The Library Chronicles: Choosing a Concentration

Hello, and welcome to my new feature about library school and librarianship, The Library Chronicles! With this feature, I hope to discuss things I've learned from and about library school and share my experiences working in libraries to help out other library newbies. Today, I want to talk about why it's okay if you don't know what you want your concentration to be right when you enter library school.

I think most people probably think you have to and probably do know what concentration they're going into when they go to grad school. College is often seen as the time to explore what you want to do, especially in liberal arts land, but by grad school, you're definitely expected to have things figured out. I think the advice about grad school I got that was the most confusing to me was just to go and worry about what to study later. I never thought I would go to grad school right after college for financial reasons, but when it turned out my family had the financial resources to send me, I knew I wanted to go to library school because all the library jobs I looked at when I was getting ready to graduate college required an MLS.

Disclaimer: I knew I wanted to work in youth services and work in public libraries when I applied to library school. I planned to take the public libraries concentration with electives in youth services and programming and for a semester, that is what I did. But then something weird happened.

I'll admit I was not looking forward to taking Information and Communications Technology when I looked at the course name. Prior to library school, technology had not been my strongest skill and I was very nervous about taking a whole course in it. I figured I would struggle to get through and get by with a B and then brush the memory of the class away from my mind forever.

However, that's not what happened. Through this required course, I learned about community informatics, a new-ish field of information science that focuses on empowering communities through the use of technology. I ended up loving the course, and the professor became my chosen advisor for the rest of my time in library school. When she sent out an email about community informatics being added as a concentration to the library graduate school, I knew instantly I wanted to change my concentration, even though I knew I still wanted to work mainly with youth services populations.

Changing concentrations was a great decision, because I got to learn about working with a variety of populations and became much more comfortable with the use of a variety of technologies. I was able to do community informatics but put most of my work in the context of teen and children populations while gaining other skills that would help me work with other populations as well.

The point is, even if you think you know exactly what you want to study when you enter library school, don't write off any courses and stay open to the possibility that you may discover a different field that allows you to expand upon your interests in whatever you may start out in. And, if you know you want to go to library school but aren't set on a concentration yet, that's okay too, because you'll be sure to take a course that inspires an interest in a particular field or population.

Basically: be open when you go to library school. Don't rule something out because you think you won't be good at it or won't need it in your particular field. Explore fields and types of libraries outside of your own, and maybe you'll discover a passion for something you hadn't even known existed before.

Easy Ways to Treat Yourself

I feel like the concept of treating oneself is one that has taken off in more recent years along with the self-love/self-care movements that have popped up. It's also fall, which is one of my personal favorite seasons, but what can be a stressful season for a lot of people, so it seems like a good time to talk about easy, inexpensive to free ways you can treat yourself. Treating yourself doesn't have to be about going on a huge shopping spree and spending all of your most recent paycheck; it can be about simple things that might not seem like self-care or treating yourself on a first look, but will feel like it during a particularly stressful time.

1. Take a nap. Obviously for people who work full time this is probably more difficult, but I am still a big advocate and fan of naps. Napping doesn't even have to be full-on falling asleep; you can even just lie down somewhere under a cozy blanket for ten or fifteen minutes and then get up feeling a little more relaxed than you did before. Naps also don't have to be hours and hours to be effective, which is something I struggle with since I'm only employed part-time currently and feel like I can sleep as much as I want to, even though I know in my head I don't need a lot of sleep. Naps can be less than an hour and still leave you feeling refreshed, so if you have the time, desire, and ability to nap, go for it!

3. Have a cup of tea. You don't have to spend thousands of dollars on Teavana tea to enjoy a nice hot cup of tea, either. Sipping on a cup of tea always makes me feel instantly more relaxed and soothes my anxiety if only for the duration of the cup. Plus, it smells good and makes you feel all warm on the inside.

4. Cuddle a pet. I do have extra cuddly cats, but I still feel like they always know when I need a little extra attention. Sitting with, playing with, cuddling, or petting a cat or dog is definitely a calming activity, and if you already have a pet, you've got easy access to a very comforting way of treating yourself.

5. Light a candle. I don't do this as often as I think I'd like to, but when I do, it's always very relaxing. Even lighting a candle while you're doing something productive can make whatever you're doing seem a little less stressful with a calming glow and scent curling around you. Just make sure to blow out the candle if you leave the room!

T(ea)BR

I have two big problems, and those are buying too many books and buying too much tea. The problem is, I love books, and I love tea, and books and tea just go together so well. It's not nearly as fun to read without a large pot of tea next to you, and sipping on tea without a book in your hand just feels incomplete. However, I also have the dual problem of buying books then never reading them, and buying tea even though I don't finish any.

To curb this problem, I've been trying to read every book I buy and finish a few containers of tea by at least Christmas of this year (if only so I can by more tea). Since books and tea go so well together, I've decided to make finishing off my tea more fun and less anxiety producing by thinking about the teas I will finish while I read certain books, because you have to have the perfect tea to go with the right book.

Here is my first round of book and tea pairings, which I should note all come from Teavana, because loose leaf tea is the best kind of tea and Teavana has a lot of sales, which is mostly how I end up getting four bags of tea instead of the one I went in for originally...

