Tera's Reading Profile
Hello everyone! My name is Tera and I am in my third semester of my MLIS degree! I am from southwest Oklahoma and have lived here for the majority of my life. A little fun fact about me and my family is that my mom is from New Carlisle, IN. I spent a month of my summer vacation visiting my family in that part of the state until I was 14. Now that I'm older and life has gotten in the way, I don't get to spend as much time visiting my grandma as I would like but we still make it up for her birthday on the Fourth of July (she's going to be 95 this year!) and for Christmas. I have one pet, my cat Barry. He is going to be 6 years old this June and I adopted him when I lived in San Antonio. I currently work at Altus AFB Library on the Air Force Base in my hometown and have been working here for almost three years. I started out as a library aide and was promoted to a circulation technician. My current duties include running the interlibrary loan program for the patrons, repairing broken books, processing donations, and adding donations/replacement items into the catalog just to name a few! If you have any questions about me please feel free to ask!
As for my reading preferences, I will read anything someone recommends to me. I would say my go-to favorite genre would be a tie between historical romance and fantasy. I also read quite a bit of young adult and new adult titles. I don't read as much as others; before I started classes I read a book a week and now I'm lucky to get 15 read during the entire year. Working full time and studying take up most of my time, but I make sure that I have at least one night a week for something I enjoy. One thing that I will say is important to me is that I will not read an unfinished series unless the books are standalones. I absolutely HATE having to wait for a sequel when the previous book ended on a cliffhanger.
My all-time favorite series is the Harry Potter series. I grew up reading and AR testing on them in grade school and my love for them has not faded over time. I am currently working on collecting the illustrated and MinaLima editions of the books. I have the original paperback and want to get the hardback versions as well. I am also a really big fan of Kerri Mansicalco and her books. I have read both of her series: Stalking Jack the Ripper and The Kingdom of the Wicked. These the author considers to be young adult where her newest book and the next book she is releasing are not which makes me really excited to read them. I also found Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer to be a book I really enjoyed. It was her debut novel and I cannot wait for the second book to be released in August (I preordered it the day the title was announced haha).
I am always open to book suggestions so if you have something you love or think I will please let me know!
Hi Tera, nice to meet you!
ReplyDeleteFirstly, I love the title of your blog (fellow cat lady here - in fact, it looks like our kitties could be brothers lol)!
Working for an Air Force base library sounds so cool!!! I hope you don't mind me asking, but how did you find that position? I assume there was some extra red-tape to get through as part of the hiring process...?
And I completely understand the feeling of not enjoying having to wait for the next book in a series!!! I feel the same way, but also regarding TV shows! In fact, I just recently finished Jennifer Armentrout's newest book, Fall of Ruin and Wrath, and even as I was reading the last few pages, I was agonizing over having to wait for the next entry...
Hi Maryanne!
DeleteThanks for the compliment on my blog title! I am definitely obsessed with my Barry Larry to the point where my mom considers him her grand-kitty haha:)
The hiring process was pretty similar to any job. The website for government positions is usajobs.com and you can search for whatever position or base you want. The onboarding is a little different though. I was fingerprinted as well as a background check. It was also a long process to actually start working. I got my official offer and it took a month before I was actually able to start working. (That I think falls on the HR person at the time because we just finished interviews to fill an aide position here on 1/5 and they are starting tomorrow.) As with any job there is benefits and drawbacks to the position, but overall I love doing what I do and working with our patrons! If there is anything else you'd like to know please feel free to ask!
Hi Tera! I also loved Assistant to the Villain!! I honestly did not know that was going to be a series so when I got to the end of the book I was so upset that it ended on a cliff hanger!
ReplyDeleteI felt the same way when I got to the end! My friend/coworker got to witness my meltdown when I was reading the synopsis from goodreads to her and I realized it was the first book in the series and she still makes fun of me for it. I've already preordered the next one that comes out in August so hopefully I get it with enough time between the summer and fall semesters to get it read. Fingers crossed lol
DeleteTotally warranted meltdown! I was the same way! I will definitely be doing better research on the books I read now so I don't have to run into that problem again.
DeleteHi Tera! This might be a silly question that showcases how little I know about libraries on military bases, but are the patrons mostly service members, or can just anyone come in?
ReplyDeleteIts definitely not a silly question! I would have had no idea either before working here lol:) We cater to anyone who has access to the base, so that's the active duty members and their dependents, civilians that work on base, and any retired members that live in the area.
DeleteHi Tera! I absolutely loved the Stalking Jack the Ripper series. I have not tried out her newest series yet though. How would you rate it in comparison to the mystery and thrills of the Stalking Jack the Ripper series? I'm afraid of being disappointed, if that makes sense. I would also recommend, if you haven't tried it yet, the Truly Devious series. Absolutely amazing.
ReplyDeleteHi Kayla! I honestly think the Stalking Jack the Ripper series was the better of the two series, but it's kind of like comparing apples and oranges. While they are similar in the love story between the two main characters, I think the Kingdom of the Wicked series gets a lot darker a lot quicker. I absolutely loved both of them for the fact that they were similar but so different at the same time. I wasn't disappointed with the new series in the slightest. You should give them a try!
DeleteFantastic reading profile and such a cool job! I never thought about military librarianship and my dad was in the Navy for over 30 years!
ReplyDeleteIt is honestly the best! The airmen and their families are awesome and it's so fun to get to talk to the adults and kids about what books they enjoy reading. I actually borrowed Murder Your Employer from a patron that recommended it to me! The Navy just recently decided to shut down all libraries on U.S. bases so that's a little disappointing, but they do still have overseas library branches.
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