i need to brag

This space has remained somewhat outside my thinking for a little too long. There is much to add here:

• I love my flat
• my books look good on shelves
• I am on a conference committee again – co-convening a 1 day programme no less
• I have a space to call my own
• my job continues to attract me, though I have no idea where to go next
• I am in the middle of sad times and anniversaries – but still I find a path through
• I have a much needed week off
• I am

But on to bragging. I’m in the midst of adjusting to having a proper mortgage once more; a bigger mortgage than I’ve had previously, though not painfully so. Yet, it must be said, that I need to curtail my spending. Especially on books; my spending in that regard has gotten rather out of hand in recent months. To which, all that know me, simply say “and?”. I have restrained myself for several weeks; for several weeks there have been no new orders winging their way toward me, whether of US or UK or European origins. Similarly, I have been remarkably reticient in the flesh. The lists that I have posted here (and the biggest is to come) are testament to the books I have desired but managed not to buy.

All such effort failed me today. I was in Berkelouw’s in Newtown and spied a tome in their cabinet; in their locked cabinet. It appeared to be a limited edition – Folio Society – of Cervantes’ Don Quixote. I have never read this book and, having spent the first half of my life as a shy reader, I even pronounced it incorrectly. The word I had in my head was something along the lines of …quick-zot-e…or thereabouts. I would hear Don Key-oat-ay pronounced as a classic but never suspected it was the same book. I realised my error a few years ago thankfully and have been on the lookout for a nice edition ever since.

When I spied said edition in the cabinet at Berkelouw’s, I experienced a pause, a moment; time ceased. It was a Folio Society limited edition (LE in Folio speak), #705 of 1,250 copies. Printed in 2005 to mark the 400th anniversary of first publication of this famous work (what is now known as Part I was published in 1605, its sequel, Part II, was published in 1615. The Folio LE combines both parts). The price: a mere AUD$300. The reaction: eep!

I went home. I spent hours online researching, with thanks to the FS denizens of LibraryThing and other sites, and realised it was a bargain. It currently sells for around GBP580 and US950. The important matter for me was not so much the value as to ensure that I wasn’t being ripped off. Certainly, I could not, nor would not, have paid the higher prices. The price was around that for which it sold initially in 2005.

So I returned to the shop, armed with the fruits of my research; my appreciation of its provenance. I examined it at a separate table: it did indeed include the additional essay by Miranda France, it was in a box (rather than slipcase), it was beautifully bound in goatskin leather. It had delicious illustrations by Quentin Blake, it was translated by Smollett. A note here: there have been later translations including a recent one that are regarded as far superior to Smollet, however the Smollett one does seem to convey a good sense of humour, which is rather promising. I suspect it hasn’t been read, given the way the pages open up, or rather don’t, when stood on its spine. It is, as new, as far as I can tell.

Needless to say, it is now mine. Now will I read it.

a box of desires

It’s time to grab a bunch more items off my mobile. The previous effort, attracted a good suggestion of texting to my LibraryThing account though I’m yet to do so significantly as that option relies upon the US amazon, which is unlikely to have everything I seek. Now if there were a texting option reliant upon Booko, that might be just the thing I need. I may perhaps explore the option of a post listing the books I’ve bought and there is, in my head, a post for the hunt for one particular item. Not to mention a post on the disappointing decision re cost of books in this country. As you can see from the booko links under each ISBN below, it’s fairly obvious that many publishers are charging the Oz audience a wee bit much. On to the list:

