what the f*@#...

be careful what you say on the streets in future, because the baillieu government is introducing a new law to parliament this week giving police the power to issue on the spot fines to people using 'indecent language'... isn't swearing part of the aussie vernacular, and if so, doesn't that make this law 'un-australian'? a tad draconian anyway don't you think...

supposedly it will be used to curb ‘obnoxious and anti-social’ behaviour – surely each cop will have their own interpretation of what that means, and what they consider ‘indecent language’ depending on their personal 'moral code' - and then there's the matter of who you are and whether they 'take a shine' to you or not...

guess baillieu and cohorts don't ever swear (yeah, sure!!)... hmmm, perhaps not what it appears though - after all, the fine will be around $230 - with swearing so much a part of our culture that should make the government a tidy little sum - looks like they're onto a real revenue raiser there... a swear tax...

lucky i'm a homebody – the way i swear (just in normal conversation!) i’d be fined often - and broke all the time (unlike just being broke some of the time now)… unfortunately life will become even more frugal soon… my rent is going up $109 a month from august – fuck, that’s the highest rent increase i’ve ever had - now that's enough to make a person need to fucking swear - after all, a 2009 study by british psychologist richard stephens found that swearing is both therapeutic and good pain relief...

on a brighter note, i may have found a new favourite author – well, favourite after reading her first novel anyway – and what a treat it was to read rosamund lupton’s  ‘sister’... it’s hard to define as any specific genre - there's an underlying psychological thriller that takes a back seat to the exploration of relationships between sisters, and between mothers and daughters - her treatment of grief and how we cope differently with it is deeply touching...

'sister' is written as if a letter - from beatrice to her sister tess, whose baby died soon after birth after 'being cured' of cystic fibrosis in utero - tess disappeared not long after and was found dead six days later – the cause being ruled suicide due to post natal psychosis according to 'the experts'... knowing her sister better than anyone, bea doesn’t believe this and sets out to find what really happened to tess and her baby… there are a number of twists and turns which kept me engrossed –  it was haunting and mesmerising - definitely a gifted wordsmith with a refreshing writing style…

i can’t wait to read her second novel 'afterwards' (although 'sister' could be a hard act to follow!) - it's due out this month (and i’ve just reserved it – the library has it on order and i'm second in the queue, yay!!!)

where does time go?

i can't believe it - the second week of my holidays has flown by and it's back to work tomorrow... it's been one of the most relaxing times i've had for a loooong time - and there were no family crises to have to deal with (which is rare these days)... i've enjoyed some beautiful spring weather which meant the courtyard door was open most of the time for me old girl and boy, who both loved being able to get outside whenever they chose - sad i have to leave them tomorrow... oooh, not only is it back to work tomorrow, i've just checked the weekend roster and i'm also working next saturday - now that's enough to depress anyone - roll on retirement!!!!!

i've shared some lovely times with friends over the past couple of weeks - i caught up with larry the librarian for an afternoon, and steph and pete came for dinner... i had lunch with irene in the city - we found an indian restaurant where a lot of indian people were eating (always a good sign) and had a tasty curry... sailor lily called in and we shared (as she put it) "one of lifes greatest taste trifectas - olives, dips and wine"... i did some cooking and tried out a new recipe because i've got friends coming on friday night for dinner - i'll be making vegan stroganoff - it's a recipe i hadn't tried before and i wanted to make sure it was worth the time spent cooking it - which is minimal luckily, because i'll be making it after work!!! - it also needed to be tasty - it is, it's delicious (although i did alter the recipe a wee bit)  - and rather than pasta i might serve it on jacket potatoes, or perhaps roasted garlic with rosemary potatoes, along with a salad and crusty bread... yum!!!!

i didn't watch any of the dvds i'd brought home (and they're all reserved so i'll just have to take them back to work and perhaps watch them some other time!) - nor did i do much reading - far out, where did the time go? it just wasn't long enough - my, to have 4 weeks off would certainly be 'luxurious' - but that would mean going the whole year without any time off - an impossibility these days!!! perhaps i need to check out the 48-52 option - is it available to 'part-time' (30-hour per week) staff? or maybe what i really need to do is sit down and work out what the minimum amount is that i need to survive and implement that budget and cut down my hours... hmmm, food for thought!!

