Love Librarians? Nominate Your Favorite!

(It's amazing what you can find digging around film archives...)
Could YOU have been a librarian in 1947?  

by Laurie Allee 

If you're reading this post via email, click here to see the accompanying video!

Read my Books With Laurie introductory post here.

The fine folks at I Love Libraries are sponsoring the I Love My Librarian award, and I want everyone to know about it.  I once heard someone say that librarians are superheroes without capes, and I think that is the best description I've come across.

The I Love My Librarian award is your chance to shine a light on the achievements, service and all-around goodness of your favorite librarian -- from public, school, college, community college, or university libraries.  Each year ten librarians are chosen to receive $5000 cash, a plaque and a travel stipend to attend the awards ceremony and reception held in their honor.  

Nominate the librarian who means the most to you!  Nominations for the 2019-2020 award are open through October 21.

Go here to learn more, sign up for notifications and even spread the word with the I Love My Librarian promotional toolkit.  

The Movies Books Make in Your Head...

by Laurie Allee

If you're reading this post via email, click here to see my original accompanying video!
Read my Books With Laurie introductory post here.
This post includes affiliate links.  Click here for more info!

My fellow bookworms can back me up on this: the best movies are books.  

I don't mean that the best movies are those made from books, because that is decidedly untrue. In fact, there are some awful films that are fantastic books. (I'm looking at you, Hotel New Hampshire, and to some extent you, French Lieutenant's Woman.  Actually, I have a feeling the reason James Franco took so long to release his film adaptation of Zeroville is because it just couldn't compare to the absurdly spectacular weirdness of the actual book.) Yes, there are bad films made from good books. I suppose the reverse is also true, but I've already listened to enough arguments about Ready Player One and Twilight.

What I mean is this:  the scenes that play out in your head when you read a great book are better than any film.  

I don't say this lightly!  I say this as a cinephile, photographer and avowed film nerd.  I studied film.  I make my own little films.  I watch films with a passion rivaled only by my love of books. 

But... I've yet to see a film (even Bergman, even Spielberg, even Welles, even Tarkovsky or Goddard or Kubrick) who could best the cinema that plays in my mind when I read.

When I was in the fourth grade, I would have told you my favorite book was Harriet the Spy.  A book about a young girl who crawled around her neighbors' houses peeking through cracks and writing down what they said in her notebook was just about the coolest thing I could imagine.  This was no polite Nancy Drew story.  Harriet was tough.  While the vintage Nancy fussed over her hair and worried about offending boys, Harriet wore jeans and cared more about her writing than whether or not she was pretty or popular. And did I mention she snuck into houses? 

Scroll less. Read more books.

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Welcome to Books With Laurie!

You can find out more about it (and also about me, your friendly bookworm) here.

I'm that person -- the one who always has some book they're rambling on about and insisting you must read.  (I'm also the one you call for a recommendation, and the one whose bookshelves you raid for a summer read, or an herbal guidebook, or a weird autobiography, or a volume of leftist history, or a film theory book...)

I'm Laurie Allee, Bookworm in Residence

This blog is my bookish dream world, and I invite you to share it with me.  

I will regularly post new articles and videos on all kinds of readerly things.  Don't worry, you don't have to hit any like buttons or subscribe to anything.  I'm connecting with fellow bookworms, not building a brand.  I'm just a reader (and a writer!) who encourages you to put your phone down, venture away from the social media hive, and get lost in a good book.  Let's look at words that don't blink or flash.

Let's scroll less and read more books.

I'm building a community of fellow reading nerds, so be sure to get in touch if you'd like to be part of my upcoming old-fashioned book club.

You'll find hundreds of book lover resources and links, as well as all kinds of Easter eggs for bookworms hidden throughout the site, so click around and explore. (Hint, no image is ever just an image.)

If I could have a real bookstore, it would look a lot like Books With Laurie.  Enjoy my little oasis away from multitasking, Twitter arguments, selfies, hashtags and memes.  Find great books on all kinds of subjects, explore some of the world's coolest libraries and bookstores, watch interviews with authors and indie book shop owners and book lovers of all sorts, snag deals on books and get other reader freebies, and discover how great it is to reconnect with one of the oldest forms of media.


This is a good place to start.
(When you're finished, head to my place next door.)