So Yesterday was my half day off. I work until 12 and then I'm freeeeee to go. Which considering I live at work, isn't very far. But the idea is nice. So I did what any library worker would do on their day off. I read. For four solid hours. And it was fabulous. I popped to the shops, got some snacks, made a duvet/pillow nest on the sofa and DIDN'T MOVE. Except to pee. Because no-one can hold it for four hours.
The one mega difference I wanted to write about today was that the format of my book was not that of ink and pages. I had decided to take E-Reading on a test run. I received a tablet for Christmas, (thank you Uncle!) and came to the conclusion that now more than ever would be the time to trail E-Reading.
Prior to trying it I was sceptical. I am a huge fan of pages. The smell, the rustle, the whole damn feel of a book. All the pretty covers. I imagined E-Reading to be a dead experience. Just like reading anything else on a screen. But as they say never judge a book by it's cover. And you should never judge E-Reading before you've given it a go.
For the record, I was reading on a 7" Google nexus tablet, a book bought from Google Play store. Google books essentially.
I downloaded The Virgin Suicides, by Jeffrey Eugenides as it's been something I've wanted to read for a long time and being relatively short, it meant that if E-Reading didn't appeal to me, I wouldn't have to bear it for long. I'll talk about the E-Reading experience first, and review the book a little further down.
The positives first. I could hold it with one hand. And it was light, and you didn't get the digging in thing you get when you've been reading an actual book for more than an hour. When you 'flip' the page it made a little sort of page flip across the screen, to emulate a paper page turning, which was nice. I enjoyed the bar at the bottom, telling me exactly what page I was on and showing me how many I had left to go. I like exact things sometimes. When you're reading a 358 page book and you're on page 61 you just sort of go "oh well I'm about...um...a fifth through?". Unless you're quick at maths, which I am not. So it was nice to know how I was progressing. There's a nifty feature in which you can hold down your finger on a word and it will highlight that word. You can then copy that word to search for it online. Or add your own notes in a little bubble underneath. Great for students studying certain texts, or for people who like to highlight favourite quotes (I do!). The best upside to this is you're not marking any actual books. You can delete these highlighted sections if you want to later, no harm done. You can expand the highlighted sections to include whole sentences rather than just words too. The text on screen was clear, everything was easy to use...so were there any cons? Only a few...
Although you can adjust the screen brightness, after four hours my eyes were ever so slightly beginning to hate me. Although they might also hate me if I'd stared at a normal book for four hours. I need my glasses back methinks (I neglected to being them back with me after Christmas). Also, because you're buying the E-Books through Google Play store to download directly onto your device, there's no way of getting into the fun process of seeing where you can buy it cheapest. You're stuck with whatever price Google want to charge you. Which isn't ridiculous. But I do like trawling round various website when there's a book I know I want, seeing where I can get the best deal. Or even better, stumbling across it in a charity shop for two quid. But overall I really liked my E-Reading experience. and although I don't see myself switching entirely to E-Reading, it's something I'll definitely be doing more of in the future.
But what of The Virgin Suicides itself? Well, let me tell you...
In the hands of anyone else this could be the most boring novel ever. We know what happens. It's given to us in the first sentence:
On the morning the last Lisbon daughter took her turn at suicide - it was Mary this time, and sleeping pills, like Therese - the two paramedics arrived at the house knowing exactly where the knife drawer was, and the gas oven, and the beam in the basement from which it was possible to tie a rope.
We know they're all dead right from the onset. We even have clues as to how they did it. So why would you want to read a story that you already know the outcome of? I'll tell you - because of the writing. It's fantastic. It draws you in and you can't stop because their lives - all too familiar and all too alien at the same time, appeal to anyone who has been through their teenage years. The style and mood perfectly encapsulates the feelings of the strange and yet normal Lisbon girls. Everything breaks down slowly. The story is told from the perspective of the boys living across the street from the sisters, who are drawn to them irresistibly, drawn to their mystery, to their beauty and by teenage curiosity, which is a form of curiosity unlike any other, usually tinged with lust and craving for the unknown and potentially dangerous. This was a debut novel for the author. And what a debut! I watched the film straight after, having picked up the DVD on my way out for snacks. It's along the same vein as American Beauty, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, maybe even Donnie Darko. Teenage suburbia, the breaking down of things, perfectly encapsulated in the book.