i was determined to read at least one book by the end of the holidays - and i succeeded in this endeavour - finally, yesterday i finished "the journal of dora damage" by belinda starling (and recommended by lily)...

now, i have to admit to almost giving up on this book - i just couldn't get into it to start with... i'd pick it up, read a few pages, put it down, pick it up and put it down... i was about to put it in the 'return to work unread' pile and choose another book, but decided to pick it up just once more - i'm glad i did because once i gave it my total concentration i just couldn't put it down!!!

it's an historical novel set it victorian london in the mid-1800s where squalor and poverty are part of peoples lives and womyn nothing but chattels ... dora's husband peter, a bookbinder, is suffering from the typical illnesses of the trade - bad lungs, rheumatoid arthritis - consequently the business is in huge debt and the family (dora, peter and lucinda, their epileptic daughter) are in danger of losing everything (not that they had much anyway!!!)

dora, having helped with the business over the years, 'takes over the reins' and searches for more clientele... as her artistic and binding talents become recognised and highly sought after, she finds herself unwittingly drawn into the shady world of affluent, aristocratic men by binding their highly illegal pornographic volumes (a very risky business, especially for a womon)... she is provided with all manner of luxurious bindings - the softest leathers, silks and satins - for these explicit tomes... one of her major customers, an 'eminent' physician, also supplies her with laudenum for her husband - another shackle that binds her to these rich and powerful men, but becomes an addiction which eventually kills peter...

she realises her peril and the untenable position she has been put in when provided with a binding material she can't quite identify - but she soon delves deeper and discovers this unusual 'hide' is the skin of a female slave... it was time to extricate herself from this murky existence, but in refusing to bind anymore of these 'aristocratic obscenities' she discovers how entangled in their grotesque world she has become, how much power they really had and how many powerful men they controlled...

america was gearing up for the civil war at this time, and we 'meet' the abolitionist movement in london in the form of the "ladies' society for the assistance of fugitives from slavery" who talk dora into taking on an escaped slave named din to work in the bindery... a 'progressive' movement? you'll have to read the book to find out because that's all i'm telling you of the story...

so, after procrastinating i am really pleased i persevered and finished this book... sadly there will be no other books by belinda starling, who died not long after finishing this, her first novel, in 2006 - she was admitted to hospital for an operation to remove a cyst from her bile duct, but following complications she died of septic shock at the age of 34...

now i should get off my arse and get down the street - ooooh, i am so not looking forward to tomorrow - my time's far better spent with my family - we're all so much happier and healthier when i'm home!!!! i can already feel a headache coming on - although i suspect that's to do with the wind and hayfever or sinus problems rather than my impending return to work (but perhaps that could be considered an allergy)... best i stock up on ibuprofen and pseudoephedrine!!!

and life goes on...

well i wasn't able to stave off the 'lurgy' that's been doing the rounds at work (thanks to poorly people who come to work in the mistaken belief they're no longer contagious - you know who you are!!?!!)... i've been unwell the last couple of days but felt a tad less miserable this morning - luckily, because there was to be no snuggling into a warm bed today - the old girl had wee'd in her sleep so she was damp (but oblivious), i was damp (and very aware of it - the warm stream woke me up), and the bedding was wet and needed to be changed... i should have put her out at 5am when i let the boy out - but she looked so cute, cosy, cuddly and dead to the world!!

now i'd been 'encouraged' to get up, what was i to do but get myself a cuppa and turn on the telly (it was 6.30 sunday morning) - i didn’t watch any of the ‘election day coverage’ yesterday or last night  – like a lot of people i’m over politicians, political speak, grand-standing, empty promises and the blah, blah, blah - but i was somewhat surprised to discover australia had a ‘hung parliament’ – the first in 70 years…

so with no outright winner it appears we have a caretaker government with neither party able to govern in their own right… so now julia and tony have to play the 'i'll scratch your back if you scratch mine' game in order to woo the independents (all right wing apart from the greens - not looking good for labor!!)

