About

Librarians do it between the covers, and so does everyone else… read, of course. (Did you think I meant something else?). And they also do it on e-readers and audiobooks, alone and in groups. This blog is about books, bestsellers, book clubs, publishing, electronic gadgets and new trends.

who am I…

Toniann Scime, living in Amherst, NY, and the librarian and archivist at Amherst Museum.

reading…

I have been an avid reader since single-digit years. As happens to many of us, though, work and time constraints keep us from reading as prolifically as we wish we did… and by around 2007 or so, I was lucky if I finished two or three new books a year. A habitual re-reader, all too often I would just crack open a well-worn copy of an old favorite, for comfort and relaxation. And I still re-read, and still find it incredibly comforting, but I wanted to start reading more, trying new books, keeping abreast of publishing trends. I’ve never  joined a book club but I started one of my own, and that experience has been overwhelmingly positive. I read more now than I ever did before. So primarily, I wanted to start a blog about reading, about books, about bestsellers, about book clubs,about bookstores,  about publishing. Not necessarily about libraries, but them, too. I’m fascinated by what goes on in a Barnes and Noble on a Saturday afternoon. If I had to be stuck anywhere for all eternity, that’s where I’d pick. (They’ve got a cafe!)

also, geekdom and teh internets…

Every time I try to explain to my niece that “we didn’t always have the Internet, you know!”, she rolls her eyes at me. But it’s true. I grew up web-less. Email-less, for that matter. Remember pen-pals? Writing letters, on real paper? I remember distinctly the dawning wonder of Usenet, and then having the create web sites that were largely text-only. As mawkish as it may sound, there are still times I’m a little bit in awe of the web as it is now, and all of its offspring. I’m utterly and completely addicted to gadgetry. I wouldn’t dream of living without my iPhone anymore; I’d sooner give up a kidney. (I just realized I’m not really kidding about that.) Digitization, e-reading, forums, gadgets to access it all with. I get sort of googly-eyed.