Book Riot Read Harder 2018 in review: Out Behind the Desk #BookReview #ReadHarder2018 #Blogmas

Category 22: An essay anthology

Out Behind the Desk: Workplace Issues for Lgbtq Librarians

Author: Tracy Nectoux (ed.)
Publisher: Litwin Books, LLC  

Published: May 15, 2011 (first published 2010)
Page count: 294
Genres: nonfiction

Date read: January 28, 2018

Number of times read: 1

Format: paperback
Source: Laurier Library

Summary

Out Behind the Desk: Workplace Issues for LGBTQ Librarians is an anthology of personal accounts by librarians and library workers relating experiences of being gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, or queer at work. A broad spectrum of orientations and gender identities are represented, highlighting a range of experiences of being and/or coming out at work.-- via Goodreads 

Review

At the tail end of 2017, I decided to be super ambitious. (Meaning crazy stupid...) I decided that as part of the professional Twitter chat I co-host on library-related issues, we should run a virtual book club! I seem to have momentarily forgotten that I hate being told what book to read when at the time that I came up with that idea...Anyway, I was responsible for picking most of the books and I picked this one for January and then cut it right up until the say of the chat to finish reading it. Not because it was bad or boring, but because of the above hatred of being told what to read and by when. Plus also the PDF I had made for myself (my ILL was due back before I finished the book) was way too small on my Kobo and I couldn't get it to zoom so I had to read less of it at a time because it made my astigmatism act up.

Overall I thought it was a really good anthology. There were a lot of fantastic essays in it and I walked away wanting to learn more and get more involved. To me, that's the mark of good nonfiction. How much does it make me care about the subject it's about, and what does it make me want to do about it. I chose this book specifically because it has a personal interest to me. I'm bi, but I keep that pretty quiet and I don't date so it's never really a topic that comes up unless I'm specifically talking about LGBTQ issues. I've never been involved in the LGBTQ community in a meaningful way but I've always wanted to learn more about it and about how to maybe get involved. So when I found out there was a book out there about the LGBTQ experience in libraries I was very interested in reading it. And I got what I wanted out of it, it was really worthwhile for me. I learned about the history of LGBTQ people in the library profession.

The two major disappointments that I had with this book were mainly with the content. Firstly the fact that it's from 2010/11 means it's eight years out of date, and in the States especially, there's been an awful lot of upheaval in relation to LGBTQ rights and experiences in the intervening years. I'd like to see a sequel done now, I feel like that would be a very valuable book to have, and very powerful. The other thing about the content that really annoyed me is something that annoys me about a lot of LGBTQ content - bi-erasure, it's a thing, I wish it weren't a thing, and it's annoying as all hell. There was little bi content in this book and what there was, was not so great. There was even less relatable content for Trans librarians.

Because I was using this book for a book club I actually took a lot of notes about it. Twelve pages worth of notes to be precise. Looking back at my notes now after almost a year, there are definitely some essays in the anthology that I would probably go back to for reexamination. 

Do you read books about your industry or for your work?

Overall Rating

4 bolts

Musing Mondays - #WhyIReadRomance days 7-9 | #30DaysofReadathon days 29-27 | thoughts on book clubs

Musing Monday, September 11, 2017

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:

• I’m currently reading…

• Up next I think I’ll read…

• I bought the following book(s) in the past week…

• I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…

• I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…

• I can’t wait to get a copy of…

• I wish I could read ___, but…

• I blogged about ____ this past week…

I'm super excited to tell you about Parajunkee's #whyIreadromance event & the 24 hours of Dewey #readathon #30daysofreadathon event…

I decided to nix daily posts in favour of grouping a couple of days together at a time so this is going to be a slightly longer Musing Monday post than normal.

Day 7 - Best Happily Ever After

The Darkest Seduction (Lords of the Underworld #9) by Gena Showalter

At long last, New York Times bestselling author Gena Showalter unveils the story of Paris, the darkest and most tormented Lord of the Underworld.