the greens made up ground as a viable major party threat, winning their first lower house seat in the electorate of melbourne (previously held by labor for 106 years) and who knows - perhaps the balance of power?

wyatt roy seems set to become the youngest ever member of parliament by taking the seat of longman – not only does young wyatt have a back to front name, this is the first time he's been able to vote in a federal election - he's 20 so was too young to vote in the 'kevin 07' election (ahh, those crazy queenslanders!!!)

of course there are losers, winners and blame aplenty - and the community will no doubt be subjected to watered down half promises and outright backflips - yep, that's politics!!! unfortunately there's no end to the politicking yet folks!!

yawn & sigh…

what i did do last night though was watch a really interesting movie – disgrace – based on a novel by j m coetzee – jon malkovich plays david lurie, a middle-aged academic in post-apartheid south Africa – it explores racial tension, sexual abuse and power, the search for identity, father-daughter relationships (jessica haines plays his daughter lucy) and touches on animal rights… it was thought-provoking and confronting...

and now i can feel the pull of domesticity - towels and bedding won't wash themselves... neither will the dishes, nor will the vaccuuming get done if i don't get up and do it...

ah yes, life does indeed go on…

life, work and no space...

it's been an odd week...

there was Maureen’s funeral, where i also caught up with old friends, acquaintances and family i haven't seen in ages...

I did a split shift on thursday finishing the late shift with Steph and Pete – we all used to work the Thursday night shift regularly together so it was just like ‘the old days’ - even down to catching up for a quick drink afterwards - doing a split shift meant i could spare half an hour after work before dashing home to allie...

I went to a LibMark digital marketing seminar and discovered how far behind ‘the 8 ball’ we are at work... other libraries are using open source software, multiple blogs, wiki's, podcasts, twitter, facebook and so much more – and they have teams to maintain all of these things... Phil and I thought the whole marketing TEAM should have been at this (some other libraries had 4-5 representatives there!!!!) - just because it involves the world wide web doesn't make it an IT issue - it's pure marketing - 'selling' the library to the 'nth' degree via online applications!!!! we realised how desperately the marketing team needs to be ‘revived’ and ‘revitalized’ ... we need people who can embrace the ‘social media’ and web 2.0 developments... we need to keep up to date with what’s going on out there in the public library sector... we need to research extensively... we need people who are enthusiastic about the technology, and of course we need more staff hours...

oooh, i've also had me brother staying with me for the last couple of weeks - he's homeless and unemployed at the moment and trying to get placed in public housing through either the port phillip housing association (where he could be close to our mother) or western region housing (where he could be close to his daughter and grandkids) - hopefully something will happen soon with one or the other because there is very little room in my tiny wee flat for 2 adults (with totally different 'takes' on the world - we're like chalk and cheese!!), me old girl and shadow-lad - and somehow it feels even smaller, darker and dingier being so overcrowded!!!!

On the relaxation side, me and 'the kids' had the flat to ourselves today so i had a pleasant afternoon sitting in the courtyard finishing Leah Giarratano’s latest novel “Black Ice”... the 3rd in the Jill Jackson series...

in this book we find her working undercover in Sydney’s drugs underworld.

We’re introduced to a variety of disparate characters - Damien, the uni chemistry student making extremely sought after ‘ice’ but getting in a bit over his head with the prevailing drug barons – and they’re nasty, nasty people; there’s Jill's own relationship with her sister Cassie, who's entangled in her dealer-cum-lover's seedy life - and he's a very rich and powerful lawyer who also happened to be the reason Seren (short for Serendipity) was busted when she was unknowingly carrying drugs and did 12 months in gaol – now she's really pissed off and out to get revenge...

i really enjoy this author's work... she takes you into the worlds of her characters and weaves a wonderful tale...

and now to decide what to read next... 'Vanished' - the latest in the Greywalker series by Kat Richardson, is looking good!!!

Melting moments...

Did your world feel like this the last few days???

