The Librarians Suggest

Happy Friday! Since Coachella is in it's first week, I plan on being far away from the festival since it's in my hometown. I'm spending the day with a coworker and socializing it up and networking with other fab ladies at the  Create and Cultivate Pop-Up  at the  Ace  tomorrow. Besides that I'm indulging myself with a fancy grilled cheese dinner and trying to get on that spring cleaning. See you next week :) What I'm Doing:  Desert Pop-Up What I'm Reading:  Making Friends What I'm Wearing:  Universal Thread Tees  ( image )

The other day a fourth grade girl came in asking about   Full House  books and it kind of made my day. I asked her if she was looking for an updated series (the books I read are at least fifteen years old) since I read these books when I was in fourth grade; in fact I never thought tween aged girls these days would find any interest in a show like  Full House . I was all about reading the Stephanie Series , P.S. Friends Forever  was hands down my favorite. I'm so checking if this show is on Netflix this weekend!! Happy Friday :) Post by Sarah   (image via  amazon)     

When I'm looking for inspiration I immediately turn to books, I guess it's just the librarian in me. Which is why my desk tends to be the home where many of my books reside. In pursuit of cleaning my desk area and making it an actual work space, I find these books most fitting to keep on display and to use as a quick reference when I'm need of a little help. What's on your desk this moment?  (images via  amazon)

 When I came across this  librarian blog , I seriously fell out of my chair from laughing so hard while on my lunch break one afternoon. Every single  librarian frustration  this guy writes about applies to librarian life like you can't believe. He's spoken at library conferences and I'm dying to get him to come out to sunny California. Do yourself a favor,  check him out !  I recently was suggested this book last week after talking about my love for Manhattan. Have you heard of  Vanishing New York ? "The go-to hub for those who lament New York's loss of character."  " Jeremiah Moss does an excellent job of cataloging all that’s constantly being sacrificed to the god of rising rents."  These are just a few of my favorite reviews of his blog. His writing features mom and pop owned businesses closing left and right and how Manhattan is becoming a city for the 1%.  I've been following  Lost in Cheeseland...

As you all know by now I have a slight obsession with children's stories particularly fairy tales. I recently finished grad school and although my emphasis is in archiving and preservation, I will never outgrow the tattered old box of picture books and chapter books of my youth. There's something so enchanting about the worlds that exist in the pages of books like Winnie the Pooh or James and the Giant Peach.   Escaping to The Hundred-Acre Woods or entering the forest in one of the Grimm's fairy tales , let me just tell you, I could sit and read (and re-read) these books for hours. I recently stumbled across old and beat up boxes of the books that consumed by childhood. Of course I couldn't help but drag them out and clean up a few of my favorites. So I'll go ahead and reacquaint myself with the characters from The Wind in the Willows and The Grimm Brother's Fairy Tales . What are some of your favorite books from your childhood?!  Post by Sa...

What's On Sarah's Bookshelf?  Horrorstor  by Grady Hendricks: You know that scene in  I Am Legend  when Will Smith's dog runs into the abandoned building and Will goes in after Samantha (His German Shepard),  you see  zombies all huddling together  and you want to scream because it's creepy af. That is what I kept envisioning while reading this story. It's a combination of  I Am Legend  meets the recent television adaptation of the  The Mist in a store that resembles an  Ikea . Ghost haunting in a furniture store? Count me in!  Bitch Planet  by Kelly Sue DeConnick: The first book in a series of adult graphic novels,  Bitch Planet  focuses on exploitation and women in an off-planet prison. The narrative moves back and forth through time, so we learn how each character is arrested and their experience within the prison. Although I quit after a few seasons, it's basically  Orange is the New Black ...

Five Things To Know About Lois Sachar:  1. Sachar graduated from Berkeley in 1976 with a degree in Economics and went on to get a law degree from the University of California, Hasting College of Law in 1980.  2. After being fired from a sweater warehouse, Sachar went to law school around which time Sideways Stories From Wayside School was accepted for publication.  3. While in college, Sachar worked as a teacher's aid at an elementary school. While at Hillside Elementary, Louis was known as "Louis The Yard Teacher," the same name as the character at Wayside School.  4. Sideways Stories From Wayside School was published in 1978. It became a television show and lasted two seasons.  5. His books still remain the most beloved children's book in Children's Literature.  Post by Sarah ( image )

Keeping his secret of wearing dresses and taking Paris by storm as Lady Crystalia, (only the hottest fashion icon in the capital of fashion), Prince Sebastian's parents are looking for a bride. Forget the women his parents are trying to set him up with, Sebastian would rather twirl in his one of a kind gowns and Frances, his dressmaker. A beautifully crafted story that acknowledges gender fluidity and explores love, this is sure to be a graphic novel you will come back to again and again. And if you enjoy this author and these illustrations as much as Jade and I do, then follow Jen Wang .  Post by Sarah. ( 1 , 2 , 3 )

Five beautifully illustrated picture books that have just hit the stand. Get them, read them over and over with your kiddos and gush over the seriously amazing artistic abilities these illustrators have. Don't ask me to pick favorites because they are all wonderful stories. Read about sailing the ocean blue told in a lullaby, fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli, finding the perfect costume for a party and lots of penguins, a mountain, an island, a pebble (you decide what Petra is), and a little gold leaf. ( images )  

