Leapin' Leap Day!

Get ready for February 29--Leap Day! In case you weren't aware, every four years is a Leap Year, which makes the year 366 days long rather than the usual 365. That extra day gets added to February, giving us 29 days that month instead of 28. Why the extra day? Since it takes the Earth 365.24 days to rotate around the sun, that extra day every four years keeps the calendar on track. This is how winter stays in January and doesn't shift to July (in the Northern Hemisphere, at least).

Of course, an offbeat day like Leap Day has been the inspiration for different traditions, one of which is Bachelor's Day, a.k.a. Ladies' Privilege in Ireland. Saint Bridget supposedly asked Saint Patrick to allow women to propose to men on one day every four years because some men took their darn sweet time to propose.

This tradition of women proposing on Leap Day has lasted through the present (not that women nowadays can't take the lead and do the proposing any time of the year they want). The movie, Leap Year, which can be borrowed from our library on DVD (shameless plug here), shows this tradition at work rather humorously.

Amy Adams' character in the movie decides to surprise her feet-dragging boyfriend on Leap Day by proposing to him in Ireland, where he's attending a conference. She runs into one comic obstacle after another trying to reach him on time, and if I say any more I'll be giving the rest of the movie away. Just take my word that it's a cute movie full of laughs. Be sure to check it out sometime this Leap Year.

Wishing you a happy Leap Day (and year) from the perch.

Library Love

Are you in love...with your library? We most certainly hope so! February is Library Lover's Month, a great time to show your library some love. 

From time to time, I enjoy reading fictional books about libraries and librarians. I suppose what I do is similar to nurses watching medical dramas to see how accurately their profession is depicted by others not in the medical field. It's interesting to see how some writers imagine what happens in a place where I spend a great deal of time.

Here are several books I've read and liked that focus on different libraries: 

• What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama (Hoopla, Libby)  I really enjoyed this one. Although the story is fictional, it shows the real power of a librarian and a friendly staff member at a Tokyo library. They can make patrons feel welcomed and valued; sometimes, they can even find the right books to help people change their lives.
• The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles (BT F SKE, Libby)  This book is loosely based on the true story of what was happening at the American Library in Paris during the Nazi occupation of France.
• The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis (Libby)  If you ever wondered what it would be like to live in a library, this one is for you. It focuses on the wife of a superintendent living in an apartment in the main branch of the New York Public Library in 1913 and her granddaughter, a curator at the same library in 1993.
• The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (BT F HAI, Libby)  How would you like to go to a library in which every book is about you and the different paths you could have taken in life? See what happens to one woman who goes to such a library. Would she have done anything differently in her life knowing the various possible outcomes?
• The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson (Libby)  London during the Blitz has many stories, but this is one of a makeshift library deep in the Bethnal Green station of the Underground and its staff raising the spirits of people through books.

Do you have a book you like that takes place in a library? Share with us!

Wishing you lots of lovely library experiences from the perch.