A Dubious Distinction

Today marks the 3rd anniversary of this blog.

I'm not sure exactly what this signifies. Probably that:

• I have no life
• You all have no life because you keep reading it

Misadventures Of Super_Librarian sprang out of my now defunct web page where I would occasionally ramble about nonsense that nobody was reading. Blogs were just coming into infancy at that time, and I found the format easier to update than a traditional web page. Why I was deluding myself that anyone other than my family gave a hooey about anything I had to say remains a mystery to this day. Actually my family probably doesn't give a hooey either - but they at least smile and nod their heads.

This blog has seen me as an adult services librarian in podunk Michigan, a branch manager in the surburban sprawl of southern California, and a soon-to-be collection development librarian for the same California library system. My library stories have gone from boring, to surreal, and hopefully back to boring. I'm keeping my fingers crossed anyway.

And for the record - the new job starts on Friday, March 3.

Flip Flop

Since freeing myself from the bowels of academic hell (I think professional students need intense pyschotherapy. That's just me though) I've noticed a certain pattern to my reading habits.

• Read a few chapters on my lunch break at work
• Read a few chapters in the morning when working the late shift
• Read a couple of chapters over the course of the weekend when/if The Boyfriend isn't causing a distraction

Following this formula, I can read a book a week - sometimes two if I'm digging through my collection of Harlequins.

The past couple of weeks I've been out of whack a bit. More so than usual:

• Read copious amounts over the course of the weekend
• Barely pick up a book during the week

Case in point - last weekend I read three books. Granted it was a holiday weekend (President's Day) but 3 books?! That's unheard of for me. This weekend, I've polished off 2 books and started on a third.

One would think this is because I'm reading really good books - but sad to say, I'm stuck in the land of mediocrity at the moment. Here's the rundown for the last two weeks:

• The Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club by Susan McBride - a mystery and 3rd in her Debutante Dropout series. I found the pacing wildly uneven in this one, so the mystery comes off as merely acceptable.

• The Secret Lives Of Housewives by Joan Elizabeth Lloyd - see review.

• The Profiler by Lori A. May - A Silhouette Bombshell from last year. I knocked this one off in a day, and it's one of those books that you forget the moment you finish the last page. The serial killer angle ain't bad, but the heroine is a bit of an ingenue, and I got fed up with her mentor calling her "kiddo." Drove me batty.

• Changing Habits by Debbie Macomber - I can always count on Macomber to pluck a few heartstrings, and this was an interesting story of 3 women who become nuns and later leave the order for a variety of reasons. My only quibble here is that one of the nuns falls for a Vietnam vet, and I wanted more detail to his history. Macomber chalks up his baggage as "having been in Vietnam" which granted, couldn't have been fun, but I wanted nitty-gritty and instead got glossed over. Still, a good read.

• Sofie Metropolis by Tori Carrington - Now I've read books similar to the Stephanie Plum series, but this one is essentially a clone. The only differences are that Sofie is Greek, a PI, and there isn't a love triangle. You do find: the wacky grandparent, the heroine not very good at her job, the heroine who keeps her gun out of commission (in this case her car's glove box not her cookie jar), the philandering ex, the dog with personality, the mother lamenting her daughter's single status and job choice, and the mysterious foreign hottie with "no past" who shows up at the most opportune times. In this case, the hottie is Australian. A pleasant read, but very been there, done that.

The last two reads were from my languishing hard cover collection. In a misguided attempt to convince myself that I'm making progress on my TBR, I'm trying to read through my trade paperbacks and hard covers. The idea being that these books are larger, and therefore take up more space. I'm not sure it's working, but I'm still plugging away.

Short-Timers Syndrome

It really hasn't been a week since I posted last. No, I posted two entries last Saturday only to have them get sucked into the Blogger Black Hole after they did appear on my blog for a few hours. So I was going to give it a few days and post earlier this week - only to have work get hairy.

Both of my librarians decided to take sick days this week. A week that finds us coming off a holiday weekend (President's Day here in the US). For those of you who don't work in libraries, let me tell you how sucky it is coming back to work the day after a holiday weekend. The kids rush in needing stuff for school. The Internet weirdos come out looking for their fix. At one point I had a waiting list for the computers that was 8 people deep and was answering (literally) four reference questions at once.

My brain has been mush for the better part of this week.

On top of that, I start the new job next Friday, March 3. There is a down side to this. My patience is teetering on the edge of a very steep cliff. I came close to snapping at three crazy people yesterday because all I could think about was: "I'm getting out of here, I'm getting out of here, I'm getting out of here."

For the record they were:

• The autistic guy (think Rain Man but more high strung) who comes in every day and monopolizes my staff's time.

