vala once again

I’m having something of an odd time. A good time. A time as part of a larger community of shared interests. There’s people I know, with stories to tell. There is buzz and chat and depth and laughter and most of all, friendship. I have been looking forward to #VALA2010 for months and it is proving to be wonderful and everything I hoped for. I work for a vendor yet feel most at home in the library community; they are my peers, my friends, my colleagues. They made me feel welcome.

I’ve been in Melbourne town for a week, having arrived a week ago for the company sales conference. I’ve been careful and taken it slow; pacing myself. Admittedly all such efforts were cast asunder on Saturday and Sunday and Monday, as I caught up with various library folk.

Twitter too, has provided, or facillitated, conversation and connection. I finally got the hang of twitter mid last year, once I moved it from SMS to client-based on my laptop;nevermind the serious smartphone envying I’m currently experiencing. I work in an office mostly by myself, occasionally surrounded by sales reps; no techies to speak of. My twitter community, those who follow and engage, have provided me with a working environment of sorts. Utterly unexpected. I feel disconnected now without that access; disconnected without that community of friends and colleagues.

I am rambling.

VALA started properly yesterday with the OCLC API Mashathon Boot Camp. This was an all day session for coders, or rather, it turned out to be for folk who are code aware, much to the relief of at least half the attendees. It was led by one of my library gods: Roy Tennant. I’d even convinced my boss to send me to LIANZA a few years ago as Roy was giving a keynote. The boot camp didn’t have much time for coding but that was ok. There was plenty of time for ideas, for interaction, for exchange, for communication. For me, it was the first time I’d been in a room where most people were twittering including the presenters

Boot camp was as much about sharing company as sharing data. Meeting new folk and new data streams. If there’s a theme emerging from VALA, it’s likely to be that of data streams. Exposing the data, developing access, and allowing others to re-purpose that data and create new tools, or enhance old ones. Create stuff, put it out there, and let other folk run with it. It’s about contributing to the community rather than keeping it to yourself.

VALA2010, for me, seems to be about creating a sharing, caring environment on so many levels.

finished: living dead in dallas

Living Dead In Dallas by Charlaine Harris [9780575089389]

Book #2 in the series and once again easy to get into and very, very hard to stop reading. If the quality can be maintained, I suspect I’m going to fly through the series.

finished: dead until dark

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris [9780575089365]

A friend recommended this series many years ago, and like so many things (Gaimain’s Sandman being another – halfway on that)  I never quite got round to reading them. Now of course, there’s the TV series True Blood based on these books. I finally picked up the 8 book box set the other day as it means each book costs me just over $10. I’m spending the next two weeks away conferencing: one internal followed by VALA, and need books to read that weren’t too heavy, either physically or mentally.

Having just finished the above title, started yesterday, I am happy to say that my purchase was a good one. It’s an easy read, and sucked me straight in, so to speak [not an intentional pun, bad though it is]. I’ve seen the first 6 episodes of the tv series and the book feels different and progresses in an alternate manner. Thankfully, it doesn’t seem to have any of the excesses of Hamilton’s Anita Blake series which I eventually gave up on.

finished: the brooklyn follies

The Brooklyn Follies by Paul Auster [9780805077148]

My last attempt at Auster was somewhat disappointing, though I did like the writing itself. This is my second attempt and was much better. It took a while to get going but somewhere pass the halfway point it grabbed me. The story of a man reconnecting and engaging with the threads of his life from which he has become isolated. The writing feels a little detached but proceeds in an easy paced laidback manner. The coincidental connections were a little forced at times but generally worked with the narrative flow ie it didn’t matter greatly as it wasn’t that sort of book.

finished: the year we seized the day

The Year We Seized the Day by Elizabeth Best & Colin Bowles [9781742372952]

Yet another book on making the pilgrimage to Santiago. But this one was really good and pretty much what I was hoping for. Written by two aussie authors, it’s the story of their walk along the 800km of the Camino to Santiago and beyond. At times laconic, and sad, and full of hope, and pain and definitely suffering. The feet really take a beating. But mostly it captures that sense of being in the bubble, where the rest of the world disappears and you are left to face the stuff in your head.

The story is told from the perspective of each author, alternating back and forth between views. I started and just wanted to read and read. The writing was honest and occasionally raw, yet bubbling with good humour. I read a review in the travel section of last week’s SMH over breakfast. I bought it on the way home and have since devoured it over several sittings.

new apple thing

Like many folk I have been waiting a long, long time for whatever the new Apple thang is likely to be. I had hoped something would have been released last year so that I could pass on my XP based ASUS Eee 901 to my mother. It is likely that Apple will finally release a “device” of some sort next week.

I’ve been thinking recently about what I originally wanted and the changes that having been going on since. A year ago I really wanted Apple to produce a 9 inch version of the Macbook Air. I think that’s still what I want, though a tablet version would be nice too. Plus I want it to weigh under a kilo: 6-700g would be fine; if Sony can get the VAIO down to 700g then it should be doable for Apple.

If it handles e-ink, or is almost as good as e-ink, so much the better. The screen as a tablet is also fine so long as there’s a good keyboard. As for ereaders themselves, I’m still in wait and see mode. Dedicated readers are still far too expensive and I don’t think, for me, that they’ll reach a “must rush out and buy” point until they’re under $100. With that said, I really want one; I particularly want an ereader for trips away, when lugging heavy books around can be painful.