Basically, read it. It will hold appeal for both sexes. This is not a 'girly' book. It's damn haunting and I spent at least half an hour afterwards in total book-hangover mode. Staring at the ceiling going over everything in my head that I'd just read so it could stay etched on my brain forever.
So there you so, a review of a book and of E-Reading all in one go. I'm keen to give audio books a go next. I've never used them before and it might be nice to have someone read you a story like when you're little again. We'll see what the library has to offer!
For now,
Over and out.
Sunday, 19 January 2014
Sunday, 12 January 2014
Highlights from a lecture given by Neil Gaiman for The Reading Agency.
In October 2013, The Guardian posted an edited version of a lecture given by Neil Gaiman, that was entitled:
"Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming".
The lecture was given for The Reading Agency, as part of their annual lecture series and it's one of the most important lectures I've read on the subject of libraries and their future. I wanted to do a post, highlighting the quotes I thought were the most inspiring, especially for someone like me who would love a future working in a library environment.
A link to the edited Guardian lecture can be found here.
A link to the video of the lecture and full transcript can be found on The Reading Agency's blog, via their website, here.
Quotes will be in Italics, my own notes in standard font.
I don't think there is such a bad thing as a bad book for children. Every now and again it becomes fashionable among some adults to point at a subset of children's books, a genre, perhaps, or an author, and to declare them bad books, books that children should be stopped from reading. (...) It's tosh. It's snobbery and it's foolishness. (...) A hackneyed, worn out idea isn't hackneyed and worn out to them.
This is something that really rattles my cage. They're reading...it doesn't matter what it is, just let them read! Comics, books about diggers, the star wars annual, Enid Blyton...whatever!
And the second thing fiction does is to build empathy. (...) You learn that everyone else out there is a 'me', as well. You're being someone else, and when you return to your own world you're going to be slightly changed. Empathy is a tool for building people into groups, for allowing us to function as more than self-obsessed individuals.
The world doesn't have to be like this. Things can be different.
Discontent is a good thing: discontented people can modify and improve their worlds, leave them better, leave them different.
I was lucky. I had an excellent local library growing up (...) the kind of librarians who did not mind a small, unaccompanied boy heading back into the children's library every morning and working his way through the card catalogue (...) They had no snobbery about anything I read. They treated me as another reader - nothing less or more - which meant they treated me with respect.
This is the kind of librarian I aim to become. One that can help develop a space that children feel comfortable being in, and adults feel comfortable leaving their children in. They do not need to be chaperoned around the shelves. Leave them to it, they might discover something.
But libraries are about freedom (...) They are about education (...) about entertainment, about making safe spaces and about access to information.
In the last few years we've moved from an information-scarce economy to one driven by an information glut. (...) We are going to need help navigating that information to find the thing we actually need.
This is something that often worries me. How do I know that the information I'm reading is correct, or unbiased? I don't. A librarian can try to help to filter out the useless, clogging nonsense and leave me with the bits I want, or need.
As Douglas Adams once pointed out to me, more than 20 years before the kindle turned up, a physical book is like a shark. Sharks are old; there were sharks in the ocean before the dinosaurs. And the reason there are still sharks around is that sharks are better at being sharks than anything else is.
Sharks terrify me. But I get the point. They're damn good at being scary though.
A library is a place that is a repository of information and gives every citizen equal access to it. (...) It's a place of safety. a haven from the world.
Vulnerable people, or people without access to the internet, can become cut off in this world in which much is done via a screen. Libraries are important for social interaction and gaining access to information via the internet. Email, job applications, council information. Being in an environment in which they can have help with things a lot of us take for granted.
...our children and grandchildren are less literate and less numerate than we are. (...) They can be more easily lied to and misled, will be less able to change the world in which they find themselves, be less employable.
Books are they way that we communicate with the dead. The way that we learn lessons from those who are no longer with us.
Spooky. But a nice idea. As a (sort of, aspiring) writer it might be good to leave a published work behind. Like a memory, so my ideas can live on.
If you do not value libraries then you do not value information or culture or wisdom. You are silencing the voices of the past and you are damaging the future.
We have an obligation to read aloud to our children.
