My little secret

I have a little secret. Sort of a cross between a compulsion and an addiction. I don't talk about it too often because I have it pretty well under control. I'm not ashamed or anything. There are millions of people who understand and share my problem. In fact, most of the people in my profession fall somewhere on the spectrum. I am a life-long obsessive compulsive reader. This used to manifest itself as book hoarding but has evolved with recent advances in technology.

There is one restriction to my reading. I only read for free. Working in a high school library and being a regular patron of our public library system means I don't have to buy books. There might be a bit of a wait for popular titles, but with so much choice there is always something great to read.

The digital options are even more liberating. Through GoodReads it is possible to download new titles being promoted to give exposure to new authors, as well as classics. When J.D. Salinger died I downloaded a pdf of Catcher in the Rye and had the joy of reacquainting myself with Holden Caulfield. (I learned that I didn't love reading off Adobe Editions. Reading for extended periods off a laptop just wasn't comfortable.)

Through my beloved Kindle I read classics in the public domain and also peruse Amazon's Kindle Promos on a fairly regular basis. This has been a good way to infuse contemporary titles and new authors into my Kindle list.

Since I got my iPad I have learned how to synch my Kindle and transfer titles between devices. Just before school let out a graduating senior asked me to sign her yearbook. As I wrote something pithy we talked about her passion for English literature and I shared some of my favorites. That night I got a hankering for Howard's End and bounced it over to the iPad. The awesome thing about reading on the iPad is you don't have to turn on a light at night. Both devices are a joy for this reader.

Through LibraryThing where I am signed up as a reviewer (and often get free books - paper and digital), I got an invitation to join NetGalley.

"NetGalley delivers digital galleys and promotional materials to professional readers and helps promote new and upcoming titles. Using NetGalley, publishers can build communities, invite contacts to view galleys and promotional materials, and track who has viewed their titles.

Professional readers--reviewers, media, journalists, bloggers, librarians, booksellers and educators--can join and use NetGalley at no cost. Register Now to get started."

Creating an account and synching it to my Kindle was a little fiddly, but mostly because I rushed and didn't follow the instructions as carefully as I should have. However, the customer support was fast, helpful and personal. I really like this company. And I like the four new YA galleys that appeared in my Kindle list this morning.

Aside from the fact that I have a lot of reading fetishes (don't even get me started on bookmarks!) I manage to read widely, and for free. As a public school librarian I mean it when I tell students and parents that they should never have to purchase a book for education. I'll track it down somewhere, in some format. I may have to fight the compulsion to read it first before handing it over, but let's keep that between ourselves.

Photo credit:

Flickr Creative Commons

Shh. I have a secret.

Uploaded on December 10, 2009
by e m ♥ i l y

Sunscreen and Zombies

One thing I never saw coming was a fascination with zombie lit. Seriously. And then came Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. With a bad attitude and disdain I condescended to give it a read, just to see how bad it was, and I got schooled by zombies. Meiji Japan? Elizabeth Bennet and the ninjas? Poor Charlotte Lucas! I. Loved. It.

Then came Monster Island and those rocking, school uniformed, Uzi toting,  Somali teen-girl band of warriors and an omniscient zombie named Gary in post-infection Manhattan. I needed more zombies.

World War Z was the perfect follow up. As one of the most popular books in our library this year I had to wait (impatiently) for my turn. An oral history of the global zombie wars, complete with data, statistics and primary source documentation, it was worth the wait.

My zombie orgy culminated with Zombieland, a video of the U.S. after the zombie plague. From all my zombie reading I felt pretty confident of my zombie survival skills, the most important being disposal of the head, so it was nice to be able to add a few tricks to my skill set.

• The double tap - not one, but two shots to the head, to be sure the brain is really destroyed.

• Wear a seatbelt - an accident in a get-away car can kill you, too. Buckle up for safety. And always check the backseat!

• Cardio - being able to out run zombies can save your life.

So what does this have to do with sunscreen? I can't think of a better genre for summer reading than zombie lit. Perfect for the beach, funny, horrific, ghoulish, page-turning fun. Great for reluctant readers, great for smartie-pants (like me) who think they  know everything and that they can't be surprised anymore. I now have collegial bonds with fellow zombie afficionados - students with whom I might otherwise never have had the opportunity to make a connection.

That is why I featured zombie lit on our CCHS Learning Commons homepage.

Summer reading offers students a rare opportunity to read for pleasure, for fun, for joy! Our new paperless list, CCHS Summer Reading 2010, features books that are engaging and offer different perspectives and global themes.

Kids are busy during the summer, with Juniors preparing for college interviews. All the books on our list would provide a lively discussion to that classic interview question "what are you reading?".  If I were an interviewer you can be sure I'd remember the applicant who could speak with intelligence and passion about zombie lit.

Students, and their librarians, need to get out of their comfort zones sometime, and try something new. It is a great gift to be surprised by a book.

When the zombie apocalypse comes, and it will, I'll be ready.