leads to the alleged second and third levels.

The beautiful fiction stacks. Gotta love that overhead lighting.

Source: nhfpl.org