2009 wrap up

With just 71 days to my blogoversary I have to say I’ve enjoyed my first year in blogland. The highlight was the very unexpected welcome into a community I never even knew existed. You’ve all been so helpful and fun to be with I can’t imagine life without you now…so a big thankyou to all who have commented (I do so love to hear your opinions/reflections/ideas) and a HUGE thankyou to all who’ve joined in Friday Firsts (so::much::fun!) and and even bigger THANKYOU to my followers – can’t tell you what a thrill it is to see your faces on my blog everyday!

I’m very excited to look back on what I’ve read this year – that was the aim of WeRead after all to keep a record of what I’ve read just for the sheer pleasure of knowing…finding you all here in blogland was such a tremendous bonus!

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The Best Thing Margo Lanagan
The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas John Boyne
A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens
Cold Skin Steven Herrick
The Devil’s Brood Sharon Penman 
Disquiet Julia Leigh
Earth Abides George Stewart
Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury
Freda Noelene Martin
Friday Night Knitting Club Kate Jacobs
Girl with a Pearl Earring Tracy Chevalier
God of Small Things Arundhati Roy
Good Omens Terry Pratchet
Handmaid’s Tale Margaret Attwood
Kiss Kiss Roald Dahl
Little Women Louisa May Alcott
Making Glass Beads K Jenkins
March Geraldine Brooks
Middlesex Jeffrey Eugenides
To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
Mrs Dalloway Virginia Wolfe
Northern Lights Phillip Pullman
Nightfall Isaac Asimov
Romulus My Father Raimond Gaita
Tales of the Unexpected Roald Dahl
The Slap Christos Tsiolkas
Time and Chance Sharon Penman
Time Traveller’s Wife Audrey Niffenegger
Twilight Stephanie Meyer

I didn’t manage many reviews, just the ones I felt passionate about, but I’m going to try for more reviews in 2010 because, although I’m having a little blogging-break now I will definitely be back next year!

so

Merry Christmas everyone!

[Glitterfy.com - *Glitter Graphics*]

If you use a circular saw blade as a book mark I’ll waive the overdue fees.

BTT is a long running bookish meme. To join in pop over and read the 100's of interesting comments. This week’s question…
What items have you ever used as a bookmark? What is the most unusual item you’ve ever used or seen used?

Does everyone know know this blog Forgotten bookmarks? A whole blog about things that people use for bookmarks and leave behind when they sell their books (gasp) to a rare book dealer (how do I get that job?!). It’s a great blog my favourite post was this one about a 6" saw blade marking a page in Inside Every Woman, what a crack-up!

As for me I’ll use anything to mark my spot, empty cafe sugar sachets, chip packets, bobby pins, date due slips, a piece torn from a newspaper/magazine, pens, post-its, receipts, jewellery, tools, cutlery (just yesterday I was forced to use a dessert spoon). All of this is ridiculous because I have 4.ooo bookmarks – all gorgeous – that somehow are just never in the right place when I put down my book.

how about you how do you mark your place?

read the signs…please

Musing Monday is hosted by Becca of Just One More Page. Pop over and read lots of interesting comments & post your own. This week borrower-bugged Becca asks about those pesky people with whom we must share OUR library…

For the regular library patrons among us: do you have your own idea of what constitutes proper library etiquette? Is there anything you always try to do? Anything you hate when others do?

Not being a big user of my local library I'll comment on my uni library, I suspect library etiquette is slightly different from the staff’s side of the desk. Noise? It's a big niggler for some but, in a library that houses the engineering, science collection noise can be a factor. The engineering students seem to be gregarious and loud which is okay except if they're infringing on the rights of others. Complaints about noise will force me into the classic librarian-shushing-thing but I’d rather the patrons felt welcome to make the library their own and a bit of talking goes with the territory.

It’s good etiquette to clean up after any food and drink you take into the library - which we do allow. After decades of saying 'you can't bring KFC/chips/coke in here' it did bother me to see food and drink so close to the books until I realised that the books are exposed to food an drink in the patron’s home why not in the library!

It is polite to return your books on time at assessment time and NOT to hide the in-demand texts under the shelves for your own personal use (yes we regulary check UNDER the shelves for such sneakiness).

From my point of view it’s good etiquette to be patient with the library staff who are not miracle workers. If you haven't saved the document you've been working on for the last three hours we will try and retrieve it - just be patient and understand who's at fault (even if your asignment IS due in ten minutes/the library is closing in five minutes). And PLEASE read the signs – where is the colour printer? see that sign?, how do I fix a paper-jam? read the instructions **points to sign**, how do I bind my document? read the instructions **points to sign** etc. Don’t get me wrong I am happy to help, it is after-all my job, but happier if you’ve given it a go first… Proactive self education – not too much to ask in a university library is it?

‘Tis the season

* Copy/paste the question and button.
* Please leave a comment & link to your post.
* Join in with the puzzle, (answers next FF). First correct answer = 1 pt. with a prize going out on FF 1st anniversary! (track your progress on my sidebar)…

We’re all Christmassy here at no.13 so we simply must do a seasonal Friday first, please post any first line from a Christmas book, for some reason I can’t think of any Christmas novels – how strange is that, so mine is the most obvious…

Marely was dead, to begin with.

Even though it ends with a preposition (a big no-no in my house) I love this 6 word story all wrapped up in Dickens’ first line from A Christmas Carol.

Last month’s puzzle winner (via email) of 3 points is Becca for her answers: 1) Misselthwaite Manor. 2) she was most disagree-able looking. 3) from The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgeson Burnett.
but
I’m giving Vicki and Nise one point each for being faithful Friday Firsters, and giving the correct answers and …well… because I can :)

Puzzle: 3 points:
1) Who Stole Christmas?
2) where did he live?
3) which was just north of what town?
Edit: I gave Sandra a point too (come on how could I not!)

a whole new world at my fingertips

BTT is a long running bookish meme. To join in pop over and read the 100's of interesting comments. This week a BTT question about BTT…

What’s your favourite part of Booking Through Thursday? Why do you participate (or not)?

You must pop over to BTT this weeks it's snowing! So pretty wish we had some snow here - wrong hemisphere, just heat haze here

I got into blogging for a number of different reasons one of which was to sort out my reading into some kind of order. What I didn’t expect was the pleasure I would find in just being part of a new community – who knew there was a whole world of people at my fingertips (excuse the pun).

I really enjoy the thinking part of answering BTT questions, have I lied about reading a book? why do I do that?; just what are the 15 books that will always stick with me …and why? etc. Sometimes the questions don’t move me to answer but I get a lot of entertainment reading what everyone else has to say.

That’s the best bit for me - everyone’s responses – it is amazing just how varied we all are and yet so often I find an answer that makes me feel ‘normal’, the ‘same’ and makes me sigh and say to myself “see someone else does that too!”

all about the shabby

I love this meme hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page. Pop over to The Printed Page from time to time to see if you can catch some gorgeous cover attractions over there.

anyone who’s been within cooee of me for the past couple of weeks knows that I’m all about the shabby right now.

but I’m on a budget so if I could make junk look like this I’d be so having this book!

Burn baby burn

hosted by MizB @ Should be Reading.
* Grab your current read & let it fall open.
* Share 2 “teaser” sentences, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
* Share the title of the book… remember... **************************avoid spoilers please****************************

 

“Do you ever  read any of the books you burn?”
He laughed. “That’s against the law!”

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury p15