Sarah the Librarian

2023 Reading Challenges

2023-02-02T14:27:00.054-06:00

Total Books Read: 85 of 100

Read Books I Own: 9 of 15

He's Where the Joy Is: Getting to Know the Captivating God of the Trinity by Tara-Leigh Cobble
Anne of Ingleside by L. M. Montgomery (re-read)
Faraway: Fairy Tales for the Here and Now by Rainbow Rowell, et. al.
Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts by Rebecca Hall
The Truth About White Lies by Olivia A. Cole
Mark of the Raven by Morgan L. Busse
When Morning Comes by Arushi Raina
Revelation Bible Study: Extravagant Hope by Margaret Feinberg
Romans: Good News That Changes Everything by Melissa Spoelstra

Total Series Read/Caught Up On: 4 of 5

Beartown by Fredrik Backman
Loose Ends by Rebekah Weatherspoon
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
To Love Your Enemy by Jungyoon and Taegon

As for subject matter reading, I love doing Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge, even if I simultaneously chafe at someone else telling me what to read, leaving me scrambling to finish the last few challenges at the end of the year.

Read Harder Challenges Completed: 23 of 24

Read a novel about a trans character written by a trans author

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

Read one of your favorite author's [Emily Henry] favorite books

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Read a book about activism

When They Call You a Terrorist by Patrisse Khan-Cullors
How To Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell

Read a book that's been challenged recently in your area OR read one of the most challenged/banned books of the year by a queer and/or BIPOC author

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Read a completed webcomic

To Love Your Enemy by Jungyoon and Taegon

Finish a book you've DNFed

The Odyssey by Homer

Listen to an audiobook performed by a POC of a book written by an AOC

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas, narrated by Avi Roque
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, narrated by the author
The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang, narrated by Brian Nishii and Natalie Naudus
When They Call You a Terrorist by Patrisse Khan-Cullors, narrated by the author
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer, narrated by the author
Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley, narrated by Isabella Star LaBlanc

Read a graphic novel/manga if you haven't before; or read one that is a different genre than you normally read

Through the Woods by Emily Carroll

Read an independently published book by a BIPOC author

Xeni by Rebekah Weatherspoon
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Read a book you know nothing about based solely on the cover

The Truth About White Lies by Olivia A. Cole
Bruce and the Legend of Soggy Hollow by Ryan T. Higgins

Read a cookbook cover to cover
Read a nonfiction book about BIPOC and/or queer history

Singled Out by Andrew Maraniss
Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts by Rebecca Hall

Read an author local to you

Accidentally in Love by Danielle Jackson
Lumberjanes, Vol. 9 by Kat Leyh
Lumberjanes, Vol. 10 by Kat Leyh
Lumberjanes, Vol. 11 by Kat Leyh
Lumberjanes, Vol. 13 by Kat Leyh

Read a book with under 500 Goodreads ratings

He's Where the Joy Is: Getting to Know the Captivating God of the Trinity by Tara-Leigh Cobble
Singled Out by Andrew Maraniss
Faithful Families for Lent by Traci Smith
Faraway: Fairy Tales for the Here and Now by Rainbow Rowell, etc.
Real Girl by Sarah Bellamy
Bruce and the Legend of Soggy Hollow by Ryan T. Higgins
When Morning Comes by Arushi Raina
Revelation Bible Study: Extravagant Hope by Margaret Feinberg

Read a historical fiction book set in an Eastern country

Insurrecto by Gina Apostol

Read a romance with bisexual representation

Xeni by Rebekah Weatherspoon
The Stand-Up Groomsman by Jackie Lau
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (I know, not technically a romance, but the love story is a main plot point)

Read a YA book by an Indigenous author

Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley

Read a comic or graphic novel that features disability representation

A Silent Voice, Vol. 1 by Yohitoki Oima

Read a nonfiction book about intersectional feminism

Read a book of poetry by a BIPOC or queer author

Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman

Read a book of short stories

Faraway: Fairy Tales for the Here and Now by Rainbow Rowell, et. al.

Read any book from the Ignyte awards shortlist/longlist winner list

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

Read a social horror, mystery, or thriller novel

Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth

Pick a challenge from any of the previous years' challenges to repeat

A Book where the dog doesn't die - Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
... and countless others, I was just bummed I couldn't finish the book where a dog doesn't die the year it came up

I'll also continue reading about American Presidents and their families, but I'm not setting any quota for this year, and will record my progress on my Presidential Reading List entry.

2022 Reading Resolutions

2022-01-08T11:59:00.056-06:00

One hundred books per year generally seems to work for me, so I'm not going to change what's been working for me.

Total Books Read: 92 of 100

I'm going to try to stretch a little on reading books I own, since belonging to a Bible study where I end up buying about 8 of the books I read a year made 10 a little too easy.

Books I Own Read: 16 of 15

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein
Disappeared by Francisco X. Stork
Trustworthy: Overcoming Our Greatest Struggles to Trust God by Lysa TerKeurst
Be More RBG by Marilyn Easton
Not Your Sidekick by C. B. Lee
Stay Gold by Tobly McSmith
Secret Soldiers: How the U.S. Twenty Third Special Troops Fooled the Nazis by Paul B. Janeczko
The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar
Never Look Back by Lilliam Rivera
A Brief History of Fascist Lies by Federico Finchelstein
Sex Lives of the Roman Emperors by Nigel Cawthorne
American Royalty by Tracey Livesay
Jude by Jackie Hill Perry
The Music of What Happens by Bill Konigsberg
Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson
Yesterday Is History by Kosoko Jackson

I just want to keep reminding myself to finish what I start (at least if I'm into it, I'm going to go ahead and keep a series completion goal of 5.

Total Series Read/Caught Up On: 3 of 5

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (read in 2 volumes)
Modern Love by Alisha Rai
Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson

Read Harder Challenges Completed: 24 of 24

Read a biography of an author you admire.

Pastrix by Nadia Bolz-Weber
Paul by N.T. Wright

Read a book set in a bookstore.

Book Lovers by Emily Henry

Read any book from the Women’s Prize shortlist/longlist/winner list.

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Read a book in any genre by a POC that’s about joy and not trauma.

Rafe: A Buff Male Nanny by Rebekah Weatherspoon
Digging Up Love by Chandra Blumberg
Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
Blackout by Dhonielle Clayton
First Comes Like by Alisha Rai
Yesterday Is History by Kosoko Jackson
The Bride Test by Helen Hoang

Read an anthology featuring diverse voices.

Blackout by Dhonielle Clayton

Read a nonfiction YA comic.

Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return by Marjane Satrapi

Read a romance where at least one of the protagonists is over 40.

Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory

Read a classic written by a POC.

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

Read the book that’s been on your TBR the longest.

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein

Read a political thriller by a marginalized author (BIPOC, or LGBTQIA+).

While Justice Sleeps by Stacey Abrams

Read a book with an asexual and/or aromantic main character.

Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe

Read an entire poetry collection.

The Witch Doesn't Burn in This One by Amanda Lovelace
The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur

Read an adventure story by a BIPOC author.

The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin
The Obelisk Gate by N. K. Jemisin

Read a book whose movie or TV adaptation you’ve seen (but haven’t read the book).

The Martian by Andy Weir
Spy x Family by Tatsuya Endo
The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

Read a new-to-you literary magazine (print or digital).

Uncanny Magazine

Read a book recommended by a friend with different reading tastes.

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein

Read a memoir written by someone who is trans or nonbinary.

Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe

Read a “Best ____ Writing of the year” book for a topic and year of your choice.

The Martian by Andy Weir
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
The Witches by Roald Dahl

Read a horror novel by a BIPOC author.

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

Read an award-winning book from the year you were born.

The Witches by Roald Dahl

Read a queer retelling of a classic of the canon, fairytale, folklore, or myth.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Read a history about a period you know little about.

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford

Read a book by a disabled author.

Broken (in the Best Possible Way) by Jenny Lawson

Pick a challenge from any of the previous years’ challenges to repeat!

2021 - Read a food memoir from an AOC - Love, Loss, and What We Ate by Padma Lakshmi
probably lot's more, but that was one for 2021 that I didn't finish in time to count for that year

I'll also continue reading about American Presidents and their families, but I'm not setting any quota for this year, and will record my progress on my Presidential Reading List entry.

2021 Reading Resolutions

2021-01-01T01:13:00.065-06:00

My 2021 Book Challenge on Goodreads

Yet again, I'm going for 100 books. I'm choosing to be optimistic about 2021 being less of a dumpster fire than 2020, or at the very least, I figured out that I can fly through romances even when the world is burning down around me.

Total Books Read: 106 of 100

I'm going back to finishing 10 books that I own. 2020 has given me a serious case of chasing shiny new things, so I really haven't been in the mood to read stuff I own.

Books I Own Read: 12 of 10

Elijah: Faith and Fire by Priscilla Shirer
Tabby in the Tub by Ben M. Baglio
Now That Faith Has Come: A Study of Galatians by Beth Moore and Melissa Moore
We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom
No Reading Allowed: The WORST Read-Aloud Book Ever by Raj Haldar
Get Out of Your Head Study Guide: A Study in Philippians by Jennie Allen
A Rhythm of Prayer: A Collection of Meditations for Renewal by Sarah Bessey
Love Does Study Guide: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World by Bob Goff
A Pizza With Everything On It by Kyle Scheele
Klawde, Evil Alien Warlord Cat by Johnny Marciano
With Us in the Wilderness: A Study of Numbers by Lauren Chandler
Truthfilled by Ruth Chou Simons

Let's go with the goal of finishing 5 series.

Total Series Read/Caught Up On: 5 of 5

Court of Thorns and Roses Series by Sarah J. Maas (release date for #5 TBD)
Old West Series by Beverly Jenkins
Age Matters by Enjelicious
My Hero Academia by Kohei Horikoshi (next English volume expected March 2022)
The Brown Sisters by Talia Hibbert

As for subject matter reading, I love doing Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge, even though last year it quickly became not my highest reading priority.

