Bookathon - L

 L is for Library, Love Letters and Literature

I found L a particularly hard one to choose just one author. I went to the Hard to Find (but worth the Effort) bookshop today that had floor to ceiling books in numerous rooms. I would have been in a librarian's heaven if only I had the budget but that didn't stop me from my favourite activity, browsing the shelves. 

It seemed lots of people like to give the Hard to Find Bookshop their well-read copies of Doris Lessing novels because they occupied an entire shelf of Ls. Unfortunately I have never read any of her books. 

I have however read these ..Les Liasions Dangereuses by Pierre Charderlos Laclos, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka, and The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin.

I would recommend all three, the first because it's terribly decadent novel where the characters all get what they deserve in the end, the second for being hilariously funny as fish out water situations are, (and nothing to do with the present day war)  and the third because there is nothing more terrible than being a vapid desperate housewife. I recall they all turned out to be robots in the end.  Ira Levin also wrote the chilling horror Rosemary's Baby. 

You don't have to read just the L books in the fiction section though. The L books that the children loved the most in the library picture book section are the ones written by Andy Lee. I have had whole classes in uproar when I read Do Not open this Book, Do Not open this book (Again!) and Seriously, Do not open this book (or else). 

Warning they contain, amongst other things, nudity, kissing and making fun of old people. All things children love. 

I am a rebellious librarian though, I open these books and put terrible ideas into children's heads. I don't listen to what the teachers tell me to read, I look at the pictures and make up stories sometimes when the words don't make sense.  I read books that are too hard for me. I read banned books. I read the Bible. I read other people's love letters, and I read their secret diaries too. I read out loud when I should be quiet, and I read in places where you are not meant to read, like on the loo. At University, I didn't really *study* anything, It was just an excuse to read all the books I wanted to read in the library. I also read books when I was supposed to be working but ssh don't tell anyone. 

Please support my terrible reading habit by donating to the Great Kiwi Bookathon, now I've been banned from the library