A Shelfie of Your Bookcases

How many times have you gone and taken a selfie of yourself?  Have you been on your own or with your friends crammed into the frame or with your pride and joy of a car in the background?  Sure you have!  I have!

So, now, how many of you have taken a photo of your bookcases just to show how much you love your books and enjoyed your reading?  

No?  

Oh come on, sure you have.

I have, and my bookcases look like they're crammed full and piled high up to the ceiling - and not looking pretty like this article about the up and coming craze of The Shelfie... the greatest thing to come into Tumbler and Twitter feeds.  This is where people go and photograph their books and book collections, but they make them look gorgeously pretty, funny or just plainly as though they've popped out of the pages of the latest Vogue Magazine.  So, do you do it?  Until my next post, happy reading.

Romance Writer's Group Saturday Meeting

Yesterday morning I was out and about in my new car... yep, I have a new little car to travel around the world in.  My Dad bought it for me; as I have had medical troubles in my past which had me off the road for years.  Now, my doctors have allowed me back on the road after years of not being able to drive, and it's like getting to know an old friend again... sure, there's crazy, weirdo drivers out there, and the streets are more crowded, but I still enjoy driving where I need to go without having to ask my folks for a lift or to borrow their set of wheels.

Well, as I was saying... 

I went to my Logan Romance Writer's group at Holmeview MacDonalds and the group was only small - with only three of us attending.  But we had a great time! It was great!  I totally enjoyed the place, the coffee and the company.  We chatted about our usual months of what we've been up to, how things have been and then, we got down to the business end of the morning and chatted about each other's writing.

This part is usually filled with giggles and a lot of great critiquing from each other... and we love getting ideas from each other, as it does help with our own work, and helps with new ideas we have on our drawing board at home.  Then we can bounce future ideas off the people we're going to be writing for just to see if those ideas will work... and you'd be surprised how these meeting turn out.  

I had a great time yesterday... but my day wasn't over.  I was off to my next appointment about an hour early - the Logan Art Gallery - to get into some volunteer work.  We had an event organised for Music in the Gallery.  Yes, it was an easy afternoon for me - even though I was working solo - and I had to mark off everyone attending and then was allowed to take photos and listen in.  It was the easiest shift I'd done in a long time.  I got half of the next chapter of 'Angel Love' written and edited some of 'Fry Nelson' too... not a bad day for writing if I do say so.  Until my next post, happy reading!

...and writing! 

New Blogs

I love finding new blogs for you guys to look into and read.  I love finding them because they make me read more about other writers and other books and book reviews.

It's so much fun to discover all of this isn't it?

Well, I've found another blog which has been looking in the secret life on Ray Bradbury; one of my favourite sci-fi writers.  He's such a fascinating person and there's been wonderful excerpts of works, youtube presentations and interviews on this blog, I thought to share it with you all.

The secret to life and loving according to Ray Bradbury 

Enjoy!  Until my next post, happy reading and Happy Easter!

Now For Something Completely Different...

I love it when I find something funny; and I mean laugh out loud funny.  Today I was looking around on Bookcrossing, found just that; and thought this would perk up your Monday morning.

Books With Librarians In Mind 

Until my next post, happy reading!

Easter Reading

It's the middle of the school holidays here in Australia, and I've picked up a copy of 'Make Lemonade' by Virginia Wolfe.  It's a great book so far; and I'm up to part two - well, the beginning of it anyway.  

I've been looking through my collection for some books to zip through lately; and have figured out why I haven't been reading as much as I normally do.  It's my eyes.  I've been doing a lot of close-up work with my hobby business, and it's been making my eyes so tired that I don't want to open a book when I go to bed; I just want to turn out the light and rest my eyes in the dark. 
So, this past week, I went off to the optometrist and he agreed that I needed glasses to help me with focusing on close-up work as he had a look at the detailing work I did on Facebook and said it was a little wonder I didn't come in to him before.

Well, my glasses are going to be ready this week sometime; and hopefully, I'll have better luck with reading when I get myself into working on my stuff better with the new specs... and then reading more books this year - as two or three is just disgusting in my view.

However, with the smaller books I'm grabbing off the shelves and reading, I thought to make a good start on reading something at least until I get my new glasses this week.  
So, what are you reading this Easter?  Have you been either collecting or reading your books lately?  Until my next post, happy reading.

Australia Loses Another Great Writer

Today, I found out that Australia - and the world - has lost another great writer.  However, because I respect her so much and she is Aboriginal (and due to her customs and culture) I won't mention her name.  This writer wrote 'Follow The Rabbit Proof Fence', a story about her mother's survival of a 2000km trek through the Australian desert after escaping from a re-education camp for mix-race children.  This book, and the film it was later turned into, brought into light exactly what our government did to the stolen generation; and how much it affected them and their familes.

I haven't read the book, but I did watch the film; and I was totally shocked at what happened.  There are things in my country's history that I know are horrible, but this has got to be the worse thing that's been documented; and I do hope my government doesn't think of doing this ever again to a race of people who have been here since before the White Man came to its shores.

This wonderful author will be missed.  She passed away on Thursday surrounded by family after she was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer in September in Perth.  
She is survived by 4 children, 31 grandchildren and 80 great-grandchildren.  Her family had taken her out to Pilbara three weeks ago to say farewell to her ancestral home, as it was her last wish to see the countryside one last time. 

