Hello Big D

I love books. Any kind of book. Fiction, non-fiction, history, art, children’s books and especially cookbooks. I once told a doctor when he asked me if I had any vices that I thought I was addicted to books and magazines–no lie. The local library was one of my favorite places when I was little, but I until last week I hadn’t stepped foot in a public library in 18 years.

I first went to the new library that just opened up on the other side of Love Field, but I have to admit I was a little disappointed. Regardless, I signed up for a library card and decided to try a few other branches before giving up. The next library I checked out was the Preston Royal branch. This definitely felt a little more familiar and they had a bigger selection, but I still wasn’t satisfied. So I headed to the central library downtown last Saturday. It was all I had imagined and more.

It has seven stories of seemingly endless shelves of books to look through. The first floor houses a decent selection of dvds, books on tape, and a general collection of recently published books. The entire second floor is dedicated to kids. The Fine Arts section on the fourth floor has a large, but random selection of cds, and the rows and rows of cookbooks on the fifth floor left me breathless. If you haven’t visited the public library in a while, stop what your doing and head downtown immediately.

The best things about the Dallas Public Library.

1. You can check out up to 250 books at a time. Seriously.
2. You may return checked out items to any Dallas library branch.
3. You can renew your checked out items on-line or over the phone.
4. You can request items from any Dallas library to be sent to the branch closest to you.
5. If you are looking for something specific, you can look it up on the library’s website and see if they have it before you go.
6. It’s free.

Here’s the thing about the Dallas libraries, each branch has something different to offer so you may want to check several out in your area before you find the one that’s right for you. Also, the libraries are not perfect, but if you love books as much as I do you won’t be disappointed.

Get a map of all the Dallas Public library locations here.

Authors, Books, Children, Family, Free, Little Miss Dictator, Movies, Music, Public | 2 Comments

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So, you probably won’t really appreciate this place very much if you’re already on the Netflix train, but if you like to go to the movie store and maybe talk to a human being every once-in-a-while, then Premier Video is going to blow your mind. It’s perfect to go without any idea of what you’re looking and then just browse around and find something that looks cool, or ask the staff, they’re really happy to suggest something.

Like Blockbuster, Premier Video has all the latest hit films (they usually only have a few copies, though), but they also have everything (and more) that Blockbuster would never carry. Foreign films are categorized by country and also by filmaker, which makes it easy to find new films by a good director. I usually check out the documentary section, but they also have an icredible TV dvd collection, and usually get the new ones in right after they are released. And if you really want to dork out, like I have been known to do a lot, they have tons of PBS stuff. Plus, if you can’t find what you are looking for, they’ll send off for it and then call you when it gets in. I haven’t done the whole internet movie renting thing yet, so I’m sure this sounds super archaic to you to waste your time driving to an actual store, but this place is a true mom & pop shop that I don’t want to see die. Plus, I need a reason to get out of the house every once in while.

Junior, Movies | 8 Comments

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