Read Harder Challenges Completed: 22 of 24

Read a book you've been intimidated to read

Dune by Frank Herbert

Read a nonfiction book about anti-racism

How to Be Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? by Beverly Daniel Tatum

Read a non-European (graphic) novel in translation

Age Matters, Season 1 by Enjelicious
Cursed Princess Club, Season 1 by LambCat
To Love Your Enemy, Season 1 by Jeongyun
The Witch and the Bull, Season 1 by Moonsia
Cursed Princess Club, Season 2 by LambCat
The Remarried Empress, Season 1 by Alphatart
The Devil Is a Part-Timer, Volume 15 by Satoshi Wagahara
The Devil Is a Part-Timer, Volume 16 by Satoshi Wagahara
My Hero Academia, Volume 20 by Kohei Horikoshi
My Hero Academia, Volume 21 by Kohei Horikoshi
My Hero Academia, Volume 22 by Kohei Horikoshi
My Hero Academia, Volume 23 by Kohei Horikoshi
My Hero Academia, Volume 24 by Kohei Horikoshi
Miss Widow by Rose Estelle
My Hero Academia, Volume 25 by Kohei Horikoshi
Cursed Princess Club, Season 3 by LambCat
My Hero Academia, Volume 26 by Kohei Horikoshi
My Hero Academia, Volume 27 by Kohei Horikoshi
My Hero Academia, Volume 28 by Kohei Horikoshi
Age Matters, Season 2 by Enjelicious
Demon Slayer, Volume 1 by Koyoharu Gotouge
Demon Slayer, Volume 2 by Koyoharu Gotouge
The Way of the Househusband, Volume 1 by Kousuke Oono
A Man and His Cat, Volume 1 by Umi Sakurai
My Hero Academia, Volume 29 by Kohei Horikoshi
The Way of the Househusband, Volume 2 by Kousuke Oono
The Way of the Househusband, Volume 3 by Kousuke Oono
A Man and His Cat, Volume 2 by Umi Sakurai

Read an LGBTQ+ history book

started - Queer, There and Everywhere by Sarah Prager

Read a genre novel by an Indigenous, First Nations, or Native American author

Literary - There There by Tommy Orange
Romance - Taking on the Billionaire by Robin Covington

Read a fanfic

Samantha Comes to Town by FriendvilleFan

Read a fat-positive romance

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert
Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert

Read a romance by a trans or nonbinary author

I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver

Read a middle grade mystery

Me, Frida, and the Peacock Ring by Angela Cervantes

Read a SFF anthology edited by a person of color

New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color edited by Nisi Shawl

Read a food memoir by an author of color

started Love, Loss, and What We Ate: A Memoir by Padma Lakshmi

Read a book of investigative nonfiction by an author of color

Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? by Beverly Daniel Tatum

Read a book with a cover you don't like

Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert

Read a realistic YA book not set in the U.S., U.K., or Canada

Persepolis, Volume 1 by Marjane Satrapi

Read a memoir by a Latinx author

My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor

Read an own voices book about disability

Sitting Pretty: The View From My Ordinary, Resilient, Disabled Body by Rebekah Taussig

Read an own voices YA book with a Black main character that isn't about Black pain

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

Read a book by/about a non-Western world leader

Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff

Read a historical fiction with a POC or LGBTQ+ protagonist

The Sisters Matsumoto by Philip Kan Gotanda
Breathless by Beverly Jenkins
Tempest by Beverly Jenkins

Read a book of nature poems

The Farm by Wendell Berry

Read a children's book that centers a disabled character, but not their disability

The Snow Rabbit by Camille Garoche

Read a book set in the Midwest

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez

Read a book that demystifies a common mental illness

I Wish You All The Best by Mason Deaver
Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez
Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert

Read a book featuring a beloved pet, where the pet doesn't die

Tabby in the Tub by Ben M. Baglio
A Man and His Cat, Volume 1 by Umi Sakurai
Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat by Johnny Marciano
The Quest for Snacks by Susie Yi
A Man and His Cat, Volume 2 by Umi Sakurai

I'll also continue reading about American Presidents and their families, but I'm not setting any quota for this year, and will record my progress on my Presidential Reading List entry.

2020 Reading Resolutions

2020-01-06T17:06:00.023-06:00

Yet again, I'm going for 100 books. I was so close last year at 98 books, but was more interested in finishing the Read Harder challenge, so I didn't pile on with a bunch of manga or romance novels to pad my total. This year, I'm going to try to accomplish both.

Total Books Read: 85 of 100

Last year I forgot how joining a Bible Study that buys their own books would boost my total in the books I own category, so I'm going to boost my goal to 15, from last year's 10.

Books I Own Read: 9 of 15

Love Poems For People With Children by John Kenney
Better: A Study of Hebrews by Jen Wilkin
Chasing Vines Group Experience: Finding Your Way to an Immensely Fruitful Life by Beth Moore
Jesus and Women: The First Century and Now by Kristi McClelland
Feminist Cross-Stitch: 30 Bold Fierce Patterns by Stephanie Rohr
Matchless: The Life and Love of Jesus by Angie Smith
O Come, O Come Emmanuel: An Advent Study by Lifeway Women
The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
We Will Rock Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins

Since one of the Read Harder Goals involves finishing a series, I'm going to be optimistic and go with finishing 10 series.

Total Series Read/Caught Up On: 6 of 10

The Sky Chasers Trilogy by Amy Kathleen Ryan
My Brother's Husband by Gengoroh Tagame
Heartbreaker Bay by Jill Shalvis
Fruits Basket Another by Natsuki Takaya
Rancho Destino by Beverly Jenkins
The Rajes by Sonali Dev (no more books planned for this year)

As for subject matter reading, I loved doing Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge last year, so I'm excited to see where it will take me in 2020.

Read Harder Challenges Completed: 15 of 24

Read a YA nonfiction book

Lincoln's Grave Robbers by Steve Sheinkin
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds

Read a retelling of a classic of the canon, fairytale, or myth by an author of color

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev
Children of Vengeance and Virtue by Tomi Adeyemi
Recipe for Persuasion by Sonali Dev

Read a mystery where the victim(s) is not a woman
Read a graphic memoir

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei

Read a book about a natural disaster
Read a play by an author of color and/or queer author
Read a historical fiction novel not set in WWII

Scandal's Bride by Stephanie Laurens
Away in Montana by Jane Porter
Never Seduce a Scot by Maya Banks
My One and Only Duke by Grace Burrowes
Destiny's Embrace by Beverly Jenkins
Kindred by Octavia Butler
Forbidden by Beverly Jenkins
Destiny's Surrender by Beverly Jenkins
Destiny's Captive by Beverly Jenkins
Burn Baby Burn by Meg Medina

Read an audiobook of poetry

An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo

Read the LAST book in a series

Flame by Amy Kathleen Ryan (last in the Sky Chasers Trilogy)
My Brother's Husband, Volume 2 by Gengoroh Tagame
Fruits Basket Another, Volume 3 by Natsuki Takaya
Destiny's Captive by Beverly Jenkins
Party of Two by Jasmine Guillory

Read a book that takes place in a rural setting

As Brave As You by Jason Reynolds
Shelter Mountain by Robyn Carr
Scandal's Bride by Stephanie Laurens
Away in Montana by Jane Porter
Never Seduce a Scot by Maya Banks
Destiny's Embrace by Beverly Jenkins
Kindred by Octavia Butler
Destiny's Captive by Beverly Jenkins

Read a debut novel by a queer author

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
Something to Talk About by Meryl Wilsner

Read a memoir by someone from a religious tradition (or lack of religious tradition) that is not your own

Daring to Drive: A Saudi Woman's Awakening by Manal Al-Sharif

Read a food book about a cuisine you’ve never tried before

What She Ate: Six Remarkable Women and the Food That Tells Their Stories by Laura Shapiro

Read a romance starring a single parent

Shelter Mountain by Robyn Carr
Destiny's Surrender by Beverly Jenkins
You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria

Read a book about climate change

Read a doorstopper (over 500 pages) published after 1950, written by a woman

Louisa: The Extraordinary Life of Mrs. Adams by Louisa Thomas
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
The Once and Future Witches by Alix Harrow

Read a sci-fi/fantasy novella (under 120 pages)

Read a picture book with a human main character from a marginalized community

The Rough-Faced Girl by Rafe Martin (re-read)
Sulwe by Lupita Nyong'o
Cendrillon by Robert San Souci

Read a book by or about a refugee

Read a middle grade book that doesn’t take place in the U.S. or the UK

Read a book with a main character or protagonist with a disability (fiction or non)

Never Seduce a Scot by Maya Banks
The Space Between Us by Alison Gervais

Read a horror book published by an indie press

Read an edition of a literary magazine (digital or physical)

Read a book in any genre by a Native, First Nations, or Indigenous author

An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo

I'll also continue reading about American Presidents and their families, but I'm not setting any quota for this year, and will record my progress on my Presidential Reading List entry.

2019 Reading Resolutions

2019-01-17T13:27:00.000-06:00

Yet again, I'm going for 100 books. I've been getting pretty good at doing this every year, but every year in December I think I'm not going to make it, so I think this is a number that works for me.

Total Books Read: 98 of 100 - so close!!!

I blame my job for my lack of progress each year on reading books I already own. I'll try to be even more realistic this year, and try to get through 10 books I own.

Books I Own Read: 14 of 10

Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone by Brene Brown
Glutton for Pleasure by Alisha Rai
Archenemies by Marissa Meyer
The Sermon on the Mount by Jen Wilkin
Alex and Eliza by Melissa de la Cruz
The One and Only Iva n by Katherine Applegate
Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey
Psalm 23: The Shepherd With Me by Jennifer Rothschild
Who Was Theodore Roosevelt? by Michael Burgan
Waterfalls by Robin Jones Gunn
Spill by Leigh Fondakowski
The Faithful: Heroes from the Old Testament by Priscilla Shirer, Kelly Minter, Beth Moore, Jennifer Rothschild, and Lisa Harper
Dog Man: For Whom the Ball Rolls by Dav Pilkey
Me, Myself, and Lies: A Thought Closet Makeover by Jennifer Rothschild
20/20: Seen, Chosen, Sent by Christine Caine

Yet again I'll go with 5 series, just to keep myself working my way through series I like and discarding series I'm done with. I'm guessing I'll blow through that number again this year, but it all depends on how much I like the various series I tackle, so 5 gives me room to give up on series that aren't working for me.

Total Series Read/Caught Up On: 9 of 5

Forbidden Hearts by Alisha Rai
Beartown/Bjornstad by Frederik Backman
Narwhal and Jelly by Ben Clanton
Pleasure Series by Alisha Rai
March by John Lewis
The Wicked Quills of London by Eva Leigh
Denton Little by Lance Rubin
Sutherland Scandals by Anna Bradley
The Devil Is A Part-Timer by Satoshi Wagahara (next issue hasn't been translated into English yet)

As for subject matter reading, I had sort of mixed results last year, so this year I'm going to try something different and do Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge for 2019, where you read at least one book on a variety of topics. I'm curious to see how I do and I suspect this will ease some of my desire to read something a little different.

