Stormy Sunday is Sharing the Shallows

May 13, 2017May 13, 2017shallowreader 6 Comments

Stormy Sunday/Kiriaki/Kiri and I are κουμπαρες, fellow bookgroup buddies, loud-mouthed plotters and schemers, I am her daughter’s godmother and we are long-time friends who argue and laugh and sup at each others’ tables. I can’t remember when I first met her. She hovered on the fringes of my primary school life, my Greek school classes, occasional apperances at Sunday School, and in and around our beloved ‘burb – she was there, lurker and talker (she would say that she was too shy to talk but I remember talking, dammit). We went to different high schools and did not see each other again until our late teens when I saw her at one of my best-friend’s homes. That is when we really started talking and talking and talking and talking. We went to church youth group together and the two of us would constantly challenge the priest’s lessons. Aahhhh – poor Father Leslie was like deer caught in the headlights with us. One day he asked us to simplify whatever it was that the two of us were arguing for. We stated that complex ideas needed to be understood in their entirity and that we would not simplify our thoughts. That was the last time we went to youth group but I think it was the moment that cemented our friendship that has been going for over thirty years. When Stormy Sunday opened her first cafe in Sydney, my husband and I bought our home in the same suburb just to be close by. I would see Kiri everyday when I would go walking with my young son. Her laughter rings out wherever she is. She is happy and chatty and always welcoming. Her cafe iterations always are successful due to her deep understanding of people’s need for connection. (her current cafe is no longer near my home, but it is an easy walk from my work). One day, two months after I had my second son, I made a visit to the cafe where Kiri greeted me and announced that I needed at least one night out a month and that she was starting a book group and that I needed to be there at the inaugural meeting. I went to the meeting and people were arguing about which high-falutin literature they would go for their first choice. I was horrified. I couldn’t bear the thought of reading the books they were suggesting. I looked across at Kiri and I think she could sense my fear. I called out that we should have a theme instead of a single book since there was such indecision. Some people grumbled, a whole lot concurred and as it was Kiri’s cafe, she made the call that it was going to be a themed bookgroup. Today, those of us that concurred (plus some more) are meeting up for our 16 year bookgroup anniversary at Stormy Sunday/Kiri and her husband’s Cafe Guilia. It is only right that Kiri gets to Share My Shallows on this rather important day. Continue reading →

Wendy the Super Librarian is Sharing the Shallows

April 22, 2017shallowreader 19 Comments

The first time I remember seeing SuperWendy’s name mentioned was in the early 2010s and someone was discussing a librarian who was running readers’ advisory training for Harlequin Mills &Boon category novels at her library. I just died of envy! I wanted to be at the training! I wanted to be the librarian that ran the training. I wanted to KNOW the genius who was able to run with this. At that point, I had been running readers’ advisory training in my own workplace for close to five years but never once did I have the opportunity to run any training that was genre specific, let alone on my favourite genre ever. Having discovered Super Wendy, I started following her on Twitter, chatted with her, followed her excellent blog, I take part in her most excellent TBR Challenge and one day, I know, we will meet in person. In the meantime, I am so happy that she has agreed to share my shallows today.

Wendy the SuperLibrarian

Wendy is a librarian, working in administration these days. According to her Mom, she is a “big shot.”

Can you describe yourself?

Wendy fell in love with romance shortly after accepting her first professional librarian gig. Prior to succumbing to romance, an addiction that took hold with frightening speed (seriously, like three books in and she was hooked!), she preferred her books with at least one dead body, by no later than page 50. While she still reads suspense, it’s romance that truly has her heart and she reads it almost exclusively. Wendy’s been kicking around the online romance community since 1999 – and her various scribblings have been on so more online walls (some defunct, some still in existence) that she can barely keep track anymore. A Midwestern girl at heart, she now lives on the US west coast where, when she’s not reading romance, she’s obsessing over her Detroit Tigers baseball team, drinks more tea than is likely good for a person, and devotes way too much time to Law & Order (the original and best flavor) reruns. Continue reading →

Elbowlass is Sharing the Shallows

April 8, 2017April 8, 2017shallowreader 1 Comment

I first met @Elbowlass in Kindergarten. Well our sons’ kindie to be exact. Ours was one of those slow growing friendships. One that starts as parents standing around the school playground being bored. We discovered we both love reading, we go to bookgroup together, we gripe about our sons’ (now former) school, we swap academia stories, I cry on her shoulder, she swats me and says “get a grip” and then, in her ever-so-British ways, offers me a cup of tea and somehow I fortuitously ended up with an absolutely excellent and dear-to-me friend.

