I got a call yesterday from our local library letting me know that a book I ordered had arrived. To be honest, I couldn’t remember what book I had ordered! Something one of my sons had requested, perhaps? Much to my joy, I discovered it was the one volume edition of Isaac Asimov’s original Foundation trilogy. I had ordered it several weeks ago and had forgotten. What a great surprise! I don’t read a lot of fiction, but having read Asimov’s prequel to this series last year—Prelude to Foundation—I am excited to crack the spine on this book!

You see, at the start of the summer, we cancelled our subscription to Netflix to lessen the screen time of our kids. However well that strategy worked (or not), we also took our sons to the library every week or two to get books to read. Usually they came home with quite a stack.

For my part, thanks to our local library I’ve read Jordan Peterson‘s two books, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos and Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life. While I found the first especially thought provoking and moving at times, both are very much worth reading.

I’ve also just started another book that I’ve heard about on various podcasts, Bessel Van Der Kolk’s The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Still very much getting into this one, but it’s fascinating so far. As someone in a “caring” profession, it provides a lot of insight about how people deal with and are affected by traumatic experiences.

So while I still have a large list of books waiting on my Amazon wish list for me to order someday, I’m grateful for my local library. I get to read some interesting books without spending money or having to make yet more room on one of our crowded bookshelves.

What books, if any, are you reading right now? Do you make use of your local library?