I've been talking about reading resolutions the past couple of weeks on Saturdays @ the South because I've tried to make a couple myself. The first I mentioned previously, the Clean Your Reader challenge and no, I haven't started it because I'm embedded in Scott Lynch's first of the Gentlemen Bastards series, The Lies of Locke Lamora. I'm thoroughly enjoying it, but there's lots of tiny type on those nearly 500 pages. Fortunately, this is a pretty laid-back challenge and doesn't tie its participants into ONLY reading ebooks, so after I've conquered Locke Lamora, I'll be moving on to a couple of ebooks that I've been eager to read.
I've also set my Goodreads challenge again this year. I've resolved to read as many books as I read last year, even though I read 20 more than my goal this year after reading this great blog post from Broke by Books. There happens to be plenty that I want to read, including back issues of American Libraries and National Geographic Traveler that were put aside for my MLIS.
Basically, my second post was an excuse for me to ponder doing Book Riot's awesome #ReadHarder challenge and play around it bit more with infographics, which, now that I've set up my account with PiktoChart, is way too much fun to ignore. I also wanted to see the breadth of possibilities this challenge offered and while my suggestions are basically limited to ones available at my branch, my research came up with so many cool possibilities my Goodreads "to-read" list is most definitely filled to bursting. So here's the latest Saturdays @ the South post, infographic and all. Hopefully, if anyone reading this is doing the Read Harder challenge, you'll get some suggestions!
Sunday, January 3, 2016
Sunday, December 13, 2015
New Saturdays @ the South: In Transit
Seriously, two months since my last post? Good grief. Well, I'm back again. For now, it's another Saturdays @ the South link. This week's topic was transit reading, which is kind of appropriate as I'm thinking about how to transition the blog and move it forward in the coming months. I'm looking to add more content that's reading and library-related. As a start, I just signed up for Entomology of a Bookworm's Clean Your Reader 2016 Challenge! I'm super excited as I have a weakness for the BookBub freebies that end up in my inbox every so often. Plus, there's tons of classics freebies that I've got on my Kindle just begging me to read them.
It's time to read as many of these Kindle books as I can and I think it's a great way to start off the new year. Thanks to Kerry at Entomology of a Bookworm (whose reviews and notes on Shelf Awareness introduced me to her blog) for starting up this challenge and sending out the invite on her great blog. I'm also hoping to tackle a few more challenges now that required reading is no longer a part of my list, including my own personal primer on YA books. This was one class I didn't take in library school and still remains a gap in my repertoire. Once I figure out a catchy hashtag and title for my self-imposed challenge, I'll be posting more about it. Stay tuned!
It's time to read as many of these Kindle books as I can and I think it's a great way to start off the new year. Thanks to Kerry at Entomology of a Bookworm (whose reviews and notes on Shelf Awareness introduced me to her blog) for starting up this challenge and sending out the invite on her great blog. I'm also hoping to tackle a few more challenges now that required reading is no longer a part of my list, including my own personal primer on YA books. This was one class I didn't take in library school and still remains a gap in my repertoire. Once I figure out a catchy hashtag and title for my self-imposed challenge, I'll be posting more about it. Stay tuned!
Saturday, October 17, 2015
New Saturdays @ the South: An unqualified source promoting diversity in books
The latest Saturdays @ the South post has arrived here: http://www.peabodylibrary.org/freeforall/?p=2254.
I'm probably not the best person to be extolling the virtues of diversity in literature. My bookcase and favorite books are overwhelmingly white, but there's a part of me that believes that I shouldn't have to "seek out" diverse literature, that literature should be diverse enough that people can make choices based on what speaks to them. That's my fantasy, anyway. I know that's not a realistic view and it saddens me that it's not.
I included the Guardian article because I felt that it provided the most balanced approach to the argument that she started. There is a part of me that understands her point. That literature shouldn't have to have an agenda. That writers should tell the stories they feel they need to write without filling a gap somewhere in the whole of the universe. But, like my candy-coated vision for literature, her's isn't any more realistic. Literature has long since been art and served an agenda and it hasn't suffered for it. What I took offense with in her comments (and what I think started people off) is her implication that "hundreds, thousands" of books from the perspective of queer black boys is somehow enough, or a reason against people asking for more. This is a narrow-minded, knee-jerk reaction to a slight upset in the status-quo and for her to wonder why people got so upset I think is a privileged position to have. To be able to write whatever you want and have people be willing to publish and share it is a luxury (one that even I, who am not well-acquainted with that struggle, can notice). Sometimes the need to write comes from not being able to find the right voice in a book that's already been written.
