Author: Megan

Your Library Staff at Home-Still More ABCs

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A-There is just no winning during a pandemic. Just when I was figuring out ways to manage my anxiety over being stuck at home, things are once again changing. So, as businesses reopen and more people head back to work, a whole new batch of worries have cropped up. Are we moving too fast? Do I remember how to be around people? Who am I kidding, I was never great at peopling. I am craving routine and structure (and salty snacks, but no way am I going to a store anytime soon), but can we keep the comfy quarantine clothes? Staff will soon be heading back to the library and I am pretty excited about that, but what is our new normal going to look like? Gah! So many questions. So many unknowns. We’ll get through this together.

B-Books, babies, and beach therapy.

I haven’t been doing to much reading with my eyes, but I have been bingeing audiobooks like crazy. I have revisited old favorites-Harry Potter, Skulduggery Pleasant, Bloody Jack-all available in Overdrive and Hoopla. All my comfort books have comforted me enough to be ready to look for new content. This week I fired up the ereader and took a look at some of my digital advance reader copies of upcoming books. Here are the two I decided to start reading:

Look for The Invisible Girl in October and The End of Her in July.

One of my favorite ways to relax is to get what I like to call beach therapy. It’s finally warming up enough to sit on some sun-baked sand and sift through the rocks looking for treasures. One of my favorite spots is close to the library-Bradstreet Landing in Rocky River. Today I treated myself to a trip to the drive through of one of my favorite local coffee shops and headed to the beach. Look at the fuzzy baby geese!

Wrapping up with this week’s C is RiverCon (yeah, it’s a stretch, but I am really excited about this event and want to keep talking about it)! RiverCon has an offical logo and it is FANTASTIC! I am thrilled to be able to share it with you today and remind you to register here for your RiverCon kit. Registration opens this Saturday! Each kit will have a comic craft, reading recommedations, Hoopla and Overdrive swag, a RiverCon magnet, and more.

RiverCon is official! Behold the gloreous new logo!

Hang in there everyone!

~Megan

Your Library Staff at Home-a New Set of ABCs

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A is for All the Feelings. I’ve talked a lot about anxiety in general and how it has effected me specifically. I think we’ve reached a point in all of this that most people are well aware that we are feeling stress and anxiety, so I am changing this week’s A. Story time. Working from home has really drawn attention to just how bad my home home internet service is, so I decided to take advantage of a different company’s new customer offer. I placed my order and the company sent me the equipment. I felt very proud of myself for managing this basic task. I woke up Tuesday ready to set it all up. I disconnected the old modem. I unpacked the new one, feeling determination that quickly turned to anger and despair. I didn’t have the needed cable outlet! Feeling stupid that I didn’t know I needed cable, I made a quick call to customer service and the kindest woman dispatched a technician. Relief. I reconnected the old modem, only to discover it didn’t work. So, there I was, in a house with 2 internet companies, 2 different modems, and ZERO internet. I spent the next three hours waiting for help to arrive. I spiraled through ALL THE FEELINGS. I FELT them ALL. I walked myself to the ledge and then talked my own self off. My internet was finally installed, but I wasn’t up and running yet…I needed a router. Sigh. Being an adult is stupid and hard. Curbside pick up at Target. The internet ordeal that began at 11 am was about to finally end…9 hours later. Wrong. Which leads me to this week’s B.

B is for Breakdowns. Yup. I was finally defeated by a wireless router. What should have been a simple installation became my own personal hell. After an hour of trying and failing, of unplugging and restarting, of factory resets, of watching videos and reading all the help articles, I admitted defeat. I gave up. I sat on the couch and disolved into angry, self-pitying tears. I cried over a router. I cried because I had such a first-world problem that I couldn’t solve. I cried because I had a day full of ALL THE FEELINGS. For someone who likes to keep all the feelings deep inside, feeling them is shocking! If you have read this far, you might be nodding along, feeling all your own feelings. Or you might, like me, be wondering what this has to do with the library. Bare with me. I am about to make it sort of connect.

