Crazy Book Lady

I haven't posted in a long time because I've been so busy (read: a bit busy but mostly lazy) and because well, let's face it, nobody is actually reading this anyway.

Still, I'm bored at the moment because I'm all alone as my lovely boyfriend has gone to Singapore without me! But I'll be joining him on the 5th of June - I booked my ticket yesterday so it's all happening. Then I will finally have some time to concentrate on my studies instead of stupid work which I hate and which sucks all the energy out of me like a black hole (that's probably not a fitting simile but hey, I'm not a physicist).

I've been busy with moving (I moved back into my dad's for a while after Neil left to save money) and now packing and organising everything.

My course is going well, though I'm still behind as usual (will I ever catch up? Only when I'm not working I guess). I've gotten a fair few assignments back now, and I've gotten mostly good marks and a few average marks. Of course, the average marks are the ones that stick with me, but I keep telling myself that I can't expect to be perfect straight away. It takes all my energy to stay posivtive and not be discouraged, because I know I have to have faith in myself, but I just don't want to be one of those people who keeps trying to be or do something that they're actually crap at. But then again, there's always Stephanie Meyer...

I've been reading Angela's Ashes for my Life Writing class, and also just for my own general enjoyment, if the word 'enjoyment' can be used when referring to this horribly depressing and bleak book. Books like this remind me of why I love to read and why I want to be a writer, the way McCourt is able to write as though he is actually there, and is a child again. Even though I grow up in totally different circumstances (thankfully!), I can completely identify with the young Frank and the constant state of confoundment he's in over the strange behaviour of the adults around him. Brilliant stuff.

Also recently read Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvis which was extremely riveting, disturbing and well-written. Yes, it is about vampires, but no, it is nothing like Twilight (not that I've read Twilight, but I've seen enough to know that I have seen too much).

I also made one of my beloved trips to the a second-hand book shop, this time one in Albert Park called 'Poets and Thieves' (how good is that name?). I had a very successful rummage and came home with my very own copy of Cloudstreet, which I have longed for for some time and have searched for it high and low in bookstores across the land (hyperbole, anyone?)

I also picked up Joan Didion's Where Was I From (I'm trying to read more memoirs for my life writing class) and the recent Sarah Waters novel The Little Stranger which was also on my list. So all in all, a very fruitful search which was mighty pleasing as I spent the better part of an hour in there perusing. The books were not alphabetised so I pretty much had to look and every single one to see if there was something I wanted.

Second-hand book shopping has to be one of my favourite pass-times. My all-time most memorable bookstore was the one I went to in Castlemaine on Easter weekend. I had to wait 3 days for it to open (visiting each day just in case) but it was so worth it in the end. This place was unbelievable! You could barely move for books in there, they were books piled high to the ceiling and the spaces in between were so narrow that you had to press against a wall of books to let someone pass by. The lady manning (womaning?) the store was in a booth of books too. I imagine she had to sell her way out of it or be stuck there forever.

On that trip I picked up 5 books if I recall, but I've packed them in one of my moving boxes and now I can't find them and I can't for the life of me remember the titles of them all. I know one was Wally Lamb's The Hour I First Believed (not sure how I managed to misplace that as it's bigger than my head) and another one was Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible, which has also been on my list for a while. When you find those ones you've been wanting for a while it's so satisfying. I'm stocking up now so I can have them all shipped over to Singapore because I'm not going to have any money to do anything but as long as I can read I will be happy.

I can picture myself as an old lady in a tiny room surrounded by books and nothing else. I'll be like crazy cat lady but with books instead of cats. Crazy book lady.