Louis de Bernieres

I am reading books by the author Louis de Bernieres. I recently read Captain Corelli's Mandolin which I had picked up second hand ages ago and I loved it. At the moment I am reading The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman. I am finding this harder to get into but it is providing plenty of smiles and entertainment. Apparently my father has Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord in his collection, so that'll be my next read.

I was very suprised to learn that the author is English and not Latin American as I had imagined. In fact his new book is called Notwithstanding: English Village Stories. It will be interesting to see if that is as fun as the others.

I love the authors Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Laura Esqivel and Isabel Allende for the same reason. They write with the influence of the myths and culture of a place and time that seems to be very simple, earthy and full of 'characters'. I love the fact that I often can't tell what period of history the novel is set in and that often truth and fiction are blurred.

Card catalogues

What are your memories of card catalogues? I remember having the job of filing newly created cards as part of my work experience at Castle Hill Public Library (NSW, Australia) when I was about 16. I think of the old drawers fondly and the metal rods that you had to pull out to add or remove cards.

I have seen a few good uses made of the old card catalogue furniture (oooh how I'd love to find one in a junk shop) and some for the cards themselves, including this exhibition found via Librarian.net.

Banned Book Necklace

From Carolyn Forsman - Conversation Piece Jewelry. Found via LISNews - Librarian And Information Science News Very cute.

There are lots of lovely, unusual pieces of jewellery and other book related items for sale on Etsy. For the book lover or librarian in your life...

Books and art

From Articulate: Eye Candy the Librarian

Art and books. A union that makes, for me anyway, print books preferable over ebooks. Not only can they make a design statement in a room (eg: with spines colour coded) on shelves, they make a statement about the value placed on books and reading by the owner and in some way constitute a 'collection' of sorts. "A home without books is a body without soul." Marcus Tullius Cicero. That certainly rings true for me.

I have just finished Malinche by Laura Esquivel. I was originally attracted in a second hand store to its lovely cover. I liked the quality of the paper, the artwork and the colours of the cover. I had read her books before so also knew I would probably enjoy it at some level. As I was finishing the book in bed last night I realised the cover is actually a folded up codex (so called by the author) and designed by her brother I think. Some of the sections of the codex are used as illustrations throughout the book.

PM's of Australia

I came across this new website Australian Prime Ministers via Senator Kate Lundy's blog this week. I think it is great. Apart from learning who the first Australian PM was - the obligatory quiz question, I know hardly anything about our political history.

I had a laugh at the section titled The prime ministerial wife. Sort of puts them in place with the Prime Ministerial car and the Prime Ministerial brief! From Ada, Florence and Vera to Annita, Janette and Therese, how the times change.

Here is Elsie Curtin doing her bit at The Lodge!

The Book Thief

I have just returned from Fiji where I started on The Book Thief. Interestingly one of my travel mates had started the book and didn't like it. It has an unusual narrative style but I like it.

I am working on a post and maybe an article on 'embedded librarians'. I have been one for a while now and haven't come across many articles about this area of librarianship. It has it's own sets of challenges and probably varies from organisation to organisation and team to team.

The Boat

I have just finished The Boat by Nam Le - great book! I thoroughly enjoyed it and as I have spent a bit of time in bed recently and sitting around waiting for removalists it didn't take long to get through. The book is a series of short stories set in vastly different settings; including Australia, Vietnam and Iran. I am loving books set in or about Vietnam at the moment due to my recent visit and family connection over there. Recently also read When heaven and earth changed places which was very interesting. Set during the Vietnamese (American) War and provides insight into their culture and beliefs.



I was talking to someone last night about online book stores and thought it'd be interesting to compare a few. Often when you throw in postage it works out dearer than buying from a physical book shop. Especially because as soon as the online stores 'recommend' other titles I might like, I end up spending more than I planned, although I have the same problem when I browse the shelves in a shop (in non-fiction especially). So, I paid $24.95 for The Boat in a store.

Fishpond - AUS$19.82 free deliver over $50
Amazon US$10.20 + postage
The Book Depository £7.19 free delivery
Booktopia AUS$19.96 + postage

All much of a muchness I guess. The difference for me is in the delivery charge and not having to worry about exchange rates and conversions. Fishpond have regular free delivery offers so I take advantage of those. Would be interesting to look at the environmental aspects too - cost to environment of delivery via stores vs from online shops to clients.