Bloggin 'Bout Books Blog

Hello Lovelies! So as you know, I've spent the last 31 days of March reading only middle grade books. I felt like I was a little deficient in the area, and I wanted to see if I could find some good recommendations for people who visit me at work. And boy did I! I honestly thought I would get bored reading middle grade books. I thought I'd be dying to return to the land of YA books--and it was a little bit hard, I'm not going to lie. I kept seeing books on my floor (overflowing shelves might be a problem at my house) that I really wanted to read. But I as I rolled along, I kept adding to my middle grade selection stack as well. And I was really bummed when I realized I only had 5 days left in March and several books I still wanted to finish! And then I realized I'm a moron, and just because I dedicated a month to a book age range didn't mean I couldn't read it outside of that month. That's when I realized that I was enjoying myself. I wanted to read m...

I miss homework. There I've said it. Now you're all thinking, who is this crazy lady and why am I reading her blog?? Okay, I'll admit that it's a little weird  to miss homework. But how unusual is it really? All of you in school right now are probably saying that you can't wait to be done with school and homework and just live life like you want to. But I have the sneaking suspicion that some of you other graduates who are out of school might just be thinking okay, I can get where she's coming from. I stopped into my local college campus for a few minutes today with my roommate, and I was reading while she was running an errand, and it just hit me how much I miss homework. I miss having a list of things to do which would have consequences if I didn't complete. I was a very organized student--I'd write down all my homework assignments in my planner and highlight them as I completed them. I wanted to pull out my planner and highlighter. I wanted...

Hello Lovelies!! I was pretty sure that it was a requirement for book bloggers to hate the dichotomy of "boy" books and "girl" books that society has imposed, but I'm starting to wonder if I was wrong. I'm sure if I did some research, I could find out exactly when and where and why (oh my god whyyyy) there became a split between books that girls could read and boys could read. Anyone with sense would think that a s society became more progressive, this dichotomy would disappear, but alas that's not the case. In fact, from what I see daily, it's only gotten worse. There's Doodles For Boys (full of spaceships and dinosaurs and monsters) and Doodles for Girls (full of unicorns and princesses and fashion). There's the Dangerous Book for Boys and the Daring Book for Girls. There's Classic Stories for Girls and Classic Stories for Boys. JUST STOP IT. Stop enforcing gendered expectations on children! Girls can (and do!) like robots and...

Hello Lovelies! So, as I have mentioned a time or two, I'm working on applying to a graduate school program in Boston. As part of the application, I'm asked to write a "Statement of Purpose."  The prompt for this statement is given as "Describe your intellectual goals in seeking this degree. highlight your academic or professional engagement with children's/young adult literature and discuss the questions about children's/young adult literature that have interested you and will influence your study." Intellectual goals?? INTELLECTUAL GOALS?? GUYS MY ENTIRE LIFE IS AN INTELLECTUAL GOAL. I just....what?? I mean, do I have intellectual goals? My life is all about learning and sharing that learning with others. That's really all I want to do. I'm not sure how to relay that into an "intellectual goal" for (basically) an essay. And that's only the first part of the question! The even harder part is to describe what ques...

Hello Lovelies!! It's me, your average 18-29 year old white female college graduate in a suburban/urban setting with a household income that's pretty tiny. Why do I mention this? Because I saw this infographic of "who in America is reading--and how". And that's what I want to talk about today. To be clear, I'm not very good at math or interpreting surveys (or studies, but I feel like this one is more of a survey in nature) or anything like that, so I could be reading this all wrong. If you are an expert, please correct me in the comments! This is just what I'm seeing out of this infographic. First of all, I think the standards for this are pretty low which is a good/bad thing--the only require you to have read 1 book (Yes, that's right ONE) in the last year to qualify for this study. I think that's great because sometimes people don't have time to read a lot of books and sometimes people are slow readers and frankly, it's good that p...

Hello Lovelies! This is gonna be a three part blog post today so feel free to skip around to what interest you. Things that are on My Mind Since I've been loving talking about something new every week, I think I'm just gonna call this "Things that are on My Mind". Today what's been on my mind is the hook in a book. Not the opening line or whatever "special" premise the author or agent might call a hook, but the part of the book that sinks its teeth into you to get you to keep reading.  I started The Knife of Never Letting Go  yesterday morning, and I can't stop thinking about it. I could hardly stop reading to write this blog post! Suffice it to say I'm definitely hooked. But what was it that hooked me?? How did I go from, oh someone I know likes this book, I'll give it a shot to ARGH WHY DO I HAVE TO PUT THIS DOWN TO EAT?? WHY DON'T I HAVE A THIRD HAND?? I think for this particular book it's the anticipation th...

Hello Lovelies!! So I've been thinking lately about book recommendations. I work at a bookstore in the young adult/kids section so it's not uncommon for people to ask me for book recommendations at work. I love, love, love that part of my job!! But there are pros and cons for book recommendations. Pro: I love suggesting books to people! Con: I only feel comfortable suggesting books which I've read before. And as a sidenote to that con, I can only read so many books. (No matter how hard I try, there are just too many to read them all!) Pro: I get to share wonderful books with people who otherwise might not have picked them up. Con: Sometimes people don't listen to the suggestions I make and that makes me sad. But here's the other thing about book recommendations. I'm not the only one to make them. People make them to me too. ALL. THE. TIME. Now don't get me wrong!! I love being told to pick books up!! But here's the other thing......

Like I get it. Technically, I am now out of the age range for 95% of the books I read. That's fine. I don't mind downplaying certain parts of life. Like I love that its a rare book where the main characters have to pay bills. Or worry about whether the job they have is going to keep them past the trial period. Or think about having to afford rent and  food. I like that my characters are unlikely to accidentally get too drunk at a work sponsored event, or say the wrong thing to their boss and have that awkward moment where they just want to take back their entire life. But I get so irritated by love triangles. Don't get me wrong! I love competing interests in love. I know, I know, you're thinking... Listen up a just a second though. Occasionally there are  time in life where you feel torn in two different directions with who you like. Sometimes those differences are irreconcilable  and you have to choose. But most often in young adult literature, that's ...