At night time I indulge in an activity that is not family history. I can often be found taking to my bed directly after dinner to indulge in this passion.
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My Mum loved her Books
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One of the genes that I inherited from my mother was a love of reading that continues to this day. My commitment to this activity has ebbed and flowed over the years but currently, as I am largely confined to quarters due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, I have more time to devote to the printed word.
As a child I can remember accompanying
Mum to a
subscription library in Kings Cross where she borrowed books. When we moved to the
Randwick Municipality we used to borrow from their mobile library which stopped at
Maroubra Junction on a Saturday morning. That was when I got my first library card and became a regular borrower. As an adult a career working in public and school libraries afforded me easy access to large collections for no outlay.
Since becoming
a retired old biddy I haven't made many visits to local libraries except for genealogy related activities. I have purchased many books and dropped so many hints for gifts of books or book vouchers on birthdays and other special occasions. As new books are rather expensive I have been able to pick up many near new books at op shops, charity book fairs and my favourite online charity bookstore,
Brotherhood Books. I keep a list of recommended/wanted books and every so often check Brotherhood's catalogue to see if these are listed.
I love physical books, the smell and feel of the paper adds a pleasurable and familiar element to the reading experience. During Covid time most of the places where I sourced my books dried up - op shops and libraries closed and no book fairs . I had to find some other way of satisfying my appetite for reading.
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My Mobile Library
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When
going on holidays I had been in the habit of downloading a few eBooks from local libraries in case I read through the half dozen "read and ditch" books I usually pack. So
Covid-19 made me
turn to eBooks. After a few months of reading the books I had borrowed on my smartphone I decided that I needed some sort of eReader. I did a bit of research and decided to purchase
a lightwieght inexpensive, Android tablet which would give me more flexibility than a Kindle or similar device. Then I struck a problem as the Samsung tablet I wanted to purchase was out of stock in Australia.
Finally around a month ago I found that some local retailers had the desired tablets in stock. I phoned the closest store, got them to match the lower price of another shop and quickly dispatched Mr GeniAus on a mercy mission to buy one. I am enjoying reading on the new device, it's not too heavy to hold up in bed, I can more easily see the text I am reading and I don't have to turn the pages so often.
My tablet is set up with apps from several local libraries and vendors of eBooks like Amazon and Google. I have also copied all of the other eBooks I had on my hard drive to the device. I have installed just a few other apps: a browser, email and Facebook. My 21st century version of the mobile library is truly mobile and has access to more titles than were available on those Saturday mornings at Maroubra Junction.
