21 Bookish Gift Ideas

So today I'm grumpy because getting all those presents for the holidays can be really daunting.  I'm the type of person who likes to go "all out" - but in a very specific way.  If you've ever seen the show Parks and Recreation then you know Leslie Knope likes to "win" gift giving occasions, and I am definitely the same way.  (Though... nowhere close to the degree Leslie wins.  She's kind of amazing.)  But I don't like to just get a gift, and I don't get friends and family a ton of stuff - I like to pick out something special, something that I think the recipient will really, really like.  I was looking for cool presents and I found a lot, so I thought I'd share them.  There are a lot of bookish gift lists out there, but a lot of times they have too much, or stuff I don't really want, so I wanted to curate my own list.  (This also, by the way, might be a great list for anyone getting me a gift.  Wink wink, husband and mother.  Ha.)

Top 5 Tuesday: Books on My Christmas Wishlist

So today I'm not grumpy because it's almost Christmas time, which means a break from work and a chance to spend time with my family and friends.  It's my daughter's first Christmas, so I am super excited!  I mean obviously she doesn't care at all, but everyone's going to fawn over her and I get to take pictures, so it all works out, right?

Today I am participating in Top 5 Tuesday, hosted by Bionic Book Worm.  I'm trying to be more social with this blog, so I figured I could do a few tags and memes and things.  But I love lists!  And today's theme is Top 5 Books on my Christmas Wishlist!  I get uncomfortable when people get me gifts, to be honest, so I do have an Amazon wishlist, but it's more for me to remember stuff I need and I don't keep it updated.  But!  There have been so many great books coming out this year and due to a lot of money troubles this year I haven't been able to buy many, so I could immediately think of several books I wanted.  So here we go!  

Space Opera by Catherynne Valente

So I have wanted this book since the moment I saw it.  First, the cover looks great - neon and jazzy and fun, right?  Secondly, look at that tag line.  "In space, everyone can hear you sing."  It's American Idol in space, basically, but since it's Valente, you know the writing is going to be lush and rich and fantastic, too.

Circe by Madeline Miller

I read The Song of Achilles by Miller when it came out (whenever that was, ha) and absolutely loved it.  The writing was just...  mmm, so nice.  So I've been looking forward to this since I heard about it.  And one of our book clubs at work read it and people seemed to enjoy it, so I am really, really pumped about reading it.

The Merry Spinster by Mallory Ortberg

This is a collection of stories - or "tales of everyday horror" - with a fairy tale bent, which is kind of my jam.  I did this book for a new releases book talk at work when it first came out, but I never got a chance to read it all for myself!  Kind of reminiscent of The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter, I think, which I'm totally on board with.

Middlemarch by George Eliot

I have never read Middlemarch and I've always meant to.  I'd even wanted to in October for a Victorian literature readathon, but things got away from me.  This is the only book on the list where I want a specific edition, as well (see the picture, it's the Penguin clothbound classics), mostly because it looks so nice and who doesn't want a little shine on their shelves?  I love classics as much as I love contemporary literature (I really just like books in general, okay), so if I ever need something to read and nothing jumps out at me, I like to go back to a classic I haven't read yet.

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

This is a book I've already read, but it's also one I would like to own.  (I like fairy tales a lot.  Did I mention that?  Look out in the new year for a big series I'm doing about fairy tale readalikes.)  If you want to read a little of what I thought of it, you can do so here.  It was very enjoyable, and it's something that I would probably read again, and I like the cover, so this is an obviously-I-want-to-own for me!




Well there you have it!  Top 5 books on my wishlist.  Let me know what you're asking for this year!

Why I Don't Use a TBR

So today I'm grumpy because I realized that while the term is useful, I don't actually have or use any sort of TBR.   I like the idea of it, in theory, but I don't have a list, really, or even a stack.  When I talk about it, I use "TBR" in basically the same way I'd mean the "Want to Read" shelf on Goodreads.  It's just a place to throw books that sound interesting, that I might one day - in the near or far future - think about picking up and reading.  So when I say "Oh that's on my TBR" or "I have a huge TBR!" or anything like that, all that really means is that I think the book sounds interesting.  Maybe I'll read it one day!

