Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris

This is the cover art for the copy of Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris that I borrowed from my local library. Not the True Blood cover art, and not the other illustrations that I love so much. I don't like this version at all, I don't think it fits with the feel of the books.

Anyway, what about what's inside the cover?

From the back of the book:

"Sookie Stackhouse enjoys her life, mostly. She's a great cocktail waitress in a fun bar; she has a love life, albeit as complicated as ever, and most people have come to terms with her telepathy.

Problem is, Sookie wants a quiet life, but things just seem to happen to her and her friends.

Now her brother Jason's aout to turn into a were-panther for the first time. She could deal with that, but her normal sisterly concern turns to cold fear when a sniper sets his deadly sights on the local were population..."

Yes, it's another action-packed instalment in the adventures of Sookie Stackhouse and friends! As usual, there is murder and mayhem, supernatural creatures, and Sookie's lovelife is never simple.

I've said it before, I'll say it again, I love Sookie's "voice" in these books. Here's a sample:

"Claudine smiled impishly. "I was spending the night with Sookie," she said, winking. In a second, we were the objects of fascinated scrutiny from every male within hearing..."

I enjoyed the fact that Harris slows down for a moment, in this book, to explain a little more about the ins and outs of the shape-shifter and were societies. And unlike some other reviewers, I don't mind the fact that Sookie is swamped with admirers at every turn! Sadly, Sookie doesn't get lucky in this instalment, though she does make a start with someone she has yet to "do the deed" with!

For me, these sort of books are what I call "comfort reading". When we're feeling a bit down, some of us break out the ice-cream, some run a hot bath, and some reach for a Sookie Stackhouse book. (And some do all three!)

Now I'm off to the library to pick up Definitely Dead!

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

From the back cover:

"People of the Book crosses continents and centuries to bring stories of hope amidst darkness, compassion amidst cruelty, all bound together by the discoveries made by a young Australian woman restoring an ancient Hebrew book."

Opening this book to read it, I smiled as I read the dedication:

For the librarians.

As I am studying librarianship at the moment, I thought, 'This is the book for me!'

People of the Book, by Geralding Brooks, has two interleaving stories. The first is the story of Hanna, a renowned book conservator, who is attempting to piece together the story of the Sarajevo Haggadah. These chapters follow her painstaking investigation into parchments and pigments, as well as the story of her family and her life.

As an Australian, it is nice to read books with Australian voices and settings. Sometimes, however, Australian authors seem very self-conscious of their international readers, and tend to throw around a lot of Aussie slang for the sake of it. I think Brooks fell into this trap. At times I was cringing as the 'ockerisms' were flying!

The second story takes the reader back in time, folowing the history of the Haggadah. Sarajevo during World War II, Vienna 1894, Venice 1609, Tarragona 1492 and Seville 1480.

I found the historical stories fascinating.

I would recommend this book to readers who like to learn a little something as they're reading. It's a work of fiction, but is inspired by the true story of a Hebrew book known as the Sarajevo Haggadah. Each step back in time uncovers more in the story of the relationship between Jews, Christians and Muslims through the ages.

Annotated bibliography and self assessment submitted. Could not stand looking at it any longer. Will now take a bath to try and feel human again.

Avoiding work with...more work.

Needing a break from my ETL504 assignment, I've started working on my second ETL501 assignment. Yes, I am a bit weird!

For ETL501 I have to create an electronic pathfinder - "a tool used by teacher librarians to create an annotated list of relevant, mediated resources for a specified group of students on a curriculum related topic". I also need to write a critical reflection of the process of creating the pathfinder. So prepare to hear a lot about how I'm going with my pathfinder!

What have I done so far? My first step was to choose a curriculum related topic. My background is as a mathematics teacher, so for my earlier assignment I evaluated mathematics websites related to graphing. For the record, I believe that maths teachers rely far to heavily on the old "chalk and talk" and the good old textbook. Far fewer people would say "I'm no good at maths" or "I hate maths" if we broadened the range of resources and teaching and learning activities for maths. But for this assignment I'd like to try working with a different subject area.

I've been looking at the Science syllabus for Stages 4 and 5 (Years 7 - 10). I'd like to try something related to either 4.9.3 the structure of the Earth, 4.9.4 the atmosphere, 4.9.5 the hydrosphere, or 4.9.6 the lithosphere. It sounds interesting to me, and I can see the potential for relating the content to current environmental issues. I did a quick search using the keyword "earth science" on the NSW State Library online catalogue, and there seem to be plenty of print resources with potential. I've also found Geology.com , which seems like a good place to start in terms of electronic resources. So I'm on my way!

Secondly, I had to decide on a platform to use to create my pathfinder. I've started something on pbworks, but don't get too excited. So far all it has is a heading. My pathfinder will be a wiki - perfect for a teacher librarian wanting to work collaboratively with teachers.

So that's as far as I've gotten so far, and if you know of any fabulous resources relating to earth sciences, then let me know!

Assignment Overload

For the past week or so, I have been focusing almost exclusively on my next uni assignment. I find honing my academic writing the most challenging thing about my M Ed. Our assignments all have very strict word limits, and we are given detailed marking sheets with sections like "responds to", "uses evidence", "demonstrates analysis" and "addresses learning objectives effectively". It is so difficult to adequately cover everything expected of us within the word limit! Not only that, we are constantly reminded to be critically evaluative in what we write.

I find myself rewriting and editing over and over, as I try to find the elusive combination of words that will demonstrate my grasp of the issues, critical reflection, and original thought!

I'm now at the point where I feel like I wouldn't have a clue whether what I have written for the current assignment is rubbish or genius! I'm too close. I may have to take a break and work on something else for a day or two then come back to it.

Despite my complaints, I do find the academic writing enjoyable and challenging. But the time between submission and receiving results can be a little stressful!