Possessed by the demon of Promiscuity, immortal warrior Paris is irresistibly seductive — but his potent allure comes at a terrible price. Every night he must bed someone new, or weaken and die. And the woman he craves above all others is the one woman he'd thought was forever beyond his reach... until now.

Newly possessed by the demon of Wrath, Sienna Blackstone is racked by a ruthless need to punish those around her. Yet in Paris's arms, the vulnerable beauty finds soul-searing passion and incredible peace. Until a blood feud between ancient enemies heats up.

Will the battle against gods, angels and creatures of the night bind them eternally — or tear them apart?

After eight, EIGHT, books of build up Gena Showalter FINALLY resolved Paris's storyline in 2012, 4 years after introducing him in The Darkest Night in 2008. The reason that Paris's story out of all of the Lords (and out of all the happy endings I've read) is, in my opinion, the best happily ever after is partly because of how long he had to suffer. Paris is the Keeper of Promiscuity so he starts off as a sex fiend ladies man, but then he meets Sienna and everything changes for him. She's taken from him too soon and he devolves into a books long depression that has all of his friends concerned for his immortal existence. He becomes addicted to drugs and danger and everything sets his anger off. So the fact that he manages to actually get a happily ever after with Sienna in this book is soooooooo incredibly satisfying.

Day 8 - Most Kickbutt Females

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

The year is 1945. Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is just back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach—an “outlander”—in a Scotland torn by war and raiding border clans in the year of Our Lord...1743.

Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into the intrigues of lairds and spies that may threaten her life, and shatter her heart. For here James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, shows her a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire—and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.

Claire doesn't necessarily do a whole lot of physical ass-kicking, there is a little bit of that, but that's not what makes her the most kick-butt female. She's tough, resilient, adaptable, resourceful and clever. She doesn't lose her head in emergency situations. Claire actually saves Jamie almost, if not just as often, as she saves him. Jamie does acknowledge her as an equal mainly because of her cleverness and resourcefulness. She kicks butt because she manages to not only survive travelling back in time 200 years but because she begins to thrive in her new time.

Day 9 - Best Thrills...

Betrayals by Kelley Armstrong

When Olivia's life exploded--after she found out she was not the adopted child of a privileged Chicago family but of a notorious pair of convicted serial killers--she found a refuge in the secluded but oddly welcoming town of Cainsville, Illinois. Working with Gabriel Walsh, a fiendishly successful criminal lawyer with links to the town, she discovered the truth about her parents' crimes in an investigation that also revealed the darker forces at work in the place that had offered her a haven. As if that wasn't enough, she also found out that she, Gabriel and her biker boyfriend Ricky were not caught in an ordinary sort of love triangle, but were hereditary actors in an ancient drama in which the elders of Cainsville and the mysterious Huntsmen who opposed them had a huge stake.
     Now someone is killing street kids in the city, and the police have tied Ricky to the crimes. Setting out with Gabriel's help to clear Ricky's name, Olivia once again finds her own life at risk. Soon the three are tangled in a web of betrayals that threatens their uneasy equilibrium and is pushing them toward a hard choice: either they fulfill their destinies by trusting each other and staying true to their real bonds, or they succumb to the extraordinary forces trying to win an eternal war by tearing them apart.

This entire series is full of thrills, but as we get further into the series the stakes get higher and the stories get even more thrilling. Betrayals is the most recent entry having been released in August of last year. It definitely delivered on the thrills front. With her boyfriend wanted for murder and her bost/best-friend/potential-3rd-side-of-a-love-triangle is a little bit tempted to let him take the fall so he can have Olivia all to himself again Olivia's life is clearly complicated and she's caught right in the middle of everything. The mysteries that swirl around this whole series deepen and simultaneously get more revealed in this book. It's very exciting.

I'm dropping a cut because this post is getting super long...