As I said in my original post, we all need to have voices, faces, struggles in literature that we recognize. They give us the tools to help us get through our own lives. To imply that might be enough of one type of voice is insensitive. We all deserve to have as much support out there as we can find, regardless of who we are, what we came from, or where or alleged "agenda" might lie. Diverse books are essential; there can never be too many different voices out there.
I'm probably not the best person to be extolling the virtues of diversity in literature. My bookcase and favorite books are overwhelmingly white, but there's a part of me that believes that I shouldn't have to "seek out" diverse literature, that literature should be diverse enough that people can make choices based on what speaks to them. That's my fantasy, anyway. I know that's not a realistic view and it saddens me that it's not.
I included the Guardian article because I felt that it provided the most balanced approach to the argument that she started. There is a part of me that understands her point. That literature shouldn't have to have an agenda. That writers should tell the stories they feel they need to write without filling a gap somewhere in the whole of the universe. But, like my candy-coated vision for literature, her's isn't any more realistic. Literature has long since been art and served an agenda and it hasn't suffered for it. What I took offense with in her comments (and what I think started people off) is her implication that "hundreds, thousands" of books from the perspective of queer black boys is somehow enough, or a reason against people asking for more. This is a narrow-minded, knee-jerk reaction to a slight upset in the status-quo and for her to wonder why people got so upset I think is a privileged position to have. To be able to write whatever you want and have people be willing to publish and share it is a luxury (one that even I, who am not well-acquainted with that struggle, can notice). Sometimes the need to write comes from not being able to find the right voice in a book that's already been written.
As I said in my original post, we all need to have voices, faces, struggles in literature that we recognize. They give us the tools to help us get through our own lives. To imply that might be enough of one type of voice is insensitive. We all deserve to have as much support out there as we can find, regardless of who we are, what we came from, or where or alleged "agenda" might lie. Diverse books are essential; there can never be too many different voices out there.
Saturday, October 3, 2015
Talking autumnal comfort at Saturdays @ the South
You'll find the latest Saturdays @ the South post here. As I mention in the post, even though this is the last day of Banned Books Week, I think keeping the discussion about challenging books open to be too important to really give the week a finale. And since fall is my favorite time of year, it seemed appropriate to start talking about fall things.
The blog extras this week include one more Banned Books Week article from the Huffington Post, which I thought was an interesting take on the concept and a point of view that hadn't yet been taken on the Library blog.
Also as an extra is a little behind the scenes note: while all of the books I listed are definitely comfort reads, it's not always easy to pick books because I try to limit myself to the ones available at my library. Because I have quirky taste in books, it doesn't surprise me that some of my first-choice selections aren't necessarily available at my little branch. Some other comfort reads that I love going to include Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire (I LOVE his take on Cinderella and it was the only hard-copy book I brought with me to Amsterdam); Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes and Moby Dick by Herman Melville (because sometimes you just need a little transcendentalism).
I'll be honest here and say that I have comfort watches just like I have comfort reads. There are TV shows that are comforting to me as familiar reminiscences, but perhaps that's a post for another time...
The blog extras this week include one more Banned Books Week article from the Huffington Post, which I thought was an interesting take on the concept and a point of view that hadn't yet been taken on the Library blog.
Also as an extra is a little behind the scenes note: while all of the books I listed are definitely comfort reads, it's not always easy to pick books because I try to limit myself to the ones available at my library. Because I have quirky taste in books, it doesn't surprise me that some of my first-choice selections aren't necessarily available at my little branch. Some other comfort reads that I love going to include Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire (I LOVE his take on Cinderella and it was the only hard-copy book I brought with me to Amsterdam); Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes and Moby Dick by Herman Melville (because sometimes you just need a little transcendentalism).
I'll be honest here and say that I have comfort watches just like I have comfort reads. There are TV shows that are comforting to me as familiar reminiscences, but perhaps that's a post for another time...
