Posted in Just for Fun

If Words Were Snowflakes and Other Unscientific Thoughts

snow off deck
~my deck, my yard, my endless drifts of snow~

I know this endless wash of white is not unique to my yard. Everywhere we turn, the horizon is no longer visible. Instead, we see a minimalist painting of white on white on muted shades of yet more white.

It’s lovely and eerie and extremely thought provoking. When I look out my patio door, I can’t help but wonder just how many snowflakes my backyard holds.

While I will never know the answer to this pressing question, I found a way to put Mother Nature’s dubious gift into perspective.

And this, my friends, is where the completely unscientific part comes in.

By industry standards, an average 6″ x 9″ novel is roughly 90,000 words long. These little gems of literary delight take up about one inch of vertical space (without their covers).

My yard sits approximately 24 inches above the ground and the footprint of the section in the picture is 16′ x 16′. Twelve inches per foot divided by trim size = 672 books per layer–give or take–times 24 layers times 90,000 words equals a whopping 1,451,520,000.

To be clear, that is one billion, four hundred fifty-one million, five hundred twenty thousand words. Roughly.* 

Just for fun, let’s pretend my first reading endeavor included a James Patterson novel and that each book since the tender age of four was a best-selling novel.

To read all the words found in my little slice of yard, I would have been reading one book every day plus an extra five books per year in my spare time. Despite being an avid reader, I haven’t come close to accomplishing this goal. However, I would like to meet the person who has.

All this to say, if words were snowflakes, prose would fall from the heavens like manna, and I’d remain in this frozen tundra simply to wade through the ever-drifting stories of someone else’s imagination.

Happy reading~ Jody

*This estimate may or may not be accurate, as I’m a word gal, not a math genius.

 

Posted in Early Bird Book Club, News

Refreshing Reads at Meinders Library

Don’t give up on summer yet–or on voting #fullSTEAMahead.

refreshing reads
Round out your reading list with one of our new arrivals from your beloved authors. Or, find a new author to add to your list of favorites like one of the sweet titles shown above.
  • Down a Dark Road by Linda Castillo in print and on audio
  • Lying Game by Ruth Ware
  • Silent Corner by Dean Koontz
  • Sulfur Springs by William Kent Krueger
  • Wired by Julie Garwood in print and on audio
  • 2 Nights by Kathy Reichs
  • Beloved Hope by Tracie Peterson
  • Late Show by Michael Connelly
  • Look Behind You by Iris Johansen
  • The Life She Was Given by Ellen Marie Wiseman
  • Plus another 30 titles

 

Up for a good discussion? Early Bird Book Club meets at 8:30am on the third Tuesday of each month. Their September book is “Hillbilly Elegy” by J.D. Vance.

Up for supporting a good cause? Vote #fullSTEAMahead for $25,000 and help our library win a grant for more programming, more supplies and cool tools.