1. Anna and the French Kiss & strawberry rose blush

This sweet-sounding romance deserves an equally sweet, soft, pretty tea to go with it. Strawberry rose blush definitely fits the bill, with its light strawberry flavor and rose-infused goodness. I need a fluffy romance once in a while, plus I've been meaning to finally read a Stephanie Perkins book for a while now, so Anna and the French Kiss seems like a good way to go since if I like it there are two companion novels in PAPERBACK which means they won't be expensive to acquire yayyyyy!!

2. A Fierce & Subtle Poison and All the Wind in the World and winterberry

I love magical realism fiction, which is a little unfortunate for me because there's not a lot of that genre under the YA label. I've been meaning to read A Fierce and Subtle Poison since it came out because of the magical realism aspect and THAT COVER, and I won All the Wind in the World from the Goodreads giveaway, which I hadn't even known until the package came because the email I use for my account is from my old blog so I never check it anymore, so I got a lovely bookish surprise. 

Winterberry is a mixture that is partially made out of Teavana's strawberry lemonade tea. Strawberry lemonade seems like a very summery tea, which seems like a perfect fit for at least the tropical cover of A Fierce and Subtle Poison. And for me, winter always seems like such a magical season, so the name "winterberry" just fits with magical realism, which I'm sure will be a part of Samantha Mabry's second book, All the Wind in the World, as well.

2. Forever in Love and berry almond amaretto 

I have had an admittedly rocky relationship with this series. When I read the first book for a blog tour, I actually kind of hated it and had a lot of trouble coming up with positive things to say about it for the review. However, something about it must have stuck with me, because I was still compelled to read the sequel, Lost in Love, which I loved. I embraced the ridiculousness of the romances and ignored the fact that the characters' voices sound very similar and just enjoyed it for the romantic fluff it was. Plus, Lost in Love got some serious DRAMA, especially with that twist at the end.

In Forever in Love, I'm expecting the girls to wise up and shoot headlong into the slightly darker stuff, which definitely calls for a slightly darker, but still sweet tea. Berry almond amaretto is definitely the perfect tea for those vibes, since it's sweet with the berry but the almond kind of tempers the sweetness and gives it a bit of a darker flavor. I am super excited to read this one even though I have terrible series amnesia and only remember the cliffhanger ending of book 2, but hopefully I'll catch on soon once I start reading and enjoy it as much as the second book.

A Comprehensive Guide to Regina Spektor

Regina Spektor is one of my all-time favorite musicians and, if I had to choose only one to listen to for the rest of my life, it would probably be her. Her music has evolved a lot throughout her career, but has always maintained a quirkiness that is both endearing and teeth-gritting-inducing at times, and is her signature. Today, I'll be writing a bit about her musical evolution as a guide of sorts for Spektor newbies.

Early Years: Purely Weird

A lot of Regina Spektor fans consider these two early albums to be "pure" Spektor, but I don't think that's really an accurate description. Her debut album, 11:11, was self-released and created at a time when she was heavily influenced by blues and jazz, which shows up somewhat in Songs but not as much in her later works, which are a lot more anti-folk/singer-songwriter-esque. 11:11 is probably my second least-favorite album, mostly because it's not always "fun" or "enjoyable" to listen to, but it is very artistically interesting and unique.

Songs, which is not available on iTunes and is very hard to get your hands on, has some of the same influences as 11:11 but sounds more cohesive as a whole. A lot of my favorite songs by Regina Spektor come from this album, including Consequence of Sound and the first version of Samson. This album is still weird, but in a more accessible way that's fun to listen to all the way through.

Polishing Up: Soviet Kitsch

My favorite album after Songs is definitely Soviet Kitsch. This is the album that has the popular Spektor song Us. I love that song, and also love most of the songs on this album, including Carbon Monoxide, Ode to Divorce, Chemo Limo, Ghost of Corporate Future, The Flowers...wait, I'm listing over half the album. This music sounds like a combo of 11:11 and Songs but with more polished production and a more mature, cohesive style. A lot of her music on the early album is very dark, and SK is similar in that way, but a lot of the songs also have sweetness in the harmonies or accompaniment that make it not overwhelming.

The Beginning of Pop

 

On her fourth and fifth albums, Begin to Hope and Far, Regina Spektor starts experimenting with more "pop" sounds, but still in her unique Regina-y way. A lot of fans felt like she sold out on these albums to try to appeal to the masses, and I used to feel that way too until I listened to Far again recently and realized I did like the music, even if it wasn't like her earlier style. Begin to Hope, however, I do not listen to at all, even though it has what is probably her most popular song, Fidelity, on it. Other than that song and Better, I really don't like anything on the album. 

Far is still a little pop-y but not as blatantly so, and goes back to her quirkier roots, so I like it much better than BtH. Dance Anthem from the 80s is super catchy and great, and Two Birds is fun, too. Far just sounds like Regina Spektor doing pop but not trying as hard as she did on Begin to Hope.