I know I felt like this after 3 days of 42+ degrees!!!!

far out, let's hope no more melting temperatures... I don't cope very well... neither does me old girl Allie!!!! and that sort of heat can wreak havoc on a person's thermoregulation...

on the relaxing, leisure side of life....

I've been reading a few biographies lately...


Cups with no handles : memoirs of a grassroots activist by Carolyn Landon

The true story of Bette Boyanton, born in St. Kilda in 1921, feminist and activist -she tried to organise the Commonwealth Match Factory women (girls would probably be more apt for that era) into the union in the late 30s - a fighter against social injustice all her life - in her later life, having, for health and family reasons, moved to the country and, having been inspired by the women's liberation movement’s campaign for women’s learning houses where "under-educated women organised their own classes in craft, drama, creative writing, first aid, nutrition, cooking, history, art, politics, health and other issues" - she was instrumental in setting up the first rural neighbourhood house - the Warragul Neighbourhood House, now called Warragul Community House.

I loved reading about her life and nominated this as my favourite summer read on the SLV voting site!!!

Connie's secret : the true story of a shocking murder and a family mystery at a time when appearances were everything by Anne Lovell

It was February 1939 when Connie Sommerlad was butchered and her brother left for dead in their family farmhouse in rural Tenterfield. The murder was brutal... Jack Kelly, a worker on the Sommerlad property, found guilty of the murder, was to become the last person to be hanged in New South Wales... but there's more to Connie's life than her death!!!!

There's a secret involved - but I'm not going to tell it here!!!! This is a real family-saga-mystery-thriller... let's not forget - it's 1939 Australia - women's place in society was that of 'damned whore or god's police' - so it's a really big secret - so read the book and find out about Connie's life - it's interesting, and very, very sad!!!!

The Lucy Family Alphabet by Judith Lucy

What more can I say??? It's Judith Lucy...

I love her dry (and dark) sense of humour. She says in her postscript that someone said to her after seeing her perform and telling jokes about her parents that she "must hate her family"... she was horrified - she loves them but has no problems seeing them as a bit weird - don't we all feel that way about our families - at least some of the time????

I think my family's weird - but it's weird in a good way - I'm sure there's a lot of comedy that could be found in most family situations... anyway, I got quite a few laughs and some nostalgic flashbacks from her memories...

if only I could stay at home all summer and read... oooh, and maybe watch dvds tooooo....

I watched a documentary - Taxi to the dark side - about the inhumanity and brutality of the torture and interrogation policies and practices of the american "intelligence" agencies (a misnomer if ever I've heard one!!!) and the military (heavily 'encouraged' by a conservative Bush administration!!!) perpetrated against those considered 'terrorist threats' by christian zealots - from Bagram to Abu Ghraib, to Guantanamo Bay detention camp... it's disgusting... it's powerful - I highly recommend it...

I was reminded of a book I read some time ago... "The men who stare at goats" by Ron Jonson - it's along the same theme... and I just discovered while googling that it's being made into a movie, 'in production now', with George Clooney, Ewen McGregor, Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges and a cast of 1000s apparently (not really - but there's a helluva lot of names in the credits on imdb... now that will be interesting - due out in December 2009!!!

all I need to do now is decide what to read...

just finished The keepsake by Tess Gerritsen for a quick, edge of seat mystery...

Sailor 'Lil has recommended Poppy Z. Brite... her writing is described as 'dark fantasy' and 'vampiric erotica'... one of my favourite books has been "The witching hour" from the Mayfair Witches series by Anne Rice... I'd call that dark fantasy - it was definitely erotic... so if she writes in a similar vein (huh!!!) to that, I think I might like her... anyway I've decided to read "Love in vein" - edited by Poppy with a few fantasy writer's I like (but never saw as writers of erotica) in the mix... so I'll let you know what I think...

I had the house all to myself (with the 'gang' of course) all day and night on Saturday - so it was a very lazy day... well, Sunday was pretty lazy too!!!! I got a lot of 'reading' done...

My friend 'Lil left a comment on my last post which I have to quote from...

