SPINE FACING OUT

this happened

2013-08-16T20:51:00.001+10:00

Please excuse The Casual Librarian for not posting to this blog recently. This was due to the birth of baby bookworm

Tara May

Born 10 Aug 2013

8lb 3oz

live long and crochet

2013-06-11T11:46:00.002+10:00

Stuck for ideas for your favourite geek/nerd/yarn bomber?

Search no more.

You can buy them the book, or you can knit it yourself!

Wouldnt they love some hand knitted hobbit socks complete with foot-hair?

Or a Princess Leia...um... I hesitate to call this a hat. Hairpiece? Toupe?

I dont remember Catwoman EVER wearing this though...

when only the best will do

2013-06-11T11:31:00.000+10:00

Are you one of those people that loves to sing along with radio ads?!

Didn't think so.

But for those who are, here's a CD full of them.

Golden tunes like Happy Little Vegemite, Aeroplane Jelly, Benson and Hedges, Toyota - Oh What A Feeling, Nigger Boy Soap Pads (seriously), and Hard Yakka.

Surely you'll want this on repeat on a long car trip.

trash and treasure

2013-04-12T15:11:00.000+10:00

Ever come across a book that was so bad, you weren't sure if it was meant to be a joke? Pommie Sarah did, and thought it needed sharing on this blog.

She was so right.

Here it is! UPCYCLING! Where you can 'create beautiful things with stuff you already have'!

For example. Collected many of those little hotel soaps...?

Make a necklace!

Bored of your conventional old geographical globe..?

Add some 3D realism with plastic animals!

Too many old pots and pans...?

Your visitors will love this right in the middle of your loungeroom.

Safety pins?

Like 'shiney embroidery'!

And I cant think of anything I'd rather do with old cushion stuffing,

...than suspend it above my head.

Also apparently, old art can be joujzed up with just a bit of glitter glue!

Holy Martha Stewart! If only museums knew art restoration was SO EASY!

But my favourite is the amount of time dedicated to those un-sung decorating gems - PLASTIC $2 HOBO BAGS.

sweet dreams. darling.

2013-04-12T14:58:00.001+10:00

Hubby found this on Amazon.com (heaven knows what he was looking for!)

But with chapters like;

"Your upstairs neighbour kills people"

"I said not to touch that"

and

"No, it isn't just the wind",

it's sure to be a big hit with the littlies.

missed the olympics?

2013-03-17T15:07:00.001+11:00

Knit your own! A snuggly little Ian Thorpe or a cuddly Usain Bolt anyone?

i knew it.

2013-02-12T14:09:00.002+11:00

I knew it. All those Elvis conspiracy theorists/enthusiasts/sightings couldn't be wrong...

This 'Where's Wally?'-esque children's book immediately appealed to my warped sense of humour.

And I laughed harder when I saw this:

don't you hate that?

2013-02-12T14:01:00.000+11:00

So relatable. Or is that just me...

a road less travelled

2013-01-29T15:51:00.000+11:00

Running On A Dream, The Pat Farmer Story by Ian Eckersley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Look - if you're feeling insignificant and ordinary, this book is for you.

I cant help but be inspired when I think how many times Pat Farmer - a dad, landscaper, and 'ordinary' guy from Granville NSW - would have been told to "get real Mate", "that cant be done", and "what makes you think you can just...". This is proof that one person can do extraordinary things, as long as they persist and believe in themselves (even when no one else does).

Pat Farmer is one of those people I'd love to meet, but would probably clam-up and have no idea what to say if I did.

Just wow. Inspired beyond belief.

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i dont know what it says.

2013-01-14T14:34:00.001+11:00

...and I'm not sure it matters. Can you judge a book by its cover? Not sure, but this one's got a pretty good disguise...

judgement day

2013-01-11T16:53:00.000+11:00

Look I have to draw your attention to www.judgeabook.blogspot.com.au for their outstanding contribution to the discovery of WTF books.

I mean with such gems as...

...you can see my argument here, right? I mean this is A1-quality weirdness. Bravo.

it's the end of the BookTARDIS as we know it

2013-01-11T10:24:00.003+11:00

BUT! It will be back! My wonderful spaceship full of books is off the road for the ENTIRE MONTH OF JANUARY (I don't know how I'll cope, honestly) to get a massive facelift.

