eBooks. It seems everyone has something to say about them. Why do eBooks matter to libraries? Should librarians in fact be breaking up with eBooks? While talk of eBooks is surely going to be happening over coffees at NLS6, perhaps we will be crying over their terrible treatment of us after sinking a few beers, one thing is certain. No matter what the format, there are books that make us laugh, books that make us cry and books that inspire us to do something. So while there is no doubt talking about eBooks with your peers at NLS could help you understand this complex issue, right now let’s just talk books, in particular books about Brisbane.
When I first moved to Brisbane someone gave me a copy of He Died with a Falafel in His Hand, John Birmingham’s epic house-sharing novel, particularly appropriate as I was living in a grungy group house at the time. This hilarious book and the craziness it details was my first introduction to the wonderful land of Brisbane literature and since then I have become a huge fan of many authors that write about this city. It was Nick Earls stories about living in the inner city in novels like Zigzag Street and Bachelor Kisses that made me explore my neighbourhood, and Rebecca Sparrow’s The Girl Most Likely made a whole new set of Brisbane suburbs seem cool. For a completely different take on Brisbane I stepped back in time with David Malouf’s Johnno which gave me a new insight into Brisbane and its history.
Brisbane, Brisneyland, Brisvegas, however you want to refer to it there is a book out there that will capture your heart and let you unlock a little piece of the city. A book that will make you feel like you are living in the sub-tropical heat with frangipani blooming outside your window as you sip, well, you get the idea.
So before you come to NLS6 and dive into discussions about eBooks, books and every other kind of resource libraries have to offer (including the librarians!) take some time to find a book about Brisbane that inspires you to have a look around another part of the city before or after the symposium. If you need some inspiration take a look at this list of books about Brisbane. And when you get here take some time to do the Albert St Literary walk in the city, this is an easy walk from NLS6 HQ, it lets you see what other famous authors think about Brisbane, and best of all it’s free!
If you have any recommendations about books that explore Brisbane, please add a comment below and I look forward to speaking with you at NLS6 after you have delved into Brisbane fiction on whichever platform you choose.
Disclaimer: While NLS6 is promising to be a hell of a good time we cannot promise that it will live up to the debauchery portrayed in books such as He Died with a Falafel in His Hand, after all information professionals are a staid and serious lot aren’t we??? 
3 Responses to “Brisbane through books”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Thanks for a marvelous posting! I definitely
enjoyed reading it, you can be a great author.I will
be sure to bookmark your blog and will often come back at some point.
I want to encourage that you continue your great work, have a
nice holiday weekend!
I absolutely love your blog and find most of your post’s to be just what I’m looking for.
can you offer guest writers to write content available for you?
I wouldn’t mind producing a post or elaborating on a few of the subjects you write about here. Again, awesome site!
We stumbled over here from a different website and thought I should check things out. I like what I see so now i’m following you.
Look forward to looking over your web page repeatedly.
I enjoy what you guys tend to be up too.
This kind of clever work and exposure! Keep up
the superb works guys I’ve you guys to blogroll.
Hello there I am so delighted I found your webpage, I really found you by accident, while I was looking on Google for something else, Regardless I am here now and would just like to say thank you for a tremendous post and a all round exciting blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to browse it all at the minute but I have saved it and also included your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read a lot more, Please do keep up the great job.
Appreciating the dedication you put into your site and in depth information you present. It’s nice to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same out of date rehashed information. Fantastic read! I’ve bookmarked your site and I’m including your RSS feeds to my Google account.
Hi! I’ve been following your weblog for some time now and finally got the bravery to go ahead and give
you a shout out from Dallas Texas! Just wanted to mention keep up the fantastic work!
I am really loving the theme/design of your website.
Do you ever run into any web browser compatibility problems?
A handful of my blog audience have complained about my
blog not working correctly in Explorer but looks great in Safari.
Do you have any ideas to help fix this issue?
I am curious to find out what blog platform you have been
working with? I’m having some small security issues with my latest website and I would like to find something more safe. Do you have any suggestions?
Hmm it seems like your website ate my first comment (it was extremely long) so I guess I’ll just sum it up what I had
written and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog. I too am an aspiring blog blogger but I’m still new to
the whole thing. Do you have any suggestions for inexperienced blog writers?
I’d definitely appreciate it.
Woah! I’m really loving the template/theme
of this site. It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s
very difficult to get that “perfect balance” between user friendliness
and appearance. I must say that you’ve done a superb job with this. Additionally, the blog loads super fast for me on Internet explorer. Exceptional Blog!
Do you mind if I quote a couple of your articles as long as I provide credit and sources back to your blog? My blog site is in the very same niche as yours and my visitors would certainly benefit from some of the information you present here. Please let me know if this ok with you. Many thanks!
Hi there would you mind letting me know which web host you’re working with?
I’ve loaded your blog in 3 different web browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot faster then most. Can you suggest a good internet hosting provider at a reasonable price? Cheers, I appreciate it!
