My Nerdy T-Shirts

I've been meaning to share this with you guys for a while.  In case you're wondering what bookish or nerdy t-shirts I have, here's your answer.  What nerdy t-shirts do you own?

So You Want to Be A Librarian (1)

-->

No one in particular has asked that I share this post, but I wanted to anyways.  Some people who follow this blog already are librarians, but many people aren’t.  I know handful of my readers are MLIS students or those who are just now beginning their journey into higher ed.  A lot of you guys just really love books.  If you want further thought's on becoming a librarian, check out Abby Librarian's So You Want to Go to Library School? post.

I’m writing this post on the off chance that it helps someone who is considering becoming a librarian.  While I know hard work is partially what got me to where I am today, I feel privileged.  I love my job and I love the people in my field, whether it’s my own co-workers or friends I talk to on Twitter.  I truly believe in what I do every day and am excited about all of the opportunities that come with my job and being professionally involved with other librarians.

Of course, if I filled out every detail of how I got to where I am today in one post, it’d be awfully long.  I’ve decided that a handful of posts would be more appropriate.  If you’ve ever wondered what type of experience it takes for a person to wind up buying books for a collection or behind a circulation desk, this may clarify some things.  That said, my experience is not the same experience that other librarians have had. It’s just how I got where I am, so take it with a grain of salt.

I’ve rambled on and on about how I’ve been a reader since I was a child and why I read young adult books. Thanks for sitting through all of that, by the way.  When seventh grade me was told that there was going to be a shadow day where I was to follow someone in the profession of my choice all day, I immediately chose the public library.  Our teachers said it would be preferable if we did the shadow day in pairs, so I roped my best friend into as well.  We got to take the day off school and spend it checking in library books and observing storytimes.  Essentially, it was a dream come true for my seventh grade self.

I’m sure you guys can imagine what happened after that.  Throughout my middle school and high school career the possibility of being a librarian always remained, but I continued taking other classes and participating in sports such as cross-country.  When I went off to college, I quickly became an English major.  I always knew I wanted to be one, but taking a really great class the fall of my freshman year with a professor who I still talk to merely affirmed my desire.  So I signed up for classes every semester, picking English classes that looked awesome and then just trying to fulfill my distribution requirements.  Of course, by my senior year of college, the time to face a big question had come: what in the heck was I going to do with the rest of my life?

I have many wonderful memories from my senior year of college of spending time with friends and just trying to get through everything together. I always felt incredibly busy and like I didn’t have time to research the options for my future.  I also spent a good chunk of the year in a long distance relationship that was going downhill and ended in the spring.  It was stressful but good.  Earlier that year, my advisor told me about Etsy, and one of the sellers I purchased from a few times encouraged me to join Twitter, where I immediately connected with lots of book bloggers.  A good deal of my time was spent reading other blogs as well as young adult books.  One day I was telling one of my friends about this plan and she suggested that I become a teen librarian.  I realized that this was a great idea.  Unfortunately, by the time I figured this out, it was too late for me to apply to graduate school.

I graduated.  Over spring break I had met with someone from my local historical society to discusss the possibility of volunteering, because I wanted to see what it was like to work in that type of setting.  That did wind up working out, and I also had the chance to volunteer at my local library and humane society.  I’d like to discuss those in further detail, though, so I think that should wait until a future post.

So that’s how I decided to be a librarian.  Stay tuned because next time, I’ll be talking about what my graduate school application process was like and how I gained work experience along the way.

Review of This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith

If fate sent you an email, would you answer?

When teenage movie star Graham Larkin accidentally sends small town girl Ellie O'Neill an email about his pet pig, the two seventeen-year-olds strike up a witty and unforgettable correspondence, discussing everything under the sun, except for their names or backgrounds.

Then Graham finds out that Ellie's Maine hometown is the perfect location for his latest film, and he decides to take their relationship from online to in-person. But can a star as famous as Graham really start a relationship with an ordinary girl like Ellie? And why does Ellie want to avoid the media's spotlight at all costs?

(Summary from GoodReads)

-->

I was so jazzed to read Jennifer E. Smith’s This Is What Happy Looks Like.  Her debut, The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight, was a perfect fast, romantic, sweet, pick me up kind of book.  I hoped that This Is What Happy Looks Like would have a similar vibe.  Unfortunately, Smith botched the setting and her plot was not especially well done.