#WhyIReadRomance Day 4 - most empowering/empowerment

a Parajunkee event

The romance with the most empowerment/that is the most empowering

Dragon Actually by G.A. Aiken

It's not always easy being a female warrior with a nickname like Annwyl the Bloody. Men tend to either cower in fear - a lot - or else salute. It's true that Annwyl has a knack for decapitating legions of her ruthless brother's soldiers without pausing for breath. But just once it would be nice to be able to really talk to a man, the way, she can talk to Fearghus the Destroyer.

Too bad that Fearghus is a dragon, of the large, scaly and deadly type. With him, Annwyl feels safe - a far cry from the feelings aroused by the hard-bodied, arrogant knight Fearghus has arranged to help train her for battle. With her days spent fighting a man who fill her with fierce, heady desire, and her nights spent in the company of a magical creature who could smite a village just by exhaling, Annwyl is sure life couldn't get any stranger. She's wrong...

G.A. Aiken is really, really good at empowering her female characters in the Dragon Kin series. A lot of them are badasses to start with but not always, and the ones that aren't physical badasses she does a great job of empowering them in other ways. Dagmar who is introduced in the third book of the series, for example, is the smartest of all of the characters and the absolute best at strategy but she starts off living in a place where none of that matters just because she is a woman, so her empowerment comes through being able to get out of that environment and going somewhere where they encourage her. Dragon Actually is the first book in the series and I would argue that it is the best of all of them at empowering its main character. Annwyl starts off as being a good warrior but she also has a really dark backstory of abuse at the hands of her brother and father. Her empowerment comes through Fearghus's mentoring and training. He helps her to be able to deal with that past and channel it so that she can take on her brother and father and free herself from them. 

#WhyIReadRomance Day 3 - best fairy-tale romp

a Parajunkee event

The romance with  the best Fairy Tale Romp

Jingle Spells: Naughty or Nice?\She's a Mean One\His First Noelle\Silver Belle by Vicki Lewis Thompson, Rhonda Nelson, Kira Sinclair & Andrea Laurence

To protect Christmas, this family of wizards will have to use a whole different kind of magic…
Part of the Winter clan, the Evergreen family is considered magical nobility. While Evergreen Industries in picturesque Gingerbread, Colorado, might look like an ordinary office building, this is where the magic of Christmas unfolds. Above Santa's workshop, the Evergreens hold court, manage Christmas and, sometimes against their will and better judgment, fall in love. When it comes to love, the Evergreens know that sometimes you have to play a little naughty to get exactly what (or who) you want from Santa. Celebrate the holidays with Evergreen siblings Cole, Ethan, Dash and Belle in this enchanting collection from New York Times bestselling authors Vicki Lewis Thompson and Rhonda Nelson, Kira Sinclair and Andrea Laurence.

This is actually an anthology of four novellas. The four novellas actually go together. They are all about different members of the Evergreen family, who as you can see from the summary above, are responsible for Christmas. That's what makes it a fairy-tale romp for me. It's not about a princess or a retelling of a classic fairy-tale with added romance elements. But how can a collection of stories that feature Santa Clause himself, not to mention elves, and the magic of Christmas not be considered a fairy-tale? It's such a campy collection of stories and I loved it. I really don't know what else I can say about it beyond that. It's a Harlequin Nocturne so it's got tropes that you'd expect it to have. It's just a nicely written and entertaining romp with fairy-tale elements and that's all I was asking of it so expectations met!