"as bibliophiles we know the power of the book as an object that can travel so far and hold so many stories in its very 'skin'."

it's quite interesting 'Lil mentioned "People of the Book" by Geraldine Brooks...

I just happen to be listening to it at the moment too... it's 'inspired' by a true story... the journey of a rare illuminated manuscript - the Sarajevo Haggadah... it's also about Hanna, a rare-book conservator - her passion and dedication... we follow the Haggadah from the 15th century through to 1996 where Hanna gets the chance to restore the artefact... and why tell you more - it's worth reading!!

and in between listening to this, I also finished reading "Dewey : The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World" - I think you might be able to work out what this one's about... it is a really touching story - and beware, tissues are a must when you get to the end of it... beautiful and sad... it's not just about Dewey though, it's also about the people who became his family, and their lives as well... go on, you know you want to read it!!!!

I also managed to watch "The brave one" with Jodie Foster... I quite 'enjoyed' it... sometimes you just need to watch a 'vigilante' film - although the outcome was very unlikely - but definitely desirable!!!! Of course, Jodie Foster was brilliant - or is that just my bias???

And on that note, I'm going to bed and starting another book - "Cups with no handles" - another Summer Read recommendation.

food for the mind....

“A well-composed book is a magic carpet on which we are wafted to a world that we cannot enter in any other way” ... Caroline Gordon.

and I think "The Zookeeper's War" by Steven Conte takes us to that world.

It's 1943, wartime Berlin. Vera (an Australian and the central character), zookeeper and wife of Axel Frey, the director of the Berlin Zoo, are trying to keep the animals alive and maintain a semblence of 'normal' daily life as the conditions become harsher and more heartbreaking.

The story moves in and out of the main characters' lives and that's where we learn what enticed Vera to travel to Berlin when all were gearing up for war.

People's fear and dawning awareness that no-one was really safe no matter who they supported was starting to take it's toll. Constant vigilance was a necessity - informers were everywhere - it didn't take much to get you 'noticed' by the gestapo - even Vera's Australian accent was bringing her more and more under suspicion as an enemy alien. It was a desperate fight for survival - rape, death, destruction, bombs falling all around them, rationing, the heartbreak of the animals dying from starvation, disease, bomb damage... and amidst all this her passionate but dangerous affair with Martin, an Ostarbeiter.

It's moving, it's sad, it's brutal - a poignant picture of ordinary people during an extraordinary time trying to maintain a vestige of hope when all around is in decline.

But most of all, it was 'un-put-downable' - not bad for a first novel!!!

It's one of the recommended books on the State Library's Summer Reading List, and this year the criteria is that they're either set in Victoria or written by Victorian authors.

The Reading Victoria blog is worth having a look at too - it's being posted to by all the authors on the list over the next few weeks...

a lazy weekend... but oh so enjoyable!!!!

I'm glad to say no 'trick-or-treaters' came to my door on Friday night - I didn't have to disappoint any kiddies... but what a tragedy in America - a 12 year old boy shot and killed... it's such a frightening place... yet an interesting time politically - an historic time?? we'll know tomorrow...

on that note - 4 days off - in a row!!! I've done nothing, or done a lot this weekend... depends on your interpretation...

finished reading one book...

As darkness falls, by a new Australian author - Bronwyn Parry - she describes it as romantic suspense - I'd call it psychological suspense with a bit of erotica and romance thrown in... there's abduction, a hurt woman (emotionally, mentally and physically), a hurt man (emotionally, physically and mentally), a serial killer (of course!!!) a lot of time together, and a dog named Finn... I enjoyed the story and the depiction of the Aussie bush!!!

started reading another one...

Damaged goods, the third book in June Hampson's Daisy Lane series, set in England in the 1960s during the Kray Brothers 'reign' - you get the picture of the type of people and time it's based - killings, pay-backs, violence - I enjoy her writing too - it's written in real sorta like cockney like way a speakin' luv... so it mightn't be 'everyone's cuppa tea luv'... but I'm comfortable with it.

oooohhh, certainly has been a slack loooong weekend... all of the domestic stuff that had to be done got done (it's amazing what you can make yourself believe doesn't need doing!!!!)