• Astrolabes at Greenwich: A Catalogue of the Astrolabes in the National Maritime Museum by Koenrad van Cleempoel [9780198530695]
• Reason, Faith, and Revolution: Reflections on the God Debate (Terry Lectures) by Terry Eagleton [9780300151794]
• Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt by Bernard Rosenthal [9780521661669]
• Memory’s Library: Medieval Books in Early Modern England by J Summit [9780226781716]
• Death and the Devil by Frank Schatzing [9781847248343]
• Lost Languages: The Enigma of the World’s Undeciphered Scripts by Andrew Robinson [9780500514535]
• Time Restored: The Harrison timekeepers and R.T. Gould, the man who knew (almost) everything by Jonathan Betts [9780198568025]
• The Tyndale Bible: A Facsimile by David Daniell [9780712350280]
• To Cork or Not to Cork: Tradition, Romance, Science, and the Battle for the Wine Bottle by George Tabor [9780743299343]
• The Atlas of Legendary Lands: Fabled kingdoms, phantom islands, lost continents & other mythical worlds by Judyth A. McLeod [9781741961416]
• Bendable Learnings by Don Watson [9781741669046]
• The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood [9781408803592]
• Gunyah, Goondie & Wurley: The Aboriginal Architecture of Australia by Paul Memmott [9780702232459]
• The Encyclopedia of Religion in Australia edited by James Jupp [9780521864077]
• EdgyCute: From Neo-Pop to Low Brow and Back Again by Harry Saylor [9780981780597]
• The Cave and the Cathedral: How a Real-life Indiana Jones and a Renegade Scholar Decoded the Ancient Art of Man by Amir D. Aczel [9780470373538]
• 100 Words by Jim Lee/Neil Gaiman – a print inspired by Gaiman’s “100 word” poem musing on death with proceeds to aid CBDLF (Comic Book Legal Defence Fund).

addiction

According to that source of wit & wisdom, The Sun-Herald, 2009 marks the 30th anniversary of coffee overtaking tea as a substance of addiction in this country. It’s been all downhill since then. We now consume, on average, 4 litres per person per year; I think I consume at least 4 litres a week myself.

However, debate continues over the difference between a flat-white and a latte. I always thought there was more water in the former and milk in the latter. Certainly there does seem to be a differing viscosity. dave points out that some folk speak of the ratio of the cap foam vs normal milk; for others, it’s simply a matter of cup vs glass. Then of course, there’s my current favourite, the piccolo which for me, is a latte but with less than half the milk. Due to the reduced milk, there’s a stronger taste of coffee.

odd times

Odd times indeed. I have several multi hundred word posts fighting for space in my head…because I can’t manage to find the time to sit down and type them up. Distractions abound. Many of them silly…well almost all of them I s’pose. There’s a post on The Great Book Sorting – whereby I regale you all with the tales of opening boxes of books and putting them on shelves…some are even in order. Fascinating stuff. There’s the post where I guide you through the exotic minutae of adding your location ID to one of Gale’s generic MARC URLs. Oh the rapture. The things that exist inside my head. Oh deary deary me.

“They’re as mild as, well, a roomful of librarians.” SMH 14th Nov 2009

The essay in Saturday’s Spectrum featured the above line as part of a discussion of the future of the State Library of NSW. Very much of the old school I’d guess. All those teenagers working on group assignments in the hallowed halls, interrupting his quiet time. If he were as deaf as me, rowdy teenagers would never intrude again. Libraries, and much of society it must be said, are wonderful places for quiet solitude…so long as I remember to switch off my hearing aids. Though he is mostly right when he argues that there is a disconnect between the old and the new. The two parts of the SL have never really seemed to fit. They are different spaces. Folks at the SL do have plans for new spaces…fingers crossed and all that.

To be fair…I’ve barely touched on my own thoughts on the matter as I type once more, few words seem to make it to the page. My muse is absent and the words are not flowing. My word count is higher than expected but this piece is mostly fluff of my own making.

However there is some interesting news and proof that I am late to the party once more. In my hunt for a link to the above essay, I discovered that the SMH back archive is now free! Free I tell you! I did a search on Newsstore, found the article and a link that that said all was free. They are charging no longer. I don’t know when that happened. I find it curious that they are not charging at a time when the Murdoch papers are threatening to go the other way. Interesting timing I s’pose…or at least I guess it would be if I had any sort of clue as to timings at all.

My apologies for the dreariness of my words and the lack of intellect and response to this week’s essay in the SMH. I was struck by the quote it is true but seem unable to recall my thoughts at the time of reading.  I do you, my readership, a disservice. Regardless, I shall continue to post, inane though it may be at times…as I tend to find, it’s easier to write, if I’m writing regularly. If I can regain the flow, I may be able to write of bigger things once more.

oops

I’ve stuffed up. Or been caught out. The new Pratchett, Unseen Academicals, was due for release in the UK a couple of days ago. With memories of delays of up to a month between UK release and Oz (and 6+ months back in the 80s/early 90s), I ordered it from Amazon (along with Torchwood’s Children of Earth on DVD). Partly the delay and partly the price which I figured at around AUD$25-30 was going to be substantially cheaper than the local copy.