I admire people who make a list and stick to it, even irregularly, because I just can't do that.  Even if I did bother to make a list - which I'm sure I have at some point - as soon as I see another interesting book, whether it's on the list or not, chances are I might just put everything else down and read that until I finish it.  That happens a lot.  I tend to start several books at once, because if I can't just sit and read something straight through (and I absolutely cannot, that is an extremely rare luxury in my life nowadays), then often I'll put it down for awhile before picking it up again - and in the interim pick up something else.

So here's why I've decided a TBR is not for me, and why I'm not going to stress about it!

As long as I'm reading, does it matter which books? 

Obviously this is not going to be true or work for everyone, but for me I've decided that as long as I'm reading, I'm just going to enjoy it!  Instead of feeling guilty for not reading a book I've been meaning to, instead of putting off a book that looks really interesting just to read one only because I've meant to for awhile, and instead of not reading because I've got so many books to read I just can't choose, I'm going to simply pick up a book whenever the urge hits me.  (Obviously there are some exceptions to this, though, like when I have to read a book for work!)

One less list to keep up with!

Admittedly, this is not exactly a great reason...  But it still does make a difference to me!  I like making lists of what I've read, and what sounds interesting - but I can barely remember to add books to my Goodreads "Want to Read" shelf, which as I mentioned, is really just a catchall for any book that looks interesting to me.  Having to keep track of a list on top of that of books I actually intend to read?  That's too much work.  Never underestimate how lazy I am, because...  yeah, really lazy.  So, so lazy.

No pressure.

I've definitely seen people in online book communities talking about the pressure they sometimes feel to read.  It's hard enough if you want to read current books to stay relevant with discussions and reviews (which is not something that I bother with to be totally honest), so I hate to see people adding more pressure to themselves with a list they have to follow.  Especially if the list is mostly arbitrary.  Now, if a TBR helps you and alleviates pressure or keeps you from feeling it, then that is perfect!  But if you do feel pressured to read what's on your list and you don't want to?  Then I say toss that TBR out!

I might actually turn my library books in on time?!

I have a bad habit of renewing my books the maximum number of times because I tell myself over and over again that eventually - maybe even soon - I'm going to read them.  I put them on my TBR, so I'm going to read them.  Right?  Right?!  Well I was hoarding books, basically - and since I work at the library and was surrounded my books all the time, my bad habit was only getting fed.  So that definitely played a big part in my decision to just throw my TBR out.  Since I've gotten better at actually updating my GoodReads and keeping track of books I want to read, I no longer feel pressure to keep books when there's no chance I'll have time to read them.  Instead of keeping an overflowing TBR shelf (which was my favored method - and no, it did not work at all), now I just put the title on my list and then I can bring the book back.  Hopefully I'll actually read all those books.  You know...  One day...

So for me, a TBR just doesn't work!  I think it works for a lot of people, and that's awesome.  I've seen a lot of very cool ways to utilize a TBR list, and some people who like to just pull a book at random from the list when they want something to read.  But it just made me feel bad and I wanted to read books that weren't on the list, and it was getting bigger and bigger and way out of hand, so I just threw it out.  And that works great for me!

What's your preferred method: TBR or no?  Do you have an actual TBR list or, more like me, just use the "want to read" shelf on GoodReads?  And if you do use a TBR, how do you use it, what does it look like?

Let me know!   And happy reading!

5 Shakespeare Adaptions

"Hell is empty, and all the devils are here." Or so says Ariel in William Shakespeare's The Tempest.  Maybe that's a little dramatic?  Maybe... ?  At any rate, I'm grumpy!  Again!  I need a good remedy for it.  And since there's a Shakespeare quote for just about everything (he's come up with a lot of common phrases) why not Shakespeare adaptions?  I'm mostly grumpy because I can't do a "top 5" of anything because that implies decisions and ratings and how could I possibly list the definitive 5 of anything?  So think of this, not as the best Shakespeare adaptions, but as five I think you ought to read because you might enjoy them.

Digital Studies: Information, Librarianship, Digital Communities

So today I'm grumpy because I couldn't think of a better title for this post.  Lately I've been talking about books a lot, but another of my passions is, of course, librarianship and libraries in general.  This is because I'm a librarian, so not only do I have something of a vested interest in the field, it's also something I deal with all day every day while I'm at work.

