January

I'm trying a new thing.

I'm a little late to start, but if I wait to start until the end of February I'll forget again! For those who have been following for awhile, in 2017 I tracked all of the books I read and then blogged about them every month. I didn't do that in 2018 for a variety of reasons, and I'm not going to start again! (sorry if that's a letdown). But here's the deal: I do a lot more than read. I still track what books I read every month, but I also spend time with family, do puzzles, listen to podcasts, meal prep, and take my dog to the park. And work (I have a real grown-up job now). But I miss writing, and I like having a record of things I've done (it helps mark progress when I think I haven't gone anywhere), and sometimes people ask what I'm reading. So, each month I'll tell you a few things: Something I read, Something I watched/listened to, Something I cooked, Something I did (at home), Something I did (at work), and Something I want to do next month. We'll see how it goes!

For January:

Something I read: The Library Book (finally)! Hailed by Booklist as "a riveting mix of true crime, history, biography, and immersion journalism," Susan Orlean's book tells the story of the 1986 Los Angeles Central Library fire, which ruined or damaged more than one million volumes. But it also tells the story of the Los Angeles Public Library, its librarians, its city, its resilience, and its future. I'd add "love letter to libraries" to its "riveting mix." Of course, I heartily recommend this book!

Something I watched/listened to: I'm not sure who hasn't tried at least one episode of Tidying Up with Marie Kondo on Netflix yet, but I definitely watched the whole series. And then I read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and now I think I need to Marie Kondo my house. 

Something I cooked: y'all, I made grits in my rice cooker and let me tell you.... LIFE. CHANGING.

Something I did (at home): I spent time with friends! I had friends stay with me over New Year's, I have college friends that live in San Antonio who I've been blessed to spend time with, and my good friend Jenna took a break from med school to visit me last weekend!

Something I did (at work): I got the attendance at one of my programs back up to its starting numbers! I have a homework/reading/outdoor club that meets once a week after school, and we regularly had 20 of our 25 registered kids coming for the first six weeks. After Thanksgiving those numbers dropped and our first week back in January we only had about 10 kids. So, I found all their registrations forms, practiced the very little Spanish that I know, and called all their parents -- we've had 18-21 kids for the last three weeks of the month! Even though it was time-consuming and a little embarrassing on my end to stumble through "la clase de biblioteca esta comenzando nueva esta semana," it had very obvious and positive results so I know it was worth it and am so glad I decided to just sit down and do it!

Something I want to do next month: I really want to read my own books this year, y'all. I know only reading my own books is impossible, but I had the idea to do a 1:1 plan. As in, read one book from the library, one I own, one library book, one bookshelf book. This way, I can still take home a cool new book once in awhile, still place a hold on something really popular, or read something I'm really in the mood for but don't own, while still making a dent in my home TBR pile. Here's the thing, though: I have no self-control when it comes to library holds, and I'm really bad at timing when they'll come in. For example, today at work I had two holds come in, and then this afternoon I got an email that an eBook I've been waiting on since before Christmas is now ready. And because those are time-sensitive I HAVE to read them NOW. And this is what always happens!! BUT. I have STOPPED placing holds (for now). So they should be slowing down (assuming I continue to have an iron will). My goal for February is to get all the books I currently have checked out from the public library (four? I think?) read and returned so I can start reading one of my own books! You (and I) would think that with 26 days this is more than possible... we shall see!

america

until last week

I could count on one hand

how many white people I’ve seen at my apartment:

the little girl,

with a place name like mine, and her dad.

a woman whose dog is constantly getting out.

the couple across the hall, who take

their recycling to Sprouts.

but from day one

I didn’t have enough hands to hold the pied beauty of my neighborhood:

its red, blue, yellow, buildings,

bus stops with people milling,

and neon signs to set the mood.

its Hispanic couple,

young black man,

trans woman,

African couple,

Latina property managers.

its women at the neighborhood grocery speaking in languages I don’t recognize --

much less understand --

and cashiers wearing headscarves, telling us “Have A Nice Day.”

and the children! in every color, everywhere, asking:

“How old are you?”

“Where do you work?”

“Do you have any kids?”

“Have you read this book?”

“Where do you live?”

“Do you like cupcakes?”

“Can I pet your dog?”

and

“Do you have any food?”

that I can’t count, but remember.

last weekend

I walked my dog around the neighboring elementary school,

advertising a free health clinic on Saturday.