Very good site you have here but I was curious if you knew of any discussion boards that cover the same topics talked about in this article? I’d really like to be a part of group where
I can get responses from other experienced individuals
that share the same interest. If you have any suggestions,
please let me know. Kudos!
Hello there! This is my first comment here so I just
wanted to give a quick shout out and say I genuinely
enjoy reading through your blog posts. Can you suggest any other blogs/websites/forums
that go over the same topics? Thank you!
Do you have a spam issue on this site; I also am a blogger, and I was wanting
to know your situation; many of us have created some nice practices and we are looking to
exchange solutions with other folks, why not shoot me an email if interested.
Please let me know if you’re looking for a author for your site. You have some really good posts and I feel I would be a good asset. If you ever want to take some of the load off, I’d really like to write some
material for your blog in exchange for a link back to mine.
Please blast me an e-mail if interested. Kudos!
Have you ever thought about adding a little bit more than just your articles?
I mean, what you say is important and everything.
But just imagine if you added some great visuals or video clips to give your posts more, “pop”!
Your content is excellent but with images and video clips, this blog could definitely be
one of the most beneficial in its field. Fantastic blog!
Nice blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere?
A theme like yours with a few simple adjustements would really make my blog shine.
Please let me know where you got your theme. Appreciate it
Hey would you mind sharing which blog platform you’re using? I’m looking to
start my own blog soon but I’m having a hard time making a decision between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal. The reason I ask is because your design seems different then most blogs and I’m looking for something unique.
P.S My apologies for being off-topic but I had to ask!
Howdy just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The text in your article seem to be running off the screen in
Ie. I’m not sure if this is a format issue or something to do with internet browser compatibility but I figured I’d post to let you know.
The design and style look great though! Hope you get the problem fixed soon.
Thanks
With havin so much content and articles do you ever run into any issues of plagorism or copyright infringement?
My site has a lot of exclusive content I’ve either written myself or outsourced but it appears a lot of it is popping it up all over the internet without my authorization. Do you know any ways to help protect against content from being stolen? I’d really appreciate it.
Have you ever thought about writing an e-book or guest authoring on other sites?
I have a blog based upon on the same topics you discuss and would really like to
have you share some stories/information. I know my audience would enjoy your work.
If you’re even remotely interested, feel free to send me an e mail.
Hey there! Someone in my Myspace group shared this website with us so I came to look it over. I’m definitely loving
the information. I’m book-marking and will be tweeting this to my followers! Great blog and wonderful design.
Superb blog! Do you have any recommendations for aspiring writers? I’m hoping to start my own site soon but I’m a little lost on everything. Would you advise starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option? There are so many options out there that I’m completely overwhelmed .
. Any suggestions? Thanks!
My coder is trying to convince me to move to .net from PHP.
I have always disliked the idea because of the expenses. But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using Movable-type on
a variety of websites for about a year and am nervous about switching to another platform.
I have heard very good things about blogengine.net.
Is there a way I can import all my wordpress
content into it? Any kind of help would be greatly appreciated!
Does your website have a contact page? I’m having trouble locating it but, I’d like
to send you an e-mail. I’ve got some ideas for your blog you might be interested in hearing. Either way, great blog and I look forward to seeing it improve over time.
It’s a pity you don’t have a donate button! I’d without a doubt donate to this brilliant blog!
I guess for now i’ll settle for book-marking and adding your RSS feed to my Google account. I look forward to brand new updates and will share this blog with my Facebook group. Talk soon!
Greetings from Ohio! I’m bored at work so I decided to browse
your blog on my iphone during lunch break. I enjoy the information you provide here and
can’t wait to take a look when I get home. I’m amazed at how fast your
blog loaded on my phone .. I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyhow, fantastic site!
Good day! I know this is kinda off topic however , I’d figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest writing a blog article or vice-versa? My blog covers a lot of the same topics as yours and I think we could greatly benefit from each other. If you happen to be interested feel free to send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you! Awesome blog by the way!
At this time it seems like WordPress is the top blogging platform available right now. (from what I’ve read)
Is that what you’re using on your blog?
Great post however I was wondering if you could write a litte more on this subject? I’d be very grateful if you could elaborate
a little bit more. Many thanks!
Hello! I know this is kinda off topic but I was wondering if you knew where I could locate a captcha
plugin for my comment form? I’m using the same blog platform as yours and I’m having trouble finding one?
Thanks a lot!
When I initially commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get several
e-mails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove me from
that service? Appreciate it!
Howdy! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a
team of volunteers and starting a new project in a community in the same
niche. Your blog provided us useful information to work on.
You have done a extraordinary job!
Hi! I know this is kind of off topic but I was wondering which blog platform are
you using for this site? I’m getting sick and tired of WordPress because I’ve had
problems with hackers and I’m looking at alternatives for another platform. I would be fantastic if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.
Good day! This post couldn’t be written any
better! Reading this post reminds me of my previous room mate!
He always kept talking about this. I will
forward this write-up to him. Fairly certain he will have a good read.
