Reviewer Spotlight

Branch: Independence Regional

Reader’s Club salutes Christie, a librarian at Independence Regional Library. She has reviewed a variety of fiction and non-fiction for both adults and teens. Here are her thoughts on reading and writing reviews:

Reading has been a part of my life from a very young age. My grandmother would leave library books for me to find in the nightstand when I would come to visit her. When I discovered Kenneth Grahame's book Wind in the Willows this way, I knew that fantasy, science fiction, fairy tales and the paranormal would be my favorite fiction genres. Reality can be stressful so I enjoy books that take me somewhere that is unlike the everyday world.

That said, I also enjoy reading nonfiction titles that give me the "big picture" of something. I want to see how everything fits together. I love macro histories, timelines, encyclopedias and atlases. Three of my favorite coffee table books are the National Geographic concise history of the world: an illustrated time line, the National Geographic visual history of the world and Gardner's Art Through the Ages. The photos and images just bring the books to life. I also have a weakness for Japanese style and two books that really inspire me are Japanese Style by Suzanne Slesin and Japan The Art of Living by Amy Katoh. These books are older than some you'll see on the topic. I like them because the majority of the photos are from Japan. Many of the more contemporary books are pictures of homes in the U.S. inspired by Japanese style.

Some of my favorite authors include Neil Gaiman, Jim Butcher, Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time series), J.R.R. Tolkien (The Silmarillion) , Terry Brooks, Stephen King (The Dark Tower series), Frank Herbert (Dune), J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) and Anne McCaffrey.

I like to review items that are first in a series or stand alone titles. They are not the only ones that I will review but I like to do that because if someone likes the first book in the series, they will probably want to read the rest!

I enjoy writing book reviews because I know that if I can help in matching a book to a reader that it will be well worth the time to write. Reading is an investment and you want it to be time well spent. After all, all we have is how we choose to spend our time. ‘’

Thanks Christie!