One of the advantages of commuting by public transport is that I have an extra 7.5 hours per week to dedicate to reading, Thus I am averaging about a book a week. Not exactly ravenous, but not too shabby, considering the number of people who don’t read at all – or who will no longer read now that the Harry Potter adventures are all wrapped up.
Despite having been raised by a devout Librarian, I somehow picked up the naughty habit of buying books. Mostly, because I enjoy writing in them and giving them to people, but also because since I moved away from home, Mom can no longer erase my overdue fines. Aside from the occasional find at St Vincent dePaul’s, buying books in Australia is preposterous. Books here are outrageously expensive. Outrageously. Even used books are excessive. I had myself a little rant at Dymock’s where the clerk calmly explained that the reason books were so expensive is that Australia had to pay exorbitant fees to the bloody American Publishing houses. How does that explain the 128 page paperback, written by Australian authors and published in Sydney that just cost me $30?? (Editor's Note: Derogatory comment regarding Australia's convict heritage has been thoughtfully deleted.)
And so, I have developed a very close relationship with the Lane Cove Library. Although their collection is typically lacking any book I am actively seeking (hence the aggravation at Dymock’s), I can always find something amusing to read. And they have an exquisite collection of DVD’s, including old classics, heaps of Aussie movies, and the entire 182 seasons of M*A*S*H. (Mind you, M*A*S*H was a great show, but I am still a little baffled by its lingering popularity here. I suspect they like it because every once in a while a brave and stalwart digger makes an appearance on the show, always in a favourable light.)
The Lane Cove Library is run by a prototypical library staff: 30% genuinely helpful professional bibliophiles, 30% crotchety old farts with fat ankles, 20% social misfits without people skills who are very annoyed that you are disturbing their perfectly ordered world by moving their books around and asking questions. Since we moved to St Leonards from the Village of Lane Cove, visiting the library has become a bit of an event for us. Lately, we have been walking the hilly 2.5 Km, then stopping in at the butcher’s to collect something for dinner, or having lunch at my favourite place for Portuguese chicken burgers.
But my favourite time to visit the library is when it is pissing down rain – which it has done for about 25 out of the last 30 days. This is not because the prospect of curling up with a good book or an old movie on a rainy afternoon is so appealing…nor is it because the library is located in a cozy brick building. It is because when it rains, the roof leaks like a sprinkler. I find this infinitely amusing for some reason that can only be a defect in my moral character. (Editor's Note: A derogatory comment regarding Australian building standards has been deleted.) The floor becomes a maze of buckets catching small waterfalls. The carpet beneath the rear wall has sprouted a thick shag of white fungus. The stacks are draped with large plastic sheets. I think it is very fun to climb under the tarps and browse through the fiction titles in solitude. It's like being in a dark smelly tent with all my favourite authors telling me bed time stories.
Yesterday, upon check out, I was handed a slip of paper explaining the relocation of half the collection to temporary quarters during construction of a new library. What is odd is that the new library is going to be in an entirely different location from the current one, so I cannot comprehend why half the collection is being temporarily relocated elsewhere and half will remain where it is. My questions were answered by an angry stare from an employee clearly in the 20th percentile, so I collected my books and departed in a state of mild bewilderment that has become all too familiar to me since moving to Australia.
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6 comments:
M*A*S*H remains popular in the UK, too; I didn't see as many DVDs of it there but one of the free cable channels used to air it (twice? Thrice?) every week (and they looped the entire series).
Maybe the humour and the characters were timeless; anti-war yet touching without being mawkish: something for everyone.
And the ANZACs and the Brits played large but largely unsung roles in Korea.
I have a few confessions to make:
1. I have never watched an entire epiosde of M*A*S*H, nor watched the Brady Bunch. I don't even know what My 3 Sons is about and didn't know Mr Ed was a horse until I was in my late teens. We did not have commercial TV; the lack of which I feel resulted in my becoming an information junkie.
2. One of my first jobs was in a college library. I was 18. Everyone else was old. It amused me greatly to move books around to confuse my co-workers. We had no red covered books in our library. Every book with a red cover had to covered in brown paper.
3. Sydney has the worst record (IMHO) for drainage of any kind. Adequate run off from the roads, footapths, gutters, buildings ... basically any ite which is ground-bound is destined to eventually drown when it rains.
What titles did you eventually borrow from the library? And do they fine public library users these days if books are late?
PS: Last but not least, I thought Hot Lips was a man. Honest.
"ite", of course, being "item".
CAW, you should be proud. I know for a fact that endless afternoons spent watching The Brady Bunch seriously impacted my outlook on family life in a way that took several years of therapy to sort out.
I am currently reading 100 Years of Solitude, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, and Farenheit 451. I also checked out Tales from Earthsea, because it is adored by someone I respect very much, but I really dislike the genre and couldn't manage it. AS for videos, we took Charade, Getting Square (again), and Dirty Deeds. Watching Aussie movies is a critical part of our cultural immersion program.
cawslaw said:
oooo, I like your bookworthy choices. Re films. Have you test-driven the Aussie classic, Lantana? Or how about Jindabyne (considered by some to be laboured & tedious, but considered by me to be quite genius, bar some pretty crappy acting - it's about the consequences of one's actions .. well, both films are).
How about the 1950s (or 60s - I don't recall) ripper: Jedda? It was the first film which featured an Aboriginal woman. I loved it when I was a kiddie, but cannot vouch for what it is like from an adult's perspective.
I would highly recommend you rent it if the library has it.
Your immersion wouldn't be complete without it!
Just a little note to let you know that the Lane Cove Library will be returning the other half of the collection to the Original Building at 139a Longueville Road on completion of the redevelopment and renovation of the site. This will happen hopefully in the first half of 2010.
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