Bookerama baby yeah

Great excitement today!

For some months now, in fact it must be a year or two (time flies when you're not having fun), I haven't been able to read books. I can't sustain the necessary concentration or hold the book upright, my vision goes blurry after one page, and the payback is phenomenal. I did read the latest Harry Potter (the hype got to me) and suffered for a month for my crime.

This is a dire situation. I love books, I've read so many while I've been ill, it's one of the things that's kept me sane. Without books to read, I listen to the radio on my bedside table. In the mornings I listen to RPH, which has volunteers reading articles from the day's newspapers (even the obituaries! but I don't listen to them). Day time: ABC Radio National. Late evenings: BBC World, broadcast by RPH. I enjoy the wireless, but not every program. Saturday Night Country is the bane of my life.

For Christmas I was given an audio book, which was tops. I thought it'd be good to get more, try and placate the Boredom Monster growling under my pillow. But getting to the library is impossible as jaunts out of the house are saved for seeing the doctor. (It's a bad state of affairs when the doctor is prioritised over the library.)

I contacted the library and asked if someone could pick stuff up for me. A member of staff suggested I apply for the Home Library Service. There was a bit of bureacracy involved, including getting a medical certificate. It seemed a bit of a hassle and I wondered if it was worth it, it takes me days to fill in even simple forms - waiting for those moments when my brain kicks in, synapses fire and I can string coherent thoughts together. Also I wasn't sure what the Home Library Service entailed. Would a well-meaning volunteer-person come to visit and I'd have to get out of bed, look human, offer them tea and biscuits and talk to them? That would be bad. And what if I used up my precious grey-matter filling in forms and they turned me down?

Yesterday I got an email telling me I had been approved for the service. I was ecstatic. The email also said that if I selected some titles from the online catalogue, or let them know what authors and genres I like, I would be included in the next 'run'. Run! It sounded tremendous already! Would someone come tearing down the driveway in jogging shoes bearing audio books just for moi? Where had the Home Library Service been all my life?

A bulging red zippered bag was delivered to my door today with my name on it. The nice man who brought it said, "Enjoy your books! See you in a month!" and nipped back to his car. I had a peek inside - there were six audio books! For me! To listen to! Rainbows unfurled from my ears and I had a transcendental moment. I was back in the embrace of beautiful books.