Read Harder Challenges Completed: 24 of 24

an epistolary novel or collection of letters

A Song for the Stars by Ilima Todd

an alternate history novel

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

a book by a woman or author of color that won a literary award in 2018

Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas - winner of the GoodReads Award for Young Adult Fantasy and Science-Fiction 2018
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds - winner of the Edgar YA Award 2018

a humor book

Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets by Dav Pilkey
Of Mess and Moxie: Wrangling Delight Out of This Wild and Glorious Life by Jen Hatmaker
Dog Man: For Whom the Ball Rolls by Dav Pilkey

a book by a journalist or about journalism

Storm Lake: A Chronicle of Change, Resilience, and Hope from a Heartland Newspaper by Art Cullen

a book by an author of color set in or about space

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

an #ownvoices book set in Mexico or Central America

Gods of Jade and Sorrow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

an #ownvoices book set in Oceania

A Song for the Stars by Ilima Todd

a book published prior to January 1, 2019 with fewer than 100 reviews on Goodreads

Serving Pleasure by Alisha Rai - 97 reviews
Sermon on the Mount by Jen Wilkin - 24 reviews
Psalm 23: The Shepard With Me by Jennifer Rothschild - 9 reviews
The Faithful: Heroes of the Old Testament by Priscilla Shirer, Kelly Minter, Beth Moore, Jennifer Rothschild, and Lisa Harper
20/20: Seen, Chosen, Sent by Christine Caine

a translated book written and/or translated by a woman

My Brother's Husband, Vol. 1 by Gengoroh Tagame, translated by Anne Ishi

a book of manga

My Hero Academia, Vol. 17 by Kohei Horikoshi
The Devil Is a Part-Timer, Vol. 13 by Satoshi Wagahara
The Devil Is a Part-Timer, Vol. 14 by Satoshi Wagahara
My Brother's Husband, Vol. 1 by Gengoroh Tagame
InuYasha, Vol. 1 by Rumiko Takahashi

a book in which an animal or inanimate object is a point-of-view character

Watership Down by Richard Adams
The One and Only Ivan by Karen Applegate
Dog Man: For Whom the Ball Rolls by Dav Pilkey

a book by or about someone who identifies as neurodiverse

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
Monday's Not Coming by Tiffany Jackson

a cozy mystery

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley

a book of mythology or folklore

Circe by Madeleine Miller
Gods of Jade and Sorrow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

an historical novel by an author of color

Alex and Eliza by Melissa de la Cruz
Through the Storm by Beverly Jenkins
Winds of the Storm by Beverly Jenkins
Gods of Jade and Sorrow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

a business book

#GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso

a novel by a trans or non-binary author

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

a book of nonviolent true crime

The Library Book by Susan Orlean

a book written in prison

The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row by Anthony Ray Hinton

a comic by an LGBTQIA author

My Brother's Husband, Vol. 1 by Gengoroh Tagame

a children's or middle grade book (not YA) that has won a diversity award since 2009

The Stars Beneath Our Feet by David Barclay Moore (2018 John Steptoe New Talent Author Award)

a self-published book

Glutton for Pleasure by Alisha Rai
Serving Pleasure by Alisha Rai
Opening Day: A Bad Boys of Summer Short Romance by Amber Lynne Hughes
Confessions by Tiffany Reisz

a collection of poetry published since 2014

Love Poems for Married People by John Kenney (2018)
Booked by Kwame Alexander (2016)
The Princess Saves Herself in This One by Amanda Lovelace (2016)
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds (2017)

I'll also continue reading about American Presidents and their families, but I'm not setting any quota for this year, and will record my progress on my Presidential Reading List entry.

2018 Reading Resolutions

2018-01-15T21:51:00.000-06:00

As usual I'll be attempting to read 100 books in 2018.

Total Books Read: 102 of 100

I'm also going to valiantly try to read 20 books I own and get through the backlog on my bookcase. It would really help if I didn't do so much of my reading on audio (nearly all of which are borrowed at work) or get distracted when I'm looking for my next print read by all the pretty books at work.

Books I Own: 2 of 20

Growing Up Country: Memories of an Iowa Farm Girl by Carol Bodensteiner
Say No to the Bro by Kat Helgeson

I'm also adjusting my series finishing goal this year. Life is too short to spend finishing series I only feel meh about, so finishing 5 series this year is plenty.

Series Finished/Caught Up: 10 of 5

The War That Saved My Life Series by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Six of Crows Series by Leigh Bardugo
A Narwhal and Jelly Book Series by Ben Clanton
His Fair Assassin Series by Robin LaFevers (next book expected in 2019)
A Court of Thorns and Roses Series by Sarah J. Maas (next book expected in 2019)
Creekwood Series by Becky Albertalli
Heartbreaker Bay Series by Jill Shalvis (next book expected in 2019)
The Devil Is a Part-Timer by Satoshi Wagahara (next book expected in 2019)
Track Series by Jason Reynolds
My Hero Academia by Kohei Horikoshi (next book expected in 2019)

As for subject matter reading, I posted last year about my Presidential Reading List. I'm not going to put any time restrictions on that list, but for this year I'm putting Presidents and Presidential Families on my subject reading lists, so I at least make some forward progress. Since reading a little on a few subjects went so well last year I'm going to do it again, rounding out the subjects with How to Be a Better You, Funny Books, and How to Make a Better World.

Presidents/Presidency: 8 of 10

George Washington by James MacGregor Burns
John Adams by John Patrick Diggins
Thomas Jefferson by Joyce Appleby
Hottest Heads of State: Volume One: The American Presidents by J.D. and Kate Dobson
James Madison by Gary Wills
James Monroe by Gary Hart
John Quincy Adams by Harlow Giles Unger
American Lion: A Biography of President Andrew Jackson by Jon Meacham

Presidential Families: 1 of 10

First Family: Abigail and John Adams by Joseph J. Ellis

How to Be a Better You: 3 of 10

Acedia and Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life by Kathleen Norris
Your Six-Year-Old: Loving and Defiant by Louise Bates Ames
Your Four-Year-Old: Wild and Wonderful by Louise Bates Ames

Funny Books: 10 of 10

Erotic Stories For Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal
Super Narwhal and Jelly Jolt by Ben Clanton
The Devil Is a Part-Timer, Vol. 8 by Satoshi Wagahara
The Devil Is a Part-Timer, Vol. 9 by Satoshi Wagahara
The Devil Is a Part-Timer, Vol. 10 by Satoshi Wagahara
Hottest Heads of State: Volume One: The American Presidents by J.D. and Kate Dobson
srsly Hamlet by Courtney Carbone
Peanut Butter and Jelly by Ben Clanton
The Devil Is a Part-Timer, Vol. 11 by Satoshi Wagahara
The Devil Is a Part-Timer, Vol. 12 by Satoshi Wagahara

How to Make a Better World: 5 of 10

That's What She Said: What Men Need to Know (and Women Need to Tell Them) about Working Together by Joanne Lipman
March: Book One by John Robert Lewis
Me and Marvin Gardens by A. S. King
March: Book Two by John Robert Lewis
We Will Not Be Silent: The White Rose Student Resistance Movement That Defied Adolf Hitler by Russell Freedman

Presidental Reading List

2017-10-11T09:00:00.166-05:00

Ever since my grandmother bought a book about all the presidents for one of my early birthdays, I've had a bit of an obsession with the (so far only) men who've occupied the highest office in the nation. This has manifested itself in various ways over the years, but with my recent obsession with reading lists, I've decided to go ahead and try to read a book about each President in order.

#1 - George Washington - George Washington by Ron Chernow - finished 10/23/2017

#1 - George Washington - George Washington by John MacGregor Burns - finished 2/8/2018

#1 - George Washington - You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington by Alexis Coe - finished 1/3/2021

#2 - John Adams - John Adams by David McCullough - finished c. 7/2003

#2 - John Adams - John Adams by John Patrick Diggins - finished 2/16/2018

#3 - Thomas Jefferson - Thomas Jefferson by Joyce Appleby - finished 3/1/2018

#4 - James Madison - James Madison by Gary Wills - finished 3/14/2018

#5 - James Monroe - James Monroe by Gary Hart - finished 7/15/2018

#6 - John Quincy Adams - John Quincy Adams by Harlow Giles Unger - finished 8/19/2018

#7 - Andrew Jackson - American Lion: A Biography of President Andrew Jackson by Jon Meacham - finished 10/22/2018

#8 - Martin Van Buren - Martin Van Buren by Ted Widner - finished 7/30/2019

#9 - William Henry Harrison - William Henry Harrison by Gail Collins - finished 2/23/21

#10 - John Tyler - John Tyler, the Accidental President by Edward P. Crapol - finished 8/5/21

#11 - James K. Polk

#12 - Zachary Taylor

#13 - Millard Fillmore

#14 - Franklin Pierce

#15 - James Buchanan

#16 - Abraham Lincoln

#17 - Andrew Johnson

#18 - Ulysses S. Grant

#19 - Rutherford B. Hayes

#20 - James A. Garfield

#21 - Chester A. Arthur

#22 & #24 - Grover Cleveland

#23 - Benjamin Harrison

#25 - William McKinley

#26 - Theodore Roosevelt - Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris - finished 8/28/2016

#26 - Theodore Roosevelt - Who Was Thedore Roosevelt? by Michael Burgan - finished 6/24/2019

#27 - William Howard Taft

#28 - Woodrow Wilson

#29 - Warren G. Harding

#30 - Calvin Coolidge

#31 - Herbert Hoover

#32 - Franklin D. Roosevelt

#33 - Harry Truman

#34 - Dwight Eisenhower

#35 - John F. Kennedy - Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot by Bill O'Reilly - finished 2/15/2014

#36 - Lyndon B. Johnson

#37 - Richard M. Nixon

#38 - Gerald Ford

#39 - Jimmy Carter

#40 - Ronald Reagan

#41 - George H. W. Bush

#42 - Bill Clinton

#43 - George W. Bush

#44 - Barack Obama

#45 - Donald Trump

#46 - Joe Biden

As I'm working my way through the Presidents, I'm finding two different sets of criteria for ranking

Best Presidents - solely the accomplishments of their term in the office of PotUS

Washington
Jackson
Jefferson
Monroe
Madison
Van Buren
Adams Sr.
Adams Jr.
Tyler
Harrison

Personal Favorites - looking at their life as a whole, who do I want to spend time with the most

Washington
Adams, Jr.
Adams, Sr.
Harrison
Monroe
Van Buren
Jackson
Madison
Jefferson
Tyler

I've also decided to include some books I've read about the presidency, since it's always been a fascinating topic to me

Your Presidential Fantasy Dream Team by Daniel O'Brien - finished 12/31/2016
In the Shadow of Liberty: The Hidden History of Slavery, Four Presidents, and Five Black Lives by Kenneth C. Davis - finished 7/30/2017
Hottest Heads of State: Volume One: The American Presidents by John and Kate Dobson - finished 3/9/2018
The Carnival Campaign: How the Rollicking 1840 Campaign of "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" Changed Elections Forever by Ronald G. Shafer - finished 8/13/2019
Heirs of the Founders: The Epic Rivalry of Henry Clay, John Calhoun and Daniel Webster, the Second Generation of American Giants by H. W. Brands - finished 10/28/21 (not strictly about the Presidency, but these men all tried to be President and were arguably more important than any President that served during their time in Congress)

Here's some resources I'm finding helpful while working on this reading project:

And since no man is an island, here are some books about First Ladies and other members of Presidential families (including those not legitimately recognized).

#2 - Abigail Adams - First Family: John and Abigail Adams by Joseph J. Ellis - finished 9/23/2018

#3 - Sally Hemmings - The Hemmingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon-Reed - finished 1/27/2019

#6 - Louisa Adams - Louisa: The Extraordinary Life of Mrs. Adams by Louisa Thomas - finished 3/27/20

#43 - Laura Bush - Spoken From the Heart by Laura Bush - finished 6/13/2010

#44 - Michelle Obama - Becoming by Michelle Obama - finished 5/3/2019

2017 Reading Resolutions

2017-01-03T10:25:00.000-06:00

Last year, I just barely squeaked out my 100 books, so I'm going to do attempt doing the same this year.

Total Books: 102 of 100

My year of reading in review on GoodReads

As in previous years, I'd also like to focus on reading books I own that have been languishing on my shelves. I'll be a little more realistic in my goal, though, and try to make this year the first I actually reach this particular milestone.