If there's one thing Sarah hordes, it's coffee table books. From Princess Di (because she grew up idolizing her) to travel books, interior design and fashion, Sarah loves to swoon over glossy photographs and dream...dream of wearing overpriced shoes and haute couture gowns or to fall into serious wanderlust with all the travel books she owns. Some of these she's had for a awhile and others are more recent purchases but these five she revisits often whether for inspiration or just to let her mind wander. Are you a serious book collector? What type of books do you like to keep? How do you organize your oversized books? ( images )

The Vogue goddess and Queen Bee herself,  Majorie Hillis  wrote two books that defined her writing career, an etiquette/how-to/guide to life for the single woman in  Live Alone and Like It   and Orchids On Your Budget .  While giggling in bed as I was reading this, I found myself rushing through my nightly routine so I could get back in bed and finish where I had left off the night before. I found myself  seriously taking notes on how to live my life to the fullest and how to embrace my life as it is. Majorie became an icon and guru of sorts to single women all over American and I for one, a thirty-something in 2018 am one of those woman who holds her words to be sacred. The newest book by Joanna Scutts, The Extra Woman , dives deeper into the culture of single ladies of the 20 and beyond.  Her follow up,  Orchids on Your Budget by Majorie Hillis :  Majorie Hillis , also became an instant success. Sarah discovered her first book, ...

On Wednesday we read books with pink covers. 

About that feminist book club we'd like to start, I say this should be the first pick? If you could start your very own book club, would you make it specific or broad and general? What's your favorite subject when it comes to reading? A non-fiction book club, a book club that focuses on just female authors? We'd love to know! 

If there's one thing Sarah loves - it's picture books, nonfiction works and good old fashion picture books. Nevermind the stacks and piles of adult literature living in her house, you should see her collection of kid's books. Madeline, Angelina Ballerina, Corduroy and Charlie the Caterpillar are just a few of her favorites. What story did you make your parents read to you over and over as a child?  

Hello! So our discussion of Kate Chopin's "The Awakening" fell through and is lost in the digital world. Technically our discussion of "3 Strange Tales" by Ryunosuke Akutagawa is Episode 11 but for posting reasons and because we can't stand a skipped number, it's labeled as Episode 10. Overall we really enjoyed reading these stories. We won't say too much as we of course want you to listen to the episode. The stories are indeed strange but there are actually 4 (bonus!). They are atmospheric and thought provoking. So give Episode 10 a listen, read the book if you get a chance and let us know what you think of these strange tales. See you in the stacks, Gina, Sarah & Jade

Like last year, one of Sarah's resolutions was to read more. This year, she's expanding upon that trying to read more diversely, not just across genres but cultures and authors as well. Having a fascination with Indian culture and religion as a young girl, Sarah was immediately drawn to the graphics of Pashmina . Realizing it was a graphic novel, made it all the better. Pashmina   is a beautifully illustrated tween coming of age story intertwined with clashing cultures and mythology. With gorgeous graphics, Sarah is excited for this debut author! 

In the likeness of Jade's reading goals, Sarah is also trying to read a graphic novel a week. Ever since Sarah fell in love with LUMBERJANES first written and illustrated by Noelle Stevenson, Nimona was an obvious first graphic novel choice for this year. What graphic novels have you been reading lately? 

Sarah first started reading Outwitting the Gestapo  as required reading in a college history course. Given that Sarah favored the humanities over the sciences, the reading list was endless and alas she never finished Lucie's story . But her intention to read it this year for one of her eight reading challenges , she's almost sure she'll fall head over heels with Lucie Aubrac . What we know is that Lucie was a French history teacher and member of the French Resistance during World War II. A prominent figure in the resistance, in 1944 Charles de Gaulle appointed a consultative assembly, in which Lucie  joined as a resistance representative. This made her the first woman to sit in a French parliamentary assembly. In 1945 she went on to write the first short history of the French Resistance . This book,   Outwitting The Gestapo   is a semi-fictional version of Lucie's wartime diaries and is an important piece of history and women's history. 

First read of the year. Also, Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a mad and tragic genius.  After reading the much talked about New Yorker piece,  'Cat Person,'  I found  The Yellow Wallpaper   at my local library and read it in one sitting. A masterpiece and clearly a relevant work of fiction that speaks to women even today, I cannot say enough how much I loved this story. Not even kidding, I spent the next week finding ways to bring it up in conversation whether with coworkers or family members. Drawn heavily from the writer's own experience,  The Yellow Wallpaper  is a must for every woman. Also, the reference to The Yellow Wallpaper in Darren Aronofsky latest film, Mother was spot on. 

Tolstoy is usually the first Russian fiction people start reading, Bukgakov is just as much a literary genius! I seriously cannot put this down! "Follow me, reader! Whoever told you there is no such thing in the world as real, true, everlasting love? May the liar have his despicable tongue cut out! Follow me, my reader, and only me, and I"ll show you that kind of love."