We walked the perimeter of the school grounds, bordered by a family of fences:

three different gated apartment complexes

and one [enclosed] piece of suburbia.

my apartment is an inlet, hamlet,

my Hamelin,

from which tweens and teens slip

in a cinch

for our fence

is not a solid eight-foot metal sheet

attached to posts anchored deep in a concrete

wall

to prevent any holes underneath

or bars missing between

like those we see on its wrought-iron brothers

so these children

drawn by the dribble

pulled through by a Piper beating a ball on the ground

can just play with their friends on a sunny afternoon?

we come home

sit outside in the sunshine

and I think

Glory be to God for dappled things

Latin music floats up to my porch

mingled with rap

punctuated by car horn

and I wonder

Is the sound of every tribe and tongue and nation?

with news of

new segregation

and section 8

and sh!thole countries

do we see

deadbeat

or Imago Dei?

Catching Up

I didn't blog for September. My bad, y'all. 

Once I realized it was October, I thought I would just wait, and do a nice, thought-out, two-month blog post, because it really had been a diverse list, and I was going to try a few more things, and I thought I could write about Genres and whether or not libraries should genrify their collections, and how this all tied in with my discoveries about myself as a reader and I could hazard a guess as to whether genrified libraries would have made me a better/more voracious reader as a child and teen. But then Halloween passed and now here we are and ^that's all I've got on the subject of genres at the moment.

I'm just going to be really honest and say that I am in a slump. Fall is not my season. I've been looking back at things I've written in years past, Sept-Nov. (blog posts, facebook posts, journal entries, etc.) and it's kind of a recurring theme. I get stressed out when things from the new school year start kicking into high gear, and I get crabby when the weather gets cold and it gets dark early. I'd love to be witty and/or interesting and/or insightful but all I've got is a list of books, lots of snark and a little residual anxiety. And since you probably are only interested in the first item on that list, I've got the books I've read recently listed below. The list is surprisingly longer than it felt when I was reading. My progress has felt ridiculously slow these past few weeks. I'm out of my groove, y'all. 

Anyway, here goes (with some brief parenthetical asides): 

9/1 Being a Girl, by Hayley Long (really a cute, brief, no-nonsense guide to growing up)

9/1 The Diary of Melanie Martin, by Carol Weston (as far as kid diary books go, I can't complain)

9/3 Ava & Pip, by Carol Weston (just a cute, cute, story about sisterhood and palindromes)

9/6 Re Jane, by Patricia Park (totally underwhelming Jane Eyre retelling)

9/11 The Casual Vacancy, by J.K. Rowling (stick with Harry Potter)

9/17 Kitchen, by Banana Yoshimoto (probably the first book I've read by an author with the same name as a fruit)

9/20 In the Time of the Butterflies, by Julia Alvarez (it took me forever but I made it. also I thought it was a true story so that was a trip)

9/23 Cold Sassy Tree, by Olive Ann Burns (I have so many mixed feelings on this one I don't even know where to begin. let me know if you've read it because seriously I need some secondary opinions)

9/24 Of Mess and Moxie, by Jen Hatmaker (I stayed up until 4am to finish this one)

9/29 Go Set a Watchman, by Harper Lee (hmm. yeah editing is a good thing.)

10/1 We Are Okay, by Nina LaCour (honestly I liked it but don't see why everyone is so obsessed with it)

10/6 Forever, by Judy Blume (this is actually a first-time read! Somehow I never made it past Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, in the Judy Blume repertoire as a kid)

10/8 Radium Girls, by Kate Moore (seriously, their lives were trainwrecks. go read about it)

10/11 The Remains of the Day, by Kazuo Ishiguro (damn. this guy won the Nobel for a reason)

10/27 By Book or By Crook, by Eva Gates (cozy mystery about a librarian who lives in a lighthouse. pretty self-explanatory)

10/28 Spell It Out, by David Crystal (the history of English spelling might sound boring, but for real this was one of the most fascinating books I've read in awhile)

So there you have it, folks. That's all I can crank out for now. We'll see how November goes.

Mid-Year Mixed Bag

okay okay okay, I know August isn't technically "mid-year," but I'm going with it.

This month I finished my internship, turned in my final assignment for my online class, worked my last four days as a library GRA, packed all of my earthly belongings into a u-haul, moved to Dallas, started a new job as a real librarian, bought a washer and dryer like a real adult, and assembled approximately 86 pieces of IKEA furniture. Oh, and read eight books. 