Books I Own: 16 of 25

The Elephants in My Backyard: A Memoir by Rajiv Surendra
Never Broken: Songs Are Only Half the Story by Jewel
Suddenly One Summer by Julie James
On the Construction Site by Carron Brown
On the Space Station by Carron Brown
Secrets of the Seashore by Carron Brown
Scarlett Epstein Hates it Here by Anna Breslaw
Breaking Character by Cameron Grey
Finanicial Peace Junior: Teaching Kids How to Win With Money by Dave Ramsey
The Wedding Trap by Adrienne Bell
The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins by Dr. Seuss
Mother Bruce by Ryan T. Higgins
Hotel Bruce by Ryan T. Higgins
Bruce's Big Move by Ryan T. Higgins
My Little Pony: The Movie: Friend or Foe by Magnolia Belle
American Gods by Neil Gaiman

I still want to focus on finishing series (or dropping them as soon as I lose interest), so I'd like to complete (or at least stay current) with my usual 10 series this year. Every year I think this will be harder and harder to accomplish as I cross more series off my list, but so many books I like turn into series that maybe this is just the way of things.

Series Finished/Caught Up: 5 of 10

The Original Sinners: The White Years by Tiffany Reisz
The Black Dagger Brotherhood by J. R. Ward (okay, technically I didn't finish this, but from what I can tell, everything after Qhuinn and Blay is crap, and I got through 12 books, so that seems like it deserves credit)
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (book #3.5 is scheduled for 2018)
Heart Breaker Bay by Jill Shalvis (book #5 is scheduled for 2018)
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas (book #7 is scheduled for 2018)

My thematic goals are going to be a little ambitious this year and I'm not super worried about whether I meet them as long as I attempt it. I've really fallen in love with nonfiction on audio and that's how I do the majority of my reading, and I'm really feeling called to listen to some serious topics. In contrast, I want to read light and/or quick fiction, so I'll focus on romance and graphic novels.

Revolutionary War/Founding Fathers History: 8 of 10

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
1776 by David McCullough
In the Shadow of Liberty: The Hidden History of Slavery, Four Presidents, and Five Black Lives by Kenneth C. Davis
Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution by Nathaniel Philbrick
Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation by Cokie Roberts
Washington by Ron Chernow
Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin by Jill Lepore
Iroquois Diplomacy on the Early American Frontier by Timothy J. Shannon

Feminism/Strong Women: 13 of 10

Settle For More by Megyn Kelly
Never Broken: Songs Are Only Half the Story by Jewel
Scarlett Epstein Hates it Here by Anna Breslaw
Drop the Ball: Achieving More by Doing Less by Tiffany Dufu
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation by Cokie Roberts
Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World edited by Kelly Jensen
Elena Kagan by Viqi Wagner
Women in Sports: 50 Fearless Athletes Who Played to Win by Rachel Ignotofsky
Nimona by Noelle Stevenson
Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin by Jill Lepore
Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1: No Normal by Willow Wilson
This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki & Jillian Tamaki

Social Justice/Civil Rights: 11 of 10

Orbiting Jupiter by Gary Schmidt
Full Cicada Moon by Marilyn Hilton
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley
In the Shadow of Liberty: Hidden History of Slavery, Four Presidents, and Five Black Lives by Kenneth C. Davis
Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World edited by Kelly Jensen
The Bitter Side of Sweet by Tara Sullivan
A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1: No Normal by Willow Wilson
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Romance: 16 of 10

Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon
Accidentally on Purpose by Jill Shalvis
The Proposition by Judith Ivory
Lover Unleashed by J. R. Ward
Lover Reborn by J. R. Ward
Lover At Last by J. R. Ward
The King by J. R. Ward
Suddenly One Summer by Julie James
The Saint by Tiffany Reisz
The King by Tiffany Reisz
The Virgin by Tiffany Reisz
The Queen by Tiffany Reisz
The Wedding Trap by Adrienne Bell
Chasing Christmas Eve by Jill Shalvis
Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas
Holiday Wishes by Jill Shalvis

Graphic Novels: 11 of 10

How to Fake a Moon Landing by Darryl Cunningham
300 by Frank Miller
Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina and the City of New Orleans by Don Brown
Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea by Ben Clanton
Nimona by Noelle Stevenson
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1: No Normal by Willow Wilson
This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki & Jillian Tamaki
Blankets by Craig Thompson
Boxers by Gene Luen Yang
Saints by Gene Luen Yang

2016 Reading in Review

2017-01-01T01:35:00.000-06:00

I just barely got through my 100 book goal this year (and I'll admit, there were a lot of children's books padding that total), but I have to say I really enjoyed what I read. So now, without further ado, my favorites from what I read this year:

The Holy Bible - This was, without a doubt, my biggest reading accomplishment of the year. A feat I've attempted several times, but 2016 was the year I was successful. Reading this epic work as a whole helped me make sense of the less exciting parts and get a much better big picture view of the work as whole.
Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda & Jeremy McCarter - Was there anything I was more obsessed with this year than Hamilton? That's why this annotated script interspersed with short pieces about the show that's revolutionized Broadway has to be on this list. In 2017, I have tickets to finally see the production in Chicago.
White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg - This book reminded me why I thought I was going to be a History major in college. Learning the untold story of ordinary people from the beginning of white settlement in America was fascinating. Even when it was ridiculously dry, it was interesting. I will never look at Thomas Jefferson and many of the key figures mentioned here the same way again.
The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom - How had I not heard the story of this woman who bravely not only hid Jews during the German occupation in the Netherland during WWII, but also played a key role in the Resistance and then survived a prison sentence in a German concentration camp? Despite her constant assurance that she's as cowardly as the rest of us, Ten Boom was a great example of sticking to your princples even when it's hard.
Jesus Feminist by Sarah Bessey - This one was really the convergence of two main themes for me this year - my Christian faith and my budding feminism - and Bessey has played a role in both. Ever since I stumbled across her blog a few years ago I wanted to hear more about women who are both strong Christ followers and strong feminists. Even though my soul says the two things shouldn't be mutally exclusive, it took reading this book to understand why that's the case.

And in alphabetical order, 10 books that were also quite good and I expect will stick with me for some time:

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz - Beautifully and understatedly written, this story of two teen boys who don't quite fit in until they meet each other is just wonderful
Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman - The writing here was amazing and really helped to show the unique challenges of mental illness.
Gabi, a Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero - Such an authentic teen voice. I felt like Gabi was a real person I actually knew, or maybe that she'd copied sections from my teenage diaries.
Gena/Finn by Hannah Moskowitz & Kat Helgeson - My friend wrote a book! But also fanfic, online friends, bisexuality, and so much to think about
The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown - I feel like Daring Greatly was a better book, but Brown's message of owning up to your imperfections to live a better life is still powerful.
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison - I thought I was relatively informed on issues of racial inequality, but this look at one young man's life in the first half of the 20th century showed me I was wrong.
The Mistress by Tiffany Reisz - A little erotica usually goes a really long way with me, but in this final book of the Red Years Series, Reisz manages to work in a little suspense, and actually, a lot of romance, too. Such a good series end. I want to read The White Years, but I don't know if my heart can take it.
Notorious RBG by Irin Carman & Shana Knizhnick - I had no idea what a badass life Ruth Bader Ginsburg has lived. What a strong woman.
Rad Women Worldwide by Kate Schatz & Miriam Klein Stahl - beautifully illustrated quick but impactful survey of women making a difference around the world and throughout history
Your Presidential Fantasy Dream Team by Daniel O'Brien - any book ranking the Presidents that irreverently call Teddy Roosevelt the best has to have something good between the covers

An Accomplishment

2016-04-12T13:22:00.000-05:00

It's funny, because I'm now in a position where I don't buy a lot of books, and even then they're more technical manuals and online reference materials than books you read from cover to cover for enjoyment. But my habit of reviewing what I read on my own time is certainly still in tact.

And I do find the easy organization of what I've read in Goodreads to be a really helpful Readers Advisory tool, especially now that answering random questions at the reference desk is just about the only time I spend any significant time on RA.

Anyway, I felt this milestone should be marked, but I'm out of profound organized thoughts on the subject.

2016 Reading Resolutions

2016-01-01T08:00:00.001-06:00

As has become the norm in recent years, I'm going to try to read 100 books total, but I'm not going to get picky about counting them, so how ever many books Goodreads said I read this year is my total.

Progress: 100 of 100

I really hated reading from a specific list of titles last year, so this year I'm going to go back to an Alphabet Soup Challenge. This year, I'll try to read a book written by an author whose last name starts with each of the 26 letters of the alphabet.

Progress: 23 of 26

A: Alire, Benjamin Saenz - Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
B: Bradley, Anna - A Wicked Way to Win an Earl
C: Cline, Ernest - Ready Player One
D: Dickens, Charles - Oliver Twist
E: Ellison, Ralph - Invisible Man
F: Faulkner, William - Absalom, Absalom!
G: Garcia, Kami and Margaret Stohl - Beautiful Darkness
H: Holm, Jennifer L. - The Fourteenth Goldfish
I: Ishiguro, Kazuo - The Remains of the Day
J: Johnston, Aaron and Orson Scott Card - Earth Awakens
K: Kirkman, Robert - The Walking Dead, Volume 23: Whispers Into Screams
L: Laurens, Stephanie - Devil's Bride
M: Meyer. Marissa - Cress
N: Nelson, Jandy - I'll Give You the Sun
O: Oher, Michael and Don Yaeger - The Blind Side
P: Pollan, Michael - The Omnivore's Dilemma, Young Readers Edition
Q: Quintero, Isabel - Gabi, A Girl in Pieces
R: Reisz, Tiffany - The Siren
S: Shurtliff, Liesl - Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin
T: Ten Boom, Corrie - The Hiding Place
U:
V: Vonnegut, Kurt - Breakfast of Champions
W: Wright, Norman - How to Talk So Your Kids Will Listen
X:
Y:
Z: Zarr, Sara - How to Save a Life

I'm also going to work toward finishing 10 series this year.

Progress: 11 of 10

The Original Sinners: The Red Years by Tiffany Reisz
The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
Seraphina Series by Rachel Hartman
The Reckoners Series by Brandon Sanderson
The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater
The Selection Series by Kiera Cass
First Formic War by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston
Alcatraz Series by Brandon Sanderson (#6 pub date TBD)
The Devil Is a Part-Timer Manga by Satoshi Wagahara
Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J. Maas (the final book, #6 is set to come out in 2017)
Heartbreaker Bay by Jill Shalvis (#3 is set to release January 2017)

And I'm again going to try to read 50 books I own. We'll see how that goes.

Progress: 20 of 50

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
Notorious R.B.G. by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik
Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone
Egg and Spoon by Gregory Maguire
You Make Me by Erin McCarthy
I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
The Omnivore's Dilemma, Young Readers Edition by Michael Pollan
Gena/Finn by Kat Helgeson and Hannah Moskowitz
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Bibliotech: Why Libraries Matter More Than Ever in the Age of Google by John Palfrey
Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris
Happy Birthday to You by Dr. Suess
A Crack in the Track by Wilbert Awdry
The Sleep Book by Dr. Suess
Ten Hungry Pigs by Derek Anderson
A Mad, Wicked Folly by Sharon Biggs Waller
Dr. DeSoto by William Steig
Princess Fairy Ballerina by Bethanie Deenie Murguia
Holy Bible - New Living Translation

2015 Reading In Review

2015-12-31T17:00:00.000-06:00

This year I'm squeaking in under the wire with 100 books in my Goodreads timeline, although I'll admit a lot of them are picture books I've read with my kids, but I guess the millions of times I read and re-read most of them covers about the same amount of time as a longer book. I tried to focus on reading classics of literature for my main reading challenge and I really didn't get very far. I'm glad I tried and I did find some new favorites, but the ones that weren't favorites were a real slog to get through and it really slowed me down. I still managed to keep up the trend of finishing a lot of series and I got better about reading the books I own, so that's something.