We do. I hope to volunteer at some local primary schools this year to help children with their reading. A few southern children may come away with a slight northern twist on their accent, but hopefully I can help do some good.
We all - adults and children, writers and readers - have an obligation to daydream. We have an obligation to imagine. (..) the truth is, individuals change their world over and over, individuals make the future, and they do it by imagining things can be different.
On quoting Albert Einstein: "If you want your children to be intelligent," he said, "read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales." He understood the value of reading and imagining.
Such a well though out lecture, making some crucial and inspirational quotes in proper Gaiman style along they way. What a guy. I admire this writer so, so much. I hope these quotes ring true with others out there also.
Over and out.
"Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming".
The lecture was given for The Reading Agency, as part of their annual lecture series and it's one of the most important lectures I've read on the subject of libraries and their future. I wanted to do a post, highlighting the quotes I thought were the most inspiring, especially for someone like me who would love a future working in a library environment.
A link to the edited Guardian lecture can be found here.
A link to the video of the lecture and full transcript can be found on The Reading Agency's blog, via their website, here.
Quotes will be in Italics, my own notes in standard font.
I don't think there is such a bad thing as a bad book for children. Every now and again it becomes fashionable among some adults to point at a subset of children's books, a genre, perhaps, or an author, and to declare them bad books, books that children should be stopped from reading. (...) It's tosh. It's snobbery and it's foolishness. (...) A hackneyed, worn out idea isn't hackneyed and worn out to them.
This is something that really rattles my cage. They're reading...it doesn't matter what it is, just let them read! Comics, books about diggers, the star wars annual, Enid Blyton...whatever!
And the second thing fiction does is to build empathy. (...) You learn that everyone else out there is a 'me', as well. You're being someone else, and when you return to your own world you're going to be slightly changed. Empathy is a tool for building people into groups, for allowing us to function as more than self-obsessed individuals.
The world doesn't have to be like this. Things can be different.
Discontent is a good thing: discontented people can modify and improve their worlds, leave them better, leave them different.
I was lucky. I had an excellent local library growing up (...) the kind of librarians who did not mind a small, unaccompanied boy heading back into the children's library every morning and working his way through the card catalogue (...) They had no snobbery about anything I read. They treated me as another reader - nothing less or more - which meant they treated me with respect.
This is the kind of librarian I aim to become. One that can help develop a space that children feel comfortable being in, and adults feel comfortable leaving their children in. They do not need to be chaperoned around the shelves. Leave them to it, they might discover something.
But libraries are about freedom (...) They are about education (...) about entertainment, about making safe spaces and about access to information.
In the last few years we've moved from an information-scarce economy to one driven by an information glut. (...) We are going to need help navigating that information to find the thing we actually need.
This is something that often worries me. How do I know that the information I'm reading is correct, or unbiased? I don't. A librarian can try to help to filter out the useless, clogging nonsense and leave me with the bits I want, or need.
As Douglas Adams once pointed out to me, more than 20 years before the kindle turned up, a physical book is like a shark. Sharks are old; there were sharks in the ocean before the dinosaurs. And the reason there are still sharks around is that sharks are better at being sharks than anything else is.
Sharks terrify me. But I get the point. They're damn good at being scary though.
A library is a place that is a repository of information and gives every citizen equal access to it. (...) It's a place of safety. a haven from the world.
Vulnerable people, or people without access to the internet, can become cut off in this world in which much is done via a screen. Libraries are important for social interaction and gaining access to information via the internet. Email, job applications, council information. Being in an environment in which they can have help with things a lot of us take for granted.
...our children and grandchildren are less literate and less numerate than we are. (...) They can be more easily lied to and misled, will be less able to change the world in which they find themselves, be less employable.
Books are they way that we communicate with the dead. The way that we learn lessons from those who are no longer with us.
Spooky. But a nice idea. As a (sort of, aspiring) writer it might be good to leave a published work behind. Like a memory, so my ideas can live on.
If you do not value libraries then you do not value information or culture or wisdom. You are silencing the voices of the past and you are damaging the future.
We have an obligation to read aloud to our children.
We do. I hope to volunteer at some local primary schools this year to help children with their reading. A few southern children may come away with a slight northern twist on their accent, but hopefully I can help do some good.
