Melody is today’s featured Member of the Month. She was named Member of the Month in June 2008.

Joining PBS special meaning for me. On March 1st, 2006, I brought my dog home after having her leg amputated the day before (due to a cancerous tumor). She was confined to a very small area in the living room. For 3-4 weeks, I camped out on the couch next to her as she healed with a stack of books nearby.

By the end of the third week, I had read all my books. I didn’t have money to buy anything new and couldn’t leave Sierra alone to go to the library. Then I saw an article in the newspaper about this website called PaperBackSwap.com. For a couple of days, I did research on these online book trading sites. In the end I decided that PaperBackSwap made the most sense and I joined up on the 31 March of 2006.

As I’m not working, I can’t justify spending money on books. PBS has given me the ability to have new reads without going broke. I’ve also been able to get rid of some books, though it didn’t work out quite as I suspected. I thought I’d be emptying shelves. Instead, I’ve got a box full of unread books and full shelves!

PBS has expanded my reading horizons as well. I tend to read books rather than authors. I’m easily bored if I read too many books in a row that are similar. Through the members on PBS, I’ve found so many different books to read. I’ve read authors I never heard of before joining and picked up books based on others recommendations. It’s so much easier to take a chance on a book when you aren’t spending twenty bucks on it. I’ve found a love for Anne Lamott, Marek Halter, Rett MacPherson,  Anita Diamant, and Tracy Chevalier through PBS. There is no way to get into a reading rut when you’re a member of PBS!

But, PBS means more to me than books. I’ve been a member of the online community since I joined up. At first I lurked, trying to get a feel for the dynamics of the group. Giving the number of posts I’ve written, I’ve probably been too active.

I consider the people here my friends. They’ve helped me through some tough times and cheered me through some happy ones. This is an incredibly supportive and diverse bunch of people.

I am a lifelong reader. I think I may have been born with books in my hands, which explains why the delivery was difficult for my Mom. I remember we had this multi-volume set of children’s classics. Even before I could read, I was familiar with all the stories in every book. If someone finds those books, they can open up to the page for Heidi and find my name written there with backwards letters.

Growing up, I loved Amelia Bedelia, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, Encyclopedia Brown, and The Borrowers. I devoured books in the school library, the bookmobile, the local public library, and still begged my Mom to buy me books from the monthly Scholastic books newsletter.

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell and The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton would be at the top of my all time favorites list. Though, I think Go Ask Alice was the one book that stayed with me long after I read it. I grew up in the 1970s and I knew a few people who went down the same path and never returned.

There are a few of books which I found meaningful that I read as an adult. Far too many to list, so I’ll give you these: Roots by Alex Haley, Love, Medicine and Miracles by Bernie Siegel, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, Grace (Eventually) by Anne Lamott, and Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse.

I am currently reading Her Daughter’s Eyes by Jessica Barksdale Inclan.

If you have any nominations for Member of the Month, submit them to us here.  Your nomination will not “expire”–anyone you nominate will have a chance at getting Member of the Month if enough nominations accumulate over time. Each month the person who has the most votes accumulated when the Newsletter goes to press gets to be Member of the Month and gets a newsletter mention and a nifty MoM icon to wear on profile and forum posts with pride.  So go for it! Tell us who’s helped you in the Forums, who’s been a great swapper, who in your opinion is a credit to PBS.  We are keeping a list of all the nominated members.  Who knows–one of them might be YOU!