A Year of Dangerous Reading

I'm not so good at this whole blog thing, but I actually just had an interesting insight that felt worth writing about.

I am a big fan of Goodreads.  I created an account because my mom thought I should start keeping track of what I've read.  When I saw the 2011 Reading Challenge, I thought it would be interesting to really challenge myself and monitor my reading throughout the year.  This is in part because I knew I would be taking two literature courses this semester as I finish up my Master's in Library Science, and in part because I know that as a librarian, I will be expected to be widely read.  Keeping up with all the books that are out there is an impossible task, but it's one that is still worth chipping away at.

So I challenged myself to read 100 books this year.  In the first month of 2011, I have read 10 books so far, 6 of which have been for my Young Adult Literature class.  This is definitely going to be a year, or at least semester, or dangerous reading.  So far in the Young Adult Lit class, we've read The Catcher in the Rye, King Dork, The Outsiders, The Chocolate War, A Step from Heaven, and How I Live Now.  The next books on the agenda are Speak and Feed.  These are all beautifully written and powerful pieces of literature.  I tend to come from the "happy ending" camp of reading, though as I've gotten older I've become better able to appreciate the complex and subtle beauty of more challenging reads.

However, it's a little dangerous to read these books so closely together in such short succession.  I love these powerful stories, and since they aren't my first choice when deciding which books to read, I am glad to be "forced" to read them and deal with them.  These are such sad, honest, beautiful stories that they really touch your soul, and even take away bits of it as you read them.  I think these bits come back in the form of empathy and understanding in the end, and for me anyway, I feel like a more aware and open-minded person who is even more determined to try to make a difference in the lives of others.  This is an especially important experience for adults, because it is so easy to forget what it is like growing up.  Reading these stories is a humbling experience, and makes me despair at the state of the world sometimes, but I think I will come out the other side as a better, more understanding person and librarian.

It will definitely be a year of dangerous reading!  I'm 10% of the way to my goal and will keep posting updates as to how it is going.

When You Reach Me

Rebecca Stead's When You Reach Me, the 2010 Newberry award winner, is one of my new favorite young adult books.  It's hard to put your finger on what genre this book belongs in, but it is essentially a coming-of-age story of a young girl growing up in New York City in the late 1970s.  In When You Reach Me, the main character Miranda deals with the typical issues of a sixth grader, like the complicated dynamics of friendship and first romances, while becoming entangled in an extraordinary mystery that will save the life of her best friend.

The story is compelling and the reader becomes a part of the mystery as pieces begin to fall into place.  I loved this book, I couldn't put it down. The main character Miranda is a work of genius. I felt like I knew her and recognized little bits of myself in her. The story is heartbreaking yet beautiful and hopeful.

I recommend this book for 4th-8th graders, and for adults who want a unique reading experience and to reconnect with their youth.  This book may be a little challenging for some children/young adults (I don't know if I would have liked it myself when I was younger), but it could be a good tool to stretch a young person's mind or introduce them to the fantasy/sci fi genre.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

I saw Scott Pilgrim vs. the World this weekend with my boyfriend Nick and his friend Tim.  Awesome movie!  I really enjoyed it.  I am in love with the TV show Arrested Development, and Michael Cera can do no wrong in my eyes.  The movie runs just under 2 hours and it went by in a flash.  It's been a while since I've been sad that a movie was over.  Based on the quick research I did, the movie seemed to do an amazing job of staying true visually to the series of graphic novels by Bryan Lee O'Malley.  (P.S. Amazon has some great previews of the books).  The movie actually really made me want to read the series because it was so incredible visually.  Tim's reading the series right now, and he said the movie left out a couple great fight scenes.  Normally, as a bibliophile, that would bother me, but this time I'm excited the movie left something out so I still have more to experience!  I loved the graphic quality of the movie and the old school video game references.  Do yourself a favor and see this movie!  Better yet, check out the graphic novels!

Fever 1793

I'm taking a Children's Lit course this fall, and I plan to write about some of the books we read along the way.  Right now I'm reading ahead a bit to get a start on the semester.

The first book I read for class was Laurie Halse Anderson's Fever 1793.  The book is targeted to middle schoolers but I highly recommend this book even for adults.  Fever 1793 is a quick read but with lots of substance.  The characters are well-developed, especially the main character, 14 year old Matilda Cook (Mattie).  Fever 1793 is a coming of age story about how Mattie faces adversity when faced with the tragic yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia in 1793.  Anderson paints a vivid picture of the politics and society in 1793, and the perpetual struggle of mankind to help one another survive in the face of disaster. 

On a personal note, Fever 1793 reminded me that the struggle and adversity that you face in life makes you stronger and shapes the person you become.

Librarian Breaking the Rules

Today I went to my local public library to find some books for a class project on international cookbooks and pick up a book I had on hold, Stieg Larsson's The Girl Who Played With Fire (can't wait to read it!).

