Skip to main content

The Other Things I Read

I had wanted this blog to be solely about children's books. But I'm taking a short break from reading children's books while I try my hardest to keep up with a Coursera course I'm taking that started today. It's called "Fantasy and Science Fiction: The Human Mind, Our Modern World." (I always giggle when I say or read that because it sounds so... so... grandiose.) The course will be over sometime in mid-August and I'll have a stack of children's books waiting for me. (Truth be told, I have a "books to read" list that is more than four pages long. Yes, I keep lists. It's what I do.)

I read a lot of fantasy and science fiction as a teen, but, alas, none of those books will be covered in the course. If you're curious about it, click on the link above. It's an 11-week course with an expected workload of 8 to 12 hours a week. (Manic giggling now.)

Meantime, I realized that I have placed too many other books on hold (library-speak... when I see a book I want to read, I place a hold on it, and lo and behold, I get the book almost as soon as it's published!). So, in addition to the coursework, I have in my reading basket (not a metaphor, I actually keep the books in a basket)--Jussi Adler-Olsen's A Conspiracy of Faith; Liza Marklund's Lifetime; and Jane Casey's The Last Girl--all due within the next two weeks (I'm a stickler for returning my library books on time. Go figure.) And I just finished Mo Hayder's Poppet and Jo Nesbo's The Redeemer. These are my guilty pleasures. If you're friends with me on Facebook or follow me on twitter (marieldrucker), you know I like to read gritty crime novels, typically police procedurals, and other mysteries.

I don't believe I have OCD, but again, I keep a list of the mystery writers I love and I prefer to read their books in order. (BTW, here's a great site dedicated to finding mystery titles by author: Stop You're Killing Me.)

So, feeling like I should post here more often, I've decided to at least list the mystery series I love and, maybe, just maybe, one day I'll write about some of those titles too. I'll be doing that over the next few days and weeks. Stay tuned.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What I Haven't Read in 2017

I made an odd sort of promise to myself this year: Read fewer books. The past few years, I been reading at a pace of about 100 books per year – a mix of children’s (but not counting picture books), young adult, and adult – and I felt as if I was reading too quickly and perhaps forgetting what I was reading. (Thank goodness for Goodreads.)
However, I consider it a very important part of my job as a librarian to keep up with what’s published, even if it’s a daunting task. Hundreds of thousands books are published each year in this country, so obviously it’s beyond even a superhero librarian (and I’m not one of those) to keep all those titles straight. But I try to at least know something about some books. We have two public-facing desks in my library – one is called the information desk; the other, reference. If you are working at the information desk, you will be asked for book recommendations. You will be asked, have you read this book? You will be asked to help select a book for a r…
Post a Comment
Read more

"Beartown" by Fredrik Backman

I’m about to be overly effusive: I loved Beartown by Fredrik Backman and I think it is one of the best books I’ve ever read. (See Tangent 1.)

Backman lured us into his Swedish world of curmudgeons and the neighbors who love them with A Man Called Ove and his other novellas. But this isn’t A Man Called Ove. This book has a much larger scope. This feels like the book Backman has always wanted to write but had to wait to give to us until he developed an audience. You got it, bro. I will read whatever else you write in the future. This book more deeply develops his ideas about communities. It is also about parenthood and all the responsibilities that go along with it. It’s about family and best friends who are like family. It’s about belonging. It’s about sorrow and happiness. And there’s some hockey. (Tangent 2.)
You will hate some of the parents (Kevin’s, William’s). You will love some of the teens (Amat, Maya, Ana, Benji, Bobo, Leo...). Be prepared to feel emotions. The characters – a…
Post a Comment
Read more