Category Archives: Miscellaneous

Yesterday a former student posted a picture of a page of a book and posed this question on Instagram:

What kind of feeling does reading give to you?

I admit, my first thought was pride that as a college-aged woman a few years removed from high school when I had known her, she’s sharing about her reading and asking her collective friend group about it too. Sometimes like religion and politics, we’re too afraid to share out thoughts for fear of what others will think. So I was proud that she was still reading. And proud that she was willing to share her thoughts and ask others too.

She described reading as euphoria. I commented that at its most basic for me, I think connection is how I would describe reading.

What do you think?

As I sit here on Sunday morning, I’m reading the newspaper. It’s not just Sunday but every day that I read the newspaper, mostly digitally but a few times a week in print. It started in 5th grade when my teacher would give us trivia questions and most often they came from the news.

As I sit by the fire on Saturday night, I’m reading a magazine. Typically when watching a half-interesting show on television or around the fire, I’ll bring out the magazines I buy delivered to my door each month for recipe inspiration, fitness tips, and cleaning and decorating ideas. I’ve always enjoyed the tactile nature of a magazine with their glossy pages and have one too many times created inspiration boards by cutting them up (this was pre-Pinterest).

As I sit on any day on my side of the couch or outside on the patio in the sun, I’m reading a book. I’ve always got a stack upstairs ready to choose what I’m in the mood for, plus a few extra on a reading tablet and my phone.

As I sit on a weekday night in front of the computer, I’ve queued up the blogs I subscribe to and read their commentary on school librarianship, reading, books, entrepreneurship, business, and news because I like learning from others.

As I go for a walk to break up a readathon or when I’m cutting up dinner in the kitchen, I open up my trusty gals Libby and Sora and listen to an audiobook tell me saving rhinos or a Harvard murder mystery.

Reading is reading is reading. However you do it and make time for it.

Having just finished another re-watch of the made-for-Netflix movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before Part II: P.S. I Still Love You, one of the sweeter elements (and uncomfortable!) was the group returning to the old tree house and opening their time capsule. So what if I was going to do a reading time capsule for myself? Here’s my listicle of what I’d put inside:

• A bookish t-shirt of which I have several to choose from
• A teacup because usually if I’m reading, a teacup is either in my other hand or on the end table nearest me
• A blanket because there’s just something about being warm and cozy
• Some rain droplets because there’s nothing more hygge than reading while it’s raining outside
• A pair of sunglasses for those beautifully sunny days reading on my back patio and being blinded by the reflection of those gloriously smelly pages
• My Goodreads app because how else can I keep track of all of my reading?
• Post-its for those nonfiction books that I pepper with them!
• My challenged book book tote that’s usually always too small
• Two artist-rendered pieces: one from a committee from several years ago where we were drawn as caricatures next to a stack of books and another that’s half of Hermione’s head and her most famous library quote
• A Willow Tree figurine holding her book

Tomorrow’s post will be the books I would add, so stay tuned!

Yesterday afternoon I got an email from a student that read in part

I have really appreciated your book suggestions in the past. 

I got misty-eyed and continued to read on as she was asking for book suggestions during our time of social distancing. In my replies about how she was accessing her books so that I could tailor the suggestions, I also included that her email made my day. Because it did. 

Librarians read books so that we can be ready to recommend them at any time. I also keep meticulous notes on Goodreads (post to follow) for better recall. But no matter what, I read because it makes me a better person and helps me in my day to day work where I always have students at the back of my mind. I actually blogged about it for Nerdy Book Club back in July. 

She made my day just by thanking me for doing what I love. I’ll ask you who you can thank. I know I decided I would pay this warm, fuzzy feeling forward and thank a few people myself. 

There are so many quotes attributed to a people around what they prioritize, what they are busy doing, and when they’ll make excuses rather than time. I’ve said it a few times before in posts regarding my prioritization for reading to improve my own life and my work in a high school library.

Here is one thing that works well for me: I read during my lunch. I have very strong feelings about people in education who don’t make time in their daily schedule to sit for a few minutes to eat lunch. You might not need one hour or a whole class period, but you also shouldn’t NOT have time for it either– even if it needs to be scheduled. I say this because I dislike when people are eating in a meeting with me because “they don’t have time” to eat and I also don’t want to hear anyone complaining that they didn’t eat at all. Just like “when it’s important, we remind”, food fuels our bodies and it’s important to nourish them but coupled with that is the peace it brings for just a few minutes each day in our hectic school lives. I want everyone to treat themselves well.

So during my lunch, you’ll see me reading. I might spend a few minutes on my phone, but there’s always a book on the table. Often I’ll pick a nonfiction book and a lot of times I’ll choose a graphic novel format that’s separate from the fiction title I’m reading (that you’ll still find me lugging back and forth to work with the off-chance that I am somewhere where I need to kill some time). Plus, they’re often titles from our library’s collection so it’s entertainment, relaxation, and still fruitful. You can find those titles that I read during my lunch at school on Instagram with my hashtag #literarylunchbox. Titles that I’ve read recently during lunch at work:

• Body 2.0: The Engineering Revolution in Medicine
• Brilliant Maps for Curious Minds
• Infinite Hope: A Black Artist’s Journey from World War II to Peace
• Earth Day and the Environmental Movement 
• The American Dream? A Journey on Route 66 
• How the World Rescued 33 Miners from 2,000 Feet Below the Chilean Desert
• Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy: A graphic novel
• The Great Nijinsky
• Pilu of the Woods
• Sunny Rolls the Dice

An additional reading window I’ve given myself is a 15-minute timed reading session in the morning. My morning routine consists of waking early to work out and then I typically moved through breakfast and tea, the televisions news and the newspaper, and helping my kids before school. In between the post-workout shower and waiting for the hot water to boil for tea, I set my phone timer and read for 15 minutes. It’s not sexy or luxurious to time yourself reading, but again, it gives me an extra few minutes before the day really starts and I feel good about the prioritization.

Where can you find some time to make reading a priority each and every day?