Musing Mondays - YA historical fiction with a bisexual male protagonist & release dates

Musing Monday, July 3, 2017

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:

• I’m currently reading…

• Up next I think I’ll read…

• I bought the following book(s) in the past week…

• I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…

• I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…

• I can’t wait to get a copy of…

• I wish I could read ___, but…

• I blogged about ____ this past week…

Up next I think I’ll read…

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue
by Mackenzi Lee

I can't remember how exactly I heard about this book, it was either a review on someone's blog, or one of the other bookish sites in my feed (like BuzzFeed Books or Bookster, or Book Riot) had an article that had it included in a list. Regardless of how I came across it, I did - and the moment I read the description I knew I had to read it. Finding bisexual representation in genre fiction books is not an easy task, and this is the first one I've ever seen with a male bisexual main character. That alone was enough to pique my interest.

I looked to see if one of my public libraries had a copy, which is very easy to do thanks to the Chrome Library Extension because it show's your local library's holdings right on the Goodreads or Amazon page for a given book. The extension informed me that the Kitchener Public Library has 5 copies, so I went to their website to place a hold. I got to the catalogue and was informed that all of the copies were unavailable, so I placed a hold and was informed that I was hold 6/8. I didn't take note of when the book was actually released, turns out it was only released on June 27 of this year, if I'd noticed that I would have released that the books were in cataloguing still. But I didn't - so I was prepared that it was going to probably be about a month or so before I actually got my hands on a copy. However, on Wednesday night I received an email telling me my hold was available for pick up - cue much shock on my part when I read that on Thursday morning. After work that night I proceeded directly to the library to pick up my book. Now I have it until July 20.

First, though I have to get through Hag-Seed because it's due back on July 6 and I only started it on the 1st. I had to finish Blood Prophecy first before I could get to Hag-Seed you see. I'm only 29 pages into it and it's not going well, my desire to pick it up and keep reading it is very low. Not because of Margaret Atwood's writing, which is spot on, but because it's reminding me already just how much I really don't like the story in The Tempest. Anyhow, I digress, here have the summary for The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue:

An unforgettable tale of two friends on their Grand Tour of 18th-century Europe who stumble upon a magical artifact that leads them from Paris to Venice in a dangerous manhunt, fighting pirates, highwaymen, and their feelings for each other along the way.

Henry “Monty” Montague was born and bred to be a gentleman, but he was never one to be tamed. The finest boarding schools in England and the constant disapproval of his father haven’t been able to curb any of his roguish passions—not for gambling halls, late nights spent with a bottle of spirits, or waking up in the arms of women or men.

But as Monty embarks on his grand tour of Europe, his quest for a life filled with pleasure and vice is in danger of coming to an end. Not only does his father expect him to take over the family’s estate upon his return, but Monty is also nursing an impossible crush on his best friend and traveling companion, Percy.

Still it isn’t in Monty’s nature to give up. Even with his younger sister, Felicity, in tow, he vows to make this yearlong escapade one last hedonistic hurrah and flirt with Percy from Paris to Rome. But when one of Monty’s reckless decisions turns their trip abroad into a harrowing manhunt that spans across Europe, it calls into question everything he knows, including his relationship with the boy he adores.

Witty, romantic, and intriguing at every turn, The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue is a sumptuous romp that explores the undeniably fine lines between friendship and love.-- via Goodreads

        THIS WEEK’S RANDOM QUESTION: Do you follow book release dates and eagerly await a new arrival? Or do you just kind of check things out in a more casual manner?

I am not very good at following release dates, mainly because if I were trying to it would be an expensive prospect and almost like having a second job. There are just that many different series that I am following. If I were to buy every new book in a series I am following, or every new book that looks interesting on their release date I would quickly go broke and be even more stuck for space than I am. I have 250+ (it was 250 when I counted 2 weeks ago but I've added a few library books and bought a few more since then) books on my TBR shelves. So as you can imagine I'm not buying sequels and new books on their release dates unless I've been really, really hyped for them. Actually, this year is the first year that I'm even tracking release dates on certain books because an earlier Musing Monday question asked if there were any books coming out that I was excited for. In fact, in reviewing that post I just realised I've just missed 2 exciting ones, one I want to get ASAP and one I will be waiting on. I want the 3rd volume of Faith as soon as I can get my hands on it. But I will definitely wait until probably next year on Darkest Promise because it usually takes it that long to be released in paperback and as all of my Gena Showalter books are paperback I would like to continue having them in that format. Now I'm really eager for the next Dragon Kin novel, not until August though so I still have some waiting on that one. I may just have to start eagerly awaiting it.