Actually, it was eight books and one screenplay, from six different sources, in three formats. 

I checked out a ton of books from the UT Library before I moved and read a few of them --

Penelopiad, which I loved.

O Pioneers, which I also loved (to my own surprise).

Ready Player One, which I really had to force myself to finish.

and Rebecca, which took me over two weeks to finish and honestly I was unimpressed. 

These were all hard copies. 

I (finally!) got the audiobook of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows from Austin Public Library, so I listened to that this month. I have to admit it was weird to know that I've gone through the whole series in a year...that I was listening to the first HP while unpacking boxes in the Finley House, and listened to the seventh unpacking my apartment.

I decided I wanted to go see The Glass Castle, but should probably read it first, so I got the eBook from my school's library and read it in one sitting last weekend (it was a page-turner!). 

Of course, I was only here about four days before I had gotten a Dallas Public Library card and used it promptly to check out The Speed of Life, because my library is having the author, Carol Weston, come visit our school tomorrow. 

The screenplay, Carol, was available online for free, and The Secret Life of Bees I already owned (it was a re-read). 

All I have to say is, if you're not checking out books from four different libraries simultaneously, are you even a librarian? 

I will also share a recent librarian success: going to Barnes and Noble to buy a jigsaw puzzle and NOT BUYING ANY BOOKS, but coming home and putting the interesting titles on hold.

But I'll also share a recent librarian failure: I somehow lost a (second!!) library book, and had to pay to replace it. That was awkward.

And, fun fact, I did move library books to Dallas. You can decide if that's a success or failure amongst yourselves. All I have to say is, they're not due until January so WHY NOT?

gifs in July

so July went by really quickly and I am too lazy to actually write anything about any of the books I read, so here are some gifs. also I can do this and not feel bad about it because I've never done it before and it's a worthwhile experiment in the blogging process.

that feeling when a book you're excited to check off your TBR turns out to be really serious and sad (The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down)

Me after (finally) reading The Catcher in the Rye

Me trying to read the book club books (The Best Man and I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You) in time for our actual meetings

How I imagine Daniel feels trying to win over Natasha in The Sun is Also a Star

Me trying to understand The Unbearable Lightness of Being

My response to yet another romanticized Italy story (Love and Gelato)

How I picture Harper Lee and Truman Capote in Tru and Nelle

Me after reading Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

and lastly, me when people are surprised by how many books I read in a month

What Summer Reading Slump?

What did I do in June? Read, mostly. That and use lots of acronyms.

No, seriously. I read e-books online at work (almost) every morning (Anne series). I listened to audiobooks as I rode the bus to and from work (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince). And then I got home from work and my internship and just read plain old regular books while I was cooking, while I was eating, while I should have been doing homework, and while I was falling asleep (everything else, except In Cold Blood, because being murdered in your bed isn’t exactly what you want to read right as you lay in bed at night). I heard Angie Thomas speak and had her sign my book (!!) before she went to the ALA (American Library Association) conference, which I missed. But I followed as much as I could on Twitter, thanks to #alaac17, seeing tons of pictures of exciting awards and author talks and workshops and ARCs (Advanced Reading Copies). I read tons of picture books while I was planning my weekly ST (storytime). I’ve been having a total blast helping out with SRP (Summer Reading Program) as part of my internship, and learning more about ECRR2 (Every Child Ready to Read, v.2) -- practices that help librarians serve our youngest patrons better. And then I got used to throwing all these letters around and got lazy so the Middle Grade Graphic Novels I was reading became MG GNs and Anne of Green Gables became AOGG and To Kill a Mockingbird became TKAM. So if you want to talk to me now you have to keep up with basically just reading my mind and filling in whole words. JK (that means just kidding and it was the last acronym I’ll use in this post paragraph). Back to the books.

So this was one of the best nights of my life

A patron asked if we had any books like Rollergirl, which I not only hadn’t read, but hadn’t heard of, so I requested eight MG GNs from the library and knocked out one a day until I felt like I would be able to answer the question the next time. (for the record, I think Telegemeier’s stuff is alright -- I do love the Babysitter’s Club!! -- but my personal favorites in the stack were El Deafo and, actually, Rollergirl).