Did a lot of dvd watching the last couple of days too - watched some Torchwood, some Weeds, and some old (Basil Rathbone) Sherlock Holmes - it's been sooooo slack - grouse, because it's going to be a busy weekend next week...

of course, I've smoked a lot of dope, eaten a lot of munchies, drunk a lot of tea and coffee - and enjoyed every minute of it!!!!

I think my body and my mind have needed this time off... there should be more of it - I am oh so getting past working all the time - I've been in the workforce since 1970!!! even to be able to cut down by one day a week would be so good!!!!

dream on woman!!!! it's back to the real world tomorrow!!!!!!

A quick book review...

I'm not getting very far into the learning 2.1 'stuff'... but I do find blogging therapeutic... now there's no pressure with the libraries learning web 2.0 programme anyway... I have been having a bit of a problem with my wireless internet connection... a lot of building and other activity next door and all around me so I've had to resort to using the ethernet cable...

I've been reading a bit lately - because I can - because I'm on holidays (YAY!!!!) - so I thought I'd review a book called Greywalker by Kat Richardson. The library I work at assigns the genre "horror" - that doesn't sit well with me... it doesn't really describe it properly. "Paranormal fiction", "Urban fantasy mystery" and "Supernatural suspense" are genres used by the author and others who write in the same style, and I'd have to agree it says more about the book than "horror"!!!

Harper Blaine (private investigator) is assaulted and left for dead. Well, she actually dies for 2 minutes. When she comes too in the hospital she knows something has changed.

She sees things that can only be described as weird-shapes emerging from a foggy grey mist.

But Harper's not crazy. Her "death" has made her a Greywalker - able to move between this world and the mysterious, cross-over zone where things that go bump in the night exist. And her new "gift" will take her into the world of vampires and ghosts, magic and witches, necromancers and sinister artefacts.

This is the first book in the new Greywalker series, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The protagonist is believable and likeable - opinionated, tough and she can really kick arse - the people around her are 'quirky' and 'eclectic' to say the least... I like the way the author deals with the supernatural 'world' .. by the end of it, I was wishing it was another "book long"!!! I've already reserved the next book in the series, Poltergeist

I can actually see a television series in the 'wings' - being a "Buffy", "Angel", and "Charmed" fan - is that sad at 52? - going on 53??!!! - nah, what's sad is that we had to wait for men with a 'different' vision of women, e.g. Joss Whedon - Buffy, Angel ..., Jerry Bruckheimer - CSI, Cold Case, ..., James Cameron - Dark Angel ..., Sam Raimi - Xena ... to be accepted by the male 'television moguls' before women were given strong protagonist roles - and of course, women writers, creators, directors, producers, just wouldn't have been given the same opportunities!!!! Now that's sad, I might have seen these sorts of programmes from a much younger age!!!!! I NEED a HIT of gratuitious violence that I can deal with....

#11 - LibraryThing... it's done!

Well, I’ve done the LibraryThing task… not a bad tool… much the same as iRead in Facebook... this is one of the blurbs from their site about LibraryThing for Libraries – I can see the possibilities:

"How can libraries use LibraryThing?

Fully integrate LibraryThing's social data into your catalog using LibraryThing for Libraries. LTFL lets you add tag-based browsing, book recommendations, ratings, reviews and more to your OPAC, by integrating with LibraryThing and its high-quality book data.
Use a LibraryThing widget to display new books or featured books on your library's website. You'll have to create a LibraryThing account, and add the books to it. Then use one of our widgets to generate code that you can just copy and paste into your website.
Small organizations and libraries can use LibraryThing to as a catalog for their collection."

You can see a random list of titles from my library in the sidebar on the left of the page – this is just a small selection of books I’ve read and enjoyed over the past 30-odd years.

And these three books, the Tomoe Gozen Trilogy, are definitely some of my favourite – if you enjoy things samurai, like a bit of fantasy with some mythology thrown in, this is a brilliant series, based on a legendary female hero.