It's been about a month since I finished reading all the Newberys (which happened to coincide with a lot of Newbery talk around the blogosphere, since just a day or two later, an opinion piece that basically said the Newberys were no good anymore was published in the School Library Journal, so I had a lot of good Newbery talk), and this is how it's gone: first, I was ALL EXCITED to read the books I hadn't been able to get to because I was busy reading Newberys. After I read the ones I'd already checked out, I went to the library to get more and found myself... curiously at sea, like I'd somehow forgotten how to choose books for myself. I even fell back on scanning the shelves for medal stickers again, and checked out a couple of Printz and Newbery Honor books. But then I opened My Brother Sam is Dead, read one page and thought "I don't really want to read this"--realized I DIDN'T HAVE TO, and with joy, I tossed it aside.
But there's definitely still a lingering "Reading books I haven't read before is fun" effect. I'm scanning blogs for recommendations, and a few days ago I put a whole bunch of things from my Goodreads to-read list on hold. And now--they're coming in! "Circulation notices" from the library galore! I don't even know where to start. What a delightful situation.
