The Librarian Writer

I mentioned Sync in a previous blog post , but it's been a while and it certainly bears repeating. Especially this year, because Sync is offering an amazing collection of audiobooks. For free. Sync gives people a chance to experience audiobooks and pairs classic literature with a current YA release. A new pair is released once a week throughout summer. Just sign up and you can be downloading free audiobooks all summer long. Sync will even send you a text or email reminder when the new audiobooks are available. How easy is that? (And did I mention it is FREE!?!) The first pair --  Of Poseidon by Anna Banks, read by Rebecca Gibel and The Tempest by William Shakespeare, read by a Full Cast -- releases on May 30, 2013 and will available for download through June 5, 2013. You can see the full schedule of Sync audiobooks here . Happy listening!

I've always loved names. I used to read the phone book and make lists of names I liked. Sometimes it was the combination of sounds, sometimes it was image that it provoked, sometimes it was just goofy. I'd combine names and make up names, sci-fi sounding names like Hysy Sigee and silly names like Constance Prattle. I bought a baby name book and used that to name characters, but then I discovered the Social Security Administration's list of baby names . It is nirvana for name nerds like me, especially if your novel takes place in the United States. The SSA released the data for 2012 this week and while the big news is usually the most popular names (Jacob and Sophia), there is a cornucopia of name goodness throughout the website. First of all, the database goes back to 1880, when the most popular names were John and Mary. And you can find the most popular names up to the 1,000th (Layton and Eula in 1880; Dangelo and Katalina in 2012). You can also find the most p...

"The Diviners is the cat's meow!" So April was not the cruelest month. It was one of those months that zipped on by in a whirl of collection development and library programming. While I got very little reading done, I did get a chance to listen to some wonderful audiobooks. (I have a feeling I should change this monthly post from Reader's Corner to Listener's Corner.)  First of all, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is absolutely magical. There's a love story and a coming-of-age story, but really, it's about a place so special that everyone who reads the book wishe s they could go to the Night Circus while wearing a red scarf to meet other people who know how special it is. The Circus itself is a character, the most impor tant character of all, built from love and pining and los s. T he other audiobook I listened to was The Diviners by Libba Bray. Evie O'Neill is a flapper in 1920's New York who has the ability to "read...