Yup, I’m reading THREE grownup books at the same time and coincidentally, two of the three authors are married to each other! I’m in the middle of listening to A Voyage Long and Strange by Tony Horwitz (author of the excellent Confederates in the Attic, which I read last year) which is about the early history of the U.S. and also remembered I needed to start reading March, for our book club on Thursday. March is by Geraldine Brooks who is married to Tony Horwitz! Crazy! We tried really hard to get the pair of them to our library this year as part of our “Methuen Remembers the Civil War” program that is going on during the spring and fall of this year but no such luck. They wanted money that we didn’t have. Bummer.
Instead, we’ll be having lots of other fun Civil War programming throughout the year including speakers, a movie series, and a Civil War encampment complete with soldiers, horses, and CANONS on our library’s grounds. See? I promised you fun. My other idea for Civil War-style amputation demonstration was not met with much enthusiasm. So much for verisimilitude. When I get the full details on that I’ll post them for those in the area who are interested.
The final book I’m reading is Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan about a naive MI5 operative in 1970s England. I know there’s a meta-style spoiler but I’m not there yet. It’s good so far. I’m looking forward to listening to my next audiobook, The Black Count, and then getting back into some YA with the final book in Beth Revis’ Across the Universe trilogy, Shades of Earth.
Next, a movie recommendation. Yes! How novel! (Or not?) Anyway, it’s the movie adaptation of The Perks of Being a Wallflower. It was great all round: great casting, perfect soundtrack, the important parts of the book were handled well, and satisfyingly emotional. I suspect I would have been less weepy if I had watched it at a different time in my life, but maybe not. It was really good and I highly recommend it. Plus, it’s got Hermione in it and she looks adorable:
But read the book first, of course.
Finally, I’m starting to get ready for summer reading and the good news? I don’t feel as panicky and stressed about it as I did last year. I guess that’s what having a year’s experience does for you. I did grumble at my staff meeting on Friday night that it’s basically the same theme as last year – “Own the Night” and “Beneath the Surface.” Apparently, the Collaborative Summer Reading program likes themes that take place in the dark and you can do ‘spooky’ related activities with. Next year I’m putting my money on something like, “It’s dark in space, too” or “Spooky on a Spaceship!” But I get a lot of the materials for free, so that’s awesome. It saves me from having to come up with my own theme which would inevitably be “Spooky on a Spaceship,” anyway because the more I think about it, that sounds pretty amazing. I’d just show “Alien,” “Moon,” “Star Trek: the Wrath of Khan,” and make everyone read Dan Simmons’s books and 172 Hours on the Moon. Summer reading done!
Full disclosure edit: I just realized my sweatpants – yes, that I’ve been wearing all day – are on backwards. Here’s to another great week, friends!
lcarslibrarian 
As a longtime fan of The Perks of Being a Wallflower (the book), I was a little nervous about the movie, but the author wrote and directed and it turned out to be pretty brilliant – I actually saw it twice. The casting was excellent, too.
Wearing sweatpants all day before you realize you had them on backwards all that time sounds like a wonderful day!
Yeah, it’s a pretty great time!