Saying Goodbye to Power-Reading!

I'm in Austin for the Voting Meeting for the 2018 Texas Library Association Lariat Adult Fiction Reading List, which will be announced in January, 2019. The Lariat Committee is made up of 9 Librarians across the State of Texas who commit to read a wide variety of adult fiction titles to narrow down to the top 25 that are a "pleasure to read." You can see more about the Lariat List and see last year's titles here: https://txla.org/tools-resources/reading-lists/lariat/current-list/

I've been on the TLA Lariat List Committee for 3 years and this is my last year. I had an opportunity to stay on for a 4th year, but I think that 3 years is long enough for the amount of annual reading required. It has been an amazing experience and has really expanded my reading by getting me out of my comfort zone! 

We read widely all year and make suggestions collected and organized on a Google Sheet. This year, as Vice-Chair, I sent monthly emails to the various publishers, and most of them very generously provided reading copies for all 9 members of the committee. We would read our own suggestions, then withdraw them if we decided against them for one reason or another, or nominate them for the list. Each committee member is allowed to nominate up to 8 titles, so theoretically there could be 72 titles on the Long List that must be read.  Realistically, there were usually around 45-55 books that we all needed to read before the December voting meeting.

Because "a pleasure to read" is so subjective, I ended up having to read a number of books that didn't appeal to me, that I would normally not read in the first place, or finish. This became a challenge over the last month as I finished up all 55 books on this year's Long List. But it's a good thing that there is a variety of fiction titles on the list! Everyone will be able to find a good book to read, depending on their interest and taste. There are thrillers, mysteries, literary fiction, science fiction, fantasy and even romance titles up for consideration for this year's Lariat List. I am excited to see what the committee ends up choosing for the Top 25 tomorrow!

I also have a LONG list of books that I've had to delay reading because I just haven't had the time. I am very much looking forward to reading the books on that list, plus some early galleys I have of upcoming 2019 titles.

Here are some Winter and Spring (2019) books that I did read outside of Lariat that I'm looking forward to recommending and talking about next year!!

I read a lot of Thrillers - probably because the pace and suspense make them hard to put down! 

I will be excited to post the results of the 2018 Lariat List here in the near future! Stay tuned.....

Happy Reading!