I'd Rather Be Reading

One of the many benefits of working in a library is the quick access to free (for three weeks, at least) books.  Not only can I easily request a book I see mentioned in a blog post or magazine article, but I can also read this book on work time.  When it's late in the day, the branch is very slow, and all my other tasks are completed, I can actually read books and get paid for it!

But I don't do it often.  Even when we're extremely slow, there is constant interruption.  The phone rings.  Someone is checking out at the desk.  Anything that requires me to look up from my book takes me out of the story; and the current one I'm reading is a good one.  "The Twelve Tribes of Hattie" by Ayana Mathis is one of those books I can tell is great just by the first few pages.  Hattie is just seventeen when we meet her.   From page 5:

A grainy dawn misted up from the bottom of the sky.  Hattie closed her eyes and remembered the sunrises of her childhood--these visions were forever tugging at her; her memories of Georgia grew more urgent and pressing with each day she lived in Philadelphia.

Immediately engrossing with a narrative voice that's almost epic, this is the kind of book I want to disappear with for a day.  When I'm finished, I'll write a longer review.