Books are stylish

Quietly stylish women are seen carrying books.

Apparently many celebrities believe that being seen carrying books can boost their public image. Possibly true. Why not be seen as slightly intellectual? I know how easy it is to get carried away with reading for assignments and forget to do anything else except watch mindless television. That's why I've set myself a goal for this year, which is to read one book every month. I knew it was important to get a head start before uni begins, so I'm already up to April.

First I read 'The diaries of Ethel Turner' which I really enjoyed. It gave me a lot more insight into the day-to-day lives of young women in Australia early last century and a look into the mind of an incredibly natural and ahead-of-her-time writer.

My next book was called 'Reading Jackie', which was an analysis of Jackie Kennedy's later life through linking it with a discussion of the books that she chose to instigate and promote during her editing career. Not as gripping, but I finished it anyway. Lovely woman but she definitely needed to eat more.

March's book was called 'Honestly - notes on life' which is a collection of previously published columns by Nikki Gemmell for the Weekend Australian Magazine. My Mum put me on to Nikki Gemmell when I was in Queensland recently and I read some of her columns while I was there. She's a very accomplished writer and I'll be looking up her other books in the future. Maybe not the really raunchy ones. She's written a couple of non fiction books as well.

I bought my next two books today, $2.50 each. The $5 bookshop was half price this week. The first is called 'Stop what you're doing and read this!', which will hopefully explain to me why I'm bothering to read all these books in the first place. The second was chosen with the hope that it will inspire further blog posts as it is also a collection of columns, 'Writings on Life and Living' from The Philadelphia Inquirer, written by the author of 'Marley and me' John Grogan. It's called 'Life is like a sailboat'.

Well, I'll sign off now. I've got reading to do.

Do you have a sexy umbrella?

I had a black umbrella with a red frill all around the edge. One day I was walking across an intersection in Melbourne in the rain. A girl walked past with her boyfriend and said, 'That umbrella is so sexy'. I found this quite amusing. I bought it because I thought it was pretty.

A few months ago I was waiting to cross Collins Street holding the same umbrella above my head, feeling sure that I looked super sexy. A group of young guys were standing nearby and kept looking at me. They didn't have umbrellas. One said, 'Excuse me, can you tell me where you bought your umbrella?' Again I was highly amused and wondered whether they simply wanted to buy an umbrella, or whether they wanted one with a red frill all the way around.

Last Thursday the tram decided to terminate a few blocks from my apartment. I stepped out into rain that was absolutely bucketing down. When I popped up my umbrella I realized that the frame had snapped in two places. It was a sorry, drooping mess of an umbrella, distinctly unsexy. It was fun walking in the rain anyway. I knew I could jump into the shower as soon as I got home.

I was about to cross Collins Street again and a tall young man with glasses bounded across the street and hopped under my drooping umbrella. 'Can I share your umbrella?' he asked. 'Sure, I said. I really didn't expect this'. I meant that I really didn't expect it to be suddently pouring down rain. He replied, 'No pressure', thinking that I meant that I didn't expect to be sharing my umbrella. A bit embarrassing, but he sprinted off again as soon as the lights changed.

I'll have to think very carefully about my next umbrella purchase. A well-selected umbrella doesn't only protect you from the constantly changing weather conditions in Melbourne, but also has the potential to attract highly amusing and stimulating social situations on the street.