I’m in the mood for a new gadget but it has to be the gadget that suits me.

finished: library of the dead

Library of the Dead by Glenn Cooper [9780099542544]

A detective novel mostly, with a nice twist. Enjoyable. Initially it started with a bit too much jargon but settled down to a good, solid story. Nothing too deep but I liked the twist and the way it was used. It could have been developed further perhaps but it wasn’t wasted.

15 things about me and books

Having read the post on Ruminations regarding the 15 things meme, I thought it was worth doing myself. It was fun to write and mostly came out in a single stream of consciousness last night. It puts in print, some of the things that are in my head regarding my relationship with my books over time: some historical, some current.

1. I loved Dr Suess as a child, not just the rhymes but the pictures of odd things and escher like stairways and arches and such. My sister also loved Dr Suess and there are already arguments over who will get which. Though it seems our mother, showing foresight, has put my name in some and my sister’s name in others.
2. As a child I had bad teeth, and required many fillings. The dentist was on the first floor in Burwood, overlooking Burwood Rd; across the road was a bookshop, The Bookworm I think. After each filling, mum would buy me one or two of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five series; a painful filling garnering two books as reward or perhaps compensation. I think I eventually acquired all 21 in this manner.
3. As a child I wanted to own a children’s bookshop, then shut it down so that I could work my way through all the books, selfish bugger was I.
4. I got a merit certificate in 6th class for library participation – simply because I’d borrowed the most books.
5. One of my favourite books as a young lad, was “Palio: The Wildest Horse Race in the World“, about a horse race in Italy with various competing contradas, each named after an animal. When flicking through it a few years ago with my then partner, it opened to a page with the emblem of the Contrada of the Snail. I’d never considered that as a possible inspiration for the nickname I chose. She managed to procure, with much difficulty, a pennant from said contrada (as the book was based on real events), and it now hangs on my wall in the main room – a family crest of sorts.
6. From my late teens, I bought lots of paperback SF, raiding the secondhand bookstores in Sydney, Ashwood’s especially. I read a lot of Asimov, Simak and other Golden Age writers.
7. Growing up, I bought and read lots of series: Enid Blyton (Famous Five, Secret Seven, * of Adventure), The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew (these two series read very similarly and were badly formulaic – written I suspect, by the same consortium of writers under the nom-de-plumes of Franklin W Dixon and Carolyn Keene), Biggles, Trixie Belden (these were 95c each, eventually increasing to $1.25 per book).
8. I like nice books. I have lots of paperbacks many dog eared (often by me), but at some point I decided I liked hardcovers, probably early in the early Pratchett days as I couldn’t wait for the paperback to come out. These days, for books I like, I seek out special editions, or leather bound copies. I’m not necessarily interested in first editions but I do like the feel of a nice book in the hand while reading. All books are for reading, regardless of cost. I buy books I want to read.
9. I like odd books: esoteric, out there, generally unusual; especially if there are interesting pictures. One of my favourites of such is the Codex Seraphinianus. My former partner bought me a lovely copy of The Voynich Transcript and translated the french essay that introduced it. Both items are treasured and lie together in the bookcase beside my bed.
10. In non fiction, I have a continuing interest in the History and Philosophy of Science which was my favourite major at uni. I have been slowly buying up all the books I used to photocopy.
11. I like words and dictionaries. I follow a few linguistic blogs and have a small collection of dictionaries…which seems to be increasing. As a corollary, I also collect reference books. The librarian in me likes having a good ready reference shelf beside the computer.
12. I like reading online too and back in the mid 90s on an old version of my website (annotated collection of links and other bits), I had htmlised Gutenberg’s version of HG Wells’ The Time Machine, along with some poetry.
13. I have managed to cull, or weed, a few hundred books from my collection…which took everyone by surprise. I then replaced them with a few hundred books of dad’s, that I chose out of the 3,000 or so that he left behind. They are intermingled on the shelves with my own.
14. For the first time in over a decade, all my books are in one place and on shelves, all visible. When I moved out of home, I left lots of books behind. Over the years I slowly packed my books and moved them out. For several years, they resided in boxes under my bed…and beside my bed. Even back when I lived in the parental home, to maximise space I would double stack the shelves ie one row in front of another so you had to move books in front to see what was behind. Now all titles are easily viewable.
15. At a rough estimate, I currently have around 2,000 books. I plan to eventually add them all to my LibraryThing account which I hope, will make it easier to keep track of what I have.

I’d better stop there before I get carried away.

finished: jesus wants me for a sunbeam

Jesus wants me for a sunbeam by Peter Goldsworthy [9780732267452]

A novella (approx: 70 pages), published alone. Somewhat so, as it has been fleshed out with notes and additional, related bits by the author including an essay. I just read the novella as I’ve wanted to read it for a long time; now having read it, I suspect I have read it previously

It ticks along, with a tale of an inward looking family and touches on themes of mortality and sacrifice; in some respects it seemed to follow on well from Miller’s Lovesong, for they both are about love. It’s also a book that holds up well to re-reading: its themes and writing don’t dull the re-telling. The author himself comments that every time he re-reads it, there’s something new there for him.

finished: lovesong

Lovesong by Alex Miller [9781742372723]

Very accessible. It sucked me in immediately and proved to be a quick read. A reflective novel, full of love and life and understanding. I felt for each of the characters and mostly for the author and his sense of separation. It was so easy to turn page after page, caught up as I was in the telling of the main story, yet so too, I was hungry for detail on the outer lives.

I bought this on Monday and here we are on Wednesday, and it is finished. 350 pages. I found the writing light but deft, the story propelled along easily; it had me quickly and I had no interest in letting go til it was done.