Without further ado, my top 5 reads of 2015 and 10 honorable mentions (listed in alphabetical order)

Daring Greatly by Brene Brown (2012) I've heard about Brene Brown for years, but finally reading one of her books just crystalized in my heart a lot of things that I already knew were true. Owning up to our fears and letting them see the light of the day is the first step to overcoming them. Anger never does us any good and only (poorly) tries to cover up fear and shame. Read it. Read it now.
The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo (2014) I can't believe a book on housekeeping is making my top 5 list, but this is magical. I've started implementing Kondo's system in my house and it is amazing, but the book itself has a quirky beauty with Kondo's tone going between pixie, fairy godmother, and stern schoolmaster. Read it, even if you have no intention of tidying, just for her unique voice.
Stardust by Neil Gaiman (1998) How can a fairy tale for adults be so perfect? Even better, Gaiman reads the audio version, so you can either view wonderful illustrations in the print edition or hear the author read his own work (which in Gaiman's case, is a real treat) in the audio.
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (1936) One of those weighty tomes that reminds you why sometimes a book just has to be crazy long. An eye-opening look at the Civil War and Reconstruction from the South's perspective. A detailed portrait of talented woman too blind to her own flaws until the only man who loved her for them gives up on her. With this one you get two great stories for the price of one.
Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge (2014) - Alternative fairy tales have been done to death, but this one was so new and different and went in such a surprising direction, I was blown away and still kind of want to read it again to make sure I really did read what I thought I read.

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (1920) and The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James (1881) These two are intertwined for me because I couldn't get enough of talented late 19th century American girls who find themselves powerless to escape the societal pressures placed on them. Wharton and James are masters.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (2013) A charming, yet real, look at the challenges of freshman year of college.
Goodnight, Already! by Jory John and Benji Davies (2014) My 3-year-old reports the conversations between a sleepy bear and wide-awake duck constantly.
How Children Succeed by Paul Tough (2012) A fascinating look at how bad schools aren't the only resources failing children in poor neighborhoods.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (1847) and Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier (1938) These were rereads for me this year and even better than I remembered each of them.
The Opposite of Maybe by Maddie Dawson (2014) This one shocked me with how good it was, despite nothing about the premise obviously appealing to me. Great for lovers of good people trying to figure out their place in the world.
A Perfectly Messed Up Story by Patrick McDonnell (2014) Another big hit with my 3-year-old.
Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas (2015) Best. Series. Ever. Waiting a year for the next book is pure torture.
The Walking Dead, Vol. 21: All Out War, Part 2 by Robert Kirkman (2014) I thought the glory days of this series were over. I was wrong.
Yes, Please by Amy Poehler (2014) The audio of this is exceptional, with Poehler bringing in her family and friends to read with her.

NASIG 2015 - The Postconference

2015-05-31T11:42:00.000-05:00

I chose to attend a half-day postconference on using and understanding COUNTER 4 reports, which, if you know anything about stats collection for online resources, you know sounds like a potential torture session. Luckily Jennifer Leffler made it relatively painless.

I think one of the most useful things about this session was the chance to slow down and just focus on the methods of stats collection. So often I'm trying to grab stats quick to answer a question or make a point and I'm focusing more on the end result instead of the process going into it. This helped me realize that it's important not to skip the process, that it's just that - a process - so it will take time to get it right. But, at the same time, if I take some time to set up the process correctly, then going forward it should be faster and easier and not require all that time for set up. I have done some of this with stats collection, but hearing someone else's process and a more in depth overview of general considerations in stats collection has given me ideas for how I may want to adjust my process.

My main reason for attending this session, though, was that, as a public librarian, I've made some quick assumptions about which reports are useful for me and which aren't, so getting a quick run down of all the reports, what they report, and how they might be used was super helpful. For instance, I've pretty much written off journal reports because, unlike academic libraries, we don't really care about specific titles, just general usage. While I'm still probably not going to use journal reports in my routine reporting, it's good to know that if we're evaluating subscriptions or doing some activity where title level data is important, I know what I'm doing.

Also, it was good to finally have a long discussion about the meanings of regular searches, searches federated & automated, result clicks, and records views, because I was never very confident on which I should be using. I'm still sad they got rid of sessions in R4, but I understand now why it was a problematic number and how the numbers currently provided are, at least in theory, easier to count.

This was a lot of information to take in and I'm sure when I get back to work and start looking at my numbers I'll still have a million unanswered questions, but now at least I've contacted the hive mind and know that many others share my struggle.

NASIG 2015 - Day 3

2015-05-30T22:44:00.001-05:00

The conference overload was starting to happen on Friday, but I soldiered on.

At breakfast I talked to someone from a regional library council. Her background is in special libraries, but in her current position she works with a ton of teeny tiny public libraries, so I was excited to find someone with some common ground.

As for the opening speaker, I was pleasantly surprised. The head honcho at Alexander Street Press talked about the future of open access publishing and the reception was mixed. First, he was surprised that librarians didn't think all scholarly publishing was going to be open access in the next decade. Then when he described how publishers were going to stay in business, basically by providing services that either make it easier for researchers to publish or to find what they're looking for in bare bones open access text, the crowd seemed ready to revolt and scream that that wasn't really open access. Maybe because I'm not in academia I'm not so up in arms about this, but I couldn't really understand what all the fuss was about. What he was saying made a lot of sense.

My concurrent morning session was about USUS a really helpful website for understanding and reporting issues with COUNTER reports. As expected, it was really hard not to get bogged down in the details, but I do feel more confident about using the site now.

For lunch we had a small vendor fair with snacks scattered around. Unfortunately the only two vendors there that were really relevant to me were a vendor I really don't like much (so didn't want to talk to them) and a vendor who has the best salesperson ever, but she did not come to this conference, so I wasn't that interested in talking to them, either. I of course nabbed some swag, though.

My first afternoon session was about free tools available to manage the electronic resources life cycle. I yet again feel guilty for not really understanding Access, but I wrote down the name of some other resources they listed and I think I may give Trello a try.

The second session kind of confused me. I thought it was supposed to be about the crazy amount of unwritten duties that go into being an electronic resources librarian, but it sounded like your typical "Here's how we done good" presentation. Maybe it was helpful for others, but the projects they talked about had nothing that I could apply to my library.

Saturday was a day where I really wasn't interested in any of the conference offerings, so I didn't partake. But I'm still sticking around because I signed up for a post conference workshop on Sunday.

NASIG 2015 - Day 2

2015-05-29T12:37:00.000-05:00

The first full day of NASIG was a busy one for me. It started with breakfast with my NASIG mentor, Jeanie Castro from the University of Houston. As a veteran member of NASIG and electronic resources librarianship, Jeanie was really able to get to the heart of want I wanted to get out of this conference and how to do that quickly. She also confirmed my suspicion that ER&L is really the conference for me and I explained why I couldn't go this year, but hoped in the future that I would be able to go.

She also made her pitch for joining a NASIG committee and of course sold the committee she's an ardent member of - continuing education. I got really excited about a project she wants to work on down the road sharing case studies of electronic resources librarianship in all sizes and types of libraries. And I have to admit, as a public librarian focusing on electronic resource management I'm interested in any project that wants to add more voices to a field dominated by academics.

The opening speaker was Dorothea Salo stressing the importance of librarians standing up for our patrons' privacy needs. I'll admit that I've been a little laissez faire about this lately, partly because I'm not overly concerned about the privacy of my data. But her points about how we need to be careful when performing assessment that we're still respecting our patrons' privacy really hit home. We've bought some powerful new analytics tools that give us a much clearer picture of community behavior, but do they do so while still protecting patron privacy?

I attended the morning session on creating an ebook collection development policy in smaller libraries. Like most things at this conference, it focused on academic titles, which is really what I was thinking about anyway. Our collection development team does a good job of handling our popular ebook titles through Overdrive and the various other platforms we subscribe to, but as I was preparing to leave for this conference I just signed an agreement to add new titles to our GVRL platform and I was shocked by the price. As GVRL makes more and more titles available, the old model of just adding everything possible doesn't apply anymore, so maybe it's time I get a little more formal about how we choose to add research ebooks to our collection.

It was good to hear other smaller libraries having the same concerns and that clearly having an ebook collection development policy longer than a sentence (We collect ebooks.) is pretty rare. Because the presentation covered two different schools, it was a nice contrast of concerns involved in the process of developing an ebook policy, but also reinforced that no matter the institution you still have to remember that the content in ebooks (just like in print books) needs to be a principal concern in collection development.

The first afternoon session was about transistioning to Worldcat Discovery and while it didn't go into as much depth as I had hoped, the presenter on the panel who was clearly the most experienced with WDS confirmed my hunch that it's worth my time to get the discovery side of this product set up because it has the potential to be a good replacement for our current ERM/link resolver that I hate so much. If nothing else, the customer support from OCLC is miles ahead of our current ERM provider.

The audience was pretty tough on Sean Varner but, honestly, most of the criticism came from people who sounded like they still didn't "get" what WDS is about, while Varner really seems to and explained things well, despite the short amount of time he had to cover a wealth of information. I'll admit that he may be slightly understimating the work involved for libraries that don't have much tech expertise among their staff, but generally his statements that things that aren't working in WDS can be fixed with a phone call to OCLC seem true in my experience.

The second afternoon session was three case studies of adding different discovery services and getting them to work with the CUFTS ERM suite. We don't use CUFTS, but mostly I was interested in seeing side by side comparisons of adoption of three different discovery systems. In this case, Primo, Summon, and EDS. All of the libraries involved had to deal with the problem of maintaining 2 knowledge bases, which sounds absolutely awful. I can barely keep up with one. This is another consideration if we decide to go with a discovery service. Will that force us to switch ERM services simply for the sake of simplifying my workflow?

There are so many considerations at play in the decision to add a discovery service. In my breakfast discussion with Jeanie, she brought up the importance of the compatibility of your existing resources with the discovery provider you decide to go with, which led me away from the two contenders I'd been focusing on, and brought up an option I hadn't even seriously considered before.

In the evening I attended one of the dine arounds, which is supposed to be a social activity, but was also professionally interesting to me because I ate with two veteran catalogers from big universities, the kinds of people I have very little day-to-day interaction with in my current job, so it was interesting to hear a completely different perspective on serials management.

All in all, this feels like a, so far, successful conference experience because my brain is full to nearly bursting, but I'm still fairly confident that I've gained some clarity about issues that have been holding me up at work.

North American Serials Interest Group 2015 - Day 1

2015-05-27T20:31:00.001-05:00

Today was primarily a travel day. Since my flight was late arriving, I missed the First Timers Reception and a chance to meet my mentor, so I sat through the opening session in the back with some other late comers feeling completely out of place because it's not only my first time here and I'm the only one from my library, but I'm also one of the few people from a public library here.