Original and New

What We Saw From Cheap Seats is also one of my favorite Spektor albums. It reminds me the most of Songs, just with more production and richer orchestration. with WWSFCS and Remember Us to Life, I felt like Regina Spektor was embracing her original weird roots while getting a stronger handle on the more "pop" aspects of her style. These albums felt a lot more effortless than Begin to Hope and Far, and they feel like her, too. They feel like all the best parts of Regina Spektor's music, and I'm really excited to keep listening to her in the future.

26 Bookworm Questions

Someday, dear readers (you exist, right? Raise your hands if you exist!), you will learn of my love of bookish tags. I never get tagged because I am a teeny tiny just born blog, but I love to steal them from bloggers who do actually get tagged. This tag of 26 bookworm-y questions is one I'm borrowing from Cait of Paper Fury.

So, without further ado, here are the 26 bookworm questions...

1. Favorite genre?

CONTEMPORARY. Give me all the contemps, from the fluffy cotton-candy romances to the dark and emotion-punching heartbreakers. I love them all.

2. Plot you've always wanted written but isn't published yet?

Multiple POV book about teens in group therapy. Would probably fall under the emotion-punching heartbreaker category mentioned above.

3. What are your "turn away" tropes?

• hetero love triangles 
• dystopian worlds with ferris wheels
• manic pixie dream girls
• glorified abusive relationships
• insta-love
• girl who thinks she's plain but everyone else thinks is gorgeous
• girl who's "not like other girls"
• books about writers whose writing is actually terrible

4. What was your first ARC?

This book from Abrams called The Peculiars that I ended up giving away and never reading and was then never approved for books from Abrams ever again on NetGalley (oops).

5. What was the last lie you told?

That I was confused by something a friend did. The truth was I just thought it was stupid.

6. How tall and how tall do you wish you were?

5 barely 1. I wish I was model height. Not gonna lie, would like to walk a runway once.

7. What is one movement you are very passionate about?

I am not sure how to interpret this question but...I'll say the feminist movement. I was a gender studies major in college. All about the feminisms. As long as it's intersectional. If it ain't intersectional, it ain't feminism.

8. What is the best compliment you've ever received?

Honestly I cannot remember. Probably something music-related, since that is what I've received the most compliments on. Also when my boyfriend, who is a very good writer, compliments my writing even though he's not a YA fan.

9. Name two weird quirks about yourself.

1) I have an irrational fear of tapeworms and tsunamis

2) my right thumb is much shorter and fatter than my left thumb. My mother and my aunt also have this quirk, so I guess it's a genetic thing.

10. Name the first thing you see when you look straight ahead.

My computer, obvs ;)

11. What is your favorite book quote?

Okay, this is going to sound really strange but...I don't have one? I'm not really the type of reader who makes notes of favorite quotes. Although, I do really love the quote from Ignite Me from Warner about wanting Juliette to be his best friend. That is a good quote.

12. Name one talent you have.

Music--I play flute, and I've recently taken up violin again. I double majored with music performance in college and would like to think I am pretty good at the flute at least, and I would like to be good at the violin once again as well.

13. Favorite underrated book and why.

This is All by Aidan Chambers. It's huge and very heavy in more ways than one, but it amazed me even at a young age how a male writer could capture so many different aspects of a young woman's life.

14. If you could tell younger you one thing, what would it be?

Beware 2016.

15. What is one thing you remember that sparked your love of reading?

I've always loved books, but I have many memories of my parents reading to me as a kid.

16. Unpopular bookish opinions you stand by

• We Were Liars is a terrible book
• I don't really care about having a signed book personalized to me
• I like to dog-ear pages
• I don't feel the need to read ARCs before their release date
• You can like an author's book and not like them as a person, and vice versa

17. Name a book where your ship sank

Ashes to Ashes by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian. Actually, two of my ships sank in that book.

18. Worst ending ever

I spoiled Belzhar for myself and thank goodness, because that was the worst twist ever. Also, see We Were Liars above.

19. Name 3 auto-buy authors.

1) Jandy Nelson

2) Tahereh Mafi

3) Sabaa Tahir

20. An author you liked better after their second book.

• Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
• Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
• Truly Madly Famously by Rebecca Serle
• P. S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han

To be fair, these are all second books in a series, not necessarily second books, but I'm fine with cheating a little.

21. What bookish world would you NOT want to be a part of?

Panem, hands down.

22. What character's special power do you wish you had?

I just want to be generally magical, I guess.

23. Do you prefer ARCs or finished copies and why?

I like both for collecting purposes. I like having the ARC of things so I can feel special for having a copy of something before it was released into the rest of the world.

24. Do you have any phobias?

Tapeworms and tsunamis, as mentioned above. Also I am very afraid of failing. I am a major perfectionist and beat myself up over every tiny mistake I make and it is a very bad habit.

25. Biggest childhood crush?

Um...no?

26. What was the last book to make you cry?

I don't cry often when I read, which is weird because I do of course get very emotionally invested in books. I think I've cried the longest when I read Laura Weiss' Me Since You, which was a while ago.

Weekly Rewind 9/17-9/23

Another week, another wrap-up. I've noticed something interesting about my blogging experience this time around, which is that my reviews are getting more views than my other posts. This has not been the case throughout my entire blogging career, so clearly I am doing something right this time. Any book blogger will tell you that reviews get the least views on their blog, so seeing my reviews in my most popular posts widget is very gratifying.

