Yet another awards list of books I haven't read yet.

This past weekend they held the ALA Midwinter conference in Seattle, and as they typically do at this time, the organization has released their picks for their annual "ALA Notables" (as well as their "Reading List" books, which are notable genre titles).

You can see the entire list over at the Reader's Advisor Online. As per usual (for me, anyway) the list is a combination of books I haven't read (and am not real interested in reading) and books I disliked (I tried to get through Susan Cain's Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking THREE times and failed; Jim Holt's Why Does the World Exist?: An Existential Detective Story was just beyond me). I'm left wondering what I do like to read, since both their "genre" and their "notable" (read: literary) picks totally bore me. But then, I'll let you in on a little secret: everything the American Library Association does, pretty much, bores me.* The whole organization always smacked of a really long and worthless work meeting to me: lots of commitees, lots of politics and backstabbing, very little of anything concrete or helpful actually getting done.

*Except their Read posters. I'll admit, I'm a sucker for their Read posters. Mainly because I'm shocked that they actually managed to produce something tangible.

Comments

[Sarah]

By the time these lists come out, the titles have been on umpteen lists already. And I agree with you about the "discussions".

[Citizen Reader]

Sarah,
Glad I'm not alone in my feelings on the "discussions." Discussions, meetings, committees, blah blah blah.

[Tessa]

I do think ALA can be a little too insidery, but...

The lists do help librarians decide which books to buy for their libraries. I'm biased b/c I've been on a YALSA committee for a couple of years, but we do put a lot of work and thought into creating the lists as collection development resources and they're a great help in reader's advisory, especially for reluctant readers. The adult lists could also serve that purpose - for the people who come in and ask "what should I read??" without wanting to say what they enjoy reading in the first place.

[Citizen Reader]

Tessa,
Well, I certainly didn't mean to criticize the effort most ALA committee members put in to creating these book lists. I was never as familiar as I should have been with the many children's and YA lists put out by ALA--largely because I always found the adult book lists not much practical good in suggesting books to readers (reluctant or otherwise). But--I was also not a collection development person, and I can see how a wide range of lists, including those from ALA, would help those buying the books get "the big picture."
But I maintain--too talky, much too insidery, and don't members of committees often have to commit to at least one conference a year? Frankly, that's out of the money and time reach of most paraprofessional library staff--many of whom, I often found, were the biggest readers of all.