As you may have heard, our Jambalaya Writers Conference is coming up on Saturday, March 3. We will have a host of authors here talking about their craft, and tons of information session to assist up and coming local writers to hone their skills. Authors in attendance include R.L. Stine, Joshilyn Jackson, Melissa Marr, Jack Bedell, and a long list of other talented writers of poetry and prose for a variety of audiences (a complete list of presenters may be found here).

If you’d like familiarize yourself with these authors before the conference, check out our card catalog. Do a quick search by author’s name to find some of their work in our collection. Below are just a handful of the books that we have available in our collection. Search the card catalog at www.mytpl.org for more!

Long Time No Blog, and A Book Review Too!

A lot has happened since I last blogged! It's been almost a year! In that time, I've actually changed positions, and I've been working as a branch supervisor in a different system since late November. It's been a huge shift, and very demanding, and I'm now rather swamped with programming and other new, more demanding responsibilities. But I'm going to try to post at least once a week. I know how difficult it can be to come up with great ideas, and I want to share what I learn with anyone who might benefit from it. Every little librarian blog helps make public libraries better, I like to think :)

I recently joined Twitter (@briggiekittie). I don't post much, but I mentioned that I was writing a review of Brutal Youth, which I recieved as an ARC from NetGalley, and the author, Anthony Breznican, "favorited" my tweet! I don't know how often that happens, but I'm choosing to believe it's rare, and I'm just lucky/special. This is Breznican's first novel, so he's probably super active on social media right now. Or, me and my roughly 10 tweets were so darn impressive, he was just that excited to know me. I mean, look at that kitty cat in my profile picture? Who can resist?

I have been reading some great books lately, and I'll post more reviews shortly. But for now, here's my review of Brutal Youth by Anthony Breznican, a book which made me so very happy to be out of high school, had received high praise from some of my favorite authors (among them Gillian Flynn and Stephen King), and which was released today!
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Brutal Youth is set in early 1990s Pittsburg, in a small, failing,and highly dysfunctional Catholic High School, St. Michael the Archangel. The tone is set in the prologue--a bullied student has reached the end of his rope, and has finally decided to fight back against the torment from not only his peers, but administrators and teachers who either turn away and ignore the hazing or encourage it. 

The story avoids the typical preachy, whiny treatment of bullying and instead presents a more realistic view of the social struggles of high school. Everyone, even the lowest on the ladder, is always looking for a leg up and trying to avoid becoming the next target. Nearly everyone in this school is capable of stepping on someone else to protect himself. Breznican uses humor to keep the overall feel of the novel light, as well as realistic. Even in the worst of times, high school has its laughable moments, and Breznican doesn't paint one dimensional, archetypal bullies or wimps. Use of a third person omniscient narrator, sometimes switching between several characters within the same scene, gives the reader unexpected glimpses into the minor characters in a way that helps develop the sense that everyone in the school is putting on some kind of act. 

Readers who enjoy YA (but perhaps find it occasionally too whiny) and who also enjoy Lit Fic will find this story blends the two quite well. 

Brutal Youth is available 6/10. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an advanced reader copy of this novel.

The Geek's Guide to Dating Goodreads Contest

I've recently discovered Quirk Books. More accurately, I took notice that Quirk has published some extra cool titles, such as Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, its upcoming sequel, Hollow City (January '14. This is going to by my birthday read!), and William Shakespeare's Star Wars (which I will be book talking during Star Wars Reads Day).

They're running a Goodreads contest now, and if you win, you receive a (print!) advanced reader copy of  A Geek's Guide to Dating by Eric Smith.

Here's a summary of the book, from Goodreads: 

"You keep your action figures in their original packaging. Your bedsheets are officially licensed Star Wars merchandise. You’re hooked on Elder Scrolls and Metal Gear but now you’ve discovered an even bigger obsession: the new girl who just moved in down the hall. What’s a geek to do? Take some tips from Eric Smith in The Geek’s Guide to Dating. This hilarious primer leads geeks of all ages through the perils and pitfalls of meeting women, going on dates, getting serious, breaking up, and establishing a successful lifelong relationship (hint: it’s time to invest in new bedsheets). Full of whimsical 8-bit illustrations, The Geek’s Guide to Dating will teach fanboys everywhere to love long and prosper."

Book Review: The Bride Wore Size 12, #5 in the Heather Wells Mystery Series by Meg Cabot

This is book #5 of the Heather Wells Mystery Series by Meg Cabot.

Yes, Meg Cabot, who wrote The Princess Diaries and a slew of other YA titles.

But this book is far from YA. While some of the characters are older teens, our heroine and narrator is Heather Wells, a formerly famous teen pop star who lost her boy band lead boyfriend, career, family, and money all at the same time. Heather, now in her late 20s, is determined to go back to school to pursue a criminal justice degree, but, being broke, she's had to take a job as an assistant residence hall director and another doing the accounting of her ex's big brother, who's a private investigator (and Heather's longtime crush).