It appears it was released in Oz at the same time as the UK, and it was printed locally ie it was not an import. Admittedly it’s AUD$50 so I’ve paid nearly half that. However I’ve seen it in so many bookshops now, Melbourne & Sydney, and I’m not expecting my UK copy to arrive for another week. So I have deprived myself of the pleasure of reading it “now” and I’ve deprived local publishers a bit of cash.

moving along

I am now living in my flat and it feels like home already. It feels right. The move has not been without its hiccups, particularly as the removalists turned up in the small truck. I’d provided a full list of stuff to move, however the truck could only take most of the furniture and a few of the boxes. The furniture was moved a week and half ago with all the boxes a few days back.

The first thing I did was construct my bed, closely followed by net access. The Unwired modem I had for the old place has been useful as it means I have uninterrupted net access. I am looking forward to returning to proper ADSL once more as the wireless fluctuates more than I’d like. I’m actually looking at a naked ADSL connection which means I don’t have to pay for a phone line, thus relying on my mobile for regular calls.

On the weekend, some friends helped me move in the rest of the boxes ie all the books. My loungeroom is no longer quite so empty, though it still feels spacious despite the appearance:

I moved the microwave over last week, however I didn’t find its tray til last night. I spent the intervening week polishing bookcases. I popped into the local hardware shop and asked the chap there for advice on timber polishers. He recommended a good polisher which I tested on one bookcase. The results were great so I proceeded to do the rest and they’re all looking much, much better.

These bookcases are over 40 years old and were built by my grandfather as a wedding present to my parents. They’re still in pretty good nick. There is one bookcase however that is a little run down. As near as I can work out, this was the bookcase my grandfather built for dad when he went to bible college. Needless to say, dad did not look after it as well as he might

I had an interesting experience with the stove last week. Knowing I had a gas stove, I had bought a fire lighter. Turning the knob and pointing the lighter in the right direction achieved nothing. Read the manual a few times, still no clue. Rang gas company and they said they’d send someone out. Stayed home all day but gas techie didn’t show.

While on hold to the gas company the next day, I read the manual yet again. Toward the back of it, I came across the term “automatic ignition” and a couple of instructions and had a d’oh! moment:

“You turn the knob to the flame position and push it down til it ignites.”

Voila! Turns out, as a child safety feature, the gas doesn’t flow until you push the ignition. One of those times I was glad I was on hold and was able to cancel the techie. As my boss commented, it’s just as well the techie didn’t make it out as it would’ve been rather embarrassing

in motion

I arrived back in Sydneytown 2 weeks ago. I had the keys to my new home by the following Sat and I have booked a truck to move my stuff in on Friday. I may actually have too many bookshelves, my own plus all of dad’s. The new place can handle all my stuff but I suspect I won’t move in all the bookcases – maybe 7 or 8, or even 9; one big one will go at the back of my secure parking spot. With it my chest of drawers as I have a walk-in wardrobe with drawers on one side and shelves on the other. Luxury! My plans to convert the ensuite to a cellar have been foiled as it’s a bloody good shower and of decent size. Whereas the guest shower is a bath/shower combo. A good shower is to die for and this is hotel quality at that. Actually, the place feels a little like a decent hotel at the moment. That will change when I move in properly. It will never be as clean again. My new fridge and washing machine arrived last week and I got good deals on both.

I am back at work – a month off has made a massive difference. I feel refreshed. I’m enjoying work again. It helps that after a couple of years of double handling they finally got rid of one of the two systems I had to manually keep in sync. It has removed a tripping point from my work flow and has meant I can start to think again…think of what new things I can do. Where else I can take my job, what fun can I have?

I continue to travel, and still need to write up my experiences of IFLA Milan 2009, as I plan to visit Melbourne in the next few weeks in order to catch up with friends and with Dali. I’m also planning to make it to Perth at long, long last. That will probably be between Boxing Day and early January. Hopefully the wineries will be open. Nothing planned but look forward to hanging out and catching up with friends. Next year hmmm…there’s an eclipse of the sun and the best viewing spot is Easter Island. It has sufficient peculiarity as to be attractive – possibly combined with a short trip of highlights in Sth America.

