Reviewer Spotlight

This month we spotlight Cynthia, who is a Children’s Librarian in the Spangler Room at ImaginOn. She has reviewed several novels for adults. Here are her thoughts on reading and writing reviews:

"I have a legacy richly steeped in the love of literature. My mother was raised on a tobacco farm around the turn o f the century in the mountains of North Carolina. My grandparents were determined that each of their six children would attend college, so each month they would order books from the North Carolina Library Commission in Raleigh since there was no access to libraries. So every month the "box of books" would be delivered to their farm. The arrival of that box was clearly the most exciting event for everyone in the family, even though my grandfather and my mother's brothers were allowed to read them first before the girls! Books have always had that same effect on me. Nothing excites me more than a new stack of books just waiting to be read!

I love to read the classics; Steinbeck, Dickens, Burnett, or Austen. I lose myself completely in the language of the period - these are the ones I re-read over and over. I also enjoy living vicariously through courageous characters in a saga. These stories are rich with detail and follow a family or character through a long span of time, such as Ahab's Wife, Half Broke Horses, Gone with the Wind or Angela's Ashes.

Working at the library allows me the luxury of sampling books across all genres, authors, and time periods. When I come across a story where the characters, places, and experiences take on life and continue to live and breathe after the book is returned – then I know I have some great material for a Reader's Club book review!"

Thanks, Cynthia!