Musing about Blogging

I'm back! Again! I know, I've been completely neglecting this blog, and my only excuse is the trifecta of summer reading program, library school classes, and boyfriend time (he's home for the summer *grin*). But the fact is, I've also been avoiding blogging, because I feel like I need to change something, but I can't quite figure out which direction to go.

When I started this blog almost two years ago (!), I had no real plan, other than to write a short reviews/recommendations for every book I read, which, as I quickly found out, is easier said than done.

Back then, I was only working 20-30 hours a week, and hadn't yet started back to school. Now, I'm full-time, and working on my MLS. My classes require quite a bit of writing, and thus, posting to my blog feels more like homework than a hobby. To add to this, I still love to read, and in what little free time I have, I'd rather be reading than blogging.

So, I put off posting, and then I feel guilty, and then I put it off even more.

Therefore, I think it's time for a change.

Here's the plan. I will post, each week, at least three times:

• Mondays -- a round-up of everything I've read that week, with one sentence annotations, links to other reviews from around the blogosphere, and recommendations of a few similar titles.
• Thursdays -- something technology related. I really enjoyed doing the Web 2.0 posts in the fall, and I'd like to highlight ways in which this "geeky" stuff can be useful to librarians and bloggers.
• Some other time during the week, one longer review of a title I especially enjoyed, or that I feel really warrants commenting (for whatever reason).

To begin this, I'm going to post a series of round-up posts to cover the back-log of titles that I've been meaning to review... starting.... now!

*I don't like calling YA a genre, but there really is no better term.


***picture taken by me at age 5

8 things meme:

You all know the rules by now, right?

Since I've been tagged twice *...

1. When I find a new hobby, I can get very obsessed. My recent obsession: Genealogy. (previous hobbies obsessions include knitting, photo-editing, and earring-making). This could explain why I haven't been blogging very much lately.

2. I prefer to read books straight through, and I plan on doing so with the new Harry Potter when it comes out (though I might be willing to take a break for food... we'll see)

3. When I was in high school, my mom refused to get "that Internet thing" in our house, so I used to ride my bike to the library every Friday after school just to check my e-mail. Five miles each way! And then my mom thought I had a secret online boyfriend. ;)

4. I have over a hundred Snoopy stuffed animals. (see number 1). And I once got very bored, lined them all up, and took group photos.

5. When I was 5 or so, I liked to play "Library". My mom and I "cataloged" all my books (all 800 of them!) using our word-processor, and I made library cards for my dolls and stuffed animals.

6. My family was convinced that I was going to be a doctor because I liked reading books with sick people in them. Somehow they missed the whole book part of the equation. I even had a little apron that said "Doctor Sara." But hey, maybe I'll get a PhD...

7. I cannot stand Books about Talking Animals. Don't even get me started on Redwall.

8. Right now, I'm reading Dreamquake by Elizabeth Knox (and yes, I know that's completely cheating, but it's really good and I'd rather read it than come up with an eighth thing)

*well, Jackie took her tag back... but I still think that counts.

Sorry about the recent lack of posts… but I do have good excuses:

1. The library system that I work for has decided to restrict our access to certain websites, mostly for adult content, etc. I figured this wouldn’t be a big deal, but somehow I didn’t realize that the part about “personal network storage” would include Google Docs (which I use to write all of my blog posts). And while I know I could just use blogger (but it always messes up my formatting and then I have to edit the html), or do like I’m doing now and use Microsoft Word, Google Docs was just so much more convenient. (But they're working on it as we speak)

2. So I was driving home from work Monday night when I noticed a strange smell. The car driving along next to me looked older than mine, so I figured it was the source of the smell. Then, I was stopped at a light, and I noticed a cloud of smoke coming from the back of my car. And I figured it was the car behind me. Serious denial, I know. I just happened to look down at the temperature gauge, and what do you know, my car was seriously overheating. Turns out, part of the radiator had split open, so it needed to be replaced. (And this just a week after buying a full new set of tires and replacing two axles. Arg!)

3. I’m going up to NY again this weekend, so I’ve been spending all my free time packing and planning and baking and learning that when you put wax paper in the oven, it melts (don't ask.)

But I have been reading… so reviews should be posted shortly!

At the moment, a debate is raging through the kidlitosphere about the authority of bloggers versus that of print (paid) reviewers. The debate began with Read Roger.. and continued with Jen, Fuse #8, A. Fortis, Liz B., and many others. I'll let my fellow bloggers defend our craft -- since they do it so well.

But, it got me thinking about why I started this blog... and why I keep blogging.

I never really intended to write critical literary reviews -- I prefer to think of them as recommendations, as a way of telling other readers: "I loved this book, and here's why" (or perhaps... "I didn't love this book, so don't waste your time"*). And yes, my "reviews" may come across sometimes as gushing... and sometimes they are. I love books. I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't. So it's very rare that I actually strongly dislike anything I read.

Plus, I generally use the 50 page rule: If I can't get into the book within 50 pages, I move on and read something else. Take Octavian Nothing for example: Lauded by many critics, and winner of the National Book Award, I spent a week slogging through the first 100 pages and feeling guilty as my stack of Cybils ARC's kept getting bigger and bigger. Finally, after a week, I was whining to my boyfriend over the phone, and he said "Why don't you just read something else?"** So, when we got off the phone, I picked up The Rules of Survival and read it cover to cover. And it's not that Octavian Nothing was uninteresting, or badly written; I simply wasn't in the right mood. And I'm certainly not going to give it a bad review because of that.

But I had another reason, too. I was having a conversation with a co-worker who also reads a lot of YA (though her tastes run more towards fantasy), and I was trying to explain why I adored Looking for Alaska, and I couldn't put it into words. And this is something I want to be able to do, something I'm trying to practice through the writing of this blog. I want to be able to say something more that "I loved it" or "It was very interesting."

So, I'm blogging in hopes of becoming a better writer and a more critical reader, and to give readers one more place to look for recommendations and discuss titles.

I will also add that most of the titles I review (with the exception of most of the Cybils nominees) simply come from the library... so there's no "bribery" involved.

P.S. And if you're into the whole credentials thing: I have a BA (cum laude) from William and Mary in Hispanic Studies, and wrote my honors thesis on Children's/YA literature from Spain. I work as a para-professional in a public library, and I'm hoping to start an MLS in the fall. (And I've been reading YA for 10 years).

*But only in extreme cases like The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.

** Can you see why I love this boy?

Happy National Library Week!!!!!

And now, it's storytime.

The summer after I graduated from high school, my mom and I spent a week in Montreal.

It's a beautiful city, but the first night we were there, we were looking in a bookstore (that's just how we do things)... and I happened upon a display of a certain series of historical romances. They looked intriguing, so I picked one up... and this is what the rest of the trip looked like:

On a boat going down the river*... I was reading...

at the top of a mountain**... reading again...

I spent every minute of every subway, bus, boat, and train ride devouring these books, and somehow managed to read three whole 800+ page books in a week.

And you're probably wondering... what wonderful series of books am I talking about? Have you guessed it yet?

Outlander*** by Diana Gabaldon.

So, you can guess how happy, nay, how ecstatic I was to find out that Gabaldon herself is coming to my library system for National Library Week. Our library normally has an author come and give a talk, but usually, it's a local author, or someone who I've never heard of (which is probably more my fault than theirs, seeing as how I rarely read adult fiction).

*Please don't ask me what river, I clearly wasn't paying the least bit of attention

**Same goes for the mountain.

*** Granted, not technically YA books -- but as you can see from the pictures, I was clearly a teen when I read them (not that I look any older five years later)!

I'm back!!!!

And I had such a good time -- despite the cold weather. Seriously, on Tuesday the high was 20!!!! (of course, now that I'm home, it's in the fifties there -- just my luck). But we still got to do lots of touristy things, like Ellis Island, the MoMA, the Cloisters, FAO Schwartz ... And of course, we ate lots of very good food*.

Me in front of "Paperbacks" at the MoMA

So, now that I'm back from my little break, I've decided to make a few changes to this blog:

1) From now on, I'm going to review only the books that inspire me to talk about them (whether they're really good, or really bad, or just bring up some topic I really want to talk about). I've just been getting too bogged down in a huge backlog of reviews, which is making me not want to blog, which is therefore making me not want to read. Which is bad. Obviously.

