I am a dedicated borrower of books. I spent my childhood being babysat by libraries. I spent my teenage years hiding from my peers in libraries. I spent my university years studying (and sometimes sleeping) in libraries. And I’ve spent the last 12 years working in libraries. As the latest government cuts kicked in at the beginning of 2016 I thought I was going to lose my job. I found out three days before Christmas that I was staying, although the service we provide is going to look very different by this time next year. I love my job, and the people I work with, and the people I serve every day. I’m lucky enough to work with friends, some of whom have the same peculiar tastes as me, others who challenge me to read outside my SFF bubble.
At first I planned to write this blog because I thought it would be a way of continuing to talk about books after I’d lost my colleagues and customers. Then, during the Year I Thought I’d Lose My Job I started amassing a collection of books from charity shops, secondhand book stalls, library sales, and regular book stores so that I wouldn’t run out of things to read when I no longer had daily access to the library, and I thought I could write about working my way through the literal mountain of books I’ve collected. Finally, I found that I just enjoy writing about books. So that’s what I’m going to do – wherever I get them from, however I chose them.
I don’t only read SFF, but it is my primary flavour. I’ll read anything except a straight-up romance, and some of my all-time favourite books have nothing to do with dragons, phasers or aliens.
Welcome. Let the foraging begin …
