The best thing about this past week was that I finally picked up steam in my reading again and it’s all due to making a plan. Once again, I’ve learned that I read more and better by making a reading list and following it scrupulously. I finished Mrs.Tim Carries On (brilliant) and am almost finished with Guard Your Daughters. It feels so nice to be reading again.
At work I listened to an inspiring webinar on readers’ advisory that is going to guide my reading for the rest of the year. Classics are my favorite genre and I would read them exclusively if I didn’t feel a duty as a librarian (and it is something I do get paid for) to keep up with contemporary literature of all types. I will fit classics in, but you might see a bit more variety in the books that I feature here. I was also approved to start the Big Book Discussion and I’m taking the opportunity to read a classic for work. The first book we’re going to discuss is Bleak House. I broke the reading up into fairly equal thirds and the discussions will run from March – May. Let’s hope I’m not the only person who shows up at the first discussion!
Have you watched any of the films nominated for the Academy Awards? Last week, despite the current controversy surrounding its director, I watched Blue Jasmine. Cate Blanchett and Sally Hawkins are nominated for Best Actress and Best Actress in a Supporting Role for the film. I’m not much of a movie goer these days so I watched it at home on DVD and thought it was good – not a film that astonished me or significantly moved me, but it had a quiet sadness that lingered in my mind. Cate Blanchett plays a woman out of touch with reality with a subtle genius that completely absorbs you. The film has a flashback structure that really works well and helps to intensify Jasmine’s spiral into mental illness. I doubt I will watch any of the other nominated films before the ceremony, but at some point I’d like to see Gravity, Twelve Years a Slave and Nebraska.
Have a great Sunday and happy reading!
A Certain Fondness 
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