Look at it, booklovers. Look at it - as it was - for one final time.

Looooook at iiiittt. No more scratches, no more vintage black cockatoos, no more peeling letters for school kids to gleefully pick off. It's going to be a whole new incarnation! Cant wait to see it...

Watch this space...

naaawwww x)

2012-12-08T11:07:00.001+11:00

Cutest thing found in a book today :)

i feel smarter already

2012-11-19T09:42:00.001+11:00

Well, you are what you eat, so they say... :S

2012 eclectic reader challenge: december - classic

2012-11-09T15:37:00.000+11:00

Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is my last book for the Challenge, and I chose it as my classic because I really wanted to finish with something good. And really, there was no way I was not going to like this book.

Anne of Green Gables is one of my all-time favourites - but since I had read it before, in the spirit of the challenge, I decided to read Anne of Avonlea. LM Montgomery didn't let me down.

This book instantly transports me back to girlhood, when my "bosom-friend" Emily and I used to re-enact Anne and Diana's adventures as 12 year olds. We were BESOTTED with this story. We had all the movies. We made raspberry cordial (non-alcoholic! Readers of the book will get this!) and we pretended to have puffed-sleeves and picnics.

Needless to say, as I read this, I could see perfectly in my mind every scene played out. The characters to me are as familiar as old friends.

I loved every minute, and I still have an image of Anne stuck in a storm, having fallen through a hen-house roof, balancing on a barrel with an umbrella over her head!

Anne of The Island is already beside my bed!

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go to your room! (and read this.)

2012-11-06T14:12:00.000+11:00

You may or may not know that I collect old girl's pony books. I remember my mum promising me a box of her old books if I helped clean out my grandparent's garage one weekend, and when the old carboard box tumbled down and out poured all these old pony stories - I was IN HEAVEN. It was all my christmases at once as a 10 year old pony-mad booklover! I still have them all to this day, and have now accumulated more over the years from Vinnies, and garage sales, and 2nd hand book shops. I Can NEVER resist them (as my husband will attest to!)
Doesn't everyone want their children to follow in their footsteps? A little? I try to foster a love of books and reading in my daughter, and luckily, she seems to be catching on! Hubby and I are both avid booklovers, and always have been.

So in saying this, there are a few books that have made their way onto my daughter's bookshelf for the furture, and I desperatley hope they become as good a friends to her as they have been to me. :)

1) Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
2) The Secret Garden - Francis Hodgenson-Burnett
3) National Velvet - Enid Bagnold
4) The Naughtiest Girl in the School - Enid Blyton
5) The Jinny Series - Patricia Leitch
6) Charlotte's Web - EB White
7) Pippi Longstocking - EM Longfield
8) Matilda - Roald Dahl
9) Anything by Josephine, Christine or Diana Pullein-Thompson!
10) The Jill Series - Ruby Ferguson (Yeah I was a bit of a pony-mad girl!)
11) Grandma Cadbury's Trucking Tales - Di Bates
12) Hairy MacLairy From Donaldson's Dairy - Lynley Dodd

What are your favourite childhood books?

come up here and take a bow

2012-11-02T14:37:00.000+11:00

awfullibrarybooks.net !!!

This is a truly worthy find! I mean, owl-headed naked women and breast balloons: What more could you ask for?

save my place

2012-11-02T14:10:00.000+11:00

As a librarian, we see some really beautiful bookmarks. Occasionally they get left behind in library books, and there's always a designated box/container in every library around of lost and unclaimed bookmarks. Some are precious and detailed, some are hand made by children or friends, some are yellowing dog-eared pictures of relatives or far away places...

However, sometimes, mid-book, a book mark is just not handy, so readers need to improvise. And here's the rub. Sometimes we find things in books that are just down right weird, gross and unsuitable bookmarks.

So I've compiled a list of clever improvised bookmarks I've seen, and WTF bookmarks, that I definitely never want to see again.

