Compliments of Your Library

I subscribe to only one magazine these days (Country Living and only because I never manage to log in to Amazon and cancel the auto renewal in a timely fashion).  Sitting down with a snack and a magazine used to be one of life's little pleasures for me.  The snacking still happens, but I spend that time reading tweets, Facebook status updates, and ebooks on my phone ... unless I have the most recent issue of BookPage, the free book review publication that my library has on offer right as you enter the building.

What I've always loved about magazine reading is its hopefulness -- flipping through pages to find a recipe, decorating idea, quotation, tip, or product that might improve my life somehow.  Even if I seldom follow through, I like feeling glimmers of possibility and inspiration.

BookPage offers inspiration in the form of book recommendations.  In both the BookPage ads and features, I find books to add to my TBR list, my library hold queue, and my "books to possibly purchase" list.

Here are some snippets of traction from November's issue:

* From the LIFESTYLES column, I want to get on the library list for DIY, Dammit!  A Practical Guide to Curse-Free Crafting.  I'm a fairly confident crafter, but it sounds like a fun and funny book.  I don't need to own it, but I'd like to look through it.

* The AUDIO column mentions Anthony Doerr's Four Seasons in Rome:  On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World.  I'm not in the mood to read this book right now, but I'll add it to my GoodReads To Read list so I don't forget it's out there.

* The INTERVIEWS section offers my best find of this issue.  An interview with Hannah Rothschild convinces me that I really want to read The Improbability of Love by Hannah Rothschild, "a blistering, uninhibited and hilarious satire of the London art scene."  I don't know much about the art scene in London or anywhere else (except for what I learned reading The Art Forger), but I appreciate satire and would love to learn more about the art world.

I already purchased the much-buzzed about City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg -- the interview makes me want to start it on the sooner side.

* HUMOR brings two nuggets of hope:  Rainn Wilson has written The Bassoon King:  My Life in Art, Faith, and Idiocy, and I will get in the library queue for that title ASAP.  Jason Gay's Little Victories:  Perfect Rules for Imperfect Living sounds like it might be a good gift book.  Again, will add to library list to preview for future purchase/gifting.

* And speaking of the art world, B.A. Shapiro of The Art Forger has a new book coming, The Muralist, and I first read it about it in BookPage.  I'll put this one on my Audible Wish List as I loved listening to The Art Forger.

* Both the books mentioned in FOODIE FICTION sound promising:  Food Whore by Jessica Tom and Vintage by David Baker.

I could go on and on, but I think that's enough to demonstrate that you should ask about BookPage at your own library.