A Chatty Catch Up :)
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- čas přidán 14. 04. 2024
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I was just thinking the other day that it'd be lovely to have a new video from you 😊
As a librarian I can confirm we love people who reserve and request lots of books! It’s never annoying. What happens in my county is that the books are distributed by our supplier, so when the library service buys multiple copies they get sent to different branches and then as the books get receipted by staff on delivery day a copy is assigned to someone in the queue which should be done in queue order. Depending on which branch receipts theirs first it can look like some people get bumped up the queue if, for example, your copy may have been reciepted as first in the queue by a different branch so it has to be sent over to your local library for pick up whereas your mums may have been receipted by her own branch so it’s ready for collection immediately even though she’s further down the queue. Hers will technically have been assigned after yours but it looks like a queue jump! Sorry if that makes zero sense 🤣
I have a librarian story.
I started loosing my vision 2.5 yrs ago. As it has progressed, reading is the last of my hobbies I can still do (sewing, gardening, hiking all gone). Only problem is that I cannot afford to buy books now that I can no longer work. So I decided to use the library for the first time since the early 80s when there were card catalogs. The librarians have been so gracious, welcoming, and helpful. They run and get any book I want to check out, as finding a book on the shelves is pretty impossible for me. They help me in any way I need and it has just meant so much to me. It may sound corny, but in a rural community where there are NO services for the blind or those with severe vision impairments, it just means so much to have one place where I know I can ask for help and not be a bother. It also makes such a difference to be able to hang on to reading as long as possible and not have to face losing everything all at once. It’s probably weird I’m writing this, but I guess it’s just my testimony as to how people who are just doing their jobs can truly make a difference in the life of others. 😋❤️
@@LibraryLizard I am so glad you have found a space to feel comfortably yourself, and find the help you need. It doesn’t sound corny at all, and I know how much these services mean to so many people. And I’m really happy to hear you can hang on to reading, and continue to enjoy everything it has to offer ❤️
Ah, OK, that makes sense. We were both picking them up from the same branch but perhaps my one was ordered by a different branch so took longer to be added to the system. Thanks for explaining :)
Year of Wonders completely fell apart for me at the end. Elena Knows was a marvel from start to finish. I will be very interested to hear what you think of each.
So glad you're back!! 🎉❤
Nice to see you back and looking so well. Happy Spring 💐
Can't wait for you to discuss Year of Wonders and Tell The Wolves I'm Home...loved both of those books.
I was also very ill and had a terrible sore throat. I watched Damsel on Netflix and kind of liked it 😂 Mostly because the heroine was suffering more than I was.
I’m glad you’re finally feeling better! I read Tell the Wolves I’m home a few years ago and I still think about. I’m glad more people are finding it. A recommendation for translated fiction: Lean Your Loneliness Slowly Against Mine by Klara Hveberg, translated by Alison McCullough. In the meantime, I think my own tbr just grew again!
I’m happy you’re feeling better and have your voice back. Happy reading!
Interesting facts about space and In memory of us are both currently available on Everand (UK) if that helps with prioritising your library books! Glad you're feeling better
I just finished reading Horse, by Geraldine Brooks, and I really liked it, so I’ll be very interested to hear what you think about Year of Wonders! Maybe that will be the next book by her that I read.
I liked North Woods, but I listened to it on audio. I noticed that some booktubers I follow didn't like the book much, but they all had read it in print. Definitely a case where the audio enhances the experience.
Where I am in the States, libraries love people who check out tons of books, because the state keeps track of the busiest libraries. The more the library is used, the more the library can argue for continued funding.
I read North Woods from the page earlier this year and enjoyed it, it was probably my favourite book this year until I started reading from the women's prize and Brotherless Night took that spot. I also read that one from the page. Year of Wonders I read ages ago, around the time it first came out. I must do a reread. North Woods is a very different book from Year of Wonders, both are quite good in their own ways. Year of Wonders is a keeper on my shelves. Not sure that North Woods will have that longevity for me.
Elana Knows is so good!!
One of the nicest cakes I ever had was made with beetroot. ( yum)
Best books read so far these last few months
Brotherless Night. I’ve just finished the audio.
For Thy Great Pain, Have Mercy on My Little Pain ( Julian of Norwich & Marjorie Kemp)
Solider Sailor
Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Haworth
Fayne by AnnMarie MacDonald
Stone Yard Devotional by Charolette Wood
Enter Ghost
Strong Female Character by Fern Brady
☘️👋🍀📕📚📖☕️🇮🇪💐
Glad you’re feeling better again. And, no, really bad sore throats genuinely hurt. Waiting for rain and a good nights sleep to be able to read more. I’m too tired right now.
I’ve heard such good things about North Woods and I tried the first chapter but couldn’t get into it either. I’m thinking audio might be the way to go. Rabbit Heart sounds so good!
I loove hearing the meows, don't delete them!
A couple of small town stories I enjoyed a lot are The Wonder Garden by Lauren Acampora and The Annie Year by Stephanie Wilbur Ash. Glad you’re feeling better ☺️
Thanks for the recommendations :)
Another librarian here - we love people that use the reservation system and checkout lots of books. At least in my state (Massachusetts) we’re able to generate statistical reports of all the checkouts, holds, etc., and the higher the stats the easier we’re able to prove the need for funding (we track more than just book checkouts, but listing everything here would seem a little tedious). So check out all the books! I’d say the reservation glitch with you and your mom was probably just human error and absolutely not intentional.
Oh, I bet those reports are really interesting!
Lovely to see you again 🌻
Just to add to your small town girlhood, slow paced non-overly flowery language coming of age reading list - Some Strange Music Draws Me In by Griffin Hansbury! I've just finished it and I thought to myself, oh this is a Mercy book. One of the best depictions of intense, teenage co-dependent friendships I've ever read. The author has really managed to pull me into that sweltering hot small town summer when you're 15 and everything feels stagnant and awful but also you are going through some of the most formative experiences you'll ever have at the same time. I also enjoyed the dual timeline of the main protagonist who is telling the story of their queer awakening and realizing they're trans in a mid 80s working class town while also dealing with their present time issues with being put on probation at work and navigating their mother'd death and difficult relationship with their estranged sister. A very simple story but done so well it felt absolutely grand. It was not a loud release so I'm afraid it might be difficult to put your hands on in the UK but if you ever have the chance I cannot recommend it enough!
Thanks so much for the recommendation. It sounds amazing! I'll definitely read it this summer :)
Loved and Missed is in my top 10 of this year so far. Incredibly emotional. Can also highly recommend Small Hours by the same author.
That hailstone deluge was something else!
I used to bake every weekend and haven't in years, I'd like to get back into it.
Rabbit Heart sounds like a difficult but important read
Elena Knows is super. I'd like to read more from Claudia P
the less said about my reading the better at the moment, but I’m super happy to see you and hear that you’re feeling much better now 🤍 North Woods is a real odd one to get into - I’ve heard great things about the audiobook so fingers crossed you find your groove with it soon! the way it turns itself around after the first few chapters really won my heart, but of course that’s all subjective. I need a copy of Rabbit Heart! 🐇
I am glad to see you so excited and energetic! I think you should do the CZcamsrs favourite video the way it is easier for you, I love your reviews, the longer the better😊. Looking forward to all your catch up videos...
Hey, Glad your okay now and probably rest did you good. I love your phone case but just knew you would have really nice taste in designs etc. I am doing easy reading this week cos still concentrating is harder than it ought to be so I got 2 Dianne Wynn Jones books out the library and Nightbloom from the Womans list so hope to manage that well. Conrads Fate and House of many Ways are the Wynn Jones titles. I read Howls moving Castle by her last year and it was one of my most surprising but defo favs of the year.
I need to try a Dianne Wynn Jones book!
Brotherless Night made me hungry to taste Sri Lankan food, I cooked a curry I found on the internet. Delicious
Agree both covers of The North Woods aren’t my favorite…. I liked the 📖, but maybe overhyped myself bc I expected to love it
Sorry to hear you’ve been unwell but glad you are better.
Librarian here (not correct job title, but I am qualified and work in libraries) and unless public libraries differ hugely from academic ones, the library management system will control your holds/reservations and there could be a few reasons for a delay in the hold being added to your account. I very much doubt that any library staff in the background are doing nefarious things to a patron/user for an unknown slight or grudge…..regulars do become known to us, but thinking of our holds list and how it works isn’t he system, it is a lot of work to mess around with the order when we need to, I doubt anyone would willingly do it for anything other than user need.
I feel like I've caught up with your news which was nice after we couldn't meet up - sorry you've been ill so much!
North Woods - you have to bear with it at the start and get past the apple chapter. Then it's really great.
Brotherless night I'm 2/3 in and it's so brutal but an amazing book x
Yes, I'm gutted I missed it! Feeling so much better now after a rough month! Hope things are good with you xx
@@MercysBookishMusings so glad x we need to get another date fixed x
Ooo I love baking too! But then yeah, its a lot of cake! Do you have any recipes/books that worked out well? Siân xx
I have the mildreds easy vegan book and the lemon cake and choc chip cookies from that are great. I've also been loving the website 'loving it vegan'. The apple spiced muffins and cowboy cookies are delicious!
Glad you're feeling better. I'm also (mostly abandoning) the women's prize, there's a few I want to read, but I'm not going to force myself through them. I picked up a book called Levitation for Beginners by Susannah Dunn from the library, I've yet to read it, but thought it sounded like something you might enjoy.
Thanks for the recommendation :)
Welcome back - I did the same thing with accidentally disappearing for a month! Hope we both have better Aprils
It was interesting to hear you talk about why you're not doing the women's prize long list, I am currently wishing that I hadn't set myself this Euros reading challenge because that is definitely feeling like homework to me.
For your booktuber reading challenge, I'd personally be interested in a mid-challenge check in. So a video where you've read 10 and rank them provisionally, then one at the end when you've read them all. I have the same memory issues, and this might mitigate that while also breaking up the content?
Interested to hear your thoughts on North Woods because I've heard so many people rave about that, and I've been curious.
Urgh, that's rubbish for you re the euro challenge. When I get stressed thinking I have to finish these things I try to remind themselves that no one is sitting at home pissed off that we don't finish these projects. The person who cares most is us. So I say if you feel like binning it off then bin it off 🤣
Thanks for your thoughts on the booktuber challenge. That sounds like the best way to do it so I'll definitely be taking your advice :)
@@MercysBookishMusings let myself of the hook of my own making??? Radical advice
K hear me out…reading vlog of each CZcamsrs favs. So one vlog per CZcamsr
Hi, I wondered what the process is for asking the library to purchase books? Can it be done online or in person? Thanks for any help xx
I do it online but I've had lots of librarians comment and say that you can do it in person too xx