Hastings District Libraries

An interview with our new staff member Judith in Flaxmere Library.

Have you worked in a library before?
Yes, I worked part-time for a year in my children’s primary school library, which was lots of fun – there’s so much creativity out there in children’s books. And before that I worked for many years in book publishing – as an editor and occasional writer of mostly children’s educational material.

Can you tell us something in particular you are enjoying about working for Hastings District Libraries or something that stands out in your mind?
Well apart from getting a chance to flip through the new Cuisine magazine as soon as it’s out, what I really enjoy are those queries that take you to a rare corner of the non-fiction section – from the Treaty of Versailles to how to do yoga, it’s amazing what we have tucked away on those shelves.

Okay let’s talk about books! Which books have had the most influence on your lifestyle and philosophy?
I remember when discovered humorous writers like Kingsley Amis and P G Wodehouse, who may seem a bit dated now but they really knew how to put words together well in a sentence. I think I learned lots of good writing skills by reading authors like that. I still enjoy humorous writing. My favourite authors, like Kate Atkinson, Jane Gardam and our very own Shonagh Koea, combine a bit of humour with more serious themes and great characters.

Which author would you most like to meet and why?
I think you’d always be assured of an interesting conversation with someone like Margaret Mahy who has such a good imagination and a wacky way with words. I’d like to know how her mind works and how she gets her children’s story ideas.

And which book character would you most like to meet?
Anton from Sergei Lukyanenko’s Night Watch trilogy, because he has special powers capable of fighting dark magicians, he can visit the twilight zone where he can detect dark forces in others and he gets more powerful with each book. He is also a typically tortured Russian hero, with loads of baggage which makes him even more interesting.

Do you have any books you like to read aloud?
Poetry works best read aloud. I have recently rediscovered the joys of poetry. It can look a bit cryptic often if you just read it silently, but read aloud it suddenly seems so much less mysterious an a lot more fun. Two Christmases ago my aunt gave me a very old book, published in the 1860s, of Scottish Ballads belonging to my great-grandmother. That is definitely stuff for reading aloud.

When you were a child what did you enjoy reading?
A. A. Milne was a great favourite of mine. The Winnie the Poo stories are fun for all ages – I would read them again at different times, and I used to be able to recite lots of the Now We are Six poems too.

And were you read to as a child?
Yes, most definitely. I used to ask Mum to point to the words as she read them, and I learned to read that way before I went to school. Or so she tells me.

What would be your favourite genre or subject?
I am addicted to stories, so tend to stick to fiction, or else memoirs. I particularly like novels based on an interesting era or place, or segment of society, so you get a new perspective thrown in. Which is why I really enjoyed “As the Earth Turns Silver” by Alison Wong about Chinese migrant workers in New Zealand early last century. Another top read was “The Great Lover” about Rupert Brook; or “Notes from an Exhibition” by Patrick Gale which weaves a lovely story around an artist with bipolar disorder.

And what are you reading at the moment?
Curfewed Night by Basharat Peer – subtitled as a frontline memoir of Life, Love and War in Kashmir. Superbly evocative and great writing.

Any words of wisdom for our listeners?
Keep on reading and discovering new authors. We are so spoilt for wonderful books. If you need new ideas for reading, there are some superb websites that help: FantasticFiction.co.uk; LoveReading.co.uk and WhatShouldIreadNext.com are all really useful. Or better still, ask a librarian!