This Is What Happy Looks Like is set in one of my favorite places ever: Maine.  For the most part, Smith did a nice job of crafting a cutesy, Maine small town.  It sounded exactly like hundreds of towns I’ve strolled through on vacations.  What ruined it though, was the fact that the main character and her mother claimed they had never heard of one food that was quintessentially Maine.  In reality, this simply would not be the case.

My other big gripe about this book was the role the parents played.  Ellie has been raised largely by her mother and her father has been absent, a fact that troubles her and plays a central role in this book.  This storyline was of little interest to me—given that in The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight Hadley has issues with her father, I felt like Smith was recycling storylines.  Plus it felt a little too much like My Life Next Door--another novel where there's a badly constructed plot point involving fathers.  I also thought that Ellie’s issues with her father weren’t very nicely connected with the love story.

These issues might have been forgivable, but I didn’t think that there was much else to this story.  Ellie really wanted to write and go away to college and I was exactly the same way at her age, but I didn’t find her memorable.  Graham is introduced with a very memorable tidbit, but he wasn’t really special aside from that.

Smith’s sophomore novel was cute enough, but it’s not something I’ll be going out of my way to reread or purchase.  It’s just not distinctive among all of the YA romances out there.  If you’re less picky than I am, however, you may find a real winner in Smith’s book.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.  Thank you!

Stack of Five

Stack of Five is hosted by Misty of The Book Rat.   Get your vote in by the end of the day on Sunday, June 9th!

I'll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan
A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz
Marcelo In the Real World by Francisco X. Stork
The List by Siobhan Vivian
The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

Book Haul (60) and What Are You Reading?

For review:
The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die by April Henry
Neptune's Tears by Susan Waggoner
The Fury by Alexander Gordon Smith
Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
Gifted:
I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga
Just One Day by Gayle Forman
Devonshire Folk Tales
Bought:
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
Blogs and Bloggers mentioned:
Cari of Cari's Book Blog
April of Good Books and Good Wine

Read:
The Arrival by Shaun Tan
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
The Library Card by Jerry Spinelli
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
Graffiti Moon by Kath Crowley
Fire by Kristin Cashore
Friends with Boys by Faith Erin Hicks
Liar and Spy by Rebecca Stead
The Baby-Sitters Club Graphic Novel: The Truth About Stacey by Ann M. Martin and Raina Telgemeier
Going Vintage by Lindsay Leavitt
The Dork Diaries: Tales From A Not-So Fabulous Life by Rachel Renee Russell
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach 
The Baby-Sitters Club Graphic Novel: Kristy's Great Idea by Ann M. Martin and Raina Telgemeier
Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson
Buried Alive: How 33 Chilean Miners Survived 69 Days Deep Under the Chilean Desert by Elaine Scott
Black Helicopters by Blythe Woolston
It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han
Currently reading:
Slathbog's Gold by M.L. Forman
Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness
Stolen by Lucy Christopher
What I plan to read:
A Midsummer's Nightmare by Kody Keplinger
We'll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han
Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff

Review of A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

In A Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin has created a genuine masterpiece, bringing together the best the genre has to offer. Mystery, intrigue, romance, and adventure fill the pages of the first volume in an epic series sure to delight fantansy fans everywhere.

In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes of the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom's protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.

(Summary from GoodReads)

I’d been thinking of reading A Game of Thrones for quite a while.  Now that the t.v. show is on and most of my friends are reading the books, I decided it was finally time to check them out for myself.  I know, I know, I’m such a follower.  Anyways, while I wouldn’t characterize A Game of Thrones as high brow literature, it’s highly enjoyable fantasy who like a good story and don’t gratuitous sex and violence.

A Game of Thrones is an 800 page long book told from 10 different points of view.  Thank goodness for the handy character list in the back of this book, because I don’t think I’d have made it through otherwise.  These two characteristics make it sound as though Martin’s book is tough to read, but once you figure out who’s related to who and how, it helps simplify matters.

As I’m sure a lot of you know, George R.R. Matin has not created a cast of likeable characters.  There’s a decent handful of asshats in this book, but they make a huge difference in driving the story forwards.  I particularly enjoyed reading about Jon, Arya, and Daenerys and am eager to hear where their stories go.

The plot of A Game of Thrones moves fast. There is literally never a dull moment.  This book has a lot of political intrigue and while I sometimes don’t like it, I think it works because Martin’s character are so well written.  You either love them or you hate them.

This is not the book for everyone. It’s long and there’s a lot to remember, but it’s wholly enjoyable.  I can’t wait to pick up AClash of Kings and dive into the t.v. series as well.

Other reviews:

Good Books and Good Wine

Lisa Is Busy Nerding 

Ticket to Anywhere