Book 'em, Mello!

The love of learning, the sequestered nooks,
And all the sweet serenity of books.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I've always been a reader. When I was a kid, and things were different (as in we weren't permanently attached to TVs, phones and computers), I read voraciously. There was nothing better than a day spent curled up reading Enid Blyton series (Famous Five, Secret Seven, Malory Towers), Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew etc. (My goodness, I'm showing my age, aren't I??)
As I grew older, I read more of the pap than was probably healthy - Sweet Valley High, early Babysitter's Club etc, but never really lost the love of reading.

Now that I've ended up in a library, I've rekindled my love of books. It's not that I wasn't reading, but I wasn't reading as much. Now that I am around books all day, I have started a big list of 'books I must read'.

I must say though, even though I've read many of the 'classics', I do prefer a book that's easy to read and exciting, rather than heavy literature. I can't stand books that seem as though they were created to show off the author's extensive vocabulary. I like to be entertained, to be swept away to another world.

That's not to say that I'm a Mills & Boon type girl (I've never actually read one), but I guess people would find the types of books that I most enjoy to be 'popcorn'.

Mrs P, over at 'A Study in Contradictions' asked about our favourite books. I will send her my reply and let you know if she puts it on her blog, but in the meantime, I thought I'd make a start on my top five, and ask you, dear reader, for your recommendations.

Y'see, I'm a fairly cautious reader. I can't borrow books from the library any more (thanks to a massive fine that was the result of the book getting lost in my school library for a long time), so if I want to read a book I have to buy it, or borrow it from someone. So as a result I tend to stick to authors that I know, or books that people recommend to me.

Luckily, most of the books I buy are bought from the Salvos or Trash & Treasure, so it's no great loss if I never finish it, but still, I'm cautious.

So today, I'd like to share with you my favourite books, and ask you to recommend some good ones to me. Here is my top 5 (in no particular order):

Tomorrow, When the War Began - John Marsden (and the 6 more books in the series).

I discovered this series late. It was only 2 years ago that I picked up the first book. I had always liked John Marsden's work (in fact, he's one of my inspirational people), and saw 'Tomorrow' in the library. I was instantly hooked and devoured the next 6 in quick succession.
Even though it's teen fiction, there's enough bite in it to make it great reading for an adult.


Magician - Raymond E Feist (and the multiple-book saga that follows it).

The first three books in this series are books I can read again and again and again. I was never a big fan of fantasy fiction until I read this series. I'm still not, but I love the weird combination of dragons, aliens, magicians and royal intrigue. Great stuff!


The Stand - Stephen King.

This book is nowhere near as gross as some of his other books, but I love the story. It's nasty and creepy and political; one of those books that makes you wonder about where humanity's going. It's probably a bit outdated now (it was written in the 70s), but I'm *just* old enough to understand the pop culture and other references.


Gridlock - Ben Elton.

Ben Elton is one of my favourite writers (his TV as well as his novels). I love his warped sense of humour and the way that his green sensibilites creep into everything he does. This is my favourite of his novels. I love the surprises that happen all the way through, and the 'almost' happy ending.


And.... I can't decide on a 5th! Perhaps you can help me! In the original message I sent to Mrs P, I named '19 Minutes' by Jodi Picoult as my 5th most favourite. But I think it depends on my criteria. The books I've mentioned above are all books I could read over and over again. I'm not sure that anything by Picoult is one of them! She does write gripping, compelling novels, but they leave you drained and sad. That's OK sometimes, but I'm not sure if I could read them over and over. I'm reading 'My Sister's Keeper' by her at the moment, which is probably a little too close to home for me, but I am enjoying it so far.

And then there's another of my favourite authors, Bill Bryson. I love the way he writes: alternately dry and hilariously funny, but also eloquent. He knows his stuff, and I thought 'A Walk in the Woods' was terrific (my other possible 5th).

But I've also enjoyed other books for other reasons. 'The Life of Pi' by Yann Martel, for it's bizzare, sad storyline; 'The Bride Stripped Bare' by anon (Nikki Gemmel) for it's in-your-face-ness; and I've loved a range of biographies (often of people I was never interested in, in the first place).