The opening speaker works at an architecture museum here in DC and gave a lecture on the history of the city's architecture. It was pretty interesting, but also highlighted just how different a type of library conference I'm at. PLA has fun popular presenters. ALA makes bold political choices. NASIG goes for academic detail.

During the meal I got to know my tablemates, two of whom bonded over ASL. Since my boss has been taking a library ASL class, I sort of wish she'd been there to contribute to the conversation. The other two at our table were a married couple from Pennsylvania. Other small talk was made. Then everyone agreed it was time to hit the hay early (one of the side benefits to a library conference is that most of us or introverts, so we don't need to explain the need to recharge in solitude). I texted my mentor and we're going to try meeting up again tomorrow at breakfast.

Hopefully I'll have more library substance to report tomorrow.

Posted via Blogaway

2015 Reading Resolutions

2015-01-05T21:00:00.000-06:00

Last year was the first year that I decided to do reading challenges beyond the basic "read x books" and I loved it. I read more books in 2014 than I ever have before, so I'm going to stick with it for 2015.

First up is the challenge I created all on my own. When I was a precocious youngster, I was obsessed with reading "the best" books. Now I've learned the importance of reading things you enjoy, but I've read a lot of classics and tend to enjoy them, so I spent way to much time compiling various "best of" lists and made one master list of best novels. For 2015, I plan to read 50 of the 100 best (that I haven't already read). Below is the list, with the ones I read linked to my Goodreads review.

Progress: 10 of 50

Achebe, Chinua	Things Fall Apart
Aligheri Dante	The Divine Comedy
Anonymous	One Thousand and One Nights
Atwood, Margaret	The Handmaid's Tale
Austen, Jane	Emma
Austen, Jane	Persuasion
Baldwin, James	Go Tell It On the Mountain
Burgess, Anthony	A Clockwork Orange
Burroughs, William S.	Naked Lunch
Camus, Albert	The Stranger
Cather, Willa	My Antonia
Cervantes, Miguel de	Don Quixote
Chandler, Raymond	The Big Sleep
Chekhov, Anton	The Stories of
Coetzee, J. M.	Disgrace
Conrad, Joseph	Heart of Darkness
Conrad, Joseph	Nostromo
Crane, Stephen	The Red Badge of Courage
Defoe, Daniel	Robinson Crusoe
Dickens, Charles	Great Expectations
Dickens, Charles	Bleak House
DosPassos, John	U.S.A. (trilogy)
Dostoevsky, Feodor	Crime and Punishment
Dostoevsky, Feodor	The Brothers Karamazov
Dreiser, Theodore	An American Tragedy
Dumas, Alexandre	The Three Musketeers
Eliot, George	Middlemarch
Ellison, Ralph	Invisible Man
Faulkner, William	Sound and the Fury
Faulkner, William	Absalom, Absalom!
Faulkner, William	As I Lay Dying
Faulkner, William	A Light In August
Fielding, Henry	Tom Jones
Fitzgerald, F. Scott	Tender Is the Night
Ford, Ford Maddox	The Good Soldier
Forster, E. M.	A Passage to India
Forster, E. M.	Howard's End
Gogol, Nikolai	Dead Souls
Grass, Gunter	The Tin Drum
Hardy, Thomas	Tess of D'Ubervilles
Hardy, Thomas	Jude the Obscure
Hemingway, Ernest	A Farewell to Arms
Hemingway, Ernest	For Whom the Bell Tolls
Hemingway, Ernest	The Old Man and the Sea
Homer	Odyssey
Hugo, Victor	Les Miserables
Hurston, Zora Neale	Their Eyes Were Watching God
Huxley, Aldous	Brave New World
Irving, John	The World According to Garp
James, Henry	Portrait of a Lady
James, Henry	The Ambassadors
Joyce, James	Ulysses
Joyce, James	Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man
Joyce, James	Finnegan's Wake
Kafka, Franz	The Trial
Kerouac, Jack	On the Road
Kesey, Ken	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
King, Stephen	The Stand
Lawrence, D. H.	Women in Love
Lawrence, D. H.	The Rainbow
Lawrence, D. H.	Sons & Lovers
Lessing, Doris	The Golden Notebook
London, Jack	The Call of the Wild
Lowry, Malcolm	Under the Volcano
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia	One Hundred Years of Solitude
McCarthy, Cormac	The Road
Miller, Henry	Tropic of Cancer
Mitchell, Margaret	Gone With the Wind
Morrison, Toni	Beloved
Morrison, Toni	Song of Solomon
Nabokov, Vladimir	Pale Fire
Naipaul, V. S.	A Bend in the River
Proust, Marcel	In Search of Lost Time
Rand, Ayn	Atlas Shrugged
Rand, Ayn	The Fountainhead
Rhys, Jean	Wide Sargasso Sea
Richardson, Samuel	Clarissa
Roth, Henry	Call It Sleep
Rushdie, Salman	Midnight's Children
Salinger, J. D.	Catcher in the Rye
Sebald, W. G.	Austerlitz
Spark, Muriel	The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Steinbeck, John	Of Mice and Men
Stendhal	The Red and the Black
Stendhal	The Charterhouse of Parma
Sterne, Laurence	Tristram Shandy
Styron, William	Sophie's Choice
Swift, Jonathan	Gulliver's Travels
Tolkein, J. R. R.	The Lord of the Rings (Trilogy)
Tolstoy, Leo	War and Peace
Updike, John	Rabbit, Run (series)
Vonnegut, Kurt	Slaughterhouse-Five
Walker, Alice	The Color Purple
Warren, Robert Penn	All the King's Men
Waugh, Evelyn	Brideshead Revisited
Wharton, Edith	The Age of Innocence
Wharton, Edith	The House of Mirth
Woolf, Virginia	To the Lighthouse
Woolf, Virginia	Mrs. Dalloway
Wright, Richard	Native Son

Next up, I'm going to stick with finishing series this year, but this year I'm going to try to finish 5 series.

Progress: 8 of 5

Anna and the French Kiss Trilogy by Stephanie Perkins
Stargirl Duology by Jerry Spinelli
Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater (Book 4 expected in 2016)
Sinners On Tour by Olivia Cunning
Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J. Maas (book 5 expected in 2016)
Don Tillman Series by Graeme Simsion
The Selection Series by Kiera Cass (book 5 expected in 2016)
The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson (book 2 expected in 2016, maybe)

And my final goal is to again read 50 books I own. We'll see how close I get this time.

Progress: 24 of 50

The Tyrant's Daughter by J. C. Carleson
Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge
Oedipus Rex by Sophocles (reread)
Living a Life That Matters by Ben Lesser
The Shawl by Cynthia Ozick
Thomas & Friends Story Time Collection by Rev W Awdry (I generally don't include picture books, but this is a 320 page collection of 13 stories)
Rotters by Daniel Kraus
Tales From a Not-So-Talented Pop Star by Rachel Rene Russo
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (reread)
Lover Unbound by J. R. Ward
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose
The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
Shanna by Kathleen Woodiwiss
While the World Watched by Carolyn Maull McKinstry
Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey
The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (reread)
Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier (reread)
A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty
Dracula by Bram Stoker (reread)
A History of Glitter and Blood by Hannah Moskowitz
Reasons My Kid Is Crying by Greg Pembroke
The Best Yes: Making Wise Decision in the Midst of Endless Demands by Lysa TerKeurst

2014 Reading In Review

2014-12-31T21:00:00.000-06:00

This was the first year I did reading challenges, and I think I picked them well. Other than reading books I owned, I did great (and I got much closer to my failed goal than I expected). Setting a goal for finishing series, really pushed me in that respect and also taught me that it's okay to let a series go, even if I liked the first one. Unless I can't wait to find out what happens next, it's probably not worth my time. Reading books with titles starting with all the letters of the alphabet was a fun way to look at my to-read list in Goodreads and jump around and pick some things that had been sitting there awhile. I was also super psyched to hit my Goodreads goal of reading 100 books for the year.

I've dreamed up some interesting challenges for myself for 2015, so I'll lay those out in another post, but to wrap up 2014, I'll list my favorites as I usually do - Top 5 ranked with a little explanation of why they were so fabulous and 10 honorable mentions listed alphabetically with a quick blurb.

Favorite Books Read in 2014

from jennielsen.com

The False Prince (2012), The Runaway King (2013), and The Shadow Throne (2014) by Jennifer A Nielsen - From beginning to end, this middle grade adventure trilogy delivered. From the time we're introduced to clever orphan Sage, to the end of the war with King Vargas, I was entertained and never quite sure what to expect. These are excellent on audio and would be perfect to listen to on a family road trip.

from rainbowrowell.com

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell (2013) - the perfect teenage love story, with a little nostalgia built in for children of the 1980s. It's so perfect I don't know how to do it justice with a description, just go out and read it, even if you're not a fan of YA, even if you're not a fan of romance.

from amazon.com

Grace Based Parenting by Dr. Timothy Kimmel (2005) - Hands-down the best thing I've ever read about Christian parenting. This is a great explanation of why we want our kids to follow the rules we set for them.

from foreveryoungadult.com

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (2012) - a little slow in the start, but this tale of two friends working for the British war effort in World War II left me sobbing at the end as you learn just how deep their friendship goes and what they each do to protect each other. I've read so many World War II books, when one gets to me like this, it's worth noting. Judging by what others have said, though, it's probably only for fans of historical fiction.

from itunes.apple.com

The Journal of Best Practices: A Memoir of Marriage, Asperger Syndrome, and One Man's Quest to Become a Better Husband by David Finch (2012) - This one was a personal favorite because, for awhile now, we've suspected that my husband has highly functioning autism. Finch's feeling of relief when he's diagnosed - now he can label why he's different - is refreshing and gave me a whole new way to look at autism spectrum disorders. His quest to become a better husband is also humorous and touching.

Honorable Mentions:

Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay (2014) - wonderful mix of topics in this essay collection that all felt so relevant to me (even when I didn't agree with her)
Cinder by Marissa Meyer (2012) - This was the year of strong female protagonists in YA fantasy for me and this cyborg Cinderella is one that really stood out. I'll definitely get caught up with this series in 2015.
Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds and Peter Brown (2012) - shockingly charming little horror story for the preschool set
Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas (2013) - The 2nd book in this YA fantasy series (with a strong heroine, of course) is the opposite of a sophomore slump and sold me on the series in a way the first book couldn't quite do.
How Babies Talk: The Magic and Mystery of Language in the First Three Years of Life by Roberta Michnick Golinkoff and Kathy Hirsch-Pasek (2000) - comprehensive overview on what science tells us about how language develops even before babies leave the womb - fascinating and encouraging for parents everywhere
I am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot By the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb (2013) - fundamentally changed the way I look at our relations with the Arab world; plus she is such an amazing advocate for education
Mean Moms Rule: Why Doing the Hard Stuff Now Creates Good Kids Later by Denise Schipani (2012) - another excellent parenting book about the benefits of being a strict parent
Monster by Walter Dean Myers (2004) - another game changer, this time in how I look at the justice system and at-risk teens
Toot by Leslie Patricelli (2014)- my 2-year-old's favorite book of the year, a solid board book on farting - other Patricelli books that are big hits in our house are Potty (2010), Yummy Yucky (2003), and Fa La La (2012)
The Yoga Birth Method by Dorothy Guerra (2013) - My quest for a natural-ish birth the second time around may not have happened, but this was one of the key reasons it was a well-informed and much more relaxed birth.

