Microbes don’t fare too well on absorbent surfaces, and might survive only minutes on newspaper. But plastic book covers and those shiny, smooth surfaces of Kindles, iPhones and iPads are more accommodating, and it’s likely bugs can live on those for hours.

Working in a library, handling all those recently returned books, you try not to think about this sort of thing too often.

Finally, Shaoul concluded that reading on the toilet is widespread, alleviates boredom, and is ultimately harmless. This rings true to Curtis. “I always have New Scientist by the toilet. I use it as distraction therapy. I don’t particularly want to think about crapping.”

Well, who does?

Thanks to Iain Broome for reminding me where all those books have been.

Wherever you happen to be reading it now, Jonathan published this post at: BookBoy.net

There is no ruler to measure your beauty, no scales to weigh how my life has changed. An atomic clock can’t describe the times we’ve shared, some pencil marks on the wall will never show how we’ve grown together.

Our relationship can’t be defined by numbers. But there are a few that might help:

2 homelands.
8 homes.
5 universities.
1 great dane.
2 beautiful kids.
250 hours spent on aeroplanes (bit of a guess there).
17,752 kilometers between the places where we were born.

But most of all, 15 years married.

15 years seeing your face in the morning. 15 years hearing your voice at night. 15 years that have sometimes been tough. 15 years that have always been worth it. 15 years knowing we’ll always be together.

15 years I wouldn’t trade for any amount of any thing this world has to offer.

How much do I love you? This year, I love you 15.

Happy anniversary.

Wherever you happen to be reading it now, Jonathan published this post at: BookBoy.net

Art, including juvenile literature, has the power to make any spot on earth the living center of the universe, and unlike science, which often gives us the illusion of understanding things we really do not understand, it helps us to know life in a way that still keeps before us the mystery of things. It enhances the sense of wonder. And wonder is respect for life.

I have nothing to add.

Read the whole speech here [brought to my attention by gizo]

Wherever you happen to be reading it now, Jonathan published this post at: BookBoy.net

I have never managed this. My best effort was 2 years ago when I wrote 16,000 words of a children’s story. Obviously this is nowhere near the target, but it felt great to get that far. I have continued writing that story in fits and starts since then and it is now approaching 30,000 words (has been for 6 months).

If you glance at your calendar you may notice that November is approaching. NaNoWriMo is approaching.

I think NaNoWriMo is a great idea and highly recommend anybody with the urge to write a book to consider attempting it.

I will not be attempting it.

I am sane enough to recognise that I have no hope of getting anywhere near 50,000 words this year. I also don’t want to sign on to another of the requirements – that you begin a new work for NaNoWriMo.

It is tempting to put aside my stalled story from 2 years ago and try something new, but I suspect this could become a dangerous habit. Write a story until it stalls. Start another story until it stalls. Start another story until it stalls. You get the picture.

So I am planning to take part in my own exercise: NaNoFinMo, or National Novel Finishing Month.

My target will be smaller. Probably 15,000 or 20,000 words. I’m yet to decide exactly, but that puts the daily quota in the vicinity of 500 to 700 words. I think I can manage that. I also suspect that will be enough words to carry my work in progress to it’s conclusion.

If you want to write a novel and can find the time and energy to write 1,667 words per day then I encourage you to have a good think about tackling NaNoWriMo. It can be rewarding even if you don’t finish.

Or if 50,000 words is too much and you have a half finished bestseller on your hard drive, why not join me in NaNoFinMo?

Wherever you happen to be reading it now, Jonathan published this post at: BookBoy.net

We stood together. Chatting. Laughing. Smiling at the people who sat looking at us while they waited for the real show stopper to arrive.

I was nervous.

I was excited.

I needed to use the bathroom.

Then the music started. It was a piece from the soundtrack to When a man loves a woman. The song had these perfect little sections for each of the bridal party to walk in on. We men gathered ourselves into a straight line and looked to the back of the church. My future nephew and niece walked towards us followed by two of my fiance’s best friends and her sister.

Then it happened.

The most beautiful girl I’d ever laid eyes on walked into the room with the intention of marrying me. Her dress was splendid but I could barely take my gaze away from her beaming smile and glowing eyes.

Slowly she came down the aisle, timing her steps to the music just like she had practiced. Beside her walked the man whose baby girl I planned to steal away half way around the world. I am eternally grateful for the support and blessing of my parents in law. Now I have a baby girl of my own I am beginning to recognise how painful it must have been.

I shook hands with Garfield, soon to be my father in law, and took his daughter on my arm.

To be honest, the ceremony is all a bit of a blur. I remember smiling a lot. My face hurt from the smiling.

At the reception, Canadians outnumbered Australians by about 25 to 1. They had a shorter commute.

The celebration was an emotional one. Loaded as it was with the knowledge that this union meant we would head back to Australia for an unknown number of years. At least fourteen years as it turns out.

On the next day we began a driving honeymoon to Boston. We saw amazing fall colours as we drove through Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The trip had low points (a swarm of hornets as we ate peanut butter sandwiches in a park somewhere), and high points (everything else). We had little cash, but enough to get by. I think it was the best trip of my life.

The 14 years since has also had its low points and high points. There has been the odd swarm of hornets, but nothing we couldn’t handle together. My wife is as beautiful now as the day I first saw her playing volleyball on a grassy hill in Lilydale. We eventually managed to bring two little gems into the world, and we have had the most wonderful fourteen years together.

Happy anniversary J, and thanks for fourteen amazing years.

Wherever you happen to be reading it now, Jonathan published this post at: BookBoy.net

Picture an alternate Europe just before World War I. The German and Austro-Hungarian armies have at their disposal a range of Clankers – steam powered walking machines of various shapes and sizes. Heavily armoured against attacks and mounted with machine guns and canons. On the other side are the British Darwinists. They have learned to engineer and fabricate animals to create their weaponry. Featured heavily in this book is the Leviathan, a airship that is actually a living ecosystem.

If you are anything like me, that alone will be enough to make you want to read this book. But along with the clankers and living airships are Aleksander, prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Deryn Sharp a young English girl. Aleksander is on the run, under threat from his own allies. Deryn is disguised as a boy so she can fulfill her lifelong ambition and join the Air Service. From vastly different backgrounds and opposite ends of the continent, their stories converge as the possibility of war grows.

This book represents a bit of a shift for Westerfeld. I have liked all his YA books and like this too, but it won’t surprise me if some of his fans are not as keen on it. On the other hand, I suspect he will gain a range of new fans. I am not completely sure of this, but it seems a large proportion of Westerfeld’s fans are girls.

Leviathan will gain him a whole slew of boy readers. A lot of them will be younger that his current fan base, and quite a few may well be older. Among others, I will be putting this book in the hands of all those kids who love reading about teenage secret agents, whether they are 11, 15, or 35.

It is an exciting read. The world, contraptions and creatures are fantastic and the story develops to a climax that will leave you wondering how long it will be until he finishes the sequel.

Wherever you happen to be reading it now, Jonathan published this post at: BookBoy.net