• The 700 year old coot who wants to get a job at FEMA but can't even work a computer.
  

The straw came in the form of a phone call from a woman who was ticked off with another library. Not even MY library - but one several miles away. So she called me to complain about them.

Um, exactly what can I do about that? Nothing! Contrary to popular belief, I have no control over other libraries. I keep wanting my employer to grant me the title of Queen Librarian Of The Universe - but so far, no dice. So I "fixed" her problem to the best of my ability and referred her to the people who can actually do something about her complaints. Geez.

Mission Accomplished!

I've just completed AngieW's February TBR Challenge.

Title: Lady X's Cowboy

Author: Zoe Archer

Year published: 2006

Why did you get this book? Well it was on my TBB list, but I ended up getting it in my latest shipment of review books for TRR.

Do you like the cover? This was published under Dorchester's Leisure imprint - a house that likes to slap crappy covers on books. Archer being a debut author, she sort of dodged a bullet here. This cover isn't too bad. I do think it looks a bit amateurish though - sort of like the art department just discovered how "neat" Photoshop could be.

Did you enjoy the book? Yes. The hero is an American cowboy who comes to London looking for his long lost family. The heroine is a widow who runs her own brewery. The hero saves her when thugs accost her on the street. The villain is the fourth son of an earl who wants the heroine's brewery for himself, and is going at great lengths to force her out of business. The heroine proposes to the hero that if he helps her with the villain, she'll help him find his family.

Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again?
Well she's new to everybody, as she's a debut author. And yes, I would read something else by her.

Are you keeping it or passing it on? I'll be donating this one to my library's collection. It was a good read, but I have extremely high standards when it comes to keepers.

Anything else? I liked that for once it was the American hero who was the fish out of water in London. I also loved that the heroine was a grown-up, not a bumbling society miss with no clue. The hero does talk western a lot ("bushwhacked", "fandango" etc.), which might get old for some, but generally speaking didn't bother me. I also really appreciated how the author ended the "long lost family" sub plot. Quite refreshing.

Evil Wendy

I found this link over at Monica's blog and color me curious - I tested my blog.

Only 25%? I always knew I was a square.

In other news - I have an update on the husband who was looking for romance novels for his "wife." Some of you suggested that maybe the books were really for him. Turns out y'all were wrong. I met the wife yesterday and as clear as day she told me in front of God and everyone, "I like romances with sex and a little bit of mystery." Amen sister - say it loud, say it proud!

In other news, we have a new crack-pot! A crazy old man came in today and wanted to know how to get a job with FEMA. What I wanted to say was "Oh that's easy - are you a friend of George W's?" But then I'm only 25% evil, so I bit my tongue.

Happy Valentine's Day @ Your Library

I came into work this morning after a long holiday weekend (yes, I actually get Lincoln's birthday off - god bless the goverment union I belong to) to discover a mess. Some asshole decided that my book drop would make a neat-o garbage can and dumped a bag of trash in it.

Now normally, this wouldn't be a big deal. Minorly disgusting, but not a big deal. Except, the trash was of the liquid variety. Don't ask me what it was - but the running theory is some sort of take-out food. Luckily, not too many pages got wet, but there were many sticky book covers.

So while I slogged through 2 carts of non-wet, non-sticky materials - one of my trusty library pages found herself wearing rubber gloves and wiping down the sticky ones with book cleaner.

In happier news - a library patron brought us candy on Saturday with a card calling us all "lovely librarians." No, he's not a pervert. At least I'm assuming he's not. He comes in all the time with his kids - so I think he's totally harmless. Plus the kids signed the card.

As for my own Valentine's celebration? Um, there isn't one this year. Money is tight, so my Valentine's present was "Happy Valentine's Day honey" with a nice kiss. And being the non-commerical soul that I am - that was good enough for me. Yes, for the record, I am a cheap date.

Wallowing

So I haven't posted lately for a couple of reasons:

1. I've had several days off of work and my brain is beginning to melt.
2. I'm in an awful book slump.

One of my reading resolutions for 2006 was to stop reading. Let me explain. I'm still reviewing, so naturally when I'm reading a dud for review I have to finish. All the way through. Even if I want to incinerate the book by page 100, I have to keep reading. So I vowed to myself that when I'm reading on my own time, I would stop reading books that were irritating me, boring me, pissing me off - whatever. Last week I had 2 such books and it was making my head hurt.

Then review books showed up. First up - The Sheriff by Nan Ryan. Now I had read one Ryan book in the past and didn't think much of it - but I went in with an open mind. This is a western after all, so maybe it would be OK.

I'm not going to rehash it here. It would take more effort than I've got at the moment - but the review has been posted already. Enter at your own risk.

