Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Update

I have been very busy over the summer! First I went to ALA in Anaheim. The highlight program for me was the RUSA CODES's program on book discussion groups. It was very informative and I was able to take away a lot of useful information that we will implement at my library. We are in the process of restructuring and expanding our book discussion groups that we offer at my library. Starting in October, we will offer the following book discussion groups:

Award Winning Fiction
Bestsellers/Popular Fiction
Classics
Short Stories
Nonfiction
Senior Book Discussion
Knit One, Read Too! (fiction group that knits while discussing books)

I will be running two of the groups- Knit One, Read, Too! I have moderated since September 2006 and I will also be doing the Classics group which I am very excited about.

Then in July I went to ComicCon in San Diego. It was my first time going, and what an experience it was! I'll know better for next year what to expect and how to better manage my time in order to see the maximun number of programs that I can. I attended a panel program on American Dad and Family Guy which was hilarious! I also went to a program called QuickDraw which was also fantastic.

I admit that I have not been reading much since I've been so busy with the two conferences and things at work. I did read part of Anna Quindlen's book Rise and Shine for my book group and absolutely could not get into it. I even tried it on audio and couldn't bear it. I did the same thing with The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd. I could not get into it which really disappointed me because I loved The Secret Life of Bees so much. I am currently reading Midwives by Chris Bohjalian, and I love it! I can't wait to discuss it tomorrow at my book group.

I have also been busy with a summer school class. It's over with now, thankfully. I have two more starting at the end of August, but I think these will be fun and relatively esay in comparison to the last one. I'm reading several books for review for Historical Novel Society and Library Journal, so I am keeping busy!