Sunday, June 23, 2013

Welcome to the blog!


Hello and welcome! It's lovely to have you here with me.

I am Jessica, and this is my space to talk about books. Books that I'm reading and that I loved, and books that I don't think did their job well, and books I think everyone should read and books I wish I had read.

I'm also going to talk about book-ish things - libraries, authors, book launchs, exhibitions, other blogs. I have signed up for newsletters about books from all over the world, so I'll share any interesting tidbits I get from those, too.

I love to read all sorts of books, both fiction and non-fiction. My favourite genre is Young Adult, especially YA Fantasy. I also love stories of survival, like after a shipwreck, or a plane crash. Bonus points if cannibalism is mentioned! I really love reading about World War II, I find it a fascinating period of time, with amazing examples of self-sacrifice and heroism and utter nastiness and horror. It just feels like a really specific time period that encapsulates absolutely the best and the worst of humanity.

Following on from my fascination with WWII, I want to read more poetry. Some really wonderful poetry was written by men in the mud and blood and the nightmare of the trenches, poetry that can fill your spirit and carry you away on a dream. I want to read the poetry from the trenches. And I want to read Australian poetry too. I have always admired people who are able to recite poetry and I want to be able to do that.

I have not been spending a lot of time in real-life bookstores lately, which is another thing I want to change. I have been getting a lot of books from the library and re-reading some of my old favourites, but I also know there's so many amazing books coming out all the time and it's important to keep up with those. My favourite bookstore is Reader's Feast, which I loved when they were in a slightly tricky-to-find spot on Bourke street, and which I completely adore now that they are in the gorgeous former George's building on Collins street. There are lots of others I love too, Dymocks on Collins street, Hill of Content, Readings in Hawthorn and Readings at the State Library of Victoria.

I'll try to keep things mostly book related, but I'll probably stray occasionally. For instance, I love Melbourne. I mean, really, I love Melbourne a lot. And there are so many book-ish things to do in Melbourne! So I'll definitely be talking about my own beautiful city, Melbourne.

This is your space to talk about books too - if you have thoughts on a post of mine, please do share! When I worked in a bookstore, my favourite thing to do was talk to people and find the perfect book to recommend to them. If you need a book to read, let me know what you've read lately and loved, or what area you want to get into, and I'll see what I can do. I luckily have some very talented friends who will probably jump in with suggestions too.

This is really just an introductory post, but I'll be back soon with a review or two to share.

3 comments:

  1. go Jess sounds brilliant i shall be tuning in!

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  2. Adding you to my Feedly now :) Welcome to blogdom.

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