2026 started weird for me. My father died unexpectedly in June. Which means 2026 is the first year without him in it. I also quit my teaching job in December which means there was no work to go to every day in January. But I slowly started to get back to myself in January. Healing through therapy and prayer. Support from family and friends. All this meant I had time to find my creativity and joy again.
I’m also in grad school in a Masters of Library Science program at Appalachian State. I also got my undergrad there many years ago! And this semester I am in a Reader’s Advisory course. Reader’s Advisory programs can be found at libraries and bookstores and you have likely participated in one if you have ever asked for help finding something you might like to read. Let’s say you just finished reading The God of the Woods (which I did read in January) and you really liked it. So you want to read more books similar to it. You might as a librarian and he or she would then provide Reader’s Advisory services for you.
This can happen by searching a database, doing an internet search, or using the librarian’s reading experience and knowledge. That is what I’m working on in this course. Now of course librarians can’t possibly read every single book in the library, but they don’t have to. Between collective knowledge and smartly populated databases, they can still help you.
One of my assignments is to read 20 adult novels all published between 202-present and then enter them into my own database. So I have been reading 2-3 books at a time to get this all done by the April due date. I will usually listen to one in my car, read one in my Kindle, and read one in hard cover/paperback. That way my brain can keep it all straight!
I read 8 books in January and I have written my review for all of them here on the blog. (Also my database but that isn’t ready to share yet!)
Hopefully this helps you find your next read as well! Click on each book to take you to my review.
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