Took time out today from whatever it was I should have been doing (writing, writing, writing, teaching, teaching, teaching) & attended this event in my role as one of the ambassadors. I'm so pleased I did. The beamy faces of the students as they walked up to be presented with their certificates were fabulous! Afterwards they queued up to get posters signed and I asked what thier favourite books had been. Two lovely girls told me how much they'd enjoyed The Wish Pony and Magenta - that made me feel so special! But the big winner with the girls was Twilight. On the plus side I found another Jacob supporter - thank heavens! I was really sick of Edward half way through the second book. One girl delighted me by revealing that she'd loved The Hunger Games - which I've just bought to read over the holidays.
It was well mced and well-organised. I love the fact that it's held at the National Gallery - such a good setting. This year the ambassadors got the biggest present to take home! It was huge, but mysteriously light. (Turned out to be a picnic blanket, thermos and some thoughtfully yummy picnic goodies. Beautiful!)I felt appreciated, I'd have to say. And that's not a bad thing at all!
On the knitting front - I'm battling my way through a special baby kimono - but it does look so tiny I'm not certain that it won't end up in storage until I can try it on a real, wriggling little baby. The Beth jacket is also languishing.
I did have a score though. I went to the Ferny Creek book show on Saturday and there was a guy selling knitting books. I bought two and he said, rather diffidently, that his wife had all these Rowan magazines but he hadn't brought them in for space reasons. Rowan magazines! I'm sure I screeched cockatoo-like. Well, yes, and if I was interested maybe I should consider coming back tomorrow because the wife would be furious that he'd left them at home - particularly if there was a buyer....I was at the book show at opening time on Sunday and bought three. I would have bought more, I'm sure, but The Accountant wandered past and murmured, be discerning. I'm kicking myself now, of course. I should simply have put my fingers in my ears. But he was probably right. It's better to have three magazines you might knit from than six you just look at. Isn't it?
A blog where I talk about the reading, writing, post the Tuesday Poem and, sometimes, show some knitting.
Showing posts with label Victorian Premier's Reading Challenge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Victorian Premier's Reading Challenge. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Victorian Premier's Reading Challenge and my writing challenge!
Yesterday I joined a group of Victorian writers including Felice Arena, Terry Denton, Leigh Hobbs, Glenda Millard, Kirsty Murray, Wendy Orr and Sally Rippin (sorry there were others, of course, but I don't have the whole list on me....) to attend the Victorian Premier's Reading Challenge finale. Representatives from schools as far away as Cobram and Bairnsdale took part. The Cobram students and teachers were the clear winners in getting up early - they left Cobram at 5.30 a.m. in order to attend. Go Cobram! I think Euchca had to leave at 6.40 a.m though the girl I asked was so sleep deprived she couldn't quite remember. Bairnsdale left at 6.00 a.m.
It was a great morning that dawdled into afternoon when Kirsty, Wendy and I had coffee. I did a quick impromptu survey of the young readers who were present and five could tell me their favourite books:
Winnie the Pooh
The Waterhole (x 2 - lucky Graeme Base!)
Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows (of course!)
the Twilight series - the girl in question was an Edward girl, not a Jake girl which was disappointing in the extreme. I have yet to meet a Jake girl, although one of my students has converted. That's not quite the same thing. When this girl (not my student) found out I was a staunch Jacob supporter she cleverly inserted a spoiler into the conversation. When I say 'inserted' I'm really distorting the truth. That sounds subtle, almost sly. Nope. She waited until she was five paces away from me and then she loudly declaimed that I was a Jake supporter for nothing because...I won't repeat it here but the rest of the sentence was said with a decided superior hip wiggle and a discernable hair toss. Suppose I'll have to give in and buy the final book. I was resisting it because the last one made me so cranky. Actually, the last one and a half made me so cranky.
Writing exercise;
What books did you love as a child/teenager? Where were you when you read them? (I do think the most important books you read you can remember exactly where you were when you read them, maybe even what you were wearing or eating or drinking.)
I remember reading Mary Grant Bruce's Norah of Billabong series. We were living at Camp Hill at the time. The first book I got was either dark green or blue. It had a black drawing of Norah riding on the cloth cover. Why did I love her? Because she was in love with Wally.
