Sarah the Librarian

Ever since my grandmother bought a book about all the presidents for one of my early birthdays, I've had a bit of an obsession with the (so far only) men who've occupied the highest office in the nation. This has manifested itself in various ways over the years, but with my recent obsession with reading lists, I've decided to go ahead and try to read a book about each President in order. #1 - George Washington - George Washington  by Ron Chernow - finished 10/23/2017 #1 - George Washington - George Washington  by John MacGregor Burns - finished 2/8/2018 #1 - George Washington - You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington  by Alexis Coe - finished 1/3/2021 #2 - John Adams - John Adams  by David McCullough - finished c. 7/2003 #2 - John Adams - John Adams  by John Patrick Diggins - finished 2/16/2018 #3 - Thomas Jefferson - Thomas Jefferson  by Joyce Appleby - finished 3/1/2018 #4 - James Madison - James Madison  by Gary W...

Talking about dystopian novels last time, this week I'm back with more, this time with teenage protagonists. It's interesting how the adult novels tend to focus on the society at large and then you start to identify with the main character. These novels for teens start with the hero's story and then progress to illuminate how their story affects the larger world. Also because I happened to find so many, I'm sticking with only series. The Giver Trilogy by Lois Lowry - a loose trilogy following three teens through a world where each community limits the lives of their people in different ways. The Giver (1993) - 12-year-old Jonas is assigned the occupation of "Receiver of Memory". It is his job to take on the memories of their community before it was wiped clean of the strong emotions of love and hate and things like colors. As he begins to learn more about the way life used to be, he finds it harder to stay in the community. My seventh grade English teacher ...

A few years ago I stumbled across the website Reading Trails . I got really excited because it plays to what I think is one of my strengths as a readers advisor. I may not have read everything out there, but I'm really good at talking to other readers, reading reviews and just generally keeping track of what's out there to read and why people are reading it. I liked Reading Trails because I could group together titles on similar topics, settings, etc. whether or not I'd read them, and I had a lot of fun doing it. Unfortunately Reading Trails is looking pretty broken, so I think I'm going to bring my own Reading Paths to this blog on Mondays. For some reason I keep finding my way to dystopian novels. They satisfy my need for thought-provoking fiction with a touch of sci-fi. Here are a few classic dystopian novels I've read, along with one I haven't, but might as well have for as much as I've heard about it. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury - A classic of hi...