books

Every person their book

a man sitting outside on a bench or wall looking down at a book that is open in his lap.

This is a message I sent out to a mailing list I’m on, responding to the Scholastic Reading Report about kids and family reading.

“Most alarmingly, kids in third and fourth grade are beginning to stop reading for fun. It’s called the ‘Decline by 9.'” A few people on the list discussed their own children who didn’t like the books they were given to read in school.

I’ve thought about this a lot as someone in the library world where YA books that cover “issues” (for lack of a better word, but basically struggle and conflict and/or difficult topics) are often the ones winning book awards or getting selected for the statewide “$STATE_NAME Reads” programs. Our local Humanities Council, which I love and which I used to be on the board of, has consistently picked books in this loose topic area for the past half-decade. They’re good books, but they’re also fraught during a time when the world around us has also been a bit fraught. Continue reading “Every person their book”

2023 reading list and commentary

Posted on 10Feb2410Feb24 by jessamyn

a book opened to a page with the date 1853 visible

Here was the Mastodon thread of what I read last year. This is the thread of the books I am reading this year. My plan was to read LESS this year than last year and I did a good job. One hundred and fourteen books. I was busier, happier. I think I stubbornly finished every book I started in 2023 although some of them maybe I shouldn’t have. I did lower my “books by men” percentage an amount that felt good. I’ve been actively seeking out non-binary authors and trying to read print a little more.

Continue reading “2023 reading list and commentary”

2022 reading list and commentary

Posted on 02Jan2302Jan23 by jessamyn

s shelf with MAD paperback books of various titles

Here was the twitter thread of what I read last year. I’ll be posting on Mastodon this year instead.Find me there at https://glammr.us/@jessamyn. I read a lot of books this year but in many ways it wasn’t a great year for me (it’s improving) so I have mixed feelings about the sheer length of this list and am hoping to read LESS this year. I started to read 144 books and finished 142 but kept up with a few I maybe shouldn’t have. Here are stats for the books that I finished. Of note is that I’m lumping female and non-binary authors together only because I’m trying to read fewer books by men. I’m also retiring my “people of color/non-Western” category only because it relies too much on surface impressions/names. Continue reading “2022 reading list and commentary”

2021 reading list and commentary

Posted on 31Dec2101Jan22 by jessamyn

picture of me in big glasses opening a large book and inside it is paper towels and pressed leaves

Here was the twitter thread of what I read last year but I should note, it has two 46es on it. I read about the same this year. I started and finished 115 books. Not bad. One more book got added to my best in show category: The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson, though I felt like I read a lot of good books this year.

Here are stats for the books that I finished. Continue reading “2021 reading list and commentary”

Preparing NOW for expected challenges

Posted on 05Nov2105Nov21 by jessamyn

White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaking to reporters at the White House — White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks to reporters.

An email I wrote to our state library association about the concerning things happening in Texas.

Hello all — I am writing this kind of in my role as VT Chapter Councilor and somewhat as someone in the Intellectual Freedom Committee. I wanted to make you aware of an issue concerning book challenges.

As you are probably aware, Texas is one of the states where there are coordinated groups of “concerned parents” and others who have been challenging books with GLBTQ content as well as books about what they call “critical race theory” but which are really just books about… American history usually, with a focus on the Black (and sometimes Native American) experience and the effects of racism. Here’s an article from CNN. I draw your attention to the quote from ALA.

https://www.cbs58.com/news/texas-governor-calls-books-pornography-in-latest-effort-to-remove-lgbtq-titles-from-school-libraries Continue reading “Preparing NOW for expected challenges”