Wednesday Reading and MANY Fine Returns
I'm finally back at worker after attending the Museum Association of New York (MANY) Conference in Cooperstown. This year's theme was access and identity and there was a lot of discussion about how to make museums more equitable and inclusive, in terms of our visitors, collections, and the stories we tell. As the director of the Tenement Museum said during his closing keynote address, the stories we chose to tell are a statement about about which people we chose to value. History museums are the most trusted source of information in America with 78% of the population ranking them as more truthful than media, college professors, and governmental institutions. That statistic is simultaneously mind blowing and intimidating. With great power comes great responsibility and, as a museum professional, I firmly believe that we have a responsibility to share the history of our community in a way that highlights our shared humanity and includes pointed takeaways related to current issues and events. It's something we've tried to do here at our museum, with varying amounts of success. See our blog for details.
Some other highlights of the conference included:
Just finished
Early Riser by Jasper Fforde. Despite already having started another book, I saw this one at the library and just had to check it out. I do love me some Jasper Fforde and his whimsical dystopias. Early Riser didn't disappoint on that front, taking place in a world plagued by global cooling where humans hibernate during the winter. Our protagonist, Charlie Worthing, is a Novice Winter Consul who has volunteered to spend the winter awake watching over the sleepers only to discover two competing conspiracies and a monster that's a lot less mythical than it should be. I breezed through it, mostly because it was really hard to put down. If you enjoy a good psychological thriller laced with weird British humor and Welsh cultural reference jokes, this may be the book for you.
Currently reading
A Grave's a Fine and Private Place by Allen Bradley. Thanks to picking up Early Riser, I'm not any further along than I was last week.
Last night I borrowed Mortal Instruments: City of Bones from the library when I returned my book as part of my on-going quest to see every Robert Sheehan film and I must say, it was aggressively terrible. I remember enjoying Cassie Claire's work back when she was doing Harry Potter fic, so I have to assume the books aren't that bad, but, my god, the dialog was so clunky and the relationship dynamics where cringe-y as hell. There's also a TV series based on the same books, right? Shadowhunters? Does it suck less since they have more time to develop the characters and world building and stuff?
Some other highlights of the conference included:
- Presenting a session on genealogy tours and tourism
- Learning about an underground railroad which smuggled Chinese immigrants into the Northern Tier of New York from Canada at the turn of the last century
- Catching up with all my former co-workers and fellow alumnae
- Meeting a fellow ace museum worker
- Eating some really nice food and having my work pay for it all
Just finished
Early Riser by Jasper Fforde. Despite already having started another book, I saw this one at the library and just had to check it out. I do love me some Jasper Fforde and his whimsical dystopias. Early Riser didn't disappoint on that front, taking place in a world plagued by global cooling where humans hibernate during the winter. Our protagonist, Charlie Worthing, is a Novice Winter Consul who has volunteered to spend the winter awake watching over the sleepers only to discover two competing conspiracies and a monster that's a lot less mythical than it should be. I breezed through it, mostly because it was really hard to put down. If you enjoy a good psychological thriller laced with weird British humor and Welsh cultural reference jokes, this may be the book for you.
Currently reading
A Grave's a Fine and Private Place by Allen Bradley. Thanks to picking up Early Riser, I'm not any further along than I was last week.
Last night I borrowed Mortal Instruments: City of Bones from the library when I returned my book as part of my on-going quest to see every Robert Sheehan film and I must say, it was aggressively terrible. I remember enjoying Cassie Claire's work back when she was doing Harry Potter fic, so I have to assume the books aren't that bad, but, my god, the dialog was so clunky and the relationship dynamics where cringe-y as hell. There's also a TV series based on the same books, right? Shadowhunters? Does it suck less since they have more time to develop the characters and world building and stuff?