This Year's Reflections on Banned Books Week

2014-09-23T21:00:00.000-05:00

... or as I think I'm going to start calling it, Librarian Christmas, the most hyped (by librarians) library holiday of the year. I've been dutifully wearing my "i read banned books" bracelet all week and awaiting patron questions about our banned books displays.

I've written in past years about how I'm sort of over Banned Books Week, but I keep getting pulled back in when I hear about some of the ridiculous books people are trying to ban. This year's is one I just read for the first time this summer, Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya. Apparently it was considerate too graphic and inappropriate for a high school audience. Interesting, considering the story's narrator is in elementary school. Basically, it has the usual collection of difficult to discuss ideas: violence, death, questioning faith in God, a child's confusion about how adult sexual relationships work, but since it's all told from the point of view of a 6-year-old, it's not terribly graphic and mostly about the confusion that growing up brings.

Another point brought up that I hadn't thought about lately is that maybe we shouldn't call it Banned Books Week, since the majority of the books have only been challenged, not actually banned Read the responses to @himissjulie's tweet for more thoughts on this, as well as Kelly Jensen's thoughtful article at Book Riot on how we shouldn't be celebrating censorship.

Alright, I've officially celebrated Banned Books Week with this post. You can now return to your regular library programming.

A Day In the Life of an Electronic Resources Coordinator

2014-08-11T21:00:00.000-05:00

Ever since I started my current job I've been trying to write a post to sum up the unique niche in which I find myself, but I think maybe my day last Friday, might be better (and maybe more entertaining) than anything I've tried to write up to this point. Just consider it a flashback to the old #librarydayinthelife.

The quick outline of my job: I manage (pay for) all the electronic resources that the reference department subscribes to (I have a counterpart in childrens, but when in doubt, our department usually pays for it), but I'm also a regular run-of-the-mill reference librarian with regular desk shifts, print collection development responsibilities (000s), and I manage our department's (mostly) high school student assistants who help patrons with the public internet computers, do a little shelving, and help everyone in the department with odd jobs.

8AM - department meeting

During August the library board doesn't meet, so we decided to fill the time we usually spend talking about what the board did with discussion of all things digital. For my part I got to talk about a couple of new databases we acquired while I was on maternity leave, as well as one of our old standbys that did a redesign that had thrown everyone for a loop. While demoing these products, I was reminded that the name of one needed to be changed on our website so it would be easier to see the next week when our teen librarian did the back-to-school event at the main high school in our district.

9AM - first desk shift of the day

Fridays are always weird days, probably because I spend 6 hours on the desk. My morning shift is with my supervisor who was also the last person to have my job, so she can appreciate my whining about annoying vendors better than anyone else. But, practically, it's also a great time to catch up.

This morning we were also amused by a rather comprehensive conspiracy theory laden rant that a patron had left at one of our public printers. While cleaning out our orphan printouts tray, something about the crazy scribbles caught my attention and I thought there had to be some redeeming qualities in this long ago abandoned paper. Sure enough, it covered nearly everything except black helicopters.

My email was also exploding with all sorts of things. We'd decided to add streaming to our music download service and they'd emailed as I was leaving the day before to say that they'd flipped the switch on this change. Of course that evening a patron came in wondering why it wasn't working right and so my inbox was full of both "Yay, your new service is ready to go!" and "Boo, why isn't this working!" Luckily, it was just a matter of telling the patron to update their app and refresh their browser and sending out a general announcement to staff to the same effect.

One of the new databases I'd mentioned in our meeting was working strangely with one of our other services, which I noticed before, but hadn't been able to duplicate, so just assumed I was crazy. But an email from another staff member was able to provide the information I needed to determine that it was definitely a problem with this other service. I added this to the list of things I needed to tweak with this other service on Monday when I finally had some time to sit at my own desk and concentrate on challenging things.

I also received an email back about a problem I'd originally asked about before my maternity leave but hadn't really heard anything useful about. The tech support guy decided to follow up with me and I was able to restate the problem in a way that made more sense to both us. Basically, some of our title specific links weren't working very reliably and he was able to provide me with a shorter direct link that should work a little better.

Noon - off desk time where I frantically try to fit in a lunch break

I called back a vendor who'd been trying to sell us a new genealogy database to let them know we were interested in adding their product. Promised I'd have the signed vendor agreement to them by the end of the day and printed it off immediately, but barely had time to look at it before returning to the desk.

3PM - second desk shift of the day

This shift always seems to be both crazy and busy.

On the crazy side, a patron informed me that the elevator in our lobby was stuck open. I went to check it out before calling maintenance and noticed that someone had stuck two pieced of gum on the door, presumably blocking the sensors and making them believe someone was standing in the elevator. I pulled off the gum (and bathed my hands in sanitizer) and the door magically closed.

On the busy side, a patron came in with her Kindle Fire wanting to know how to check out library books on her device. But after this interaction I am confirming my hatred for Kindle Fires, because other than Overdrive, Amazon seems to have decided that all other library e-lending services are out to destroy their business and has made the process of downloading their products to a Fire something that only the dedicated will do. I spent nearly an hour with this lady trying to get her Kindle Fire set up with all of these services because she had some specific, non-Overdrive titles she wanted to check out, and honestly, I had no idea it was going to be that hard. Finally she pulled out her smart phone and we used that for the last downloadable service she wanted to try. She couldn't have been nicer about the whole thing, but after this experience I am convinced that Kindle Fires are the worst of all the tablets (I own one and use it less and less because of this nonsense).

Also on the crazy side, one of our regulars called in with two challenging reference questions. One was for the phone number of a man who didn't seem to exist, but she remembered his employer and we found contact information for them. Then she wanted to know contact information for this small foundation that I just could not find while talking to her on the phone. While taking her information I finally remembered who she was and that, generally, when we can't find an answer for her while talking to her, we shouldn't go to any great lengths to find one because by the time we call her back, she's moved on to something else. Still, as soon as I got off the phone with her, it was easy enough to find that this foundation was based out of somebody's house and their home number was publicly listed. When I tried to return the call her voicemail was full, so I left it for the night crew to call her back about.

It happened to be time to sign timecards and the only one of my employees who hadn't signed his timecard also happened to be the one working that afternoon. The timing was great too because his summer schedule has been a little insane (he's a caddy) and so I had a chance to ask him about that.

The coworker I was on the desk with this shift had been working with me on a project to map our collection for a really neat service we're using that will allow patrons to know exactly which shelf an object is on when they look it up in the catalog. Now most public libraries might find this service overkill, but we have three levels and the non-fiction is squeezed into all sorts of weird places that aren't exactly logical, so we get asked more than our fair share of directional questions. Anyway we'd been having trouble with our part of the mapping process because the people we were speaking with spoke coder and we spoke librarian, so we spent awhile emailing back and forth with this company all week, but during our Friday afternoon desk shift we finally had a breakthrough and were able to send off an acceptable final product for the smaller of the two floors we were responsible for.

While we were crazy busy at our desk, the high school assistant didn't have a ton to do, so I had to think of things for him to do. Normally I'd have him pull some books for me from a report (low circs, etc.) but my area is pretty small and that happens to be one of the duties that I'm most caught up on. Luckily we hadn't had anyone working on our new books section during the day, so he had plenty of those to shelve.

Fifteen minutes before the end of my shift I remembered to email back the new genealogy vendor with the signed licensing agreement. In the meantime she'd sent me all I needed to get the product up and going on our site, but we'd been so busy at the desk that this was another thing that was going to have to wait until Monday.

I know I missed a bunch of stuff (like what kept me so busy during my off desk time besides reading a new licensing agreement), and that was a little more crazy than your typical Friday, but it covered nearly every aspect of my job, so seemed a good way to sum things up.

Collecting the Proper Data

2014-07-17T21:00:00.000-05:00

My first week back from maternity leave and I'm already getting philosophical ...

One of the big projects I was working on before my maternity leave was a patron survey on technology. The survey ran while I was on leave and we just got the reports back from the group that created the survey for us.

And my reactions are so mixed ...

On the one hand, it's great we were able to collect so much detailed data on our patrons' use of library technology. There's all sorts of fascinating data (such as 85.8% of our patrons feel public library internet access is either important or very important to the community) that we can now easily share with the Board and other stakeholders.

On the other hand, there's some pretty strong evidence that this was not a representative sample of our community and is likely missing representation from the heaviest users of library technology. While I love the level of detail of the data collected, it made the survey really long. Colleagues who tested it out said it generally took much longer than the advertised 10 minutes. Despite advertising the survey in many formats throughout the library and the community, many who might have taken the survey were scared off by its length.

The middle-aged, white, well-educated, financially well-off females who have other means of internet access and were clearly willing to sit through the survey use the library's internet, website, and electronic resources very differently than those who are from other races, younger, less well-off, less educated, and have no other options for internet access. While we learned a lot about what this one specific group of patrons needs in regards to library technology, the other groups of library technology users we interact with every day simply weren't represented in this survey and we learned next to nothing about their technology needs.

Part of the reason these flaws are frustrating is because this survey is now required from one of our governmental funding sources. In theory, this makes sense. Funding agencies should be picky about giving money to libraries that are responsive to patron needs and one of the ways we can do that is by surveying our patrons to have a better sense of what those needs are. But when the survey doesn't necessarily represent our population, is that really helping our ability to assess our patrons' needs?

These are just my first impressions. We just received the results of the survey and I'm sure we'll be spending lots of time digging into these figures and just exactly what they mean, but at this point, I'm feeling a little disillusioned about the whole process.

2014 Reading Challenges

2014-01-10T21:00:00.000-06:00

I mentioned in my last post that I plan to attempt reading 100 books this year, but I also think I'll do some more specific challenges too, because, why not? Here they are, with links back to the original challenge where you can read all the rules, and a list of completed titles for each challenge. If I'm going to try to read 100 books this year, I might as well have fun doing it. The links are to my Goodreads reviews.

And in the name of fun, I might as well start of with the Alphabet Soup Challenge. Basically I just need to read a book starting with each letter of the alphabet and since I plan to read a lot more than 26 books, I think I can make this one happen.

COMPLETED: 8/25/14

A: Allegiant by Veronica Roth
B: Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore
C: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
D: Dreadfully Ever After: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Steve Hockensmith
E: An Education by Lynn Barber
F: The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen
G: Graceling by Kristin Cashore
H: How Babies Talk: The Magic and Mystery of Language in the First Three Years of Life by Roberta Golinkoff Michnik and Kathy Hirsch-Pasek
I: The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer
J: Just One Day by Gayle Forman
K: Killing Kennedy by Bill O'Reilly
L: Letter From Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr.
M: Monster by Walter Dean Myers
N: A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman
O: Once by Morris Gleitzman
P: The Passage by Justin Cronin
Q: Quiet: the Power of Introverts in a World That Won't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
R: The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy With Autism by Naoki Higashida
S: The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes
T: Tabloid Love: Looking for Mr. Right In All the Wrong Places, A Memoir by Bridget Harrison
U: The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America by George Packer
V: Valiant by Holly Black
W: Walking Dead, Volume 18: What Comes After by Robert Kirkman
X: Xombies by Walter Greatshell
Y: The Yoga Birth Method: A Step-By-Step Guide for Natural Childbirth by Dorothy Guerra
Z: Zone One by Colson Whitehead

Next we have the Finishing the Series Reading Challenge. This is something I've been bad about in the past, but spent last year somewhat successfully working on, so I'm going to be brave and say I'll finish 3 series this year.

