Romance of Reading

This writer is a romantic, but at least he is up front about it. I am too. In high school, I tried to write an essay about how the books a person reads (and keeps) reveal their true self. The essay failed, because at the tender age of 14, all I knew was friendship and crushes. I'd never seen my crushes bookshelves, so all I had to go on were my friends. Since their bookshelves were basically identical to mine, I pretty much just said, "my friends and I are brilliant dreamers who are sensitive and kind and hopeful and attuned to the needs of others." True or not, it wasn't the makings of a good essay. Thanks, Mrs. Barrington, for not letting me turn that in. But here are words, which express what I feel so much better than I ever could.

Reading Habits + Stress

Lately I've been noticing that I can't seem to focus on non-fiction or even weightier fiction. All that holds my attention is fun, fast, fluff. I'm not sure if this is due to summer or other emotional stressors. It may be that due to all the heavy stuff going on in my life right now, the lighter fare allows me to escape. Books that allow you to totally disengage from your real life and to not think about "the big issues" can be helpful at times like this. The escapism factor has been studied a lot in terms of romance readers. I totally understand this. In fact, some of the smartest women I know love romance novels.

During times of great stress or emotional depth, the computer can actually be distracting for me. The wealth of information and the ability to find so much makes it hard to break off and focus on myself. To focus on simple things, like the way I'm breathing, or if my heart is beating too fast, or if I feel like I'm going to vomit...you know, the physical signs that you've got to stop. Just stop. And get a hold of yourself. Well, reading lets me do that. Reading a book gives you a chance to slow down. There are no hyperlinks. No other tabs to keep an eye on. No one gchatting you and interrupting the reading process. Book reading is a mental but also a physical act. For this reason, it seems therapeutic.

While I normally try to balance my reading between non-fiction, literary fiction, plus the occasional fluff, I've given this summer over to fluff. So, if anyone has some light reading they would recommend, please send it along. I have a long list of other titles that will be attempted come fall and colder weather. For now, bring on the mysteries, romance novels, and adventure stories. This will be a time to dream of different worlds.

WiLSWorld

I just got back from the WiLSWorld conference in Madison. It was my first conference as a "real" librarian and the experience was very informative. It was weird to go all alone; as a new employee, I haven't networked with anyone in the area and so there was no one I knew going. The few people who I knew at the conference were actually people that were (kind of) my supervisors at my student job! That said, I did meet a few people. I did get to meet a lady who works at a technical college close to my town and a woman who works at another library in our system. That was really neat and I hope to get to work with them in the future.

WiLSWorld is a technology conference. WiLS mostly serves academic institutions, although it does serve public libraries as well. Many of the programs were given by academic librarians, but there was some good base information that could apply to any library or library-like institution. There were some really interesting ideas for web design. After attending, so many ideas have popped into my head about our library's website and the design and technical possibilities. I have to synthesize those fast, as I have a meeting tomorrow at 8 am to pitch my ideas to the website committee!

One thing that almost every presenter stressed was that just because technology is available, that doesn't mean you should use it. Sometimes a certain software or whatnot just isn't right for your community. That is something that my team will keep in mind as we work to make a new, more effective website for our library. I also appreciated the comment made by one presenter that "the website doesn't have to be what the librarians like to use. We're good at learning how to use weird, difficult systems. Most people aren't and shouldn't have to. Make it easy for them to use, and let staff get over it." I know that we will never please everyone with our site redesign, but hopefully it will serve the patrons well. That is the most important thing and will be a guiding light in our process.

So fuzzy I could die!

You guys, I don't mean to shamelessly plug something, but we've all felt like something was so. freaking. cute. that we couldn't take it. Like, our entire body was just going to explode with preciousness.

So watch this trailer, if only for the little girl starting at 2:00.

This kitten is clearly an example of something that is TOO CUTE.

Not Quite A Good One

Not Quite a Husband, by Sherry Thomas, has a ridiculous cover. It has a ridiculous plot. In fact, almost everything about it is ridiculous.

At first, I was hopeful. This was a story about a female doctor back in the early 1900's. She was briefly married to a handsome, brilliant mathematician, but their marriage fell apart for undisclosed reasons. Several years later, he comes to find her in India. Her father is ill and they journey back to England together. Along the way, they endure malaria (him), painful memories (both of them), and an uprising against the British (again, both of them). It seemed like this could be a story about an empowered woman who made her own choices and found love by staying true to herself. In some ways, that is true. The main character, Bryony, does in fact practice medicine throughout the book and refuses to give up her career for her husband's. She does go off on exciting adventures around the world. She does play an integral role in a war, not as a weak female caretaker but as a skilled surgeon.

But.

The only reason that it's "okay" for her to get back with this guy, for her to sleep with him, is because they used to be married. The language is lackluster and is really graphic in its description of the sex. I mean, I just never need to read about someone being "fiddled." In addition, Thomas tries to impose some sexual tension, but it feels forced. As a reader of romance novels, I prefer stories that have more developed relationships, more realistic tension. The characters she created were a) not realistic and b)probably wouldn't have been so stubborn with each other. The tension wouldn't have existed between the types of people she wrote. And I love tension.

Overall, I'm disappointed. I had hoped for better. Perhaps "His at Night" will be better. One can only hope. Sherry Thomas is NOT living up to her titles thus far.

Obstacle Overcome

As you may know, I have a hard time openly reading certain books. I also have decided to record each book I read this year. Today my resolve to read openly and publicly was tested for the first time.

I read a lot of review journals at work, and sometimes I read the fiction reviews for personal reasons, even though I don't buy these for the library. Today I ran across the most over the top review for what sounded like an over the top book. To make the situation even better, it was a romance novel! Some friends and I started a romance novel book club last summer and have thus far not picked a book for the inaugural read of Summer 2010. It seemed like the perfect choice. We didn't have it, but we had another, even more ridiculous title, on the shelf.



I had to read it.

However, I was embarrassed to a) be seen by the circulation people and b) ashamed to have to own up to reading it on my end of year list.

The solution to a? Self-check machines.

This wonderful machine, while *maybe* eliminating some human jobs in the long run, has made it so much easier for me to check out each and every book I want to read. I don't feel ashamed because no human (especially not a human that I work with) sees what I'm reading. It makes me feel a bit better. Library records should be private, but when you're working with the people checking you out, you know they notice what you're reading.

The answer to b? Well, I decided to tell you all right now so I can't lie later.

I'll let you know how it is.

photo source

Holiday needed

This has been a hard hard 9 days. Some dark, sad family stuff happened. So I'm exhausted emotionally. And then, this blew up over the internets, and made me angry.

And then this lady made me smile.

Thanks to Lauren and Britni for pointing me towards those things, respectively.

I've got one more looooooong workday (9 hours) and then I'm heading home. A Friday night with my lovely mom and my naughty little dog, then a ferry trip across Lake Michigan to have the annual Fourth of July weekend with G's family. I'm looking forward to floating in a lake, waking up to boys making me waffles, and playing with bad kitties.


Hope everyone has a lovely summer weekend, put on some sunscreen!