Reading Profile

I taught myself to read when I was five years old. My mother used to say that it was because I couldn't stand to have my big brother do anything that I couldn't. I think it was because I came from a family of readers and I couldn't wait to be one of them. I was also lucky enough to have a wonderful children's librarian at my public library. She always had suggestions for the perfect book, no matter what I was looking for, and even sometimes when I didn't know what I was in the mood for too. I remember her asking me questions about the books I had read and what I liked about them. In retrospect, she was probably conducting a simple form of a reader's advisory interview. 

Most of my reading for the last few years has been juvenile and young adult, so I am excited to explore new genres and revisit ones I haven't read for a while. Reading genres that are mostly unfamiliar to me, learning how to conduct a proper reader's advisory interview which I can share with my staff, and creating a cache of go to reference sources as described in our reading (Ross & Dewdney) is really exciting. Not only will I be better able to meet the needs my patrons, I will find new genres and authors to explore.

Something new for me has been listening to audio books. I had tried to read The Book Thief but just couldn't get into it. The audio book completely immersed me in the story. There were times that I had to pull off the road either because I was in tears or because the language was so beautiful that I needed to listen to it again. The same was true for Wonder. I loved it when I read it, but the audio book really took it to another level. One thing that not many people know about  me is that I would prefer to read the book and never see the movie version. So many books are so much better than their movies. The Never Ending Story, The Indian in the Cupboard, and The Selected Works of T S Spivet are three that come to mind immediately.

Five Favorites from 2016

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

Wonder by R J Palacio

Paper Hearts by Meg Wiviott

Storied Life of A J Fikry by Gabriell Zevin

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Five All Time Favorites

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Murie Barbery

The Mrs Piggle-Wiggle books by Betty Macdonald