With the heat hitting an all time high here in Oz, I've got the excuse of lolling about in the air conditioning, which gives me lots of time to read. No, not the classics I said I would, but books I don't have to analyse, critique or review. It feels so good to be able to read a book for the pure pleasure of it.
First up was J K Rowling's adult fiction, The Casual Vacancy - I like a community novel and this one I couldn't put down. Now I'm on to Dawn French's, A Tiny Bit Marvellous - it's okay so far but doesn't exactly have me snatching every spare moment I can just to keep reading it. I've ordered some more from the library (Fred and Edie by Jill Dawson; The Harp in the South by Ruth Park), so it'll be a summer spent whiling away the time with my nose in a book. I'm reminded of my teenage years when I was deemed 'unsociable' by my family due to my preference for the company of the characters of Virginia Andrews, Sidney Sheldon or Jackie Collins. My extreme isolation from the rest of the family resulted in Dad hiding my books one weekend because he said I would 'go blind' from reading too much!!
Anyway, my recent reading activity has re-sparked my deep-seated desire to become a Librarian. I can still remember going to the local Council library with Mum when I was little and watching the Librarian with her trolley of books; stamping them with the return date and searching through the catalogue cards. From memory it was a pretty dark and dreary library but for the rows and rows of books on offer and I remember that feeling of just knowing that's what I wanted to do. I also remember when the kids were little, I think I was more excited than they were at the prospect of our weekly visit to the local library; coming home with an arm-full of picture books and instantly sorting through them to find the one I'd read to them first.
So it seems that this magical 'purpose' I've been searching for and angsting over most of my life, may have been known to me all along. Could I finally have a goal? I mean, look at my blog page - it's covered in books. How could I have missed it?!