COMPLETED: 5/3/2014

Divergent series by Veronica Roth (no, I did not read Four, but I'd argue that's not an essential part of the series)
The Ascendance Trilogy by Jennifer A. Nielsen
Hush, Hush series by Becca Fitzpatrick
Just One Day series by Gayle Forman (I know there's a novella that follows the two books, but I'd also argue this is not an essential part of the series either)
Chiveis Trilogy by Bryan Litfin
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies series by Seth Grahame-Smith and Steve Hockensmith
Graceling Realm by Kristin Cashore
Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (3rd book expected in 2015)
Carter Finally Gets It Trilogy by Brent Crawford
Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy by Laini Taylor
Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J. Maas (Book 4 expected in 2015)

And finally we have the I Love Library Books Reading Challenge. I almost don't want to do this one because, working in a library, it's so easy to pick up a library book instead of reading the hundreds of books I own but still haven't gotten around to reading yet. Still I'm pretty sure I'll be able to read 50 library books this year no problem, so I'll participate at the "just insert IV" level.

COMPLETED: 9/04/14

And in that vein I think I'll do my own challenge to read 50 books I own, but have never gotten around to. Since there will likely be some books that fall into neither category, I will likely only complete one of these challenges this year. I'm pretty sure it won't be this one, but I hope I prove myself wrong.

NOT COMPLETED

My Favorite Reads of 2013

2013-12-27T21:00:00.000-06:00

In recounting my favorite books read this year, it might be a little obvious that I'm working in a public library again. More recent works, more super popular works, and if you look at my Goodreads account, you'll see that I read way more books this year (audiobooks and my long commute make for happy listening) at 89, but that was still short of my goal for the year of 100. Despite expecting a baby next year, I'm still planning to try for 100 again.

My Favorites:

Zealot by Reza Aslan (2013): Comparing the historical Jesus of Nazareth to the biblical Jesus Christ is a pretty audacious task, but Aslan, an experienced religious scholar manages to be respectful while still questioning almost everything about the facts of Jesus's life. Part of the way he gets away with this is by beginning his book with a long discussion about the relationship between truth and fact. Maybe not for everyone, but anyone interested in the life of Jesus of Nazareth should give it a try.
Expecting Better by Emily Oster (2013): As I found myself expecting again, it couldn't have been a better time to find Oster's book or, as I like to call it, the pregnancy guide I wished I'd had the first time. Frustrated with the arbitrary rules given to pregnant women, Oster investigates the evidence between the often conflicting guidelines and lays out the evidence on the risks of eating things like lunch meat, sushi, or alcohol while pregnant, as well as the dangers of different drugs and the efficacy of treatments such as bed rest. A must-read for anyone who's pregnant or thinking about becoming pregnant.
World War Z by Max Brooks (2006): Do yourself a favor and listen to the complete audio edition of this story. I'm sure it's good in print, but this version is done by a cast of over twenty actors and really makes you feel the individual stories of survival during the Zombie Apocalypse. If you're burnt out on zombies, you won't feel that way after reading this collection of stories from survivors from around the globe as the world begins to function again and rise from the ashes.
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (2012): I know, everyone loves this book, but that's because it's that good. A book about cancer that isn't sappy or schmaltzy in any way. A book about teenagers falling in love for the first time that isn't overly sentimental. A book about how meeting our heroes can be such a disappointment. A book about how our friends can be the best thing in our life not by doing anything extraordinary, just by being there.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusack (2006): A story of WWII we don't hear very often. Liesel Meminger is just an ordinary girl in a working class neighborhood near Munich when the war begins. She isn't a Nazi. She isn't a Jew. She's just a German trying to live her life, something that becomes increasingly difficult as the war rages on. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. There's so much going on in this book. Get your tissues ready.

Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order):

A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge by Josh Neufeld (2009): Follows the story of seven Hurricane Katrina survivors before, during, and after the storm, this graphic novel shows us that most people's stories were still getting sorted out even years after the storm.
By the Iowa Sea by Joe Blair (2012): Beautifully written memoir from a repairman/writer going through a mid-life crisis. So much I shouldn't have been able to identify with and yet I did.
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (2011): Just different enough from all the other teen YA series with female protagonists out there today, Karou happily lives her life in two separate worlds until she suddenly finds it impossible to return to the only family she's ever known.
Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (2002): Now classic tale of the amazing feat of constructing the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago and the serial killer who ran rampant in the city at the same time.
The Honest Toddler's Guide to Parenting by Bunmi Laditan (2013): If you are the parent of a toddler, you must read this book and follow @HonestToddler on Twitter. While the books is primarily humorous, there bits of truths on child development and parenting hidden amongst the jokes.
The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine (2012): Touching story of friendship between a white girl and black girl in 1958 Little Rock that also underscores the danger facing those who supported integration.
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (1999): Classic, heart-breaking tale of a girl who can't speak about the terrible thing that happened to her at a party the summer before freshman year. Essential reading for anyone trying to understand the effects of sexual assault among teenagers.
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan (2010): It's hard being a teenage boy and two great YA authors explore that through two high school juniors both named Will Grayson. Also Tiny Cooper may be my favorite fictional character ever.
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson (2009): Another tough issues book by Anderson that devastatingly hits the nail on the head. This time we're dealing with best friends struggling with eating disorders.
Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy (2011): Story of a girl in Afghanistan who has her cleft lip fixed by American soldiers, but memorable because of the number of details used to portray life in Afghanistan, and how it often leads to misunderstandings with American troops stationed there.

Library Dopplegangers

2013-09-20T21:00:00.000-05:00

I feel bad when I don't blog about serious library issues, but the truth of the matter is, I think a blog is more fun to read when there are more frequent shorter posts, so maybe I should follow my own advice.

It seems at every library I've ever worked at, there have been people who were perfect dopplegangers for other people I know. I used to have a coworker who's voice was a dead ringer for an aunt who has a really unique way of talking.

At my current library there's one person who's a dead ringer for a librarian at my previous library and another person who I swore every time I saw her for the first few weeks, looked exactly like my husband's grandma. Granted, I was thinking of my husband's grandma when I first met her roughly a decade ago, which is probably why it really weirded me out.

Has anyone else ever noticed this phenomenon? Do you have coworkers who remind you of someone else?

A to Z Bookish Survey

2013-08-26T21:00:00.000-05:00

Since I started my new job I really haven't had much time to post here, which is funny, because I've been doing so much learning and growing and thinking about librarianship as I fit into my new role that I could write almost endlessly, but that's also probably why I haven't had any time to get my thoughts in order. Anyway, to keep the old blog going, I thought I'd do one of these old-school survey things that I found over at A Patchwork of Books (and it looks like she got the idea from The Perpetual Page Turner, who looks like someone I should also be following, but really, am I even able to pay that much attention to the people I already follow?) .

Author you've read the most books from:

sheer number is probably Ann M. Martin, since I read most of the over 100 Babysitter's Club books back in the day. I am well aware that you can skip Chapter 2.

Best sequel ever:

I tend to think of books in a series as all stuck together, so it's really hard for me to think of any sequels separate from the books that preceded them (or followed them).

Currently Reading:

World War Z by Max Brooks on audio and about 5 books in print, including Minimalist Parenting, which seems good and Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris, which seems excellent so far

Drink of Choice While Reading:

I've become sort of obsessed with coffee lately, now that I've discovered milk and sugar make it a whole new ballgame

E-Reader or Physical Book:

Neither. I have a bit of a commute, so I get through way more audiobooks than any other format.

Fictional Character You Probably Would Have Actually Dated in High School:

This could be a long list since I read a lot of romance, but, like most people in high school, I was kind of a mess when it came to the opposite sex, so there's probably a gap between the boys I wanted to date and the boys I actually would date. Probably highest on my fictional characters crush list in high school were Gilbert Blythe and Teddy Kent (I was all about L.M. Montgomery back then). I also went through my Wuthering Heights phase where I definitely had a thing for bad boys like Heathcliff.

Glad You Gave This Book a Chance:

an ARC, I think I got through Library Thing (which I have to say are usually not great), for The Uninvited by Tim Wynne-Jones, which ended up being so scary good and is definitely on my long list of all-time favorites

Hidden Gem of a Book:

Queen Victoria, Demon Hunter by A. E. Moorat - doesn't get nearly as much press as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but I think I liked it even more

Important Moment in Your Reading Life:

When my 2nd grade teacher borrowed the second book in a series I had loved from her public library when she saw how disappointed I was that our school library didn't have it. Suddenly I realized that I could search out the books I wanted to read instead of reading whatever happened to be around.

Just Finished:
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon - it was fantastic!

Kinds of Books You Won't Read:

I don't read many super macho books, super long fantasy, or mysteries of any kind

Longest Book You've Read:

according to GoodReads, it's David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, although I did it on audio, so it didn't seem that long

Major Book Hangover because of:

The End of the Affair by Graham Greene - one of those beautifully written stories about a horribly depressing situation. That and 1984 both left me in a funk where I couldn't quite believe in the goodness of humanity for awhile after finishing them.

Number of Bookcases You Own:

Currently, 3 big ones (although one is storing other things than books) and 1 small one, but that's after a lot of downsizing the past few years, and we still have several boxes of books in storage.

One Book You Have Read Multiple Times:

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (although the subsequent read-throughs have been audio)

Preferred Place to Read:

bed

Quote that inspires you/gives you all the feels from a book you've read:

I'm really terrible with quotes.

Reading Regret:

I'm willing to finish just about anything, so I've spent an awful lot of time on terrible books, when I probably should have just given up and moved on to something better.

Series You Need to Finish (all the books are out in the series):

I know it's still being written, but my husband will give me no peace until I get caught up on The Dresden Files. However, I find them too depressing to read all at once, so I'm only about 5 books in so far.

Three of Your All-time Favorite Books:

The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery (one of her few books written for adults, and her best, in my opinion), Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser, Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow

Unapologetic Fangirl for:

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Very Excited for This Release More Than All the Others:

Right now I guess it's the next Daughter of Smoke and Bone book.

Worst Bookish Habit:

I take a book with me everywhere, so my books tend to get really beat up, and I'm pretty nonchalant about it, which most people are shocked to learn is the habit of a librarian. I actually got in a fight with my best friend in middle school because we'd swapped a bunch of books and what I thought was a minor crease on the cover of one, turned out to be a deal breaker for her, and even though we both read voraciously and are still friends to this day, we don't borrow each other's books anymore.

X Marks the Spot: Start at the top left of your bookshelves and pick the 27th book:

The Average American Male by Chad Kultgen

Your Latest Book Purchase:

Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris

ZZZ-snatcher Book (last book that kept you up WAY late):

Dawn of the Dreadfuls (prequel to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies)