tim winton’s latest book, breath, is finally here. it’s not available in bookstores until next week, but it arrived at the library a week early. needless to say i have read it. 

its set in a fictionional town in the south west coast of wa – somewhere near margaret river – in the 70s. being chicken enough to catch a wave on a reef break on a day of decent swell, i understand the fear of the protagonist in the novel who baulks at the big monday type surf conditions, and whose life unravels from this point.

this book has already been published in the Netherlands as part of an effort to protect Dutch-language publishing from English imports. 

[tim winton will be promoting his book at the athenauem theatre on May 16  - anyone want to come?]

catch up on a year’s worth of celebrity gossip, fashion news, health and beauty tips, consumer and recreational advice.

my team processes and catalogues all the serials for our library, so over the break I have been taking home piles of waiting to be processed mags to flick through. below are some of the more interesting things I have learnt.

• the Fendi bagette is BACK after 10 years [vogue]
• but the defining mood of handbags for 2007 was ‘oversized’ [vogue]
•  there were serial killers in 2007 [marie claire, who]
• there were also some starving africans in 2007 [marie claire]
• i want to hike the rubicon tram line walk in vic [outdoor]
• there is a rock called ’skippy rock’ in wa  [outdoor]
• crossing rivers is an art  [outdoor]
• there is a nike shoe which connects and ’talks’  to your ipod to measure your run rate [runners world]
• stylists who recommend peach anoraks with converse hi-tops, and denim waistcoats with denim shorts should be shot [instyle]
• lindsay lohan is a skanky ho [who]
• there is some really shit writing in street culture magazines [actuallly, i knew this before but it was confirmed] [frankie]

yesterday i accompanied the chinese language librarian to the chinese bookstore in the city to help select some Chinese learning materials [being the resident girly swot language expert].  but I got sidetracked with the bilingual cooking books and dvds.  i actually don’t cook, i just look at the pictures.  …but i might be tempted to once i get my hands on these books.

we selected this dvd on street food in beijing (fatduck i thought of you when we chose it, you can borrow it), and also a couple of bilingual cooking books – one on cold chinese dishes and another purely on dumplings and dim sum stuff.   i’m first in line to recieve these books and dvds when they are ready to go on the shelf so who knows, i may be holding a small dim sum party at one point.

 tai hao le!