Follow the Rabbit Proof Fence Author Passes Away 

Adrian Mole Loses Sue Townsend

The world has lost another great author too soon.  Sue Townsend, the author of the Adrian Mole 13 3/4 series of books, has sadly passed away aged 68 at her home.

This author has been in my life for as long as I can remember, as I read the first book of the Adrian Mole 13 3/4 series in my early teenaged years about four times; and still found the affair with his lover Pandora Braithwaite adorable.  Even to this day, I have still tracked down the rest of the series over the years and read them; and found them wonderful.

However, I have never forgotten Sue Townsend; and have wondered often how she was doing, and if she was writing another series much like the Adrian Mole series for the new generation of kids out there.
And today, I find that she has passed away at such a young age (well, to our generation anyway).  She hadn't been well, and her health had declined from what I've read.  So, what have you read of Sue Townsend's that has amused you over the years?  Was 'Adrian Mole' the first funny series you read, or was it something you discovered later on in life?  Until my next post, happy reading.

And here's a link to a news article about her from the BBC:

Sue Townsend Remembered 

'Fresh From Italy' by Stephano Manfredi

Isn't it amazing what you find when you're not looking for it.  I was out shopping yesterday at my local Life Line charity store when I stumbled upon an italian cookbook.  This wasn't just an ordinary, run of the mill Italian cookbook, it was one by Stephano Manfredi - a world-wide known chef.

At the time, I didn't know who he was.  So, when I uploaded the photos of the book to show it off to you guys today, I thought to Google him to see if he's got a website we could suss out together.  And I've found out he's got three big restaurants, has put out a collection of books and has a blog (which has a collection of delicous and delectible recipes with photos and why he's using particular ingredients in his recipes - and why we should be using only the best ingredients in our food and recipes too).

Now, this is a great chef who can teach us how to cook great food for our families, letting us in on the how and why of the food we're eating.  This is a good thing.  There's so much out there in the food world to teach us to be scared of the food we're currently eating, that it's about time we had a chef - an author - who was telling us how we can change the way we cook, the way we eat and how our kitchens can become, yet again, the hearts of homes just like they used to be in our Grandmother's days, instead of the places where you throw something into the microwave to heat up.  

'Fresh From Italy' by Stephano Manfredi is a book which is written for Australian kitchens for Australian people to help us understand exactly how to cook Italian food for anyone in our families.  I love how it's set out.  I love how he's shown me what I need in my kitchen, how the contents cover the seasons instead of just the dishes and I love most of all, how easy it is to read.  It's as though I've got a friend showing me how to cook a meal instead of a teacher telling me how to cook... and that's a big difference.

Until my next post, happy reading.

Guidelines to Writing - According to Stephen King

Stephen King is one of my favourite writers.  I've been reading his stuff since I was 16 when I first picked up 'Christine' and his words scared me so badly I couldn't turn out the light for around 2 months.

Thanks Steve... really, thanks.  

Great writers can make you do anything from what happened to me when I was 16, to making sure all the wardrobe doors are closed.  And yes, that happened to me when I was around 35 years old and I read 'Night Shift' and I came across 'The Boogeyman'.  Soon after I read that story, I had a boyfriend stay over and he laughed at me for wanting my wardrobe door closed completely, then I got him to read that story.  The moment he finished it, he got up and made sure all the doors around the house were closed - not just the doors in the room we were in!  Then, he wouldn't let me turn out the bedside lamp... 

So, sometimes, it gets us all thinking how a great writer like Stephen King writes great works like he does - and still keeps coming up with new work all the time.  Well, there's a list that's been running around of the 20 guidlines he lives by as a writer.  And the link is here for you all to look at.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.  Until my next post, happy reading.

March Book Buys!

I've been pretty good on the book front this month; actually, I only bought what I wanted and needed to buy and that was it, and did my purchases towards the end of the month.

So, here goes!

I was at my craft group and found some of the ladies were giving away books.  So, I looked through the titles and found 'I Wish I Had A Red Dress' by Pearl Cleage was there, and I picked it up to bring home.  Then, a week later, I found 'The Hunt' by Andrew Fukuda was at my craft group - and I bought that for a dollar - and brought that home too.


Then, I found myself at the end of my Fry Nelson book trilogy and found ideas for another book.  And seeing I knew nothing about my subject matter I wanted to write about - which was Angels - I had some serious research to do.  So, I popped off to the library and looked into some books.  After borrowing some books, I then drove to The Really Good Book Shop and found 'Archangels 101' by Doreen Virtue.  There's another book I'm searching for, but I'll wait until next pay to get it at QBD.  This other book names all the angels I'm hoping to read about for my next piece of work.

And then, yesterday, I scored two more books.  One was called 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' by Deborah Maggoch.  It's been made into a movie, which I've never seen, but I knew it was based on a book... which I love to read first; as many of you know.  So, I finally got my hands onto a copy of the book.  There was another book called 'Wild Lavendar' but I've forgotten the author... as I gave it to Mum.  It's a war-time book and she loves those kinds of books.  

So, what kinds of books have you scored this month?  Good and cheap books - like me?  Or were you good and didn't buy any and worked out of your library, like I should have?  Silly me, and my want for books... but if we didn't have passions, we wouldn't have collections of things, would we? Until my next post, happy reading.