In other news: I had my first few days of work at my new retail job, and it's going pretty well so far. I was super anxious at first because I've never done retail before, but I think I'm catching on fairly quickly and will end up being fine. Things are also still going well at the internship, though I've had a very emotional week and felt like I wasn't as focused as I usually am because of some personal friendship stuff that's going on.

I also participated in Bloggiesta, one of my favorite blog-related events. I completed most of the tasks I wanted to complete, aside from creating a library feature, which I have an idea for but didn't write a post for this week, so that will be on my to-do list for next week. I also decided not to include a visual resume/CV because I don't want my readers to know where I work or live, but I did add career goals and library interests to my about me/"My Details" page.

- Branding

     - Branded tagline

     - Branded mini "about me" section

- Professional things

     - add a "professional details" section

     - add portfolio w/ coursework samples

     X add visual resume 

     - add librarian-related interests somewhere inc. professional goals and what I like to read

- Posting stuff

     - create a library-related feature

     - make basic schedule

In addition, I created a few Tumblrs because I haven't been on it in a while and wanted to experiment with it again. I created a Tumblr for this blog that will be my cat reviewing books plus reblogs of cool bookish stuff, and also a Tumblr full of hot authors just for funsies. 

Here's what I posted this week:

•  My favorite books of summer 2017
•  Upcoming music releases I'm excited for
•  A post on why I'm taking a Facebook break

Books I Got This Week

Everything Must Go - Jenny Fran Davis

The Princess Saves Herself in This One - Amanda Lovelace (not shown)

The Leaf Reader - Emily Arsenault (not shown)

Bloggiesta Update 1

Bloggiesta is a marathon blogging event with the goal of checking some things off of your blogging to-do list. This season's event runs from September 21-24. I'm participating with the hopes of making my blog reader-ready, professional, and branded. Here's my updated list of Bloggiesta tasks, noting the ones I've completed over the past couple of days:

- Branding

     - Branded tagline

     - Branded mini "about me" section

- Professional things

     - add a "professional details" section

     - add portfolio w/ coursework samples

     - add visual resume

     - add librarian-related interests somewhere inc. professional goals and what I like to read

- Posting stuff

     - create a library-related feature

     - make basic schedule


I also made a long list of post ideas that I plan to get going on during my downtime next week, and made a cheat sheet for the format of my reviews based on an older Bloggiesta challenge. Additionally, I'll be participating in tomorrow's Bloggiesta Twitter chat, which takes place at 2pm EST using the hashtag #bloggiesta.

Social Media Detox Round 2

Last summer, I decided to take a break from social media, and managed to stay off Facebook and Twitter for a little over a month. I needed a break because of everything that was happening with the election and all the depressing news, but also because I was starting to develop an unhealthy relationship with social media in that I was comparing my life to what seemed like the perfect, successful lives of people I don't even talk to in real life. I'm at that age where everyone is getting full time jobs, moving out of their parents' houses, getting engaged and getting pregnant, and sometimes, it's super easy to look at your own life and feel like you're doing it wrong.

Taking that break was honestly the most freeing, best thing I had done for myself in a while at that point, and when I did come back to social media, I felt much more refreshed and willing to not look at myself compared to everyone else as critically. However, it seems that I'm starting down that road again, and with all the new responsibilities I have with my library internship, new job, and position on a school organization, it's getting harder to not compare my life to other people's.

That's why I've decided to take yet another Facebook break. I don't need to hear everyone's opinions on current events or read about ANOTHER person getting engaged, so I'm taking a step back and eliminating my Facebook time altogether. Still, I think in this political climate it's really important to keep up with the news, so I'm still going to be on Twitter, and obviously I'm going to continue blogging. Twitter can be a mixed bag, but sometimes in the midst of all the horrible real-life things happening, good things can happen too, like author campaigns to raise money for hurricane victims and posi-bots and cute animal accounts, so it seems safe to remain on the Twitters for now.

I'm not sure how long this Facebook break will last, and it will probably be hard at first to maintain, but since I've done it before I know it will benefit me in the long run and hopefully leave me feeling more relaxed in my day-to-day life.

Have you ever done a social media detox? How did it effect your day-to-day life and emotional state?

Upcoming Music Releases I'm Excited About

I've been listening to a lot of new music and wanting a lot of new music lately, so it seemed like a good day to write a music post. Today, I'll be talking about five albums I'm really looking forward to that are coming up soon.

1. Masseduction - St. Vincent - Oct. 13

I've had a rocky relationship with St. Vincent thus far. I tried to get into her music in high school when I was going through my phase of trying to be super indie and wanting to like really weird things, but honestly, I just wasn't into her earlier stuff. Then, her more recent album came out, and something with me and St. Vincent clicked. Her last album was way more accessible and actually sounded like something real to me, and I'm hoping that Masseduction will continue in the vein of quirky but not bizarre.

2. Younger Now - Miley Cyrus - Sept. 29

Honestly, I have spent the majority of my life disliking Miley Cyrus, from her Hannah Montana days and basically until Bangerz. She was too in the pop world for me, and that kind of music just wasn't my thing. Then, I accidentally fell in love with "Wrecking Ball" and kind of liked the rest of Bangerz, and have really liked all of the songs from this album that have been released so far. Plus, it's actually a reasonable price, unlike the albums of a lot of pop stars of her status (looking at you, Taylor Swift). Her music is just fun and I like listening to it, and I'm looking forward to this album and seeing a different side of her music.

