This Week at the Library (11 May)

My home library sits next door to City Hall on Selma's downtown thoroughfare of Broad Street. Today I parked closer to City Hall than I usually do, and looked up at a lamp post to see a peculiar sign hanging on it. I'd first spotted the sign back in December, when taking photos of Selma during Christmastime, and it baffled me. Was murder sanctioned to one side, and forbidden on the other?   I decided to ask the librarian, who had heard inquiries before. To the best of her memory, a mourning father had put it up after the death of one of his children -- but she wasn't sure. I suppose City Hall would have more information. I wonder if every city is littered with objects like this with strange stories to them?

Today I returned a few books unread -- Catholics and the Holy Bible, since I've gotten tired of the subject:  The Middle East and The First Salute because I wasn't as interested in them as I thought I was (I'll probably return to Salute in July, as part of my usual Independence Day reading), and Evolution and Society. While a collection of essays from scientists applying the idea of evolution -- change through time -- to their various disciplines appealed to me, the first few essays were very dry and I never got into it. For some reason I'm in the mood to read stories, so most of this week looks to be fiction.

• To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee. I'm not sure how I managed to get out of high school without ever reading this, a classic of southern literature, but I did and so I have no idea why people keep praising Atticus Finch. But I'm going to find out.
• Guns, Ed McBain. For some reason I've been enjoying cop stories, and this fellow is apparantly famous for his 87th precinct series. I don't know if this is connected or not, but it had a fairly straightforward title.
• Sharpe's Tiger,  Bernard Cornwell. I think this is where Sharpe saves Wellesley's life and begins to rise in the ranks.

And because all play and no work makes smellincoffee a vacuous boy,...

• Earth Science Made Simple, Edward F. Albin. This series is usually pretty good, so I'm hoping to bone up on my rocks and weather.