Nice people thread 2 - now even nicer

vivatifosi

sss555s wrote: »

Sounds like you've got your dream job viva.

It would only be my dream job if I earned a lot more money doing it! In reality it is poorly paid and there is a lot of uncertainty in the libraries movement at the moment as it is an easy target.

On the plus side, I get to work with people who are among the best-read, interesting and intelligent that I've ever worked with; plus as DH says, I get to mentally plug into a huge learning resource which is much more interesting than my previous job of running a private library and research centre.

When I was at school, my dream job was to be a DJ, so nowhere close!

lemonjelly

wageslave wrote: »

Please dont take this the wrong way but it is like you just discovered injustice.

And you are trying desperately to work it out.

You certainly wont find answers reading "Why I did dreadful things for a wage" by average working class bloke

I'd have to go a long way to take that the wrong way wageslave.

You are right in that I am trying to learn about stuff. I do read a fair bit of fiction too.

I read papillon years ago. It's fun!

IIRC prisoners favourite book tends to be the count of monte cristo?

Possibly my favourite book is In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote.

sss555s

vivatifosi wrote: »

...In reality it is poorly paid and there is a lot of uncertainty in the libraries movement at the moment as it is an easy target.

On the plus side, I get to work with people who are among the best-read, interesting and intelligent that I've ever worked with; plus as DH says, I get to mentally plug into a huge learning resource which is much more interesting than my previous job of running a private library and research centre.

When I was at school, my dream job was to be a DJ, so nowhere close!

I expect the technology is there to put a national library on-line if they wanted to cut costs.

My dream job was to be an apprentice millionaire.

It's turned into a long apprenticeship!!

michaels

My dream would be to have time to read a book

(Ok a book other than Amber the Rainbow Fairy (and 41 other Rainbow Fairy books), Chicken Licken and anything with Spot the Dog and fold up flaps)

vivatifosi

michaels wrote: »

(Ok a book other than Amber the Rainbow Fairy (and 41 other Rainbow Fairy books), Chicken Licken and anything with Spot the Dog and fold up flaps)

I'll let you in to a little secret if you promise not to tell your daughter... It's about Amber the Rainbow Fairy, Cheryl the Christmas Tree Fairy and all those other fairies that are the creation of Daisy Meadows. Daisy Meadows does not exist. It is a nom de plume used by a team of writers to churn out the ubiquitous little volumes. One of the writers is Narinder Dhami, who also wrote the book on which Bend it Like Beckham is based. I have lost count how many times kids have read them to us at the Summer Reading Challenge, along with anything by Adam Blade (same type of thing, another made up name, but this time for boys). But if you think that Rainbow Fairy books only go up to 41, think again. There have been eight of these released this month alone.

If you want to read something a bit weightier, maybe you can convert your daughter to these, all of which are junior versions of the adult books:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Midsummer-Nights-Dream-Shakespeare-Stories/dp/1841213322/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1283257342&sr=1-6
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Macbeth-Shakespeare-Stories-Andrew-Matthews/dp/1841213446/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1283257342&sr=1-8
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Juliet-Shakespeare-Stories-Andrew-Matthews/dp/1841213365/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1283257342&sr=1-12
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Oliver-Twist-Charles-Dickens-Original/dp/1402726651/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1283257447&sr=1-11

vivatifosi

sss555s wrote: »

I expect the technology is there to put a national library on-line if they wanted to cut costs.

Tbh I think this is something individual services are getting wrong at the moment and the government should take a lead on. LAs are setting up their own e-libraries (often through the same third party provider) whereas the nature of virtual libraries mean they are not geographically specific. There should be a single service, where one ticks the box of the LA that the library card has been issued by, then enter the library card number and then the pin to download. Its crazy that many LAs have individuals all responsible for setting up the same service. But what do I know. I'm just a gopher.

sss555s

I see your point.

There is lots of advancements in my area of work that have been detrimental to quality but easier in the pocket.

It's a sad fact of life in the modern world.

PasturesNew

vivatifosi wrote: »

Can you read non-fiction Pastures? I'd have thought that books which don't require visual imagery and that are very fact based might be more up your street.

What pastimes do you enjoy?

Not really. I have a short attention span too

I don't have pastimes, I have vague ideas about things I might one day like to give a go.

My only pastime is the Internet, researching, discovering, finding, collating, recording, listing, databasing, watching, comparing, investigating.

treliac

vivatifosi wrote: »

I'll let you in to a little secret if you promise not to tell your daughter... It's about Amber the Rainbow Fairy, Cheryl the Christmas Tree Fairy and all those other fairies that are the creation of Daisy Meadows. Daisy Meadows does not exist. It is a nom de plume.....

The secret world of [STRIKE]making money[/STRIKE] writing books. Nice work if you can manage it.

michaels

Anyone else found the board really boring today - may be the house price indicies tomorrow will give us some more direction to the discussion although they normally just turn in to a slanging (slagging?) match. Still I am hoping Nationwide YoY is close to my 12 months ago prediction (guess) of 5.5%!

I wonder what the 'Daisy Meadows' actually earn - not very much I suspect.