3. Wonderful Wonderful - The Killers - Sept. 22

The Killers are kind of hit and miss for me. I think the last album of theirs I was into was Day and Age, which feels like forever ago, but I did like it enough that I'm looking forward to this album. Their dark alt-rock sound is very unique and interesting and has certainly evolved over the years, so I'm interested in hearing what they're like now.

4. Beautiful Trauma - Pink - Oct. 13

To be honest, I haven't listened to much of Pink since Funhouse, but I did really like "Try" when it came out, and I listened to her last album recently and thought it was pretty good. "What About Us," the first song released from Beautiful Trauma is also super great and right up my pop alley, so I'm hoping the rest of it is just as good. 

5. Reputation - Taylor Swift - Nov. 10

Taylor Swift is another artist on here who I've gotten to like more as I've gotten older. The songs from this album that have been put out so far have gotten mixed reception, but as I wrote in my Taylor Swift post from a couple weeks ago, I am excited for more TaySwift music, and I am not ashamed. 

Fall Mini-Bloggiesta Goals & Tasks

Since I've just started blogging again, I have to think all over again about branding, what I'm going to post when, what I'm going to be writing about, have a useful about me page...basically, I have a lot of blog-related things I need to get in order. Fortunately, it's time for another mini-Bloggiesta challenge! When I used to blog, I loved doing Bloggiesta because it would help me get my bloggy priorities in order and help me set up a to-do list for myself, and I would spend the weekend or week being super productive. Bloggiesta is basically a blogging marathon challenge with the goal of getting done what needs to be done on your blog from basics like posts that need to be written to the more conceptual like nailing down your brand.

After browsing a lot of lifestyle and librarian blogs, I have a lot of ideas for things I need to do during this mini challenge, which runs this week from September 21-24 (that's enough time to get this all done, right?) I want my blog to be fun to read, but also be a resource and be something I can put on a resume or talk about in a cover letter in the future when I start applying to full-time library jobs, and I can't do that with a blog that's not up to par. 

So, without further ado, here are the things I hope to do during this round of Bloggiesta:

- Branding

     - Branded tagline

     - Branded mini "about me" section

- Professional things

     - add a "professional details" section

     - add CV w/ coursework samples

     - add visual resume

     - add librarian-related interests somewhere inc. professional goals and what I like to read

- Posting stuff

     - create a library-related feature

     - make basic schedule for what days I'll post certain post types by category (books, pop culture,              lifestyle, librarianship)

Is this enough stuff? Yes. Is it too much stuff for four days? Maybe. Still, I'm excited to get all of this in order and spruce things up around here and really nail down branding stuff and things like that. I also plan to participate in at least one Twitter chat and two mini-challenges if they align with my personal bloggiesta goals, so we'll see if I can add that later. Let's hope I can pull it all off!!

What are your plans for this Bloggiesta?

Best Books of Summer 2017

Maybe it's a little late for this post since September is halfway over, but after seeing a bunch of book tubers doing videos about their favorite summer books, I felt inspired to write a post about mine. I wasn't blogging over the summer, so I definitely have a lot of books I can write about for this one! For now, I'm going to stick to talking about my top 4 favorite books that I read from June-August.

1. I Believe in a Thing Called Love - Maureen Goo

To be honest, I was slightly worried I wouldn't like this one since I didn't really like Goo's first book, Since You Asked, when it came out a couple years ago. However, reading this book, I felt like Goo had turned into a completely different (and amazing!) writer. The writing was fun and snappy and I loved Desi's delightful voice throughout the story. Sometimes high concept books don't really work for me because the concept is way better than the actual writing and story, but in this case, every part of this book lived up to my high expectations because of the fun, unique concept. I loved all the characters in this book, totally shipped the romance, and had fun watching Desi's romantic capers.

2. Once and For All - Sarah Dessen

I haven't read a Sarah Dessen book in years, but had extremely high expectations for this one because I remembered how much I liked her in my early tween years. This book did not disappoint. I loved reading about the wedding planning business, and it added a cool and unique dimension to the story. It also utilized my two favorite romantic tropes, enemies to lovers and slow burn. Ambrose was definitely a swoonworthy love interest, and I absolutely adored him throughout the entire story. My one qualm about the book was the Ethan insta-love, which I just didn't buy at all. Still, even that didn't stop Once and For All from being one of my favorite books of the summer and making me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside.

3. Salt - Nayyirah Waheed

When my boyfriend and I first started dating, we read Rupi Kaur's Milk and Honey together, and since then I've been trying to find similar poetry because I enjoyed it so much. I've never read poetry for fun or outside of a poetry writing class, but I realized I actually like reading it for myself. I'm glad I discovered Nayyirah Waheed and Salt, because I found it utterly amazing and totally inspiring. She writes the kind of poetry I've always tried to write and wanted to write, so I found reading her very affirming and inspirational. I would recommend this one over her other collection, Nejma, though, because I didn't really "get" a lot of her poems in that one, especially the super-short one-liners, and found a lot of the long poems very repetitive (one of them literally repeats the same verse about three or four times). Salt, however, is a must-read for anyone interested in trying to get into poetry or even for those who already love the genre. Love, love, loved this collection. 11/10.