We all - adults and children, writers and readers - have an obligation to daydream. We have an obligation to imagine. (..) the truth is, individuals change their world over and over, individuals make the future, and they do it by imagining things can be different.
On quoting Albert Einstein: "If you want your children to be intelligent," he said, "read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales." He understood the value of reading and imagining.
Such a well though out lecture, making some crucial and inspirational quotes in proper Gaiman style along they way. What a guy. I admire this writer so, so much. I hope these quotes ring true with others out there also.
Over and out.
Tuesday, 7 January 2014
Hot off the shelf: What I read over the Christmas break.
Instead of writing post after post of reviews of books I read over the Christmas break I decided to do a single post, giving a brief description and a rating out of five for each one. Shorter, sweeter and gets me into the habit of not rambling. To the point. Abrupt. Etc. I read these over December and early January.
Numero uno:
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Rating: Four (and a bit) out of five.
All about the illusion of living vs the reality. A book about 'society'. A 'self absorbed decadence' is a phrase I read somewhere that I thought rang really true to this book. It's stark and brilliant. It's teeny tiny, a novella really, and written beautifully. Eloquent. Read this book. And in all honesty, Baz Lurhman did a great job on the new film. But I might just be biased because I have an immense crush on Baz Lurhman's films anyway. I didn't think I'd like 'The Great Gatsby'. But I did. Because it wasn't pretentious, affected or egotistical. Some of the characters were, but the book was not. It was just magic.
Read it to the end, just for those last couple of lines.
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Rating: Four (and a bit) out of five.
All about the illusion of living vs the reality. A book about 'society'. A 'self absorbed decadence' is a phrase I read somewhere that I thought rang really true to this book. It's stark and brilliant. It's teeny tiny, a novella really, and written beautifully. Eloquent. Read this book. And in all honesty, Baz Lurhman did a great job on the new film. But I might just be biased because I have an immense crush on Baz Lurhman's films anyway. I didn't think I'd like 'The Great Gatsby'. But I did. Because it wasn't pretentious, affected or egotistical. Some of the characters were, but the book was not. It was just magic.
Read it to the end, just for those last couple of lines.
Number two:
The Fault In Our Stars, John Green
Rating: Four out of five.
I read this book becasue it's one that goes on 'walkabouts' often at my library (basically it get's stolen) and it's all the students at my school can talk about. It's all they request. It's all they want to read. "John Green" this and "John Green" that and "OHMYGOD you know John Green?!"
The Fault In Our Stars, John Green
Rating: Four out of five.
I read this book becasue it's one that goes on 'walkabouts' often at my library (basically it get's stolen) and it's all the students at my school can talk about. It's all they request. It's all they want to read. "John Green" this and "John Green" that and "OHMYGOD you know John Green?!"
So I decided to see what all the fuss was about.
It's depressing and really good. That's kind of all I can say without giving any of the plot away. Hazel has a terminal lung cancer and meets Augustus at this cancer kid support group. So it's kind of a teen romance novel but the twist is that neither of these kids will live for very long. I can see why the kids at school love it. It's written well and seems well researched and isn't too 'fluffy' about any of the cancer stuff. It is honest and blunt. Why only four out of five? I sort of loved the characters and sort of felt they were ever so slighly too...I don't even know. Hipster? For want of a better word. Maybe I'm just getting old (THE HORROR). I really like the idea that was given, that even when Hazel gets her 'wish' (a charity in the book grants wishes to termanilly ill children), it isn't all it's cracked up to be. More reality. The plot doesn't pity their illness and I think Hazel (and the reader) like it that way.
It didn't make me cry and I feel like it should have done. Maybe I've read worse, or maybe I've just got a heart of stone.
It's depressing and really good. That's kind of all I can say without giving any of the plot away. Hazel has a terminal lung cancer and meets Augustus at this cancer kid support group. So it's kind of a teen romance novel but the twist is that neither of these kids will live for very long. I can see why the kids at school love it. It's written well and seems well researched and isn't too 'fluffy' about any of the cancer stuff. It is honest and blunt. Why only four out of five? I sort of loved the characters and sort of felt they were ever so slighly too...I don't even know. Hipster? For want of a better word. Maybe I'm just getting old (THE HORROR). I really like the idea that was given, that even when Hazel gets her 'wish' (a charity in the book grants wishes to termanilly ill children), it isn't all it's cracked up to be. More reality. The plot doesn't pity their illness and I think Hazel (and the reader) like it that way.
It didn't make me cry and I feel like it should have done. Maybe I've read worse, or maybe I've just got a heart of stone.
Tres:
Maddaddam, Margaret Atwood
Rating: Five out of five. And so much more.
I finally got a copy! Many thanks to my Mum and Dad! (For my comments on the previous books in this 'series', and general Atwood lovin', see my review of 'The Year Of The Flood').
Maddaddam, Margaret Atwood
Rating: Five out of five. And so much more.
I finally got a copy! Many thanks to my Mum and Dad! (For my comments on the previous books in this 'series', and general Atwood lovin', see my review of 'The Year Of The Flood').
What can I say,? She finished off the trilogy so, so perfectly. It didn't always necessarily end well but it definitely ended. I felt satisfied, even if a bit sad. She doesn't give the whole game away about the future of the survivors, but she rounded off the characters lives we all knew so well by then, Toby, Zeb, Adam etc, very eloquently and movingly. I cannot sing this woman's praises enough. It was nice to hear more from the Crakers perspective (a peaceful species we were introduced to way back in the previous books that have been bio-engineered to replace humans) and understand their flaws and characters. She makes you think - and as I've said before, the books that can do that, are worth reading over and over. I could literally start reading the series over again right now. Anyone who hasn't had the pleasure, go buy/beg/borrow a copy of Oryx and Crake and begin this journey.
I'm sorry for the lack of posts recently. Lack of a laptop/internet and moving around a lot over the Christmas period hasn't left much time for me to do much here. More posts soon!
Over and out.
Friday, 13 December 2013
Innovation in Libraries: Swansea Central Library
Inspired by the innovation(!) talk at Library Camp I've decided to start doing posts when I see or hear about great ideas in Libraries. One of the main points that came up in the session was to share ideas, and share what you see. Hopefully this will be the start of many posts like this filled with idea-goodness.
The first great idea I'd like to talk about was one that I actually came across last summer. I was visiting JJ in Swansea, and (as we were walking past it) I thought it would be rude not to pop into Swansea's main Library. Also it was a really hot day - a break in the shade definitely did my skin some good. Almost as soon as you entered in the 'entrance space' was a quick choice book display. Displayed on this were several square objects wrapped in newspaper. Intrigued I wandered over. A sign that cheerfully read "Blind Date with a Book" or words to that effect presided over what I now realised were books, wrapped in newspaper so they all looked more or less identical. On the individual books, there was a post-it note on which three words were written, giving you a vague idea of what sort of book was underneath the wrapping. The sort of words you might use as keywords when cataloguing, for example:
Family Issues
Comedy
Travelling
Etc...
What I also found useful was that although the books were wrapped equally, you could more or less judge the size of it, so if you wanted a shorter book, no problem!
I think it's a great idea. It get's rid of the 'never judge a book by it's cover' cliché and holds the potential to get people interested in things they might not otherwise pick up. You could adapt it for Christmas, by wrapping them in Christmas wrapping paper, and calling it "Mystery Christmas Read" or something a bit more inspired.
I hope to visit again soon to see if they've got anything else innovative going on!
Over and out.
The first great idea I'd like to talk about was one that I actually came across last summer. I was visiting JJ in Swansea, and (as we were walking past it) I thought it would be rude not to pop into Swansea's main Library. Also it was a really hot day - a break in the shade definitely did my skin some good. Almost as soon as you entered in the 'entrance space' was a quick choice book display. Displayed on this were several square objects wrapped in newspaper. Intrigued I wandered over. A sign that cheerfully read "Blind Date with a Book" or words to that effect presided over what I now realised were books, wrapped in newspaper so they all looked more or less identical. On the individual books, there was a post-it note on which three words were written, giving you a vague idea of what sort of book was underneath the wrapping. The sort of words you might use as keywords when cataloguing, for example:
Family Issues
Comedy
Travelling
Etc...
What I also found useful was that although the books were wrapped equally, you could more or less judge the size of it, so if you wanted a shorter book, no problem!