I was browsing for something - I can't remember the specific thing - and I got on to the Library of Congress site and happened to see a link for an application for the Kluge Fellowship in Digital Studies.  This "provides an opportunity for scholars to examine the impact of the digital revolution on society, culture, and international relations" using the vast array of resources from LoC at their disposal.  So why would I, a humble public librarian already out of school, care?  Well first off, um that's really cool, and a fellowship at the Library of Congress is just, in its own right, pretty neat.  I found out about it way too late to ever apply (the deadline is 12/6), though even if I had known in time, I'm not a scholar.  I'd be way out of my depth. 

But I'm interested because there's always a little voice in the back of my head that wants to be a scholar, that wants to be involved in academia - and this same sinister little voice is telling me that really, shouldn't I go back and get a PhD?  (No.  No I shouldn't.)  I do think about it sometimes, to be honest.  I enjoy school, and I really love doing research.  I'd even like to teach.  But first, would I get accepted into a program for PhD candidacy?  My immediate guess is no.  My master's program - which was great, and I loved - was excellent and practical and gave me a portfolio showcasing skills and projects... but not research papers.  I think I did one traditional research paper in three years (about health information seeking online).  I can make a simple website, and do simple data analysis in R, for example, but I don't really have a stellar writing sample.  Not only that, but I also live nowhere near a university offering a program, so I'd have to find one, get accepted, and then move -  which means uprooting my family, so my husband would have to find a job, and I'd need at least a little income, too.  Not to mention how I'd pay for school, which I do not have a plan for at all.  So!  Obviously not in the cards right now.

Which is fine.  Maybe one day, if that little voice doesn't go away first.  I would honestly love to teach, and I've worked in a library for five years, so I have at least a little experience to offer and I'll only get more.  But as I said... I'm interested.  Choosing a school to get your PhD is important because you want faculty working on your research interests.  This is obviously less vital in library science since much of the work is theoretical or could be done anywhere, but examining the impact of the "digital revolution" is totally my jam!  I mentioned that my one, lonely little research paper was on information seeking, but I also did work with digital libraries as well as information organization.  I'm super interested in digital communities and how people build communities online, especially use of language - how it differs from platform to platform, how we use tags and communicate in communities inside specific platforms.  I mean obviously there's been research done, so I'd need something meaningful to contribute anyway, but still.  That's super interesting to me!

So if you too are interested and qualified and have already been working on applying to this fellowship...  I wish you well!  Go get it!  Go propose some "deep, empirically-grounded" ideas for research and understanding!

For some people, getting access to the Library of Congress like that would be a dream.  My personal dream is to work at the Folger Shakespeare Library, which incidentally, has a position open.........

Read-a-Likes: The Woman in the Window and Final Girls

Today I'm grumpy because the noir-inspired The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn had tons of references to classic movies and I don't think I've seen a single one of them. 

All the Movies Mentioned in The Woman in the Window

This is a list of all the movies (approximately, I may have missed one or two, but I tried to be fairly thorough) from the A.J. Finn novel The Woman in the Window.

Out of the Past
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Les Diaboliques
The Fallen Idol
Ministry of Fear
The 39 Steps
Double Indemnity
Gaslight
Saboteur
The Big Clock
Thin Man
Song of the Thin Man
(all the Thin Man movies referenced obliquely in the exchange about the two above)
Le Boucher
Dark Passage
Niagara
Charade
Sudden Fear!
Wait Until Dark
The Vanishing
Frantic
Side Effects
Casablanca
Star Wars
Night and the City
Whirlpool
Murder, My Sweet
Night Must Fall
Laura
Vertigo
The Third Man
Rififi
Spellbound
Dead Calm
Rebecca
Strangers on a Train
Wicker Man
Rope
North by Northwest
The Lady Vanishes
The Addams Family (not clear from context if the movie or the old TV show is meant)
The Outlaw
Hot Blood
Shadow of a Doubt
Rear Window
Signs
Midnight Lace
Foreign Correspondent
23 Paces to Baker Street
Rosemary's Baby

I might add in links to IMDB or Wikipedia for those interested, but for now if you're looking for a movie (lots of old suspensey ones here) check one out!

Book Review: The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

So today I'm grumpy because I haven't had time to read as much as I would have liked lately and my TBR is not so much a list as it is a huge, amorphous mass of book titles lurking in the back of my mind.  I have picked up a few things here and there, though, and one of my most recent finishes was The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle.