How I've been reading a lot more lately

I love to read - there’s no doubt about it. And with little options or, frankly, desire to head outside due to the hot weather, or, anywhere else indoors, due to the increase in COVID cases in Florida, I’ve cozied up at home, sharing my time between work, cooking, and baking, watching “Desperate Housewives”, and of course, reading.

Though I love to read them, I have to admit that I don’t like to buy novels unless they’re classics, or favorites that I know I will read again - yes, I do that. Instead, I prefer to buy healthy recipe cookbooks, self-help/personal improvement, travel-related, and coffee table kinds of books that I can display, and even use as part of my home decor. Usually, these are the kind of books that inspire me. Though, most of the time, for relaxation, or the mental escape I crave, I turn to novels. My genre of choice is usually historical fiction, though I also love reading cozy mysteries and contemporary novels, and yes, a good romance here and there.

As the prospects of travel for hubby and me diminished due to this unrelenting pandemic, I decided to start a membership at our local public library to gain access to more books.

I’ve heard of The Libby App before, which allows one to electronically borrow books (including audiobooks) from a local public library for free, and my intention was to do exactly that with my library membership (the app requires an active library card number in order to access it).
However, upon signing up with my library I was introduced to Hoopla, which has the same concept as The Libby app but is better, in my opinion.

Hoopla gives you access to ebooks, audiobooks, music, movies, comics, and the list goes on, and unlike Libby, I am able to access the books I want to read instantly, versus having to place a hold on most of them on Libby - it appears the books I want to read on that app are unavailable at that time. Note: once you placed a hold on a book, and it becomes available, you can “pass” it to the next person waiting if you’re not ready to read it, while still remaining the first in the hold line.

At the end of the day though, I juggle between the two apps depending on the books I want to read, and I definitely recommend them both. So far in my experience, Libby allows 14 days to borrow a book, while Hoopla allows 21, though I usually return the books much sooner than that. Both apps return the books you borrow automatically once the allotted days to read them expire, so you don’t have to worry about missing the deadline and be charged overdue fees. That’s a huge plus, in my book.

The bottom line is that having access to these apps has made it possible for me to read a lot more books than I usually do, and thus, I’ve been spending a lot less time on social media, which, to me is a win.

Do you prefer to buy books, or borrow them?