C is for Connecting. We are going through something. We are all feeling all the feelings at any given moment. My colleagues and I have been working on mourning the loss of our exciting summer plans for the public. We have had to completely switch gears. We have had to make tough decision about what programs to completely abandon and which ones to rework for our new virtual reality. Prior to all of this I was part of a team working to put on the library’s first ever mini-con. RiverCon 2020 was going to be AWESOME! Last week we had a team meeting. We felt all the feelings together and then got to work reimaging our program. I am proud of what we came up with and I so happy that Ms Nicole’s RiverCon 2020 is still going to happen. Details will be forthcoming, but for right now I can tell you that virtual RiverCon will include interviews with comic creators and experts, an at-home cosplay activity, comic recommedations for readers of all ages and a virtual superhero storytime with Ms. Amanda. Finally, we are working on bringing RiverCon directly to you! On May 16 you can register for a RiverCon@Home kit, full of fun crafts, comic resources and hopefully some cool comic swag. Save the date and register here. We are all working hard behind the scenes and from our make-shift home offices to stay connected with our patrons. We are adapting and thinking outside the box and we are excited about what we are coming up with. Stay with us. We are here for you. We are all in this together.

~Megan

Your Library Staff at Home-Social Distancing ABCs

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A is for Anxiety. We are all feeling it and we all react to and handle it differently. Our reactions can even vary from moment to moment. How fun is that? Take me for example- today I had a fight over text with my brother and threw rocks at the lake. Engaging in a argument was dumb. Do not recommend; avoid if possible. Rock throwing, on the other hand, was very therapeutic. Definitely recommend. This is hard, friends. I hope you are finding solace-in books, in nature, in friends and family. And be kind to yourself if your solace is a lot chocolate. Chocolate definitely helps.

B is for Books about Libraries. Surprise! I’m switching up the B for National Library Week!

Here are a few of my favorite books about libraries and librarians:

C is for Connecting. My favorite way of connecting this week has been watching old episodes of Supernatural with a friend. We did this before social distancing, so it feel nice and normal. We don’t Zoom or Facetime or even talk on the phone. We load up the episode and just watch and text comments and emojis to each other. Low tech and high comfort.

Take care, everyone.

~Megan

Your Library Staff at Home-Another ABCs of Social Distancing Post

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A is for Anxiety. Everyone experiences anxiety in different ways. If you are new to this whole anxiety thing, welcome to the club. For me, my anxiety tends to manifest as hypochondria. You guys, stay away from WebMd! I am doing myself a favor these days and staying away from self-diagnosis. But my brain still needs an outlet, which brings me to my house being newly haunted. A sudden haunting would explain my cat’s sudden amping up of his nightly living room parkour routine. He usually has bursts of weird energy and runs up and down the stairs. That’s normal. What isn’t normal is him hurling himself around the house. And that weird side hop thing? What’s that all about? Apparently it’s about looking big and threatening-for the new ghost in the house, hmmm? He’s also doing a lot more sitting around and just staring. When I shared this news with a friend, she kindly reminded me that cats are weirdos and pointed out that poor Frank might also be stressed right now. Just kidding. She laughed at me and said her cat does the same thing all the time and said I absolutely do not have a haunted house. Also, maybe I have been watching too much Supernatural. Again, just kidding. Who ever heard of too much Supernatural?

Look at him! Crazy eyes, snaggle-tooth. Clearly he is being tormented by the newly arrived ghost in my house.

So anxiety may distort your thinking sometimes. If this is happening to you, maybe don’t believe everything your brain is telling you right now. Run it by a friend. Remember, I’m not a medical professional, just someone with personal experience with anxiety sharing those experiences on a blog! So my house is *probably* not newly haunted, but I once lived in a house that was haunted BY a cat, so explain that. That’s a story for another day. This is getting wordy as it is. On to bingeing!

B is for Bingeing. I have paused my binge of Skulduggery Pleasant to revisit another old friend, Jacky Faber, aka Bloody Jack. If you are interested in hilarious history fiction starring a girl disguised as a boy, AND you like audiobooks, do yourself a favor and listen to these books! On the television front, I have been bingeing VEEP, on HBO. It’s one of the shows available for free right now. This show is delivering the humor I need right now and Julia Louis-Dreyfus is brilliant.

Finally, C is for Connecting. One of my favorite ways to stay connected to friends right now is through memes. In keeping with the cat theme of this post, here are a couple that I have shared with friends this week. I think they pretty much sum up this whole situation.

Everyone is familiar with the Mister Rogers quote about looking for the helpers. It’s reassuring and there are so many helpers right now. I also recommend looking for the animals. Follow dogs and goats and zoos on social media. Make the first things you see on your feeds something cute and silly. Hang in there everyone!

Remember, we are all in this together.

~Megan

Your Library Staff at Home-More ABCs of Staying at Home.