4. As I Descended - Robin Talley

I've already written a review of this one, but it's worth mentioning again because it was just that good. Reading it made me really embarrassed that I haven't read a Robin Talley book before even though I'm queer and love queer YA, because it was just so. Good. This one is pretty different from her other books since it's more on the horror side of things and her other books are either historical or contemporary, but reading it definitely made me want to read more of her books. It was perfectly creepy and atmospheric with addictive writing and a great, vivid setting. If you also haven't had a Robin Talley experience yet, I recommend starting with this intoxicating Macbeth retelling.

What were your favorite books of the summer?

Weekly Rewind Sept. 11-17

We're halfway through September, woohoo! I feel like this month is going by painfully slowly, probably because I'm impatiently awaiting October so I can go down south to see my boyfriend at grad school again. Long distance relationships are very difficult, but at least I'm with a good person who I talk to and FaceTime with most days. Still, the distance is also very painful, and I've really been feeling it.

This week felt weirdly busy even though all I really did was school stuff and going to my internship. I also went to a discussion event about starting a teen advisory board at your library, so that was something different, and felt super awkward because most of the other participants had things to say since they already had advisory boards, plus they were all real librarians and I was just an intern. Still, I learned some useful things, and found out about a couple bookish events that are coming up that I hope I can go to.

I mostly felt like writing about books this week, so that's what the majority of my posts were. I wrote about...

- Why I dislike Adam Silvera
- Books I really want to read this month
- a review of a book I didn't like by Adam Silvera (apparently this is an Adam Silvera hate week, oops)

I also wrote a more positive post about things I've been doing well this year. It was nice to reflect and realize I'm making a lot of personal progress.

I also downloaded a few eARCs from Edelweiss. None of them look all that great to me, TBH, but I can never stop myself when HarperCollins puts up eARCs for download. I have a problem.

Here are my new books:

Is this a rant or a review // okay it's a rant // they both die at the end

Title: They Both Die at the End 

Author: Adam Silvera

Publication date: September 5, 2017

Pages: 384

The scoop: This book is basically about a world where you get a phone call from a company called Death Cast on the day you're going to die. Mateo and Rufus are both teenagers who get the call on the same day, and meet up via an app called Last Friend that connects people on their final day. 

My thoughts: I already wrote about how I feel about Adam Silvera this week, but I'm still so mad at this book. I really was not a fan. I felt like the story only existed because Silvera wanted to build this world, but even the world-building didn't require much other than explaining what people do on their End Days now that the whole world gets to know when they're going to die. It's not even a very original storyline; there are plenty of books about teens who either know when they're going to die or can predict when other people are going to die.

All of the emotional investment in the book also relied on the concept of these two characters both being destined to die. However, even with that, I didn't really care much about either character. Neither Rufus nor Mateo were very well-developed, though out of the two Rufus was definitely more interesting with more layers. Mateo was sort of the opposite of Rufus, but that meant that he was very bland. He spends most of the book trying to convince himself to take risks on his last day alive because he's never taken risks before.

I also didn't like the third-person chapters from other characters. For the most part, they weren't even about characters connected to the main story, and the chapters that were from the POV of the story's secondary characters gave too much away too soon. On the note of pacing, Adam Silvera once again did his thing where he puts most of the action at the last 15% or so of the book, which, this time, was the romance. I knew there would probably be some romance because it's Adam Silvera and it's YA, but I really didn't buy it. They're just so different and only have this "deep" connection because they're both dying on the same day. They really didn't have much in common or have much chemistry, and the romance was inherently insta-lovey, which automatically turned me off.

Basically, I just found this story from the plot to the characters to be really bland. The pacing was off, and the world-building wasn't really that unique. Despite that, I do think a lot of contemporary teens would be very into this book, so I'll still probably recommend that my library buys it. I think this is largely a case of me having read a lot of YA and thus not finding it very unique, and also the author relying too heavily on the main concept of the world to make the story emotional, and it ended up feeling fake and forced.

I know I'm a black sheep where this book is concerned because the rest of the YA world is obsessed with it, but it simply wasn't for me. I was not impressed, yet again, by Adam Silvera, and I don't think I'll be giving him another chance after this one. 

Things I've Done Well This Year

I think in a world where so much bad is happening, it's easy to look at yourself and see only the negative things. As a person with anxiety and depression, it's even easier for me to look at myself and only see the negatives because that's my default, and I worry so much about doing everything right that even the smallest things can make me feel like I'm failing. Since I've had a couple weeks of being really anxious and down on myself, I've decided to write this reflective post about things I've done so far this year that I think I've been doing well, so I can go back and look at it and remind myself that even if the glass is half empty or completely empty, it can always be refilled, and to hopefully inspire other people to reflect on what they've been doing well, too.


