The Night Bookmobile - Audrey Niffenegger

I am not usually a big reader of graphic novels - I love art but when it comes to books words are my true love. However I do make an exception for Audrey Niffenegger as I think her artistic interpretation, her amazing imagination and story telling skills make for a great combination.
The Night Bookmobile is given an intriguing and compelling introduction from Neil Gaiman;

The Night Bookmobile is a love letter, both elegiac and heartbreaking, to the things we have read, and to the readers that we are. It says that what we read makes us who we are.

I couldn't agree more! As with Niffenegger's previous graphic story, The Three Incestuous Sisters, The Night Bookmobile is not a children's story - despite the childlike quality of it's illustrations and the gentle way in which the story starts and looks as though it will be a light and breezy tale of how books impact on our world.

The Night Bookmobile follows Alexandra, a young woman who, after an argument with her partner one night goes for a long walk to get over her anger and discovers a bookmobile which contains every piece of literature and written material that she has ever read. Alexandra becomes entranced by the bookmobile and the idea of finding it again - which she does some years later. She reflects on her life through the books she has consumed - and in a way her reading and her love of books starts to consume her.

This is a magical, if a little scary, story and I was completely taken in by it. Niffenegger writes in the After Words;

When I began writing The Night Bookmobile, it was a story about a woman's secret life as a reader. As I worked it also became a story about the claims that books place on their readers, the imbalance between our inner and outer lives, a cautionary tale of the seduction of the written word.

I think this is a must read for all readers and book lovers everywhere - it raises some great questions and gave me pause for thought about the place reading and books take in my life.

Reading Struggles...

I am going through a rough reading patch - this has happened to me before but not for a while now and I want to find a cure! My problem is that I can't seem to find one book and just stick to it - I have started about 10 different books in the last week and none of them are grabbing me and making me want to go on - HELP!!! I definitely have the itch to read - I just can't find the right book to scratch that itch.
I am still reading Gone With The Wind, slowly but surely, and I am enjoying it - but it has lost that new book sensation for me and I think I need something else to inspire me.
I have picked up a few new selections over the weekend - both purchases and library pickups. I bought The Marriage Bureau For Rich People by Farahad Zama - I had read lots of great reviews of it in some magazines so when I saw it in a local independent bookshop I snapped it up. I also picked up Drood by Dan Simmons and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson from my library yesterday - just not sure they are the books to pick me back up and throw me into my reading swing??
I would love some help - if you have read the books I have listed I would love to hear what you think of them - or I would love to hear of any great books you have finished lately that have made you forget about everything else and have just made you read, read ,read!!

Indigenous Literacy Project

My attention has been drawn to the Indigenous Literacy Project by Abbeys Bookshop Blog.
This is a project that draws attention to the fact that Indigenous literacy rates are so low in Australia and works to raise awareness of this issue as well as raising funds to purchase books and reading resources for Indigenous children in the Northern Territory.
Our bookclub joined in this challenge last year and we each read 10 books from the lists provided on the project website - www.worldwithoutbooks.org. I think we will be joining in again this year to help raise some money for the project as well as helping to guide our reading for the year. The lists have some great ideas so check them out if you are interested.