You, my readers, probably won't notice much of a difference -- since I should still be posting as many reviews -- I just won't be quite as behind.

2) Also, I have an idea for a new project for this blog, so look for something new here around the beginning of April (since I'm insane, and the first book I chose for this project happens to be almost 600 pages, and not in my native tongue) And that's all I'm going to tell you for now;)

The original Winnie the Pooh and Friends at the branch of the NYPL across the street from the MoMA

*If you happen to be in Chinatown, look for Joe's Shanghai -- three words: Steamed Pork Buns. When you take a bite, broth just gushes out. So yummy. I'm not sure I can go back to eating the Virginian version of Chinese food after that.

Also, if you want to see more of my pictures from the trip -- see here (and pictures from my earlier trip to NY are here)

Don't expect any posts from me for the next week or so - -- I'm going on VACATION*!!!

to NEW YORK CITY!!!!

to spend the week with my boyfriend!!!!! *grin*

I'll be back next Saturday -- and then I'll try to get caught up on posting reviews!

And in case you're wondering -- that's the Statue of Liberty made out of Legos in the Toys R Us in Times Square.

Five Things You Probably Don't Know About Me

This meme has been circulating in the kidlitosphere and librariosphere (is there such a thing?) -- so here it is -- 5 things you probably don't know about me:

1. I've been reading since I was two, so I don't remember learning to read at all, and one of my biggest fears is that when I have children (not for at least another 6 years, I hope!), I won't know how to teach them to read.

2. Fifth Grade was my first odd-numbered grade -- I skipped first and third because I went to a private school so small that some of the classes were combined, and I could, you know, read already -- and then I transferred to public school and they made me repeat fourth grade because I was only 8!

3. Yesterday was my 22nd birthday; I worked 11 hours (3 at one library, 8 at another), and I didn't tell anyone at either library that it was my birthday!

4. My TV is in a box on the back porch, and we only take it out to watch the Olympics or when there's a hurricane -- but I love to check out British TV series from the library and watch them on my computer (I highly recommend Footballers Wives -- it's like a British version of Desperate Housewives)

5. I still live with my mom -- and I pay my rent by doing graphic design stuff for her. She's illustrated one book -- see this article -- and is working on another -- which involves me doing a lot of scanning, color editing, and printing. I'm still working on convincing her to let me make her a website.

You may have noticed that I sort of disappeared over the weekend -- this is where I was:

Downtown Manhattan from the plane on the way there

The New York Public Library

Me in the Metropolitan Museum of Art

My boyfriend goes to school in New York, so I went to visit him, and I had such a good time. He even took me to bookstores -- and I got signed copies of Nick and Norah and The Book Thief at Books of Wonder!

The Beginning

So, I'd been thinking for quite a while of creating a blog with reviews of all of the books I've been reading. I've even been writing reviews and blog entries in my head for the past couple weeks, but I never got around to actually doing this, until now.

In the end, this blog was sparked by a conversation with several of my coworkers. I work for one branch of a city library system, and I just found out that I'm being transferred to another library within the same system. And while I'm happy that I'll be at a library closer to my house, (and actually the library where I used to be a volunteer), I'm still really sad to be leaving. And what I'll miss the most will be all the conversations we have about the books we've been reading.
Everyday, when I get in to work, the first place I go is the staff holds shelf, to see what new books have come in for me, and to see what everyone else has on hold (to get ideas -- as if I actually needed more books to read).

Once, after a weekend off, I came in to find that a separate shelf had been labelled with my name because 15 books had come in for me all at once.

Another time, when a customer asked our youth librarian how she picks good books to read, she told her, half jokingly, that she looks at the holds shelf to see what I have on hold. (And of course, I've been known to do the same with her holds)

But of course, when everyone found out that I'm leaving, this sparked the question of how we could continue our book discussions. Someone suggested that I e-mail them lists of what I'm reading, I suggested just giving them my library card number so they could look at my account (I mean, who cares about privacy anyway?).

But then, I remembered that I'd been thinking about starting a blog, and so, this seemed the perfect time... so, here it is!