The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - It's a very "in" book right now and I do love me some, post-apocalyptic teen fiction. I've heard some rave reviews about it and my colleague let me borrow her copy, so I should be getting started fairly soon.
Fifth Avenue., 5 A.M. by Sam Wasson - I usually stay away from exposes, but I love Breakfast at Tiffany's the movie, though Capote's story was not my favorite.
The Riddle-Master by Patricia McKillip - My supervisor recommended the series to me and the cover blurb was intriguing. However, the GoodReads reviews are mixed, so I will proceed with caution.
Check out my GoodReads for future updates! (I hit the 200 book limit for LibraryThing so I have to decide how much to pay for a membership). And look for a post towards the end of the summer where I will discuss the various reading social networking sites.
Last summer, I had a specific set of reading goals that I attempted to accomplish (attempted being the operative word). This summer - not so much. Instead, I am going to focus on exploring some of the different book sharing websites, mainly LibraryThing and GoodReads though I am intrigued by BookGlutton and Shelfari.
I already have an account with LibraryThing and am in the process of putting my collection onto the site. I'm only doing reviews of what I have recently read, but I plan to add as I read/re-read. Hopefully, once I get everything on LibraryThing, I can just copy it all over to GoodReads and the other sites.
The main reason I am undertaking this project is so that I am more aware of what I am reading and to help with my future as a librarian, though I am still not sure I want to go into public librarianship. Also I will miss my adult pop lit class and joining these book communities may help to make up for it.
After much deliberation I have decided to create a recurring all-things-Austen segment as part of this blog. It will be called "Daughters of Jane" as an allusion to the Sons of Ben, the group of Ben Jonson's young poet proteges.
Let Austen-mania commence! There are so many Austen inspired movies, chick-lit novels and spoofs that there is no way to cover all of them, but what I encounter I will blog about. So most of the novel spin-offs will be coming from a lecture my comparative world lit. professor mentioned in a lecture devoted entirely to Austen spin offs. So look forward to more posts about Austen-esque novels, movies, and spoofs.
The theater, the theater, what happened to the theater? I wish that for at least one day, my life would be like a Broadway musical. I know that I already expressed this wish in a previous post, but I have renewed the idea because I have found the perfect staging scene: The Hallene Gateway Plaza. It's this great landscaped area on the edge of campus by the alumni center. Follow me on a quick sketch of my vision:
So this is the proper entrance for the Plaza:
Nice, right? Kind of park-y but with some great architecture.
Speaking of architecture, here is the building, the Alica Campbell Alumni Center, behind the arch. Notice the great second story balcony; perfect for dramatic scenes or dimensionality.
This shot was taken from the Alumni Center's patio. The fountain is a nice touch right?
Here's a panoramic shot of the fountain with the Alumni Center in the back. Notice the nice short, wide stairs in the background that would be great for a dance routine.
Okay, did you notice the nice curve of the fountain/planter rim? It's really wide and flat, so another great spot for dancers. There is also a secondary ledge around the outside, so even more stage area!
There are even picnic tables ... Think High School Musical "Status Quo"number.
Now, I realize that my dream will most likely never come true, but I have the set and am on the lookout for the signs that a big song-and-dance showstopper is about to occur.
1. The clothing of people around you is all in the same color scheme or similar in some way. The people also have to be diverse: ethnically, professionally, and physically. It's a sure sign that the chorus has gathered and is about to let it rip.
2. The people around you start walking or moving in formations. I'm talking about dance formations, with people equal distances from each other, or an attempt to look randomly placed but they leave enough of a personal bubble that it's not quite normal.
3. This is possibly the most obvious sign: music begins to blare over hidden speakers and everyone knows the song, even if you have never heard it before. This phenomenon is explored in Disney's Enchanted.
4. If you haven't caught on after those signs, meaning you are incredibly dense, when everyone around you begins to dance and you have the uncontrollable urge to join in, you are there.
Other giveaways:
The marching band that arrives for some unexplained reason I'm sure that the Marching Illini would help me out.
The fountain (a la Sound of Music) How great is the Hallene Fountain?
An open space where lots of choreography can happen Notice the patio, the broad walkways, and the grassy spots
Here's another example that meets all the above requirements.
Ok, so the resolution is not going so well as this post is already three days late, but better late then never.
Anyway, I've been on campus for the past week and have been working full-time at the library and it has really driven home all the pet peeves I have about this job. No job is perfect and I am planning to have a career in the library, but I have to rant.
Patrons who walk right in front of the desk and make you think they want help, but really they're just walking by. Let's just say I am a helpful person. I want to make people's lives easier. So, when I see someone approach the desk I go into super-informed-and-helpful-Liz mode only to be let down by those people who are too lazy or rude to walk around the rope barriers.
Patrons who assume that since I work at the library I should know everything about the computers. I have no background in IT and am almost computer illiterate for a person of my generation, but I try to help as much as possible. But sometimes, patrons just don't get that we don't have an IT person just for our library. They also don't get that our computers are public ones and don't allow a lot of downloading or saving for long periods of time. (Can you tell I had an issue like this today?)
The deluge of returns that occur right before closing time.It never fails that within the last hour and a half before closing time (which usually only happens two times a week as we are open 24/5) everyone suddenly remembers that they have material to return and rush up to the desk and hand everything over. We have so much time during the day to shelve, yet we leave for the day with at least two carts of material to shelve.
Professors who don't know how to put material on reserve, check out material on reserve, and give out the incorrect information about reserves to their students. This one is pretty self-explanatory, but has a simple fix. I propose that we offer an hour class/seminar to all the professors on campus on the reserve system. I'm sure that IPM (Information Processing Management) would thank us and would even have someone there to help run it.
Trying to shelve in the compact shelving. There isn't anything I can do about this, but having to step out of the shelves and wait for a patron to find the items they want, and since all the graphic novels are there, it takes a little time. I usually go to another section and shelve for awhile, but sometimes, like today, it was one after another who wanted to get into the shelves.
The fact that somehow as soon as someone starts looking for a DVD all the glorious shelves of perfectly straightened DVDs look like an earthquake has occurred. I will admit that our shelves are slippery, as are the newer DVD cases, but ... really, can they just clean up after themselves?
The creepy middle-aged, male patrons who watch porn on library computers and try to hide it.Don't kid yourself, we all know what you're doing, and it's gross. The only reason you come to the library is because you don't want your wife/girlfriend to know how many porn sites you subscribe to or you don't want viruses on your home computer. Just stop, no one else wants to see you, so go home and enjoy yourself in privacy.
Patrons who just plop materials on the desk. It's just rude, and I can't read minds so I don't know if they want to check out or if they are returning items. A nice "Hello" would be nice or even just a "Hi," but to just stand there waiting ... ARGH!
That's all I can think of right now, and I think I covered everything, but I may be adding later. In the meantime, enjoy this awesome video:
Image via Wikipedia