I think it's a great idea. It get's rid of the 'never judge a book by it's cover' cliché and holds the potential to get people interested in things they might not otherwise pick up. You could adapt it for Christmas, by wrapping them in Christmas wrapping paper, and calling it "Mystery Christmas Read" or something a bit more inspired.
I hope to visit again soon to see if they've got anything else innovative going on!
Over and out.
Monday, 9 December 2013
Hot off the Shelf: What I'm reading - "Junk", Burgess, Melvin
Spoilers.
Warning: This book contains drug use. And not just “Oo,
let’s get high on a beach” kinda drug use. Full on, Heroin lovin’ Junkie
heaven. Oh yeah, and this is a book for kids.
For kids.
Yup.
Won a Carnegie Medal and everything. And I
can see why. It was a good book, full of truth.
I personally, would be happy with anyone above and including
thirteen years old reading this book. The main characters are fourteen years
old at the beginning of the novel, and the subject matter, sadly, is something
that a lot of very young kids do go through. I am however, slightly torn on the
‘consequences’ matter. Tar and Gemma, the main characters, suffer throughout
this book, even if they don’t at the beginning of it all when they run away
together (for very different reasons). But in the end they do end up with a lot
of regrets, and have a lot of bad things happen to them. Mostly brought on by
themselves. But I don’t know whether
there was enough of a message that they really really fucked up bad, and now they’re lives are changed forever. I understood that their lives would
never be the same again. I’m not sure if I would have understood this if I’d
have read it aged fourteen. I would have maybe thought “Oh, well look, they ran
away and lived in squalor and got into drugs in a huge way and loads of shit
happened to them but they’re both alive. And not doing terribly. Maybe it
happens that way for everyone on drugs.” I guess it’s the message that you can turn your life around after being an
addict, sort of. I’d probably have got my fourteen year old self another book
about drug users where it didn’t end so well, just to balance the viewpoint. To
make myself understand that just because they’re both alive and “okay” doesn’t
mean everyone who goes through that kind of stuff is.
It’s written well, the characters totally work. Each chapter
is written by a different character (some characters obviously have lots of
chapters), meaning we get a lot of viewpoints, but you never lose track of
what’s going on, or get confused by this. I think that’s due to the fact it is
written for kids (young adults, youths, whippersnappers, or whatever you want
to call them) and you have to keep it relatively straight forward to follow
else they’d lose interest (but not totally simple, else they’d feel like they
were being ridiculed). It’s a messed up book, but it’s a messed up situation.
Gemma as a character really annoyed me, but she’s just how some teenagers are –
stroppy, not getting on with her parents, self-centred and thinks she knows
best. Basically I think the book was really true about a whole lot of stuff
that other books just sort of ignore or pretend doesn’t exist.
Hard hitting stuff. Really interesting to read, especially
if you’ve never really read much like this. It got a lot of bad press and was
banned all over the shop, probably because in parts, it really makes taking
drugs sound like the best experience ever. Read it and see what you think. It
looks like a chunky book but it took me a little less than two days to read.
I’m on a pure role with reading at the minute – reading lots and getting myself
high of other people’s words. That’s a good high y’know? I’m waiting for a bad
book to come along and ruin my enjoyment.
Over and Out.
Friday, 6 December 2013
Hot off the Shelf: What I'm Reading - "Never Let Me Go", Ishiguro, Kazuo
No Spoilers.
I loved this book and felt indescribably let down by it all at the same time. I’ve never read Ishiguro. I chose to read the book because I came across it on the library bookshelves and the blurb sounded like something that might interest me. I’ve literally just put the damn thing down and all I can think is UGH. WHAT ARE THESE FEELINGS?
I loved this book and felt indescribably let down by it all at the same time. I’ve never read Ishiguro. I chose to read the book because I came across it on the library bookshelves and the blurb sounded like something that might interest me. I’ve literally just put the damn thing down and all I can think is UGH. WHAT ARE THESE FEELINGS?
For a start,
it was depressing. Do not read this book if you want to be cheered up. The
narrator had this habit of making things perhaps seem okay for a bit, because
you didn’t know the whole truth. Then the whole truth was revealed, bit by bit.
