Brad Has A Library Card, Now What?

Yesterday, my wife, baby and I ventured out to our friendly local library for the first time.  We went there because there was a puppet show for the kids that was free, and there was supposed to be a few of the local Nashville moms there that my wife has been networking with for the past few months, and she wanted to go and have a bit of a meet-up with them.  Well, as it turned out, only one other mom was there, and we only chatted with her for a few minutes after the puppet show was over, so it turned out to be kind of a bust on that front.  On the positive side of the trip to the library was the fact that I went to a damn library, where the books that you can read are located.  You see, books are good for reading and they make you smarter, or so I've been told.  I should read more books.

The puppet show was actually pretty good.  I was a Duke Ellington themed puppet show, talking about jazz and how cool jazz is.  It's good for the kids to learn about that sort of thing.  Well, Evie is only 6 months old, so she didn't really get anything out of it, but hey, I enjoyed it.  After the show was over, the other mom we met just sort of went on her way and we went on our way.  I realized that since we were there, we should get library cards so that we can check out books and read them.  Every so often I'll hear about a book that seems interesting and want to check out, but I don't really do libraries.  Why?  I can't say for sure, but maybe because our little library back in Michigan was so inadequate that I just sort of forgot about the whole idea of libraries as a place to get entertainment.  And now especially after I cancelled the newspaper, having something to read seems like a good idea.

I have a book that I am half way through called Brain Rules for Babies.  It's like a psychology book for raising a smart kid.  I got halfway through the thing and just sort of stopped reading.  It's very interesting, but for some reason, I just don't pick it up.  This makes me leery about picking up a novel and reading it, because I'm usually pretty bad at finishing them.  But, hey, it's never too late to try again.  So as we walked around the library, I couldn't decide what book to check out, because I haven't the slightest clue as to what's a good book, or what's a good author.  I don't even know where to begin.  It's pretty overwhelming to be in the huge Nashville Main Branch library, with their thousands upon thousands of books to read.

So here I sit, with my fresh, new library card and no idea where to begin.  I think I'm going to read Slaughterhouse 5.  I don't know much about Kurt Vonnegut but I think he's someone I would enjoy reading.  I've heard that fans of his are crazy, so that's a start.  The only author I've read regularly is Chuck Palahniuk, and that's mainly based off the fact that Fight Club is an amazing movie.  I don't want to read and author because a kick-ass movie was made out of his book.  I want an author that is well-respected, but not like, stereotypical novel n00b material, you know what I mean?  I just want a good book by a respectable author that I can dig into and enjoy.  Since I don't know where to begin, I'm just going to take a shot in the dark with Kurt Vonnegut.  I hope it works out.

And please, by all means, recommend me some damn books.  What type? I don't care, probably not romance novels or anything right wing political would be great.