Next up - Lady X's Cowboy by Zoe Archer (which will also serve as my TBR challenge for AngieW). I have high hopes for it so far. The first chapter is already better written than the entire Ryan book.

Once Again, I'm An Idiot

I need to stop admitting these things publicly. First, I admit over at Romancing The Blog that I couldn't get past page 150 of Flowers From The Storm by Laura Kinsale. Now I'm admitting on my own blog that I'm giving up on The Seduction by Julia Ross after 100 pages.

Much more of this and I'll find romance readers on my front doorstep brandishing torches and pitchforks.

Yes, I know The Romance Reader loved it. Yes, I know AAR loved it.

Sorry - I'm not lovin' it. In fact, I'm kind of bored by it.

Hero loses entire life in card game. Villain says no problem - just boink this country widow and I'll give you your life back. Hero meets heroine. They banter. They play chess. They banter some more. Frankly, they begin to talk in circles.

I'm just not interested. Maybe I'm more burnt out on Regency England than I thought....

Drive By Book Reviews

The start date on the new job is March 3 - although due to massive retirements, I may have to pull double-duty for a while. My boss assured me she was going to "move fast" on hiring my replacement, so I'm hoping someone can step in right away.

I've been a reading machine of late, but haven't taken the time to do suitable blog postings. So here is a quick drive-by post on three recent reads:

Jude's Law by Lori Foster - Ugh. Foster's writing makes for easy reading and she can write sex. Too bad the plot is totally absurd. The heroine is a doormat who keeps bailing out her baby brother who won't grow up (he's around 24) and her parents treat her worse than dog crap. Yet she keeps taking their verbal abuse. And she's pushing 30. The hero is a big Hollywood star who is desperate to boink the heroine. He just beat a murder rap, and the heroine isn't the least bit worried about that little fact. Someone is out to kill hero, but he's not worried about that. He's more concerned with having sex with Doormat Girl and ordering her a more suitable wardrobe. Oh and did I mention the heroine is also insecure about her weight and the fact that she's horny for a Big Hollywood Star? The final straw was that there wasn't an ending. The bad guy was still at large and there were unanswered questions about the heroine's family situation. Basically readers who want any kind of closure are forced to read book 2. Blessedly, I'm fine with no closure. Final Grade = D.

Thrilled To Death by Jennifer Apodaca - Book 5 in the author's Samantha Shaw mystery series. This time out Sam's magician grandfather is under suspicion when one of his former protege's ends up murdered. Between her own burgeoning relationship with a hunky PI, her love/hate (mostly hate) relationship with a local cop, running her own dating service business, and raising two boys - she barely has time for murder! A lot of comparisons have been made to the Stephanie Plum books, but frankly, Sam is the better heroine. While Stephanie continues to be an idiot, Sam will gouge out your eyes if you back her into a corner. She's also fiercely protective of her loved ones, so you can forgive her bumbling moments. Final Grade = B

You May Now Kill The Bride by Deborah Donnelly - Book 5 in the author's Wedding Planner mystery series. Carnegie Kincaid is planning her best friend's wedding on lovely San Juan Island (Puget Sound region). She arrives several days early to stay at the summer home of her mother's wealthy new beau and quickly develops an extreme dislike to his two bitchy daughters. When a local handyman is murdered, Carnegie finds herself under suspicion. A great book for dealing with Carnegie's personal life, but the mystery lacks oomph. The author "tells" too much as opposed to "showing." Final Grade = B-

Second Best

Ever have good news drop in your lap, out of the blue, and it totally makes you day?

Hell, my good news has pretty much made my next month - easy.

I came back from a late lunch break yesterday to find a message slip on my desk. Please call so-and-so at library headquarters. Ohhhhkay.

Since this so-and-so works in collection development I figured she wanted to clarify a cataloging request one of my librarians made.

Um no.

She offered me a job!

Long time readers of this blog might recall that back in September I interviewed for a new job and didn't get it. Guess what? I'm getting it now. There is going to be a retirement in the department and the person they hired over me is transferring into that vacant position. Which leaves me taking over for the person who got the job I wanted so badly.

What will I be doing? Buying adult fiction, 400s & 800s for a supa-large library system. For those of you not familiar with your Dewey Decimal - 400s are languages, 800s is literature. But who cares about that stuff - adult fiction! WooHoo baby!

This is the moment in my blog where I tell authors I'm now accepting bribes. Cash will do. Small denomations are preferable.

At this point I'm so excited I don't care that I was second best. However, I do think that my reader's advisory talks following my RWA Reno trip might have kept me in the back of their minds. God bless the genre anyway.

No word on when I'll actually start - probably not for at least another month. Good news for Wendy - maybe bad news for you all. My library stories should get a lot less surreal.