I’m no longer at rest.

at rest

I have stopped. Motion ceased. I flew out of Sydney just under 3 weeks ago. Catsitting in London. Familiar surroundings but nothing of home. Stopping. I have spent days in the flat doing nothing, or reading. Days out, times catching up with London friends. Stopped. A breather from living.

A chance to listen to myself.

In the last few weeks I have had a whole bunch of moments; stopping points where the world has caught up. It’s been good.

In Oz, it is my birthday, not quite yet in Europe. I have received one “happy birthday” message and it was very welcome, from someone I continue to care about. Tomorrow the 21st, Europe time, I fly to Milan and will have a birthday dinner with library folk.

I am at rest.

books i might want

It has long been my practice that when I’m in bookshops, often, and I see a book I like, frequently, but not keen to buy it then and there, I add its ISBN to the note section on my phone. Potentially I can find it much cheaper online or perhaps more info, reviews and indications of whether it’s any good or whether there might be a better book on the same topic. Or even, given my fetish for nice bindings, a nicer edition. Or just simply the space to have second thoughts.

Having run out of storage space on my phone for such notes, here is the current list. This way at least, they’re stored somewhere vaguely useful.

• Science: A Four Thousand Year History by Patricia Fara [9780199226894]
• Ideas That Matter by A.C. Grayling [9780297856764]
• The Atlas Of Secret Societies by David V. Barrett [9781841813356]
• Science And Islam by Ehsan Masood [9781848310407]
• Treasure-house Of The Language: The Living OED by Charlotte Brewer [9780300124293]
• Historical Atlas [9780731813810]
• The Rose Labyrinth by Titania Hardie [9780755344567]
• Cities Of The Renaissance by Michael Swift & Angus Konstam [9781906347109]
• Encyclopedia Of The Scientific Revolution: From Copernicus To Newton by Wilbur Applebaum [9780415988469]
• The Templars by Michael Haag [9781846681486]
• A Universal History Of The Destruction Of Books: From Ancient Sumer To Modern-day Iraq by Fernando Baez [9781934633014]
• Decoding The Heavens: Solving the Mystery of the World’s First Computer by Jo Marchant [9780434018352]
• Age Of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science by Richard Holmes [9780007149520]
• A Companion To The History Of The Book by Simon Eliot, Jonathan Rose [9781405127653]
• The Hidden by Tobias Hill [9780571218387]
• The Inheritance of Rome: A History of Europe from 400 to 1000 by Chris Wickham [9780713994292]
• A Brief History of History: Great Historians and the Epic Quest to Explain the Past by Colin Wells [9781599211220]
• Necronomicon: The Best Weird Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft by H. P. Lovecraft [9780575081567]
• The Historians’ Paradox: The Study of History in Our Time by Peter Charles Hoffer [9780814737149]

There was actually more fiction on the list but it appears that I’ve managed to buy most of the fiction I was keeping track of. There’s a few books I keep meaning to buy but never quite get round to, for which I haven’t recorded ISBNs such as Romulus, My Father, Cloud Street, a couple of those classics that have been reprinted in nice leather plus a few penguin classics. That’s all that comes to mind for the moment. I daresay there will be more.

texting book stuff

Was reading recently about catalogues and liked the idea of a button in a catalogue for texting the book details to your phone. This may well be an idea already becoming obsolete with the recent revolutions of the blackberry/iphone folk. However, it remains the case for me, and I guess many others, that standing in front of a catalogue, or an interesting book in a shop, and wanting a way to record the necessary information. In bookshops, I have long had the practice of saving ISBNs as notes in my phone. My phone is a very simple one but it can handle notes. However, in a library, I find the item on the screen and I either memorise the location details (approximately) or I look for a pencil and paper (also difficult as I’ve mostly lost the motor skill of writing long hand – I need a keyboard).

For this intervening period, a catalogue that can text book information sounds like a good plan. I suspect I’ll be upgrading my phone capabilities before too long (I need to start begging work to give me a blackberry – chance: almost zero) but many others will always be in catch up mode.