La crème de la crème

"La crème de la crème" means "the best of the best." I learned that from Judy Blume's Just As Long As We're Together, one of my favorite books from elementary school. (When the phrase first appears in the book, I believe someone is commenting on brownies at a bake sale, so at first I thought it meant delicious and fudgy, but it was later explained.) But what is "the best of the best"? As Rachel says in Just As Long As We're Together, "Best is best." Although Rachel may be right when it comes to friendships, I think there can definitely be more than one "best" when it comes to books. Apparently, so do all sorts of publishers, book reviewers, and websites. The fine folks at Random House collected the multitudinous "Best Books of 2012" lists on their Tumblr so you can choose "la crème de la crème." I will post my own "best" list from this year in the near future, but for now, you can see what the other professionals have to say. ;)

That cute sweater showed up a lot when I did an image search for "la crème de la crème" and is designed by Zoe Karssen. If you want to purchase it, you may click here. Note that I have no affiliation with Ms. Karssen. I just want that sweater and if you like my blog you can get me one.

Finally, someone remind me not to blog when I'm tired because I solicit sweater gifts, use words like "multitudinous," and use Judy Blume books as a lens through which to see the world. And I write sentences like that.

Ex libris,

sleepy Marissa

My brilliant book reviewing career.

I read, on average, about 50-70 books a year. Reading has always been one of my favorite activities, in addition to binding my own books and any craft involving yarn (I just started spinning-- next step is sheep shearing school). I also enjoy the occasional bout of doing nothing, and I watch TV. So I'm quite pleased with my yearly book average. Then when I finished my Master's degree (huzzah!) I thought to myself, aha! Now I can continue working on the 1001 Books Project with my sister (she's in the C books, I'm still in the A books), and read more in general, and read galleys on Netgalley, and continue my TV-crafty-nothing-doing. I admit, I may have been overambitious in this quest. I know of several librarians who work at their day jobs, write reviews for major publications, serve on committees, present at conferences, and also seem to get their laundry done. And they usually have more familial obligations than I do (I have one dog). That being said, I am considering applying to be on the Nutmeg Book Award committee, which will kick my reading into super high gear. I think it will be quite cool to have a hand in the Nutmeg nominees. I may never be a professional book reviewer, but I can still be a good librarian.

Ex libris,

Marissa