So you can see my dilemma. The first 4 are easy, but then it gets tricky. And I'll probably go away and think of another 10 that I love.

Perhaps you can help? What are your favourite books/authors? Perhaps I'll find a new favourite.

Wow, what a week!

It's been a crazy, hectic week, that is not going to get any calmer! This weekend, we've already had Ollie's first soccer game (very cute!); I've got to do some shopping and cleaning; I'm going to try and see my mum; I'm going to an engagement party tonight; breakfast with family tomorrow morning; and then for most of tomorrow I'm going to a music festival called 'Groovin' the Moo'. CRAZY!

But it's nice to be busy. I've mentioned before that I'm one of those people who likes to be busy. And it wasn't a bad week, really. Despite the fact that I barely had time to scratch myself, it was fairly interesting and fulfilling. I'm actually enjoying the library role quite a lot.

It's also kept my mind off Mother's Day, which I have been trying not to think about too much.

As I've mentioned, the Book Fair was on this week, and we were very busy selling books. It kind of reminded me of my days in retail (my first job was at Grace Bros (now Myer) and I worked in a cinema for a long time). We actually sold more than $4500 worth of products, which was amazing considering we had to stick to fairly restrictive opening hours. This means our school earns more than $1500 to spend on resources, which is fantastic. On top of that, I had my regular teaching load, so I was working pretty non stop. I also made about 2000 trips up and down the hill from the library to the rest of the school (my school is set 2/3 of the way up a very steep hill - with a beautiful panoramic view of South Canberra) and the building which houses the library is about 20 metres below the rest of the school).

But the nice thing about working in the library is that even though you're on the go the whole time, it's pretty much over at the end of the day. You can't take books home to shelve them, you can't do the administration at home, and apart from a bit of planning and marking, there's not the frantic preparation that you have as a primary school teacher, planning for (sometimes) up to 4 different subjects in one day. Then you have to mark and assess a lot of this work as well, and plan for the next day.

In the past, I've mistaken taking home truckloads of school work as fulfilling, mainly because I didn't have anything else to do. I told myself that I enjoyed sitting with my computer and working. If we weren't doing 'family stuff' or playing board games together, my boys were generally happy playing video games or watching TV, and I'm not really into those things, so I would tend to work. In the day time, it was easier to find other things to do - I do actually like gardening, but at night, the last thing I wanted to do was watch some mindless TV show. Anthony would sometimes indulge me and have a 'conversation', but he does like TV, and I was happy to let him watch it.

But now I have photography. And boy do I love it! As I've said, I've always liked taking photos, but since I've started getting serious, it's become a little consuming!

So I'm going to go out shortly, and take some photos, because I'm actually having withdrawals! :)
I'm enjoying this new hobby so much! Actually, I can't think of a 'hobby' that I've ever had before, let alone enjoyed this much.

I've certainly tried many things: When I was younger, I collected many things, from stamps to rubbers (the eraser kind) and pictures of pop stars. I still have a nice collection of dragon figurines. I played tenor saxophone for a long time too. I've made clothes; bought a few 'drawing implements' and did a bit of sketching; collected shells with the intention of making stuff with them; made various baked treats... I'm a tragic op-shopper, a fairly passable gardener, and a pretty cook, but none of them have ever made me so interested and excited.

It's kind of nice. I like having something to do. I like the thrill of looking at a nice photo. I feel clever when I notice something that would make a good photo. I love it when people make comments about my photos on Flickr. I want to buy a bigger, better camera and make fabulous photos that I (and maybe other people) would want to display on their walls. I love it when I pull out my camera and people comment on it (this morning I was jokingly called the official team photographer, which was kinda nice!)

Now that I have a hobby, I know there's more to life than that. I guess now that I have my head more tuned in to the whole teaching thing, there's room in my life for hobbies. Perhaps 3 or 4 years ago I wouldn't have had the time to devote to it, but I'm glad that I do now.

So stay tuned, more photos when I come back!