1. Reaching out to friends when I need help. This has always been hard for me, because I am a person who feels like she has to do everything herself, otherwise I'm failing or not trying hard enough. For the past few months though, I've been trying to get better at emailing my friends when I'm in a rough patch. I still have a ways to go before actually feeling comfortable doing this, but I've been improving and trying, and that's what counts.

2. Taking control of my health. I've finally been making a real effort to change my diet and eat more healthfully, drink more water, and exercise more. My mom got me a gym membership that I've tried to utilize at least four times per week for half an hour, and I have to admit, I do feel better after I exercise. Plus, if I use the stationary bike, I can do that and read and listen to music while I'm on it, so I even get to have fun while exercising.

4. Doing things that make me feel more "me." I took out my violin after 10 years of not playing and am currently having it refurbished so I can start playing it for fun again. I've been thinking about taking it up again since it was my first instrument because I always feel sad when I hear pretty violin music that I don't play anymore. I'm also trying to play flute more often, since that was one of my majors in college. I also took up blogging again because being a book blogger was part of my identity for so long, and I don't feel complete without it.

5. Doing things that are hard for me. When I started my library internship, there were a lot of things I was afraid I wouldn't be able to do because of my anxiety. However, after just a couple weeks, I already feel much more confident asserting myself and my ideas, asking questions, and participating in library activities. I also went to an open house last week and felt perfectly comfortable talking to people about what's going on at the library, even though I was nervous about it at first. I've also come up with my first program idea, and I've been planning and implementing that, which has increased my confidence in my abilities as well. I'm realizing that things I thought would be hard for me actually aren't, because it's what I really want to do, and I'm working toward a career I truly belong in.

6. Practicing self-care. One of my first posts was about how I track self-care activities in my bullet journal, and doing that has made me much more aware of big ways and small ways to take care of myself. I practice at least 5 self-care activities per day on average, and I think that's pretty good. Sometimes it can be hard to practice being nice to yourself when you're struggling, but I think I've been doing quite well with that all year, even when things have been really difficult.

Priority Reads for September 2017

I already made my main "goals" post, but have yet to make a bookish goals post for this month. So, today, I'll be sharing a few of the books that are top priorities for me to read this month.

1. Long Way Down - Jason Reynolds (currently reading)

To be honest, this one wasn't even on my radar until I started my library internship and the director and Head of Children's Services strongly recommended I read it. I haven't read anything by Jason Reynolds yet, but I used to love novels written in verse, and they tend to be quick reads for me, so I'm excited to read a novel in this style again.

2. There's Someone Inside Your House - Stephanie Perkins

Stephanie Perkins was on my list of popular authors I haven't read yet, and if I don't read Anna and the French Kiss before this one comes out, TSIYS will definitely be my first read by her. I love horror movies, and especially slashers like Scream, so I think I'm going to really enjoy this one.

3. Jane, Unlimited - Kristin Cashore

I haven't read anything by Kristin Cashore either, since I wasn't as into fantasy when her first series came out, but this book sounds super interesting. Apparently it's written in a unique format where the story is told with the character making different choices and in different genres, which sounds super intriguing. It's gotten mixed reviews so far, but I feel like this is a must-read for me.

4. A Court of War and Ruin - Sarah J. Maas

I know, I know; I'm super ashamed I haven' read this one since its release this past May. I've been putting it off because it's so long, but I've started to un-psyche myself out of reading it, and I need more Rhysand!!!

5. Autoboyography - Christina Lauren

I somehow keep forgetting about this one even though every time I rediscover it I'm super excited to have an eARC of it. It's about a bisexual boy who goes back in the closet when he moves to a conservative town, but falls in love with a boy from his writing seminar where they have to write a novel in a semester. Bookish times and bisexual times? Yes please sign me up!

6. The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue - Mackenzie Lee

This is one I honestly got excited about because of the hype. I don't tend to get very excited about historical fiction, but this gay romp through Europe sounds right up my alley, even if it is on the longer side, yet again. Hopefully it will live up to my very high expectations for it!

7. Before I Let Go - Marieke Nijkamp

This will be another book by an author I haven't read yet, since I wasn't really interested in Nijkamp's debut. I wasn't interested in this one at first, either, but it's a second ARC I got to borrow from the library where I'm interning, so I figured I'd give it a shot. I don't know too much about it other than that it's a mystery, but any book described as having "chilling secrets" always gets me in the end.

...I don't think I like Adam Silvera

...I feel very bad about this. As a person to whom queer rep in YA is very personally important, and as someone who thinks all types of diversity in YA is just plain important, I feel rather guilty for not really liking an author who does both of these things in all of his books. However, I can genuinely say I have not thought any of Adam Silvera's books were amazing, or at least as great as the rest of the YA community thinks they are.

I feel really bad about not liking Adam Silvera. I just find his writing and characterization very mediocre, and his stories tend to rely on the emotionalness of whatever plots he comes up with. This isn't exactly uncommon in YA, but I think a good book is more than just a good concept that you can describe in one or two sentences that the whole of the book relies on.

Let me give you a run down of my general impressions of his books so far:


More Happy Than Not--Interesting concept, meh characters, meh writing, could've ended 100 pages and two tragedies earlier


History is all You Left Me--Better writing but still nothing brilliant compared to other YA that's out there. Awkward pacing, somewhat annoying main character.