Saturday, September 26, 2015
Kicking off Banned Books Week with a Saturdays @ the South Primer
While more features and posts are still in the works (I promise!) I've got another Saturdays @ the South post raring to go: http://www.peabodylibrary.org/freeforall/?p=1895
I'm particularly proud of this one, largely because it made me touch nervous and I posted it anyway. I've gotten some good feedback from colleagues (thank you!) about the content, which is always satisfying. However, considering this post is for a public institution, bringing in materials that aren't really controversial to libraries (or shouldn't be, anyway) but could be touchy with the reading public I was still a little antsy. But I got to post a Neil Gaiman video that turns me into a puddle of mush with admiration so that makes up for a lot.
The whole point of this post is that people shouldn't be antsy about books that push people's buttons, that having discussions about what we don't like about books is not only healthy, but also an important part of free speech. Taking away books not only takes away people rights, but takes away people's opportunity to complain. I find it difficult to believe that people want to give that up, but we all know it happens just the same. My personal favorite in doing the research for this post was finding out that The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was challenged because someone thought the anatomical descriptions were pornographic. Good grief.
One note I do want to add, because I'm not sure it was obvious from the post (even though I did link back to the site where I got the images) was that those amazing paintings of character mug shots were from a Flavorwire article that had more great images and some good things to say against banning books. Book challengers are the original versions of internet trolls and like all trolls, we just need to turn their words against them to shut them down. Even though we should always be speaking out in favor of books and ideas, let's all speak that much louder in favor of books this week, even the ones we don't agree with or like, because in doing so, it keeps the conversation going and protects everyone's rights to read whatever they want.
I'm particularly proud of this one, largely because it made me touch nervous and I posted it anyway. I've gotten some good feedback from colleagues (thank you!) about the content, which is always satisfying. However, considering this post is for a public institution, bringing in materials that aren't really controversial to libraries (or shouldn't be, anyway) but could be touchy with the reading public I was still a little antsy. But I got to post a Neil Gaiman video that turns me into a puddle of mush with admiration so that makes up for a lot.
The whole point of this post is that people shouldn't be antsy about books that push people's buttons, that having discussions about what we don't like about books is not only healthy, but also an important part of free speech. Taking away books not only takes away people rights, but takes away people's opportunity to complain. I find it difficult to believe that people want to give that up, but we all know it happens just the same. My personal favorite in doing the research for this post was finding out that The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was challenged because someone thought the anatomical descriptions were pornographic. Good grief.
One note I do want to add, because I'm not sure it was obvious from the post (even though I did link back to the site where I got the images) was that those amazing paintings of character mug shots were from a Flavorwire article that had more great images and some good things to say against banning books. Book challengers are the original versions of internet trolls and like all trolls, we just need to turn their words against them to shut them down. Even though we should always be speaking out in favor of books and ideas, let's all speak that much louder in favor of books this week, even the ones we don't agree with or like, because in doing so, it keeps the conversation going and protects everyone's rights to read whatever they want.
Saturday, September 19, 2015
The Readers' Advisory will be televised... New Saturdays @ the South
OK, so I promise I'm working on some new original material for this blog including a couple of new regular features. But for now, here is another link to my latest Saturdays @ the South posting.
And now for the promised blog extras:
So this post only featured a couple of truly favorite television shows because both space and budget at the South is limited and we don't have too many true TV seasons. FYI- all time favorite shows? Law & Order (the original is the best, am I right?) and Psych.
My primary goal for this post was to get our blog readers to think of the library in terms of more than books. Sure we do books (and do so very well, in my totally biased opinion) but we're also a programming library that has some unusual collections including disc golf sets and some other incredibly cool items coming soon. The library should be a place for fun as well as study or quiet. A place where people can think about planning their weekends, whether that means getting a museum pass, borrowing a stack of books or getting ready to binge-watch a show they might have missed on the first run, not just a place for free internet access when homework needs to be done or the IRS forces people to use the internet.
Hopefully this and future blog posts will start getting people to think a little differently about the awesomeness that is the library. (Plus, it gave me a chance to feature Violet Crawley quips and really, where's the bad there?) Oh, and here's a favorite quip that didn't make it to the post:
And now for the promised blog extras:
So this post only featured a couple of truly favorite television shows because both space and budget at the South is limited and we don't have too many true TV seasons. FYI- all time favorite shows? Law & Order (the original is the best, am I right?) and Psych.
My primary goal for this post was to get our blog readers to think of the library in terms of more than books. Sure we do books (and do so very well, in my totally biased opinion) but we're also a programming library that has some unusual collections including disc golf sets and some other incredibly cool items coming soon. The library should be a place for fun as well as study or quiet. A place where people can think about planning their weekends, whether that means getting a museum pass, borrowing a stack of books or getting ready to binge-watch a show they might have missed on the first run, not just a place for free internet access when homework needs to be done or the IRS forces people to use the internet.
Hopefully this and future blog posts will start getting people to think a little differently about the awesomeness that is the library. (Plus, it gave me a chance to feature Violet Crawley quips and really, where's the bad there?) Oh, and here's a favorite quip that didn't make it to the post:
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Saturday, September 12, 2015
New Saturdays @ the South
Here's this week's Saturdays @ the South post:
http://www.peabodylibrary.org/freeforall/?p=1637
I'll be adding more regular features soon, but I hope this feature is as enjoyable to read as it is to write!
Bonus materials:
Books that have the ability to vicariously take me places are some of my all-time favorite to read. My latest obsession, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (both the book by Susanna Clarke and the BBC miniseries) immersed me so entirely into an England in which magic was real and altered the landscape, I'm still not 100% convinced that the Raven King isn't coming back.
Aside from fiction books like JS&MN that have an enormously strong sense of place, I'm a big fan of travel memoirs. These are my "beach reading," my fun fluff and a great way to appease my wanderlust. Sadly, many of them got left out because many libraries don't seem to carry much of this genre, unless it is wildly popular (Eat, Pray Love; Under the Tuscan Sun, etc.) or has a high-demand backstory (i.e. it's from a famous author who writes other things). A most recently read favorite is Eating Viet Nam: Dispatches from a Blue Plastic Table by Graham Holliday. This book went down much easier than some of the dishes Holliday devoured in Viet Nam.
If you find that your library offers lots of travel memoirs, what are your population and collection management strategies like? Do you find them popular or are books like There's No Toilet Paper on the Road Less Traveled best kept on private bookshelves?
For some additional recommendations, feel free to peruse my "travel" shelf on Goodreads.
my travel shelf:
Here's a sampling of some favorites there:
http://www.peabodylibrary.org/freeforall/?p=1637
I'll be adding more regular features soon, but I hope this feature is as enjoyable to read as it is to write!
Bonus materials:
Books that have the ability to vicariously take me places are some of my all-time favorite to read. My latest obsession, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (both the book by Susanna Clarke and the BBC miniseries) immersed me so entirely into an England in which magic was real and altered the landscape, I'm still not 100% convinced that the Raven King isn't coming back.
Aside from fiction books like JS&MN that have an enormously strong sense of place, I'm a big fan of travel memoirs. These are my "beach reading," my fun fluff and a great way to appease my wanderlust. Sadly, many of them got left out because many libraries don't seem to carry much of this genre, unless it is wildly popular (Eat, Pray Love; Under the Tuscan Sun, etc.) or has a high-demand backstory (i.e. it's from a famous author who writes other things). A most recently read favorite is Eating Viet Nam: Dispatches from a Blue Plastic Table by Graham Holliday. This book went down much easier than some of the dishes Holliday devoured in Viet Nam.
If you find that your library offers lots of travel memoirs, what are your population and collection management strategies like? Do you find them popular or are books like There's No Toilet Paper on the Road Less Traveled best kept on private bookshelves?
For some additional recommendations, feel free to peruse my "travel" shelf on Goodreads.
my travel shelf:
Here's a sampling of some favorites there:
Al's bookshelf: travel
Excellent book. Well balanced with a driving, compelling narrative. At times, genuinely thrilling and peppered with charming anecdotes. Would recommend to anyone who likes history, nature or a good adventure story.
Amazing! Insightful, humorous and easy to read. Steinbeck has a way of capturing the essence of someone/something in only a few words.
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