CLEVER:
reciept
fourleaf clover (pressed & dry)
paper clip
tea bag (unused! Of course!)
elastic band
train ticket
hair pin
photo
postcard
gumleaf

EEEEW WTF?! NO!
sultana
slice bacon
toilet paper (where were you reading???)
wet wipe
hair (human. I think.)
orange rind
condom (unopened, but still! :S )
needle (Ow! oh, where did that go...?)
band aid (nope, not in packet.)

(Yep - that's a real book.)

2012 eclectic reader challenge: november - your favourite genre (general fiction)

2012-10-30T16:12:00.000+11:00

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was such a surprise! It just looks so unassuming, I never expected to be so charmed by it! It is based on a collection of correspondences between characters with one Elizabeth McKenna in common in the aftermath of World War 2. But it's so much more than that! It's a love story, a story of heroism, a historical tale, a tragedy, and a work of charming humour all in one! And it is the only book written by 70 year old librarian Mary Ann Shaffer! It's a little gem of a book; rare, precious, delicate and beautiful.

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Recapping the Challenge...

Genres

Literary Fiction - Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons

Crime/Mystery Fiction - Truth, Peter Temple

Romantic Fiction - A Good Indian Wife, Anne Cherian

Historical Fiction - Wild Lavender, Belinda Alexandra

Young Adult - Catching Fire, Suzanna Collins

Fantasy - Angel's Blood, Nalini Singh

Science Fiction - Adjustment Team, Philip K Dick

Non Fiction - Pole to Pole, Pat Farmer

Horror - The Turn Of the Screw, Henry James

Thriller /Suspense - Bold Blood, Lindy Kelly

Classic - Anne of Avonlea, L M Montgomery (Currently reading for December)

Your favourite genre - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer

2012 eclectic reader challenge: october(got a bit ahead!) - horror

2012-09-17T14:29:00.004+10:00

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Okay - lemme start by saying that I am a wuss. Of the first degree. So I really REALLY didn't wanna read a horror book. I don't 'do' scary. So I thought maybe if I chose a historical book, I might be less scared...
Couldn't have been less-scared if I tried.
I think this book is meant to be all about creating suspense and atmosphere, but really... I mean NOTHING ACTUALLY HAPPENS. You wait for it to happen, and it never does. Hmm.
Too subtle even for me.

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2012 eclectic reader challenge: september - sci fi

2012-09-17T14:26:00.003+10:00

Adjustment Team by Philip K. Dick
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Wow. Simultaneously the most intriguing premise and the most frustrating book I've ever read.
Dick explores the idea that there is no such thing as coincidence, and that the 'higher power' in control is a government organization. I don't read a lot of sci fi, but the ideas and possibilities here had me hooked.
But - it just ENDS! This book has the most I unsatisfying ending I have ever encountered! It leaves so much unsaid, so much unexplored! I got to the end, and glanced at the floor in case pages had fallen out! LOL Makes me curious to see how they ended the movie!

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2012 eclectic reader challenge: august - thriller

2012-09-17T14:24:00.004+10:00

Bold Blood by Lindy Kelly
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Nothing ground-breaking here. The writing is so-so and there are a few subplots which I think are meant to divert the reader's attention from the mystery, but are just confusing and irrelevant.

The 15 year old horse lover will love this. It's James Patterson meets Christine Pullein-Thompson.

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there will be blood!

2012-08-27T13:37:00.001+10:00

The grudge match: It'll be a fight to the bitter end!!!

it's world breast feeding week!

2012-08-03T15:42:00.002+10:00

There is SO much good information about breast feeding at your local library and ours always provides a safe, quiet place for Mums to nurse.

Check out your local library or BookTARDIS - there are so many good parenting and breast feeding books out there!

This probably is not one of them though.

What?! That's not...! I mean surely that can't be a real...? I don't even...

2012 eclectic reader challenge: july - fantasy

2012-07-24T15:08:00.002+10:00

Angels' Blood by Nalini Singh
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I hated this. I resented the time I wasted reading it. It's Mills & Boon for adult Twi-hards. It's full of vomit-inducing similies, eye-rollingly bad double entendres, and endless, repetitive descriptions of chiselled abs, and rugged jawlines.
This book did nothing to encourage me to read more Vampire Fantasy. Unless you love Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey - DON'T BOTHER.

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