Can you describe yourself?

I am currently employed in various jobs in the academic world. I am from Manchester in the UK originally and although I have been in Sydney for over twenty five years I still feel like I am a stranger here in so many ways.

I am @Elbowlass because Elbow the band, are from Manchester and so am I. It’s also a crap name which I like.

Vassiliki and I have such different tastes in reading, music, films and television shows it’s brilliant and amazing that we are still friends. We have a love of cutting through bullshit and a passion for social justice and good shoes.

What is your main reading medium (books, blogs, games, news, etc) and how much time do you spend reading a week?

Lumberjanes I read most nights before I go to sleep and still occasionally curl up during the day for hours if I have an unputdownable book. I read all sorts of books, graphic novels, blogs, cartoon books, poetry, gardening books whatever takes my eye. At the weekend I indulge in the luxury of reading The UK Guardian online which takes me ages. I also have to read everyday as part of my job. Not sure I can add up how much reading I do but it’s a lot.

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What or who is your joyful reading (guilty or otherwise) pleasure?

I love all kinds of books but especially those where the author has a sense of humour or sense of fun in the way they write so Terry Pratchett, Janet Evanovich, Ben Aaronovitch. I really like fantasy/crime fiction books including steam punk novels. [My son] introduced me to the Lumber Jane series which I think is fab but sadly there are no more. I have no guilts about reading.

Do you have a favourite storyline or plot? And do you have one you will not read?

No favourite story line or plot, just books that make me want to read on because of the beauty of the language, great characterisation, humour or the intrigue. Not a fan of books with gratuitous graphic violence or those hard core sci fi genre books full of ‘I know more than you do’ facts. I have never made it past the first few pages of Catch 22 couldn’t relate to it at all.

Why do you/don’t you use a public library?
I do use the public library, but did even more so when the kids were little. The new library at Dulwich Hill is lovely but doesn’t seem to have many books in it! I buy lots of secondhand books and use kindle too, especially when I am travelling.

Do you RUI*. If so, what?

Nope I don’t RUI because I would fall asleep too soon and wouldn’t remember what I had read the next day. I enjoy the whole process of engaging in reading too much to not be fully present.

Do you have a favourite reading spot?

I love reading in bed, and on the big sofa in our lounge. In winter I adore reading in the bath with a strategically placed towel by the bath for drying my hands on before turning over a page. Never kindled in the bath though and wouldn’t recommend it.

Toilet reading:
I don’t take reading material into the toilet when I am making use of the facilities, although I did when I was a kid. It was a sanctuary where I could be alone and wouldn’t get pestered to go out and play with the other kids. I do remember having a ring around my bum when I’d got lost in a novel. Thinking back on it I was such a twit for actually pretending I was going to the toilet and sitting there bare cheeked, I didn’t really need to do the method acting bit.

Romance fiction of the Happily Ever After (not the love tragedy) kind – are you a Lover or a Hater and why?

I have no idea how to answer this, romance maybe in the books I read but I don’t necessarily choose Romance books. Having said that I don’t really mind what the outcome of a relationship is as long as it’s well written and convincing.

What would you give up reading for**?

Sorry I definitely can’t answer this because I can’t imagine a life without reading. If I had no books I’d read the back of a toilet duck.

Can a romance/crime/super/etc hero be the driver of a hatchback?

Of course they can, they can have roller skates, a bicycle and wear bicycle clips or catch the bus – I am not one to judge.

*Reading Under the Influence

**I like stranded prepositions