When I found the books I needed, I walked up to the check out counter and there were three people working at the desk, one working with a patron and the other two checking in or processing books.  I saw the roped off area where the line was supposed to begin, but since no one was in line and two staff members weren't busy with patrons, I decided to stand near the two who weren't busy to save myself a few steps and not look like a moron for going to stand in the right area when there was no line.  After a few awkward moments and other patrons getting in the "real" line, one of the staff members called on me.  She sort-of nicely said to me, "Just so you know, the real line starts over there."  I was so embarrassed!  What kind of (future) librarian breaks the rules and doesn't stand in line?  Shame on me!  I was over-reacting a little because I had a crappy day, but I resolved never to not stand in the line ever again. 

The interaction ended better than it began: the staff member commented on one of my books and we exchanged some pleasantries.  And I did get some awesome books for my project so the experience wasn't a total loss.

Another library experience I had that surprised me with the same feeling of guilt and inadequacy as a librarian was while I was volunteering at the other public library in town.  The librarian I worked with when volunteering would often bring cupcakes and other baked goods into the office for her co-workers, and would always offer me one at the end of my shift. 

The first time this happened, I ended up sneaking it out of the library, trying to hold the cupcake with one hand and it with the other.  It had coconut on the top, and I kept dropping little bits of coconut everywhere on my way out of the building.  I just wanted to take the cupcake home to enjoy it as it deserved, but for the next day or so I kept worrying that I had gotten the librarian in trouble or been a bad influence on all the patrons who had seen me leaving the library with a cupcake in hand.  I guess I was afraid it would start a cupcake anarchy or something. 

Of course, nothing came of it.  But the next time the librarian offered me a cupcake, I told her of my qualms and she escorted me out of the building using the staff staircase and walking me to the entrance.

Hopefully I can start being a better influence on library patrons from here on out!

Netflix Addiction

For starters, it's my new goal to post to my blog at least once a week about something.  I mean, come on, at least one interesting thing has to happen to me every week, right?

Today I want to talk about my love of Netflix.  Best $15 I could spend each month.  If I was a better student, I would wisely cancel my Netflix subscription so I would get more work done.  But alas, it makes me too happy.  And I've learned from the few months here and there when I've been out of school that life is less fun when you don't have anything to procrastinate doing.

I mainly use my Netflix subscription for watching TV series.  It can be hard for me to make time to watch an entire movie, but I can somehow make time to watch 5 episodes of Veronica Mars in a row (just one more episode.....).  The most dangerous part of Netflix for me is the ability to watch so many things instantly now.  I honestly don't know what I would do without a good wireless connection anymore.

My latest Watch Instantly discovery that blew my mind and made my week is Shelly Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre.  I used to check the VHS tapes of each individual faerie tale out from my local public library all the time when I was younger, to the point where I have memorized most of the words from and have certain foods associated with my favorite fairy tales (bread for Hansel and Gretel, sugar doughnut holes for Cinderella...don't ask me why).  Netflix has the whole 7 disc set of 26 fairy tales available to watch, a few of which I have never seen before because they weren't available at my library.

It's so much fun to go back and watch these stories that played such a big role in my childhood and in the formation of my very active imagination.  Thank you Netflix!


P.S. I'm pretty sure that my favorite of the 26 fairy tales is still The Dancing Princesses.

Organize

While reading a textbook for a summer class I started today, the authors discussed the meaning of the word "organize" in the context of librarianship.  When I tell people that I study Library and Information Science, they often ask me, "But what does a librarian DO?"  My answer to this question usually involves a long, drawn-out discussion of the many and varied tasks that a librarian is responsible for, but this short section of my textbook really captures what I think being a librarian is all about.  The authors of the textbook took their definition from Merriam-Webster, but I'm partial to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).  Here is what I found in the OED:

Organize, v. trans. To arrange into a structured whole; to systematize; to put into a state of order; to arrange in an orderly manner, put in a particular place or order, tidy.

This perfectly describes what a librarian does and why librarians are so important in the world of information and knowledge.

Librarians organize information in a meaningful way so that people can find and access the resources they need.  Several professors during my time in Library school have stressed the importance of creating access to library materials.  If a person can't access the information they need, that information is useless.  This is also connected to the AV Materials class I am taking right now as well, where I learned that even if you have the rarest piece of old video footage of an important event, if you don't have the carrier needed to play the footage, it becomes essentially worthless (although you should try to find someone who has the carrier that can play the footage for you if this happens, obviously).  Librarians provide access to things by making them easier to find.  We make sense of the chaos of information that we are inundated with in the world today and we "put [it] into a state of order."  We give it a place so that one day, another person can go to that place and make an important discovery: it could be a phone number or a crucial piece of evidence to support the main argument of a dissertation. 

What a great career and calling in life, librarians "tidy" up information so that it can be used in a meaningful way by the world.

P.S.  I love the word "tidy" and I love to tidy up things, so I guess I found the perfect profession.

P.P.S.  Here is the citation for my textbook if anyone wants to read more about information organization:

Taylor, Arlene G., and Daniel N. Joudrey. The Organization of Information. Westport, Conn: Libraries   
       Unlimited, 2009.