Jarring, almost (something I didn’t enjoy) and it is all at once like a small
feeling of “Oh. Well then. That’s depressing.” Some things you could see coming
anyway, so the little ‘reveals’ were a tad overdue and therefore provoked my
emotions not even a little bit. But some were good. The ending was the most
depressing of all. It didn’t make me cry, this wasn’t ‘The Color Purple’ (sweet
flip-flops if you want emotions - read that book), but it just left me feeling
really empty and sad for the character.
One thing I
enjoyed was the writing style. It was almost like having a conversation with
the protagonist. Like you were sat in a room with her and she was telling you
her story – going back and forward through her memories so that you’d get
everything. This writing style is really bugging people according to other
reviews I’ve read. Everyone either seems to find the writing style beautiful
and engaging or the most painful, dreary, boring experience of reading the
novel. I personally really enjoyed it. I think it’s one of the better ways of
enjoying a novel more fully and exploring characters well. Even if you end up
with a slightly biased narration at the end of it all.
People have compared
this novel to works by Atwood and Huxley.
NO.
NO.
JUST…NO.
No-where
near as good. “Never let me go” was alright, and is currently leaving me all
muddled emotion-wise, but nothing close to Atwood/Huxley.
In
conclusion – give it a go. If the writing style begins to put you off just stop
reading because it pretty much stays the same throughout the entire thing. If
you want something cheerful, stay away. For all it’s bad points it does seem to
be getting everyone all worked up and irate about how good/bad they think it
is, so I’ll give it that – it makes a total bitch of your emotions whichever
way you go.
Sunday, 1 December 2013
Library Camp UK 2013. The results from the notepad...
So at the beginning of Library Camp I left a notepad in the main theatre. The idea was that Librarians could write in tips for Graduate trainees, along the lines of "Things people I wish people had told me before doing my masters" or "Tips for the Librarians of the future".
I didn't get a massive response, but there were a few who wrote some things down, thank you to whoever they were! Here's what they put, in no particular order. There are a surprising number of exclamation marks. Love it:
1) Open up your content!
2) Learned more from my MscILM than my PGDIPILM - which is already out of date. Do the Dissertation!
3) Get involved! Stay in touch with passionate people. Try not to get bogged down by naysayers. Embrace your profession, be proud of what you are studying.
4) Spend as much time telling people what you're doing as you are doing it! Learn about marketing.
5) Keep an open mind - I've ended up 500 miles away from "home" doing a job I got the lowest mark for that course at library school, but I've learnt SO much and have really grown, good luck!
6) Un-conferences - Library Camp ;)
7) Keep gaining practical experience throughout. Even just through plt or voluntary work.
8) Talk to everyone on the course, find out what they do and share what you've done, you learn the most this way.
9)
- Get on Twitter
- Learn how to use reference management software
- Talk to lots of people in the profession
- Visit libraries
Don't get stuck in the (echo) - (Not sure if I have read this correctly!) chamber...read non-library journals and get ideas from other sectors.
And that's that! If anyone know where I could post this that will be of more use - I'm going to post to the graduate trainees facebook page for a start - please let me know!
Over and out.
I didn't get a massive response, but there were a few who wrote some things down, thank you to whoever they were! Here's what they put, in no particular order. There are a surprising number of exclamation marks. Love it:
1) Open up your content!
2) Learned more from my MscILM than my PGDIPILM - which is already out of date. Do the Dissertation!
3) Get involved! Stay in touch with passionate people. Try not to get bogged down by naysayers. Embrace your profession, be proud of what you are studying.
4) Spend as much time telling people what you're doing as you are doing it! Learn about marketing.
5) Keep an open mind - I've ended up 500 miles away from "home" doing a job I got the lowest mark for that course at library school, but I've learnt SO much and have really grown, good luck!
6) Un-conferences - Library Camp ;)
7) Keep gaining practical experience throughout. Even just through plt or voluntary work.
8) Talk to everyone on the course, find out what they do and share what you've done, you learn the most this way.
9)
- Get on Twitter
- Learn how to use reference management software
- Talk to lots of people in the profession
- Visit libraries
Don't get stuck in the (echo) - (Not sure if I have read this correctly!) chamber...read non-library journals and get ideas from other sectors.
And that's that! If anyone know where I could post this that will be of more use - I'm going to post to the graduate trainees facebook page for a start - please let me know!
Over and out.
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