Start READING already!

Well, I started reading books that are applicable to the readers' advisory portion of my profession. OK, for the record, I've BEEN reading teen and adult books all my life-- but have had a hard time recently finding ones I could get ALL THE WAY through. If it doesn't grab me, I can't make myself finish it. I think this might be my "tragic flaw" as a librarian- my inability to push through the slow or mundane parts of a book that don't appeal to me just to finish it. I just CAN'T DO IT.



BUT I finished Story of a Girl: a novel by Sara Zarr today. It was a National Book Award finalist in 2007. I liked it. I almost always love realistic teen fiction, so this is not a surprise. The main character, Deanna, grapples with her painful past, mistakes she regrets, and struggles with the consequentially strained relationships. It was a quick book, one that was hard to put down after initially starting it, a result of intriguing story-telling by Sara Zarr. I understand why it was a National Book Award finalist, it was great!


So now what? Well I have a stack of books sitting here -- all teen ones of course, and we'll see how/if I can get through any of them. Again I'm using a Best Books list provided by my library, which lists a lot of books that are also on ALA's best books for teens list. I'm going to TRY to move out of realistic fiction and hit another genre-- but we'll see if I can force myself through it! And I MIGHT have to quickly read this new book called Westminster Abby by Micol Ostow. It's going to be a guilty pleasure- a short book about a girl going to study abroad in London for 10 weeks. Since I just had the same experience last summer I think it'll be super quick and easy to get through. But I'm going to TRY TRY TRY to get into something different after this-- I swear!

In other news- yesterday I found myself pulling books for Mothers' Day Stories and Craft program I'm handling for preschoolers. Then I found myself scheduling and organizing a yoga program for teens (also my FIRST TEEN PROGRAM BY MYSELF) happening in May. And I'm also starting to put together ideas for Adult technology programs in the fall. So many things to think about! I feel so lucky, to be able to flit from one age group to another. Pretty much anything I want to do I can do-- because I get to work with each age group if I want to-- but it can get overwhelming too. I find myself coming up with ideas for preschoolers when working with teens. And ideas for adult programs while working on my teen ones....so let's just hope I don't end up with picture books in my adult programs and teen books in the Stories and Crafts programs for the toddlers. Haha! That would be funny.

More to come...