Many thanks for sharing!
Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make
your point. You obviously know what youre talking about, why waste
your intelligence on just posting videos to your blog when you
could be giving us something informative to read?
Today, I went to the beach with my children. I found a sea shell and gave it to my 4 year old daughter and said “You can hear the ocean if you put this to your ear.” She put the shell
to her ear and screamed. There was a hermit crab inside and it pinched her ear.
She never wants to go back! LoL I know this is entirely off topic but I had
to tell someone!
Yesterday, while I was at work, my sister stole my apple ipad and tested
to see if it can survive a thirty foot drop, just so she can be a youtube sensation.
My iPad is now broken and she has 83 views. I know this is entirely
off topic but I had to share it with someone!
I was wondering if you ever thought of changing the structure of
your website? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say.
But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people
could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having
one or two images. Maybe you could space it out better?
Howdy, i read your blog occasionally and i own a similar one and i was just wondering if you get a lot
of spam remarks? If so how do you stop it, any plugin or anything you can
suggest? I get so much lately it’s driving me insane so any help is very much appreciated.
This design is steller! You obviously know how to keep a reader entertained. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Fantastic job. I really loved what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool!
I’m really enjoying the design and layout of your site.
It’s a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more enjoyable for me to come here and visit more often. Did you hire out a developer to create your theme? Excellent work!
Hey there! I could have sworn I’ve been to this blog before
but after browsing through some of the post I realized it’s new to me. Anyhow, I’m definitely happy I found it and I’ll be bookmarking and checking back often!
Hey! Would you mind if I share your blog with my myspace group? There’s a lot of people that I think would
really appreciate your content. Please let me know. Many thanks
Hey there, I think your website might be having browser compatibility issues.
When I look at your website in Opera, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it
has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up!
Other then that, excellent blog!
Sweet blog! I found it while searching on Yahoo News. Do you have any suggestions
on how to get listed in Yahoo News? I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get there! Appreciate it
Hey! This is kind of off topic but I need some help from an established blog. Is it very hard to set up your own blog? I’m not very techincal but I can figure things out pretty quick.
I’m thinking about setting up my own but I’m not sure where to begin.
Do you have any ideas or suggestions? Thanks
Hey! Quick question that’s totally off topic. Do you know how to make your site mobile friendly? My site looks weird when viewing from my iphone4. I’m trying to
find a template or plugin that might be able to resolve this issue.
If you have any suggestions, please share. Thank you!
I’m not that much of a internet reader to
be honest but your sites really nice, keep it up! I’ll go ahead and bookmark your site to come back in the future. Cheers
I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you make this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you? Plz answer back as I’m looking to design my own blog and would like to know
where u got this from. many thanks
Wow! This blog looks just like my old one!
It’s on a totally different subject but it has pretty much the same layout and design. Superb choice of colors!
Hey there just wanted to give you a brief heads up and let you know a few of the pictures aren’t loading
properly. I’m not sure why but I think its a linking issue. I’ve tried
it in two different internet browsers and both show the same results.
Howdy are using WordPress for your blog platform?
I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to get
started and create my own. Do you require any html coding knowledge to make your
own blog? Any help would be really appreciated!
Hi there this is kind of of off topic but I was wondering if
blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML.
I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding knowledge so I wanted to get advice from someone with experience. Any help would be enormously appreciated!
Hey there! I just wanted to ask if you ever have any issues with hackers? My last blog (wordpress) was hacked and I ended up losing several weeks of hard work due to no backup. Do you have any solutions to protect against hackers?
Hello there! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be ok.
I’m definitely enjoying your blog and look forward to new updates.
Hi! Do you know if they make any plugins to safeguard against hackers? I’m kinda paranoid about losing everything I’ve worked hard on. Any suggestions?
Hey! Do you know if they make any plugins to assist with SEO? I’m trying to
get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I’m not seeing very good gains. If you know of any please share. Thanks!
I know this if off topic but I’m looking into starting my own blog and
was curious what all is needed to get setup?
I’m assuming having a blog like yours would cost a pretty penny? I’m not very
web smart so I’m not 100% positive. Any recommendations or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you
Hmm is anyone else encountering problems with the images on this blog loading? I’m trying to figure out if its a problem on my end
or if it’s the blog. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
I’m not sure why but this site is loading extremely slow for
me. Is anyone else having this problem or is it a problem
on my end? I’ll check back later and see if the problem still exists.
Hey there! I’m at work browsing your blog from my new
iphone! Just wanted to say I love reading your blog and
look forward to all your posts! Keep up the superb work!
Wow that was odd. I just wrote an very long comment but after I clicked submit
my comment didn’t show up. Grrrr… well I’m
not writing all that over again. Anyhow, just wanted to say wonderful blog!
My family always say that I am wasting my time here at net, except I know I am getting familiarity everyday by reading such good articles or reviews.
Ιt’s truly very difficult in this busy life to listen news on TV, so I just use internet for that purpose, and get the most up-to-date information.