I stayed in the MG/YA track, reading Dumplin’ and Ramona Blue because I’d heard good things recently (verdict: fun, quick, reads; didn’t love either). The beginning of June was also abuzz with mixed reviews of “Anne with an E,” and since I didn’t really like Anne of Green Gables as a kid, I thought I’d give it a second chance. All I can say is that I’ve read through Anne of the Island now AND HOW ARE SHE AND GILBERT NOT MARRIED YET?! Not sure I’m invested enough to make it to the wedding, honestly. Also I realize that it was a different time and different lifestyle but seriously what human woman is proposed to that many times? I could actually see much value in AOGG this time around, but I am a little over it now.

I picked up Wonderstruck and Mockingbird from the library distribution shelf and took them home on a whim and am quite glad I did, as each provided an afternoon of enjoyment.

I also reread To Kill a Mockingbird this month for Teen Book Club. I remembered less that I thought and it took more time to finish than I thought, so a surprise all around. I suppose that’s what happens when you realize that book you “just reread” hasn’t actually been opened in SIX YEARS because that’s how long it’s been since you were a freshman in college. Between that and Harry Potter’s 20th birthday, I am basically feeling ancient. I have to use the abbreviations to keep up with the youth.

As aforementioned, I read In Cold Blood, which was a total thriller, an absolute page-turner, and utterly fascinating. I also found Big Little Lies a great page-turner: less creepy, more surprising.

I think I’ll watch the mini-series this weekend. I’m also interested in the In Cold Blood movie and “Anne with an E,” at least for an episode, just to try it, at least.

In which case, I should probably sign off. I’d say BRB, except I won’t be back until next month.

In that case: TTYL!

May Reads

Um, how is already June 1^st?! I cannot even handle 2017, y’all. And these next eight weeks are going to. be. cray. Just, you know, work, an online class, and doing my Capstone so I can be graduated in August. Time flies. Hopefully I’ll have some time to read (for fun!) in June and July, but we’ll see. I felt like I had to take advantage of my few short weeks of free time in May, just in case!

I read Their Eyes Were Watching God the first week of May, which has been on my list for about a year and a half, and just so happened to be the last book on my Modern American Novel syllabus. Y’all. It was so good. I was so hooked, so into it, literally gasping in the library, to the dismay of the other people in the silent study area. My bad on that one.

I read Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, which I picked up at a Half-Price Books back in December for $5 because I like the phrase “ordinary life,” before Amy Krouse Rosenthal wrote that viral NYT Modern Love piece and I finally realized who she was, even though I’ve read her books and (obviously) own a few of them. Of course I didn’t read it then, when I could’ve written her, as she mentions her own author correspondence with such affection; I could’ve said that I, too, think that an item’s minute size makes it cute, regardless of what it is, or that I also believe in hunger prevention, because who knows if that party will have snacks, and who wants to be grumpy at a snack-less party some dim-witted person held at dinnertime? So instead I have to content myself with the knowledge that had I read it in December, before I knew who she was, I might not have written to her then either, and even if I had, she might not have responded, so either way all I have is my agreements with certain entries.

I then started an essay collection by Anne Fadiman, At Large and At Small, which I picked up (also at Half-Price Books) because I so loved her collection Ex Libris. I took a break from it, though, to read Wonder in two days, which I wholeheartedly loved. (although the book is not perfect, and an excellent critical perspective can be found here). I finished the essay collection and then read The Taliban Shuffle while recuperating from nasal surgery, during which I felt another author connection, because Kim Barker mentions her own deviated septum and using her very limited vacation days to go back to America specifically for surgery. Obviously the whole foreign-correspondent, journalist-in-a-war-zone, meet-for-tea-with-the-Taliban thing wasn’t as relatable, but I still enjoyed the book.

 And then. THEN I got the email: my hold at the library for The Hate U Give had finally come in!! I swear I was number 300 on the list when I requested it; clearly some people decided just to buy the book instead. Anyway I *almost* didn’t go out with my friends that night because I wanted to read it, instead, but decided just to shorten my evening instead and stayed up until 3 in the morning finishing it. I don’t really know what to tell people beside “READ IT” without giving away spoilers or talking for ten minutes straight, so just read it, please. It is timely, honest, and moving. Atypically, I both laughed out loud and cried actual tears reading this book – often just within a chapter or two.

And then I needed a little pick-me-up, so I read Me and Marvin Gardens over the holiday weekend, which is a lovely little chapter book about friendship, discovery, and caring for the earth. I look forward to talking about in Tween Book Club at the library! Happy summer, all!