Since I have gotten a whole lot older than I ever thought I would, I have been tempted by many things that were forbidden to young Catholic ladies back in the day and , I must admit, I have been acting out a bit in both thought and deed. I have been immersing myself in paranormal fantasy books, staring at HBO and Showtime  late night fare with my jaw dropped and dreaming of just walking out, leaving everything, pets, kids, responsibilities, huge collections of things and moving to Morocco or Uzbekistan ( I'll take my husband with me) The idea of a garish tattoo dedicated to some long dead pet has crossed my mind and I sometimes imagine myself with a turquoise streak in my hair.. Now what is this all about you ask?  In spite of my efforts to evolve and taste new experiences,there are some things I will never be able to do. I will never be able to get my nose pierced or actually enjoy and understand  Manga or really, really find any motivation to spend enormous amounts of time blogging or reading blogs on Tumblr. I finally signed up for a Tumblr account today in order to examine  the Cassandra Clare blogsite -- actually there is a lot of blogging and reblogging and fansites and artsites, and Twitter chatter about Cassandra, most dealing with the newest entry in her tarot series (little did I know how popular tarot is amongst adolescents!). Tumblr is very broad and very shallow and there is just too much multi-tasking involved for me to actively enjoy or gain anything useful from this particular site. Tweets in particular nauseate me, I mean how self-involved can you get? I will continue to view this site ( at least a few more times) but I doubt that I will revise my opinion- I mean it makes Facebook look like the Encyclopedia Britannica.

On the other hand, Stacked, quite obviously a project of love by two librarians, draws me in and involves me immediately. The reviews are delightful book talks which spark the imagination and leave you begging for more information. The reviewers are deeply knowledgeable about young adult literature and are able to offer constructive criticism and historical perspective to the works they write about. In addition, they offer suggestions for further reading. The site is a serious and substantial contribution to readers advisory and yet, it does not take itself seriously. The essays are light and easily digestible despite their thoughtful and complex content. Because it is written by only two librarians (it does take contributions under advisement), it is cohesive, offering insightful commentary, comparing and contrasting various books. So Stacked --adult site, Tumblr-- teen site. Stacked is deep and linear, Tumblr appears shallow and all over the page. I am going to persist on Tumblr however since maybe I am just hitting the wrong blogs -- I have lots of different interests so, perhaps, I will find something that excites me if I investigate further.