I promised in the last post to tell you about my recent experience of going to the library and Chick Lit.
Firstly, the library. The town where I live has a beautiful library which was completely refurbished, along with the council offices around two years ago. I have always loved going in there as it’s well-stocked, well organised and with really helpful, friendly, knowledgeable staff. Having not been in for maybe 6 months (I don’t know why but I just got out of the habit of going), I was shocked last Saturday when there was only one member of staff (the others were on lunch apparently) who had to manage enquiries at the council desk as well as serve in the library itself.
The shelves, whilst still well-stocked were completely disorganised with books wildly out of order making it almost impossible to find what you were looking for. Perhaps a little cheekily I asked the aforementioned sole staff member whether the library welcomed/accepted or tolerated volunteers. I imagine this is rather a sensitive issue given all the cuts to funding and therefore staff levels and I certainly don’t want to put anyone out of work by providing my labour for free. However, the librarian was absolutely thrilled that I’d asked, said things couldn’t possibly get any worse with regards to staffing levels and they were in the process of setting up a team of volunteers so the timing was perfect.
My favourite two games as a little girl cast me in the role of either ‘teacher’ or ‘librarian’ so I’m really excited and can’t wait to do my first stint sorting out those shelves!
And now to Chick Lit. Like I suspect many readers I’ve always steered clear of books with the obvious air of ‘for girls’ that Chick Lit seems to exude and therefore have no right whatsoever to pass any sort of judgement on them. Watching The Book Show recently though I saw an interview with Sophie Kinsella, a well-known doyenne of the genre, and she seemed eminently sensible and intelligent. Shortly after I saw a presenter I admire (whose name escapes me!) talking about books she reads and how she’d never have considered Chick Lit but had been asked to review a book of this type and loved it.
So, I decided to tackle a Sophie Kinsella first (well, I feel like I can trust her having seen her once, on a TV programme!) and picked Remember Me. Confession time. I was hooked right from the first sentence. The writing style is humorous, rattles along at a great pace and I am absolutely dying to know a) what happens and b) how the whole memory loss thing is going to be explained/resolved.
Right, back to the book …
alkitaba 