Reading Fiction
Buying Australian books at the Book Depository
I’ve mused before about buying books online or from my local bookshop, and my preference is definitely to browse through my favourite independent bookshops and enjoy touching the books, reading the first pages, and discovering books I didn’t even know existed yet. But in recent weeks I’ve been a bit let down by this strategy [...]
Enid Blyton was my childhood hero: But do we need new books?
Since my new bookshelves arrived, I’ve been gradually unpacking more boxes of books which had been stored (generously) in my mother’s cupboards. Last weekend it was the turn of my childhood books to appear out of the boxes, and if anybody had been listening to my ecstatic cries each time I uncovered another old treasure, [...]
Nobody ever arrested me for overdue library books … yet
You might remember my frank confession about my difficulties in returning library books by the due date. If you don’t remember, suffice to say that I have major overdue library book issues. On three continents.
However, I’m pleased to say that until now I have never been arrested in connection to overdue library books. Heidi Dalibor [...]
Do you finish every book you start reading?
I’ve thought about this quite often, but more deeply when I read Aaron’s comment on my overdue library book confessions post. Quite sensibly, he had this to say about his large pile of library books:
If it doesn’t “hook” me in the first 10 pages, it goes in the pile to be returned early. I don’t [...]
Still undecided on electronic books
It’s about six months ago that I first wrote about electronic books when I rabbited on about the Kindle, Amazon’s e-reader that really only caught my attention properly because its name is so similar to my surname, Kendle. And while I, in theory, “get” all the advantages of an e-book device, I still have absolutely [...]
Best of the Booker and remembering books
It was announced this week that Salman Rushdie’s book Midnight’s Children has (again) won the Best of the Booker (this time for the 40th anniversary of the prize). I looked at the shortlist a while back - for some reason, just six previous Booker winners were nominated to be potential Best of the Bookers, which [...]
100 books, some of which I’ve read
Amy at the Quiet Rebel Writer posted recently about an interesting list of books - you’ll see straight away that this is perfect for me because I love lists and I love books. The list she’s talking about is from the National Endowment for the Arts in the United States, and it’s a list of [...]
Overdue library books: My public confession
My name is Amanda, and I have a problem with overdue library books.
Those who know me in real life often already know this fact, but I feel I have to confess it a bit more publicly to try to solve this problem once and for all. All my life, I’ve had problems returning books to [...]
Book sale madness - but don’t tell my husband
With impeccably fortunate timing, my husband was out of town when the local library chain had their annual sale of books they no longer need. Such sales, here in Perth at least, are typically held in dingy underground car parks that are badly lit and have an odd smell. This one was no different, except [...]
Learning from reading: Catherine O’Flynn’s “What Was Lost”
My budget doesn’t extend to actually buying too many books these days - especially at Australian prices - but you might remember I was excited to receive my copy of Catherine O’Flynn’s What Was Lost last month. I’ve been keen to read this book (which won the Costa First Novel Award in 2007 and was [...]