Thinning the herd

It's time, once again, for my overhaul of my To Read List.
I'm trimming a couple titles this go around that I've been on the fence about for quite some time. I've added them... taken them off... added them back. Okay! Time to say goodbye to these:

ALA Midwinter 2017

Wow, it's finally here! The American Library Association is coming to my town for their Midwinter meeting. It's a great opportunity to meet with other librarians and get all the latest ideas for innovative, inspiring programs and hottest upcoming books. I'm looking forward to hearing the Youth Media Awards announced.

New Year's Resolutions 2017

Every year I make some resolutions... and check up to see how I did with last year's resolutions.

• Last year I wanted to blog once a week. I mostly kept up with it, although I did take a break in August, a very busy month!
• I resolved to keep writing reviews immediately after finishing a book. I wrote a few new reviews this year... but not many. I'll keep plugging at it.
• I promised to trim my TBR down to less than 365 books. Success! I currently have 345 books listed as "to read" on my Goodreads page.
• My big goal was to read a book a day with my daughter, and I did! I read 388 board books with her this year! 

In 2017 I'm hoping to:

• Read at least 15 novel-length books.
• Thin out my personal bookshelves. I have a lot of "tsundoko," books I've purchased and let pile up unread. I'll be gifting a lot of these to Little Free Libraries this year.
• Continue blogging once a week.
• And my big, non-book related goal is to lose weight and stay in shape!

2016 Reading Roundup

Last year was an interesting one for me. I tended to read in spurts... lots of books in the spring, and just a sprinkling of titles through the rest of the year. 27 books this year! A lot less than in years past, but that's still more than 2 books a month. I branched out quite a bit and ended up reading a lot of non-fiction and adult fiction. I also read 388 board books this year as part of my project to read at least a book a day to my daughter! Here's my complete list:

1. The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry - Jon Ronson
2. The Storybook of Legends - Shannon Hale
3. Pivot Point - Kasie West
4. Outlander - Diana Gabaldon
5. Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion - Elizabeth L. Cline
6. A Discovery of Witches - Deborah Harkness
7. Firefight - Brandon Sanderson
8. Uprooted - Naomi Novik
9. You're Never Weird on the Internet - Felicia Day
10. The Ring and the Crown - Melissa de la Cruz
11. The Autobiography of James T. Kirk - David A. Goodman

12. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Coast Trail - Cheryl Strayed
13. Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life - Henry Cloud
14. Moloka'i - Alan Brennart
15. Becoming Grandma - Lesley Stahl
16. Cruel Beauty - Rosamund Hodge

17. Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-up Bubble - Dan Lyons
18. Life Before Death - Abby Frucht
19. Lily and the Octopus - Steven Rowley
20. This Body - Laurel Dowd

21. What to Do With a Houseful of Memories: A Heartfelt Guide to Downsizing - Marni Jameson
22. This Savage Song - Victoria Schwab
23. The Angel and the Highlander - Donna Fletcher
24. The Midnight Queen - Sylvia Izzo Hunter
25. Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly - Anthony Bourdain
26. Come What May - A.M. Arthur

27. Three Dark Crowns - Kendare Blake

Read in December 2016

Last month I read the following:

1. Three Dark Crowns - Kendare Blake
2. Come What May - A.M. Arthur


picture credit:  Reading, Herman Richir

Drag Queen Story Hour

This is pretty awesome!

The Miseducation of Cameron Post review

The Miseducation of Cameron Post
by Emily M. Danforth
Balzer + Bray
February 2012

First line: "The afternoon my parents died, I was out shoplifting with Irene Klauson."

Emily Danforth offers a sensitive and detailed portrait of Cameron Post, a young woman growing up in rural Montana, slowly coming to terms with her gay identity and the relationships with her family and friends throughout her youth.

This is a heartbreaking book. It's a long book - clocking in at a whopping 470 pages it's a real door-stopper. I think that alone will dissuade a lot of readers. But, for those who aren't put off by the length and enjoy a good slow wallow in sad feelings, this is a perfect read. Cameron painfully blames herself for her parents deaths and silently suffers with her miserable, religious spinster aunt. She eventually finds refuge with her high school swim team, but as rumors start to swirl about her sexual identity, she finds her aunt all-too-ready to ship her off to a camp to cure gay teens, while Cameron's feminine girlfriend pretty much gets off scot-free.

The truly horrifying thing is that the characters are all so nuanced and so real. Danforth could have easily made this story into a Dickensian dystopia, but refrained from doing so. The administrators at Promise, the de-gaying camp aren't monsters. They are all genuinely nice, yet terribly misguided people who honestly believe they are doing the right thing and in their own way are trying to help others. Cameron falls into a rhythm at the camp, discovering small ways to rebel, but ultimately, she ends up playing a waiting game, waiting to turn 18, so that as a legal adult, they'd have no right to detain her.

Danforth's beautiful writing accurately captures the stark feel of the prairie. Again, the length and the slow pacing were super challenging for me, but interest in this book may be piqued once it is released as a movie.

Compare to:
Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom - Emily Franklin
Pink - Lily Wilkinson
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Sanchez

I borrowed this book from the library.