Travel. One meal at a time.

Lately I've been bemoaning about the woes of saving, however this niffy episode of "Jamie Does" has me all revved up to shoulder my backpack, lace up my boots and head hell for leather out the front door.

I want to soak up the aromas of charcoal lamb, lusty blood red paprika, zesty lemon, cheeky cumin, sweetly delicate rose water and pulsating pomegranate in Marrakesh's central souk, before diving head first into the labyrinth of suburbia, lead by nothing else but my curiosity.

Mint tea

Sugar and spice and all things nice

Lamps

An equally addicted, but far savvier bookworm, has managed to combine her penance for books with business. Her website [ilovereading.com.au] has a lovely explanation of how the system works, but basically for $90 subscription you can borrow as many books as you like for a year mmmm my purse will be positively brimming with the pennies saved.

Now if there was some why to curb my coffee addiction...

Apple Snapple

Besides gorging myself on stewed apple smothered in cinnamon, gawping at the marvelous inventions on the "New Inventors" season finale and slaughtering Andy Bull's new song "Dog" featuring the impish Lisa Mitchell - i've been troweling book blogs [and constructing highly convoluted sentences it seems]

And i came across this ditty about Dan Brown.

I've also opened a can of worms when i found this list of The 20 best books of the decade. So many books to read and too much time spent watching the ABC....

Is a Bestseller the best?

What makes a book a bestseller?

Is there prescribed formula for each genre? A decomposing body by page 5 in a murder mystery thriller?The eventual realisation of unrequited love by page 200 in a romance novel?

Or perhaps it’s not the contents at all and it’s the cover itself that sells the book.

Nestled in the archives of the ABC website is a “Jennifer Byrne presents” discussion

with Lee Child, Di Morrissey, Bryce Courtenay and Matthew Reilly, about bestsellers. The program attempts to answer all these questions and dovetails into a random assortment of stories about the hidden world of writing. Including the "birth" of Lee Child's name.

To paraphrase Matthew Riley - the font in which a bestselling author's name is written in never changes, like any brand it requires continuity. Funnily enough our country's most renowned popular author Bryce Courtney, hates his gold embossed font and tries in vein to get it changed whenever he has a new book for publication - however his marketing team say it'll be a disaster if they attempt to change it.

Lee Child remarks that his bookcovers all go through vigorous test groups and marketing panels before a decision is ever made - which is surprising as they all appear so bland and slapdashed.

It's worth watching the program, even just to hear Bryce Courtney compare masturbating with literary hobnobs writing unreadable highbrow "art".

The group successfully cut down the notion of bestselling author "selling out" with a typically succinct phrasing- First it's written, then it's read and then it exists.

I must admit, as a book snob this resonated with me – I’ve been trying to more broad minded and stop belittling bestsellers. Sure I won’t pretend that I wasn’t an outspoken naysayer of the Stephanie Myers phenomenon, but I am getting better at knowing when to keep my opinions to myself and not encroach on what other people view as pleasurable reading. In fact I have only recently learnt to give up on books – in the past I’ve strained my eyes and sanity with reading laborious literary tomes, because it’s what “bookish” people do.

Plus I’ve also learnt [thanks to the program], that I shouldn’t be shy if I ever see Bryce Courtney in the cereal aisle of the supermarket. As apparently he mails a copy of one of his books to anyone that stops him for a chat mmmm that would be a handy way around my self imposed ban on buying books...gosh saving money is hassle!

Laneway loving

Get the Calendar out and circle this date: Sunday, February 6.

A feast of indie music will be on offer at The Sydney College of the Arts, courtesy of the the lovely Laneway lads and ladettes.

The line-up isn't officially announced until October 12, but the new fancy pants Laneway blog is up and running, and is seeming to be dropping clues left, right and centre. If i were i betting woman, my money would be on an appearance form Best Coast.

Lingering in a laneway on a midsummers day. Booyah.

The Bird's monkey wrench

This weekend i'm getting my geek on again. Perhaps i should just admit that i'm always a nerd?

I'm overloading my neuronal synapses by dissecting the Biomechanics of running.

Running

I'm sure a monkey wrench would come in handy for such a task, but I'll just have to make do by listening to the Foo Fighters.

Jacob A. Pfeiffer, Monkey Wrench, oil, 12 X 9 inches

I'm also planning to flesh out a portly, scotch soaked, penniless character with a sinister appetite for bird watching of the homosapien variety.

Jhenna Quinn Lewis, Bird, oil, 8 X 6 inches

If I don't get caught up in reading the Wicked triology [you could say it is wickedly addictive] I'll transcribe some of my creative writing journal

TR Colletta's, Writer's Block 11, oil on linen, 50" x 50"

and play tomfoolery with my new Camera.

To ensure that i don't get lost in a cassum of brainfarts, i'll stay steadfast with a soundtrack of

- Best Coast

- The Harry Heart Chrysalis

- Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

- Bluejuice

All you folk

I always enjoy getting music recommendations, especially from people whose judgement i can trust.

Now i've never met Ben of Mumford and Sons

Mumford and Sons

The closest i've come is frenzied yelping and hooting one hundred feet away at a couple of gigs i've seen them play this year, but i can confidently say that I trust his musical recommendations after checking out Matthew and The Atlas.

I can envision myself whittling forest creatures, chewing on a shard of straw and watching the river float by to the rhythm of Matthew Hegarty's warbled voice this summer...now i just need to find a river

Home is where the heart is

As I was skylarking through the aisles of my local library today, selecting books with gluttonous whim and fancy, I paused to consider that the wealth of words were at my fingertips. Libraries are perhaps my all time favourite invention.

My Primary school library was a cavernous space with domed ceilings, Victorian era mouldings and classically craved architraves. The Librarian had created comfy corners with beanbags. These nooks and crannies accommodated tiny bums and grubby hands, eager to snort at the impish creations of Roald Dahl, chortle at the fabulously frank fart jokes of Morris Gleitzman and get lost in the adventures of Cairo Jim.

So inspired by the Librarian I dreamed that when I grew up that I would be one too.

Unfortunately I discovered that not all libraries were created equal. My high school library was a prefabricated wasteland of sappy Sweet Valley High, fluorescent light bulbs and an unhealthy bent towards the incestuous V.C. Andrews. I lost the dream I becoming a librarian and studied something else entirely.

I truly believe that my primary school library fostered my insatiable want of words.

In my search for books to read I stumbled across this gem: The L!brary Book: Design Collaborations in the Public Schools.

The New York based Robin Hood Foundation strives to improve student literacy rates and believes good library design can inspire learning. "For reading to become an everyday habit, it needs to be nurtured in a home of its own" - The L!brary Initiative brings together input from corporate underwriters, children's book publishers, architects, graphic designers, product manufacturers, library associations, teachers, and students to create stimulating spaces within public elementary schools.