#WWBookClub - Week 1 - Magic in the Muggle World - Harry Potter & the Philosopher's Stone

Week 1 Topic: Magic in the Muggle World

The first book up on the #WWBookClub docket is, of course, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, because where else would they start with a Harry Potter book club? And the first topic of discussion was magic in the muggle world. This was discussed on Twitter this past Friday, June 30. It was a very busy chat! There were a lot of participants taking part and I found it really hard to engage because of how fast all the comments were flying. I also found it harder to participate because Twitter's character limit makes meaningful replies really hard sometimes. That second reason is the reason I am going to answer the questions asked in a blog post as well. Because I want to be able to give meatier answers and hopefully generate some more discussion with the people who read our blog.

The Questions

Is the wizarding world as secretive as it likes to believe?

Oh good god no, I really don't see how it can be. Yes there's the statute of secrecy and there are protections against muggles on places like Hogwarts and the Ministry of course, but that's not going stop everyone and everything. There are whole teams of obliviators and misinformation officers at the ministry but even then there's no way they could have complete control over the secret. You're never going to be able to obliviate everyone, and misinformation doesn't work on everyone either. 

Case in point - muggle parents and muggle siblings. As muggles, they can't be held accountable to the statute of secrecy because you can't throw a muggle into wizard prison. Any families of muggleborn witches and wizards are not only going to know about the wizarding world and Hogwarts specifically, they're going to get to be a part of it, an active part. Hermione's parents came into Diagon Alley to help with her school shopping, and if hers did you know others have. More than one muggle parent or sibling has let something slip before, it's just going to be a thing that happens.

Regarding the obliviators and the office of misinformation. These two things are going to create messes like to see in Men in Black - people whose memory wipes haven't taken completely or at all, people who don't buy into your misinformation. This is how conspiracy theories and urban legends are born. All it takes if for people to be willing to dig, because yeah the wizarding world is hidden within the muggle world, but not that deep.

Why do you think the Dursleys are so afraid of magic?

I think that you have to look at each of the Dursleys individually here, there's not just one full-stop answer as to why the whole family is so afraid of magic. With Vernon for example, I don't know so much if he's afraid of magic as he is pissed off by it and afraid of what being seen in the company of magic users could do to his reputation. Vernon is almost completely reputation focussed, anything that could damage his social standing is wrong and must be squashed. More than that even Vernon is a bigot and a bully who hates everyone and everything that don't fit into his very narrow-minded world view. I mean think about it, yes he was scared of having magic used on him, but it never stopped him getting into arguments with wizards whenever they showed up at his house.

Then there's Petunia, for her there is definitely a fear of magic, but in her case, I think it is completely justified. We have no way of knowing that at this early point in Philosopher's Stone but as we do find out as the series go on she was way more affected by her sister's murder than the early books show. She knows exactly what magic can do in the wrong hands - of course, she's scared of it. However, there's definitely more than just fear, there are bitterness and resentment which makes her seem as narrow-minded and bigoted as her husband at this point in the series. The thing about Petunia is it takes a long time for us to learn why she's so resentful and bitter but once we do it makes sense - of course that is never an excuse for how she herself treated, and how she allowed her husband and child to treat Harry. Of course Petunia also has a healthy dose of "nothing shall tarnish our social standing!" but in her case, I feel like that really is the least of it.

