I'm not a great reader of fiction. When I start reading I have to do it in one sitting otherwise I carry the characters around in my mind and agonise over their fates in between readings. I never developed good reading habits because there weren't any books in my house when I was growing up. Neither of my parents read English and there weren't any books available in Russian. The only book that I remember was the bible that my parents received when they were naturalised. We mustn't have had much paper either because my brother drew guns and tanks in the fly pages of the bible.
I grew up watching movies every Saturday at the Rosemount Cinema in North Perth and listening to serials on the radio. I was given my first book, "Little Women", as a birthday present from a family friend at the age of 10 and I read it over and over again. There wasn't a library at my school at Swan View Primary. There was a small library in Midland Junction though. I went once but didn't feel welcome. The Renown Cinema at Midland Junction however was a very social place where you would be called up on stage if it was your birthday and everyone would sing "Happy Birthday" to the accompaniment of the organ. You would also pound your feet on the wooden floors and make a lot of noise when there was an exciting part in the movie. No wonder I prefer movies to books.
As usual I digress. LibraryThing is a good way of sharing your favourite books with others,seeing their reviews and writing some of your own. We use LibraryThing at Cockburn Libraries in the catalogue, with the aim that the reviews will assist our readers to select their next book. Maybe LibraryThing should be promoted to parents who can read the reviews to their pre-school children and help them choose their next read as well. It's a pity, however, that not many of the reviews of children's books are written by children.
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