I also loved Ethel Turner's Seven Little Australians. My memory is that I was reading that book the night my father died, which would mean I was nine. But I'm not certain that it was the first time I'd read it. I know I was allowed to read later than I should have been because I had to finish the book.
Louise May Alcott was another favourite. I read right through the Little Women series and loved - oh dear, I just went into Wikipedia and the book I thought I read isn't listed. How weird. Oops, no I think it was Rose in Bloom. I know the heroine in question was given a wonderful trunk full of Oriental treasures from a voyaging uncle.
Later on in my reading life I can remember the exact desk at which I sat in the Ipswich Girls' Grammar Library and read my first Adrian Henri poem. I was fifteen, in love and completely bowled over that this poet, writing in Liverpool, UK some ten or so years after I was BORN, could express is heartbroken feelings in exactly the way I wanted to express mine.
Just last year I can remember listening to Jane Gardam's Old Filth on an audio book on train rides between Box Hill and Belgrave. Unfortunatley I missed recording one whole section, but then found the book in the library again and read it on train trips between Box Hill and Belgrave. I later found the book in a secondhand bookshop in Fremantle and it took all my will power to give it to a friend I'd raved about it to rather than keep it for myself. I just managed it.
Over to you; books you remember, authors you remember, where you read, why you read, what you were wearing or eating or listening to....happy memories!
It was a great morning that dawdled into afternoon when Kirsty, Wendy and I had coffee. I did a quick impromptu survey of the young readers who were present and five could tell me their favourite books:
Winnie the Pooh
The Waterhole (x 2 - lucky Graeme Base!)
Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows (of course!)
the Twilight series - the girl in question was an Edward girl, not a Jake girl which was disappointing in the extreme. I have yet to meet a Jake girl, although one of my students has converted. That's not quite the same thing. When this girl (not my student) found out I was a staunch Jacob supporter she cleverly inserted a spoiler into the conversation. When I say 'inserted' I'm really distorting the truth. That sounds subtle, almost sly. Nope. She waited until she was five paces away from me and then she loudly declaimed that I was a Jake supporter for nothing because...I won't repeat it here but the rest of the sentence was said with a decided superior hip wiggle and a discernable hair toss. Suppose I'll have to give in and buy the final book. I was resisting it because the last one made me so cranky. Actually, the last one and a half made me so cranky.
Writing exercise;
What books did you love as a child/teenager? Where were you when you read them? (I do think the most important books you read you can remember exactly where you were when you read them, maybe even what you were wearing or eating or drinking.)
I remember reading Mary Grant Bruce's Norah of Billabong series. We were living at Camp Hill at the time. The first book I got was either dark green or blue. It had a black drawing of Norah riding on the cloth cover. Why did I love her? Because she was in love with Wally.
I also loved Ethel Turner's Seven Little Australians. My memory is that I was reading that book the night my father died, which would mean I was nine. But I'm not certain that it was the first time I'd read it. I know I was allowed to read later than I should have been because I had to finish the book.
Louise May Alcott was another favourite. I read right through the Little Women series and loved - oh dear, I just went into Wikipedia and the book I thought I read isn't listed. How weird. Oops, no I think it was Rose in Bloom. I know the heroine in question was given a wonderful trunk full of Oriental treasures from a voyaging uncle.
Later on in my reading life I can remember the exact desk at which I sat in the Ipswich Girls' Grammar Library and read my first Adrian Henri poem. I was fifteen, in love and completely bowled over that this poet, writing in Liverpool, UK some ten or so years after I was BORN, could express is heartbroken feelings in exactly the way I wanted to express mine.
Just last year I can remember listening to Jane Gardam's Old Filth on an audio book on train rides between Box Hill and Belgrave. Unfortunatley I missed recording one whole section, but then found the book in the library again and read it on train trips between Box Hill and Belgrave. I later found the book in a secondhand bookshop in Fremantle and it took all my will power to give it to a friend I'd raved about it to rather than keep it for myself. I just managed it.
Over to you; books you remember, authors you remember, where you read, why you read, what you were wearing or eating or listening to....happy memories!
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