In this book, Heather has to deal with the fallout of another murder in her residence hall, as well as the demands of one VIR--Very Important Resident, all the while trying to prepare for her upcoming wedding. We get to meet her mom, and that allows us to see a deeper side of Heather's personality than we'd seen before. This fleshes her out a bit as a character who, after four books, readers feel they know pretty well.

If you haven't read the first four books, and you think you'd enjoy a humorous mystery set in NYC, with a lot of laughs and a relatable, realistic heroine, then I'd go to your local library and pick up Size 12 is Not Fat, Size 14 is Not Fat Either, Big Boned, and Size 12 and Ready to Rock.  They're all fast paced, short reads that will hold the interest of someone who enjoys humorous mystery stories and strong, funny female leads. Don't be put off by the titles; the books aren't a whinefest about being chubby. As Cabot notes in her first book, size 12 is the average American woman's size. And Heather is a real, down to earth, average woman put into extraordinary circumstances. Though murder is certainly a serious topic, the tone of the book is light and amusing. If you're looking for something just a little more grown up than "New Adult," read these books.

The Bride Wore Size 12 goes on sale September 24th.

You can find more information on the series' official Facebook page, and you can view Heather and Cooper's wedding registry (haha) on Pinterest.

Uh Oh...

I'm covered in glue from making a Death Star pinata out of newspaper and a punch balloon.

For those of you not in the know, the second annual Star Wars Reads Day is coming up on October 5th! We're hoping to have lots of young Jedi in attendance, and lots of activities to keep them interested.

I'll have a full post on that soon, but in the meantime, I'll be thinking up names and taking suggestions!

Hello, Readers!

Welcome to my new blog, which used to be called "Cat Lady Librarian." However, it appears that multiple librarians started blogs a few years back, and at least one of them decided that "Cat Lady Librarian" would be a fantastic name for a blog. So, "Librarian, Etc." is the new name. I think it fits nicely with the fact that this blog will cover aspects of my life and interests which are not library related (though really, isn't everything somehow library related?).

 Yes, I am a librarian. The "cat lady" part is debatable, since I'm only in my late 20s, but I like to embrace that title nearly as much as I like to embrace my three fur-children, Ignatius "Iggy" Loyola, Samantha "Tinycat" Pumpernickel, and Grayson Hall. But, yes, I am most definitely a librarian by trade.

Specifically, I lucked out and landed a branch manager position at a medium sized public library right out of library school. That will be two years ago, this April Fool's Day. The decision to accept the position was far from foolish. I love my job, and I love the process of building the library up from a place to pick up books and play around on the internet, to a place where everyone in the community can come for free entertainment and information. And by everyone, I mean everyone. My personal goal is to make my branch a vital part of the community it serves, and I want to serve as many people as possible. I've seen that adults, with their busy lives and multiple roles and responsibilities, get left out of that equation a lot. That's why I try to focus on adult programming at my library. Part of why I wanted to write this blog was to share that process with other librarians and library staff, who I know are always looking for new ways to make their institutions relevant to their communities.

"Librarian Blogging: Yes or No?"

This was the question I'd asked my friends on Facebook, when I started considering writing a blog. I got a few "likes" in what I assume was a gesture of support for the idea, as well as a few helpful comments. Mostly, people seemed to think that grammar would be the main problem. That was actually kind of encouraging! I hope that means they find me interesting.

But this blog is not strictly about librarianship. Although I'm passionate about my work (my boss used the word "dynamo" in my last evaluation. Made my day!), it's not my entire life; this will be as much a "lifestyle" and personal blog as it is a blog about libraries and librarianship. While some librarian blogs can be rather interesting and/or hilarious, I'm not rabidly interested in them; theory tends to bore me, and I don't have the patience to read most library blogs regularly. What interests me is what relates to what I do, and what doesn't loses my attention and starts to feel like homework. So, this blog will encompass not only librarianship, but also my other interests: travel, crafts, my soap making business, as well as a number of other things.

Here's what you can expect from this blog:

Book Reviews: I've been snagging up some advanced copies of soon-to-be published books. I'm a slow reader, but I will try my best to have a few books reviewed close to their release dates. And I'll be sure to use whatever tricks I can to avoid spoilers.

Resources: Every good librarian loves resources. I'm going to share all of the interesting things I find on podcasts, blogs, articles, and wherever else the net leads me.

Programming Ideas: I'm developing a lot of adult programming at my branch. I'll let you in on how I'm doing that, what works, and what doesn't.

Guest Posts: I have librarian friends who know things that I don't know, and who will be happy to share.

Life Things: I'm a single young professional, and a mom to three lovely kitties. I don't think there are enough young women blogging from my particular perspective--child-free, single, and embracing the freedom of and engaging in the curious perplexity of modern life. This will not be a "mommy blog," an anti-mommy-blog, a conservative or liberal blog, or a religious blog. Feel free to skip over these parts, if you're here for the library things :)

I hope some of you can find use in what I will be posting. I look forward to engaging in conversations with my readers, whoever they may be.

Thanks for reading. I'll be posting my first round of book reviews and programming ideas in the very near future!