They Both Die At the End--As I'm writing this, I still haven't finished it, but I don't think my opinion will change by the end. Predictable (I think I already know how they're going to die), only one somewhat interesting character, mediocre writing, and a boring plot based entirely on the book's major gimmick.

Am I being to harsh? Maybe. Maybe I've just become much more discerning about my YA over the years because I've been reading it since YA started becoming a real thing. I feel like I've read and seen so many books like TBDATE, and I just need more out of the writing and characters for me to really love a book. In terms of diversity, Adam Silvera is way ahead of the game. In terms of everything else though, I feel like he's just average.

He gets touted around a lot because of the diversity in his books, which is great, but do I think they're great books? Honestly, not really. Still, this doesn't mean I'm not going to recommend them to my teens in my current library position or in future ones, because for them, Silvera's kind of books will be new and exciting. There are a lot of books I don't personally like myself, but that I would recommend to teens because they would get teens to read. I know I'm not the audience for YA; I just read it because I love it. But, that means I have to be careful to put my own opinions aside sometimes if I want to encourage teens to read more, and that's okay.

Weekly Rewind Sept. 3-9

So, I've got a second full week of blogging down. I'm still enjoying it, which surprises me, because after I tried to start it up again the last time, I wanted to stop pretty soon after, so this is a good sign. I'm really liking blogging about whatever I darn well want to, and I think that's helping me keep going.

This was a pretty stressful week for me. I had the second week of my library internship, where I got to go to the high school open house. Not many people came to talk to the library booth, but I did get to learn how to use the very cool button maker, so that was a plus, and I learned that I am in fact capable of talking to people about library things.

We also had people come paint the house, and for three days I basically couldn't go upstairs because they were painting and there were ladders everywhere and every doorway was covered in plastic. I got super scared that I would get trapped in the plastic or mess something up and the painters would yell at me, and plastic kept getting stuck to my foot, which also freaked me the heck out. But, fortunately the painting is all done and I can clean the dust off of everything now.

I also got a job! I'm so relieved to be employed again. The pain of unemployment and worrying about money constantly is over, plus I'll have things to do during the day! It's a retail job, which may not be the most exciting, but it's at a store I really like and feel comfortable in, so that's something anyway.

Now, onto the posts.

This week, I posted...

two reviews:
As I Descended
Wicked Like a Wildfire

I only liked one of them, which you will easily be able to guess by the titles of my posts.


I also wrote two pop culture-related posts, one about the fact that I'm excited for Taylor Swift's Reputation album, and another about TV shows I've been watching.

Here are some books I got this week:

 I got autoapproved for Macmillan's Children's Publishing on NetGalley, so I got a lot of great books, plus a poetry collection and two books from Entangled Teen that I'm really excited for, including one that I read as an intern and said yes to! The November Girl was super amazing when I read it in its early stages, so I can't wait to see how good it is now. Let's Talk About Love is another one I'm very excited for, since it's about a black asexual girl who works at a library!

WTF Is This // Wicked Like a Wildfire

Title: Wicked Like a Wildfire

Author: Lana Popovic

Pages: 400

Publication date: August 15, 2017

All the women in Iris and Malina’s family have the unique magical ability or “gleam” to manipulate beauty. Iris sees flowers as fractals and turns her kaleidoscope visions into glasswork, while Malina interprets moods as music. But their mother has strict rules to keep their gifts a secret, even in their secluded sea-side town. Iris and Malina are not allowed to share their magic with anyone, and above all, they are forbidden from falling in love.  

But when their mother is mysteriously attacked, the sisters will have to unearth the truth behind the quiet lives their mother has built for them. They will discover a wicked curse that haunts their family line—but will they find that the very magic that bonds them together is destined to tear them apart forever?

This book...wtf. What is this book? What happened in this book? Why is this book? What does seeing things in fractals and making other people see things in fractals even mean? Why is doing this important? These are just some of the questions that plagued me throughout the reading of this bizarre book, but they are just the tip of my confusion iceberg. I didn't understand what was going on for most of it, but by the end I'm pretty sure my entire thought process was just "WTF" over and over again.

I wasn't sure if I was even going to read this all the way through. At first, I thought the writing was pretty but didn't love the story, but stuck with it for the sake of flowery words. However, by the middle of the book, even the writing style started to annoy me. It was just too pretty with not must substance and it was trying way too hard. I also didn't feel like it was very YA either, since it was much too formal in a weird way.

The writing also didn't match the protagonist, Iris, as a character. Iris was always characterized as the rough and tumble sort of twin and Malina was the pretty delicate twin, so it didn't make sense to me that the voice was so formal and flowery. The writing was flowery and sweet to the point that reading it practically made me nauseous because it was trying so hard to be lyrical or whatever. In addition to that, I felt like the characterizations were weak as well. They were just very simplistic, and even though the relationships between the characters were supposed to be complex, I just found them very predictable and flat.

Wicked Like a Wildfire is a book I really should have DNFed, but I was halfway through it by the time I realized that. It was very superficial in a weird way, with the pretty writing on the outside but confusingness and simplicity on the inside. Basically, don't let the cover or the pretty writing at the beginning fool you: this book is not worth it.