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A is for Anxiety. Let’s get that part out of the way. How am I dealing with my anxiety? Well, some days I turn to yoga. My go-to yogi is Adriene Mishler of Yoga with Adriene. This month she has created a playlist of free videos designed to nurture. You do not have to be strong and bendy to do these videos; just show up as you are. You don’t have to have a ton of time; most of the videos are under 30 minutes. Some days I just sit on the couch and listen to murder podcasts while playing Best Fiends. Balance, lol. If you are feeling anxious, know it is normal. Know you are not alone. Know that what works for one person may not work for you. Heck, what works for you one day may not work for you the next! So, check in with yourself. Try new things and if you can’t manage on your own, reach out for help.

B is for Bingeing. Time for another librarian confession-I have not read a single physical book in a month (Be Not Far From Me by Ohio author, Mindy McGinnis and it’s amazing!). All of my reading during social distancing has been audio and I am half way through a re-listen of a favorite series.

These are the first five books in the series. Skulduggery Pleasant is a magical skeleton detective. He and his human apprentice, Stephanie, aka Valkyrie, fight evil.

As for what I am binge watching-it’s a mixed bag. I am finding comfort in rewatching my favorites, so Schitt’s Creek and Supernatural have been my go-tos. While everyone else is watching Tiger King (I quit after episode 3, but that didn’t stop me from taking all the quizzes and based on my astrological sign and a quiz I got Saff both times), I went a different route with my disturbing documentary selection. In one sitting I watched all of Taken at Birth about a Georgia doctor who sold over 200 babies out of his clinic in the 1950s and 60s.

C is for Connecting. If you are reading from Rocky River, you probably know about Unite the Night. If you are somewhere else, maybe your own community has a similar event. Every Sunday from 8:30-9:30 people turn on their porch lights and set out luminaries to remind each other that we are all in this together. This week I helped the library join in. Staying connected can be as simple as turning on a light.

Unite the Night @RRPL

~Megan

Your Library Staff at Home-The ABCs (Anxiety, Bingeing, and Connecting) of Social Distancing

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True confession of a stay at home librarian-when we first announced our closure I was kind of excited. As an introvert I’ve been training for this my entire life-I have books, podcasts, tv, and snack-of course I’ll stay home. As a slacker and procrastinator I thought I could finally get some projecst done! Paint the bathroom. Fold ALL the laundry. Scrub the baseboards. It was going to be great. No excuse. Just endless amounts of time! What I did not account for was my natural anxiety and depression. That to-do list became overwhelming and every day that I didn’t accomplish 17 things felt like a failure so I just ignored it. And then I saw this art by Tyler Feder on Facebook:

If you follow RRPL on social media you may have seen it when I shared it. This advice spoke to me; especially the part about to-do lists. So, in Week 3 of social distancing my to-do list looks VERY different from my Week 1 list. You know what’s on my list for today? Fold the flannel sheets that I took off the bed and washed on Sunday. Yup. They’ve been in the dryer since Sunday and that’s ok. It’s going to feel great when I put them in the linen closet I organized last week. So, to all you extroverts and list makers who might be experiencing anxiety for the first time, it’s ok to be anxious and scared and unproductive. Be kind to yourself. Reevaluate your to-do list. Feel great about little accomplishments. Those little accomplishments will eventually result in a deep-cleaned living room; it just might take a week to make it happen. And for all you anxiety experts, I feel you friend, you are not alone. We got this.

Ok, we covered the A for Anxiety, time to move on to the B for Bingeing.

I am a podcast addict. My taste range from off-color comedy to true crime with some little supernatural, medical, and political shows sprinkled in for variety. I can talk podcasts all day, so I am just going to give you the highlights today.

The Dollop-an American History Podcast

The Dollop has over 400 episodes. Three are Cleveland-based: Ten Cent Beer Night, Balloonfest, and Danny Green. I recommend starting with one of those.

This Podcast Will Kill You-a Disease Ecology Podcast

The hosts are both epidemiologists and disease ecologists. They have recently done a six-part series on Covid-19 that is phenomenal.

Dateline-this is literally the tv show without the images!!

Who doesn’t recognize Lester Holt’s voice?!?

Now for the C-Connecting. Pick up the phone and call someone. I have talked on the phone more in the past two weeks that I have in the previous two months and 50% of my job is literally talking on the phone! I love texts and messaging and that’s my preferred mode of communicating and staying in touch, but since we live in the upside down now I am actually finding comfort and connection hearing my loved ones’ voices.

