Reader Profile – Melanie Lewis

 

 

Melanie Lewis started out as an avid Library Patron
Became:
Library Page
Library Aide
Clerk
Library Assistant
Librarian
Currently : Monroe County (NY) Library System Outreach Coordinator
Who knows what’s next in the evolution?

What are you reading right now?

I am usually reading one, listening to another… Currently:

• Listening: Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
• Reading: What Doesn’t Kill you Makes You Blacker by Damon Young (I also follow this writer on Facebook)

The desert island question – What 5 books would you have to have with you if you were stranded on a desert island?

• Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
• Known World, Edward P. Jones
• Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson
• The Life of Pi, Yann Martel
• The Coming, Daniel Black

If you ask me tomorrow, this list will change!

Are you a finisher? In other words, are you compelled to finish a book even if you hate it? What are some books that you’ve had to force yourself to finish, or which you’ve bailed on?

I used to be a finisher, but within the last year or two, I decided my time is too precious, but I MADE myself finish Roxane Gay’s Untamed State…It was a thriller, which I usually don’t do..but I had to find out what happened at the end even though the book upset me.
I bailed on Lovecraft Country, Matt Ruff, to weird.

What is at the top of your To Be Read pile?

When Breath Becomes Air, by Paul Kalanaithi….every time I think about reading it, it makes me sad, but I feel it’s a must read for me.

Would you rather be your favorite author or your favorite character?

My favorite book character is Toni Morrison’s “Sula”..but I would not want to be her. It would be too hard to be that free.

Toni is one of my favorite authors; I would rather be her.

What book do you wish you’d never read?

Sorry library people…but I just never felt all that Harry Potter madness. I tried.

Has any book defined your life, as in you would be a different person if you hadn’t read it?

Not any individual book, but being a reader has made me a different person.

Is there a genre or type that you are over and wish would just go away?

In my department, we are inundated with Amish Fiction. I wouldn’t miss those.

Book or movie? Is there a movie that you think was better than the book?

The Queen Sugar television series by Ava DuVernay, is better than the book by Natalie Baszile.

What is your preferred format? Hardcover, paperback, digital, audio, doesn’t matter?

Soft cover, large print .Then audio. The audio productions keep getting better and better.

What book would you love to see made into a movie? Who would play the lead role?

Audra Macdonald narrates the audio version of Jodi Picoult’s Small Great Things. I would like to see her star in the movie version. I loved the book.

What book are you recommending that everyone read right now?

Michelle Obama’s Becoming and Heavy by Kiese Laymon. It’s a tie.

Do you read with your children? What are some of their favorite books?

I did. One of them became a Librarian, the other an avid reader. Some great recommendations I’ve gotten from them: Mornings in Jenin, The Truth About Awiti, The Forty Rules of Love, The Coming, Forty Acres, Well Read Black Girl, Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, The Alchemist, and Shade.

Yes. THEY tell ME what to read now.

Does reading influence your decision-making process?

I hope so.

Why do you read?

To be entertained, to learn, to grow.