About “Once upon a time in the library…”

…no, that’s not the beginning of a joke. It’s your introduction to my library and young adult books blog. And it just so happens that keeping a young adult books blog is a class assignment for LIS 483 at Simmons College this semester. So you’ll probably be seeing me around here much more often now.

I recently gave up my dream of becoming a Hollywood screenwriter to move to Boston, attend library school, and hopefully, become a librarian. In a most appalling and unfortunate incident, the only thing lost in my cross-country move was one box of books – the one containing not only my favorites from over the years, but also the ones that resided next to my bed, and were next on my “to read” list.

Once it sunk in that I was never going to see my beloved books again, I had to pick myself up from in front of the television and figure out what to do next. For a little while, I was lost. I was homesick and confused, and something felt amiss in my new apartment without those old books. Finally, though, I realized something: I live across the street from the library. It was all I needed to help me feel at home, and I became a frequent visitor in an attempt to reclaim my reading list, and reconnect with my favorite characters.

I read young adult books, short story collections, books about young adult books, and adult books with teenagers as the main character. No, it’s not some weird fetish. I just have a strange proclivity towards reliving my glory days as an awkward bookworm. Seriously, though, I wish we had the types of books that teens are reading today when I was in high school. YA authors have come a long way since Judy Blume, and I feel as though I have a lot of catching up to do. Besides, when you’re in transition so much, like I often find myself, teenagers are easy to relate to.

Occasionally though, I do read a good old-fashioned adult novel. Sometimes I even read non-fiction. And sometimes, when I’m feeling nostalgic for film school, I read screenplays, screenwriting books, or essay collections on pop culture.

But if you’ll excuse me, I have to go now. I have some exercises to do.

“I must, I must, I must increase my bust…”