Stay safe. Stay healthy. Stay connected. And let me know if you have binge-worth podcast!

~Megan

Megan’s Favorites of 2019

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It’s that time of year, again-the time when we reflect on our year of reading (mostly murder) and make a favorites list (so much murder). I have given up all pretense of creating a Top Ten List and have abandoned descriptions (follow the links for book details), which has helped ease some of my anxiety around this task. If you like mysteries, suspense, and thrillers there are quite a few here!

YA Fiction

Adult Fiction

Nonfiction

Middle Grade

Happy Reading!

~Megan

Winter Book BINGO: Spotlight on Graphic Novels

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So you need to read a graphic novel in order to complete a BINGO, but you don’t know where to start. Let me help you. My own introduction to graphic novels was Bill Willingham’s Fables series. This epic series is a very grown-up retelling of classic fables and fairy tales. It’s still one of my favorite series. But you aren’t ready to jump into a 22-volume, Eisner Award winning series? No problem!

Try something cute, light, and funny:

Or maybe a graphic biography or memoir? We have books about familiar figures as well as ordinary people. Here are some of my favorites:

Ready to jump into a series? Let’s do it!

Maybe you’d like to try a classic:

Finally, let’s not forget the superheroes:

If none of these strike your fancy, come on in and browse our collection. Graphic novels are visual, you might just have to see them to find the one that’s right for you.

~Megan

Megan’s Favorites of 2018

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Megan’s Favorites of 2017

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Ah, the annual struggle of a reader…picking the favorites.

Favorite Teen Reads:

  1. Scythe by Neal Shusterman-In a world where disease and old age have been conquered, the only way to die is to be killed by professional reapers. Two teens are in a contest to become a scythe, despite the fact that neither wants the job.scythe
  2. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas-When Starr Davis becomes the sole witness to the police shooting of her childhood friend, her life changes. The incident makes headlines and everyone from her poor neighborhood and the upscale prep school she attends has an opinion on the matter. hate
  3. Strange the Dreamer by Liani Taylor-Lazlo Strange has long dreamed of the lost city of Weep. Actually, this gorgeous, epic fantasy is too complicated to describe in a sentence or two. I can’t do it.strange
  4. Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin-In an alternate history the Axis powers won WWII and Hitler is alive. Yael, a survivor of human experimentation at the hands of Nazi doctors has one goal: win the annual motorcycle race, secure a meeting with Hitler, and kill him.wolf
  5. Goodbye Days by Jeff Zenter-Carter Briggs loses his three best friends after a text message caused a fatal car accident. Carter struggles with his guilt and grief with the help of Blake’s grandmother and her idea of a “goodbye day.”goodbye

Favorite Adult Reads: Apparently I read a lot of science fiction and fantasy in 2017! Any why not? It’s pure escapism.

  1. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss-The first book in the Kingkiller Chronicles tells the story of Kvothe, a magician, thief, and assassin. This book is currently in development by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Showtime!name of the wind
  2. The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden-A mesmerizing fairy tale set in the cold Russian north. bear
  3. A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers-This is a light-hearted space opera in the vein of Firefly. long way
  4. Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey-The first book in the Expanse series and the source material for the Syfy show of the same title, this is a face-paced thriller of a space opera. I do love a space opera!leviathan
  5. Bonfire by Krysten Ritter-Abby returns to her small hometown to investigate a corporation that seems to have connections to an old scandal. Erin Brockovich meets Mean Girls.bonfire

Favorite Nonfiction Reads: 

  1. Ranger Games by Ben Blum-The bizarre true story of a group of young army rangers who rob a bank. ranger
  2. Hunger: a Memoir of (my) Body by Roxane Gay- This deeply personal series of essays explores body image and self esteem and the author’s relationship with food and weight. index
  3. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder-The author, a historian on fascism, offers a guide to understanding and resisting totalitarianism. index (1)
  4. Tears We Cannot Stop: a Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson-This provocative call for change details how white America can work towards real and lasting racial progress. A painful and necessary read. tears
  5. Killers of the Flower Moon: the Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann. The majority of my nonfiction reading this year was true crime (totally obsessed and if you are too I recommend the podcast My Favorite Murder) or political books. Killers of the Flower Moon is a fascinating addition to the true crime genre. (It’s also the topic of our Men’s Book Discussion in January)killers

~Megan