When I was a little girl, before the internet existed... *GASP* I know right? I couldn't live without it either! Anyway, back to my story about the stone age.
When I was a little girl, before the internet existed, I wanted to be a librarian. I had no idea what librarians did. I just knew they were happy all the time and they got to be around books all day. I figured, if I could be a librarian, I could read, ALL THE TIME!!! It would be great. AND I'd get paid for it. Heaven on earth, to a book addict like me.
Then I grew up, went to college and learned that librarians have to have MASTERS degrees, and learn about the Dewey Decimal system -which I admit, I STILL have no idea how it works. They don't get to read all day. Instead, they work very hard, and don't get paid a lot, and have their hours and wages and benefits cut continually by a tax paying system that doesn't understand their importance. (This is also my rant about teachers, but that is a blog for another day.)
So, I decided to ditch that idea, take up Computer Science, which pays a lot better and read in my spare time. It was a good decision and made me the person I am today.
But... then I got laid off and let me tell you, it's been tough finding a job where I live. It's kind of a small town and there's not a lot of other places close enough to telecommute. So, anyway, now I'm broke. I'm broke and my library is not the best for getting new books because, well, budget cuts have commenced.
Then I go places like The Story Siren or The Well-Read Wife or Yzhabella's Bookshelf and there are just stacks and stacks of books they are reading. I'm sure they actually pay for some of their books. I know they have cool book sharing clubs going around, but what interests me are the ARCs.
What, you may ask, are ARCs? Advanced Reader Copies. They get sent to various super cool book bloggers to be reviewed before anyone else has read them. They are like those movie critics who get a pass to watch a movie and review it before it ever comes out.
Man, it would be SO COOL to have people sending ME ARCs. I could read lots and lots of books and give my opinions and have people read them.
Of course, like librarians, book bloggers work super hard at what they do. Most of them, like you and I, have day jobs. And somehow, on top of that, they read and review a spectacular amount of literature. It's amazing I tell you. Without them, I can think of several books I never would have heard of.
Case in point: The Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa. Never would have read and loved those books without a book blogger. Or if I had eventually come upon them, it would have been years from now when my library finally started to carry them. hahaha
I don't have time to be a book blogger and a writer. So I guess for now, I'll just read, find books whatever way I can (if my library doesn't have them, I have friends and bookswaps to use, thank goodness!) and keep reading all the great blogs out there for more ideas on what to put on my to-read shelf next.
No comments:
Post a Comment