Dudley, of course, is the product of his horrible parents and their attitudes. His attitude towards magic and magic users is 100% shaped by his father's narrow-minded bigotry and his mother's fear and bitterness. Not only have his attitudes been influenced by theirs but they have also actively encouraged him his whole life to see his cousin as a weird, freaky other who he needs to be wary of. The final straw for Dudley of course that pushes his fear of magic over the edge is when Hagrid gives him a pig tail, and realistically, after that incident, I can hardly blame him for being scared of magic and magic users.

What makes Hagrid so trustworthy?

I'm going to be completely honest here, I really don't understand what this question has to do with the weekly topic. I do totally get how it's relevant to the point we're at in the narrative, obviously, Hagrid plays a big role in the early part of the book because he is Harry's first mentor in the wizarding world. And in writing that sentence I've now realised how this question relates. If Hagrid wasn't as trustworthy as he is, he would not have been selected by Dumbledore to be the magical liaison sent into the muggle world to collect Harry, so yes I can see now how his trustworthiness directly relates to the topic of magic in the muggle world.

To answer the question though - Hagrid is possessed of several traits that make him trustworthy. First and foremost is that he is totally and completely guileless. There are times of course where that lack of guile comes back to bite him, those times being anytime he utters the words "I should not have said that!" But for the most part, it's a positive trait that makes him trustworthy. There's also his earnestness, sincerity, total and complete loyalty and devotion to Dumbledore and his ability to follow orders. He also has the added benefit of his size making him intimidating/unapproachable to people who don't know him. He's also underestimated, nobody expects Hagrid to be the one running important errands or holding the important information. Certainly, Voldemort never would. We know how little he thinks of Hagrid given what he did to him when they were both at school.

Wizarding World Book Club - Week 0 - a Pottermore event & Book Bub's Summer Reading Challenge

A very Harry Book Club

I am so stupidly excited about Pottermore's latest offering that it's not even funny. I really am a rabid, rabid Potterhead. So far everything Pottermore has done has not failed to excite me and they haven't let me down. They've created a Harry Potter book club! It started today and the book club will eventually read and discuss all 7 books. Both Angie and I are very excited about participating in this.

There will be Twitter chats for the club - the first one being this coming Friday. I am simultaneously excited and anxious about this. I run a bi-weekly Twitter chat (#LISprochat) - I KNOW how hectic and hard it can be to follow the streams of conversations in a session and our chats usually have fewer than 25 attendees. A Twitter chat made of HP fans talking about HP? It will be an AWESOME vibe, and I am sure there will be GREAT convos. I am terrified that it will become completely unwieldy and impossible to follow. But that's not going to stop me from trying.

These chats will be themed, and I already am planning to write a blog post to publish here on each theme. There's no theme this week - those start next Monday. Time to crack out Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone again. Haven't decided yet if I'm going physical re-read or if I'll listen to the audiobook again. We'll see how long it takes me to finish the audiobook I am currently listening to on my tablet and whether or not Audible discovers the fix for the problem I am having with their app on my mobile.

BookBub's Summer 2017 Reading Challenge

My student assistant, Sophia, suggested that she, me and my co-worker, Mel, try and do Bookbub's Summer reading challenge. Little did she know I have been dying for an adult summer reading list/challenge to try because I never got to do a summer reading program as a kid. It wasn't something my schools did and as far as I am aware it wasn't something the Toronto Publis Library did in the 90s either. So when she offered I was all over it, especially once I saw that some of the categories overlap with some of the other challenges I am doing this year. Even more so when we agreed to our challenge start date as being from June 6th on, which means that I can already check 4 items off the challenge list. I've been on a bit of a reading streak lately. Since coming back from England I have read 7 novels, 4 graphic novels and a novella.

Needless to say, I, of course, have decided I'm going to be ambitious (masochistic?) about this challenge and aim for the level 3 goal of 36 books. Sophia is going to aim for the same, but realistically both of us will probably be more likely to hit the level 2 goal of 24 books.

I'm sure now you want to know what the challenge categories are. Well, I've included the image, along with my current progress, below a jump cut because it's a VERY large image.