Armchair BEA 2014: Day 1 - Introductions & Literature

Logo by Amber @ shelfnotes.com

Welcome to another year of Armchair BEA!

First up, introductions and the random question portion of this post.
1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself.
Hi! For those of you new to my little corner of the Internet, I'm Monica and this is The Fuma Files. When I started this blog back in 2011, I had no idea about the online book community. I thought an ARC was a boat Noah had put animals on. I was simply a library school student who was interested in keeping track of the books I was reading and wanted to share my thoughts with others, and so a blog was born. In addition to being a sporatic blogger, I am a licensed English teacher, have my MS in library and information science, and I actually work at the high school I graduated from in the library.

2. Describe your blog in just one sentence, then list your other social media outlets.
This blog is tiny, but what it lacks in size/hits/view counts/etc, it makes up for in enthusiasm!
Find me elsewhere online on Twitter (@mfumarolo), Tumblr (http://butinmyotherlife.tumblr.com), and YouTube where I post video book reviews (http://youtube.com/users/monielynn5).

3. What genre do you read the most? I love to read because...?
I read contemporary YA more than anything, probably because I like feeling connected to characters who are also in the same crazy mixed up world as me. However, I also LOVE fantasy and magical realism, and science fiction has been growing on me in recent years. I love to read because I love the power words have and their ability to transform us and the world.

4. Share your favorite book or reading related quote.
"When you reread a classic, you don't see more in the book than there was before. You see more in you than there was before." - Clifton Fadiman

5. What book would you love to see as a movie.
The Fault in Our Stars, and luckily the wait is almost over! But also The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer - if they could turn that series into movies or a mini-series, that would be amazing!

Literature
So this is a really broad topic and since I've already written a lot, I'll aim to keep this brief. As someone with an English degree, I still think there is a lot of value in people reading what we have come to call "the classics." There is a reason these books have stood the test of time: they speak to the human condition. That being said, there are so many fantastic writers who are still alive and kicking, bravely venturing into areas that were long considered taboo or inappropriate. Since I work with teens and am passionate about YA, I vote for both. I vote for balance. I think YA has become a much stronger category than when I was a teen, but I also know many people who would benefit from also exploring the books and voices of those who came before. :)