It’s funny what happens to your reading habits once you make them public. I started out blogging right after graduating from library school, and right before beginning my first professional position. I was wildly enthusiastic about teen literature and constantly feeling that teens didn’t get proper attention in libraries—but I had no outlet for my enthusiasm other than my mother (a school librarian) and the friends I had made at the library system at which I was a paraprofessional. Knowing that I was leaving the people I talked to books about, I wanted to be able to continue that dialog. So, I started a blog. I didn’t do it methodically. I wasn’t a blog reader. I didn’t know what people wrote about. I had no idea what I was doing.

At first, I peppered the blog with events, activities and happenings in my life unrelated to books—but my reading habits were always the cornerstone of my blogging. Then, a curious thing happened. People I didn’t know started reading my blog. People with whom I shared an interest.

And then I started reading more blogs. First the people who had commented on mine, then the ones who made interesting comments on theirs. Then I sought them out. Dialogs were created. I became influenced by what they were reading. I joined in on memes. I volunteered for the Cybils. I said yes when someone asked me to join in on one of those new-fangled blog tour things. Then Reader Girlz asked me to be a poster girl—someone who recommends books to them, primarily to go along with their monthly featured author.  Suddenly I found myself with lists of books to read. What used to be happenstance began to contain a certain level of obligation. And am I really a teen librarian/blogger worth my salt if I haven’t read the latest books buzzing around these communities?

I don’t want you to interpret this as complaining. Through those commitments and through that community I’ve found books that I might not have found. Books that I adore. Books that I hate. Books I can’t get worked up to feel much of anything about. But I do miss wandering the shelves on my own just discovering things. I don’t so much have time for that anymore. But without that wandering, that discovering, I might not have found authors I treasure today—Laurie Halse Anderson, Tamora Pierce, L.A. Meyer, Brett Hartinger, John Flanagan, Justina Chen Headley, and so, so many others. I read all of these authors because I just stumbled upon them while shelving or checking books in or out, or simply browsing. I found them merely by happenstance, without any premeditation, without anyone telling me that I should read them or I had to read them or I needed to vet them for this, that or someone else. I wonder what I’m missing these days.

So what have I been reading lately? What do I plan on reading?  However I found them, here’s what’s been on the menu lately:

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
The Disreputable History of Frankie-Landau Banks by E. Lockhart
Violet on the Runway by Melissa Walker
Songs for a Teenage Nomad by Kim Culbertson
Life Sucks by Jessica Abel
Sovay by Celia Reese
Good Enough by Paula Yoo

What are you reading? What are you looking forward to? How has blogging or blogs affected your To Be Read pile?

Posted by: Jackie Parker