The Library Cat and the Bookworm

I thought long and hard, since October 2019 in fact, about the blog you are about to read. My purpose with this entry is to explain my side and defend some of it, but also to apologize to a certain extend. I realize that I am in danger of justifying myself, but I would like to make certain points clear. So, a bit of background: In 2019 I read a book which I did not like and gave it a negative review and one star rating (to protect the author I will not mention the author’s name or the book title). Shortly afterwards I received a message from her on Facebook Messenger and then two more in January and December 2020. Without editing it (except for removing the name of the author), here is what I said about the book: First time I read an Afrikaans fantasy and I am disappointed. I have no idea what … tried to said and the what the moral of the story was. Would not recommend it at all, felt like a total waste of time. One thing I apologize for is not giving proper attention to what and how I...

In a world filled with many new and fast evolving technologies, many parents are worried that their children spend too much time on iPads, smartphones, and the latest computers, while it seems that they never read except when told to do so by a teacher. Some of these parents, which includes those who love reading and those who do not read much themselves, ask “How do I get my child to read?” This question is often asked of other readers, or parents of a reader, or to those of us working in a library. It is amusing and interesting to see what kind of people visit the library. It might be surprising that many do not visit the library to read at all. In this sense it is important to remember that the library is not exclusively a place of books, not anymore. For libraries to survive in the 21 st century it is as important for them to move with the technological times as it is for anyone else. Thus, it is better to think of the library as a place of information. In other words, libra...

Social media is such a part of our lives that no one, not even the ones who do not use it, can remember how it was without these apps. The wonderful thing about the 21 st century, this age known as the information age, is that there is an app for everything. No matter what it is, anything from exercising to intermediate fasting to praying and meditating or remembering to drink water, there is an app for it. Social media – those little apps that gives us the ability to chat with anyone, anywhere and at any time – is following the same trend. At least I think it is, because I found social media sites made for readers specifically, and my favourite is Goodreads. There is a lot you can do on Goodreads and I am sure that, like with any other social media app, I am not utilising everything. I will briefly try to describe the most important features (i.e., those I enjoy the most) here in the hope you might also like and use this app. The first and most important feature is that you can s...

I love reading. Everyone who knows me well will probably have that as one of the first things to say about me. Growing up I would read anywhere and at any opportunity - I read while walking in the mall, I read in the kitchen while making coffee for my mom, I read in company and I read when my parents were driving us somewhere. Even today I am never without a book no matter where I am going. A few years ago, I worked in a bookshop and was surprised to find out that some of my colleagues back then did not even like reading. Then I had the privilege to start working in a library, where I am still happily working today (my wife will tell you that she does not know anyone else who is so happy to go to work each morning); and here I met with a curious phenomenon. There are readers who cannot or will not read. Now do not get me wrong, I am not talking about the illiterate and semi-literate who cannot or struggle to read because they did not have the means to go to school. Those we need ...

I was privileged to attend a lecture, titled Recovering the Indigenous African Knowledge Systems for Youth Development, given by Professor Mathole Motshekga at the National Library of South Africa (NLSA), Pretoria campus on 25 November 2020. The audience were filled by various information workers such as teachers, librarians and the media. As an information worker myself, studying Library and Information Science and working in a library, I was glad and excited to be present. When I first read the title, I expected a lecture explaining how all Africans, no matter what race or ethnicity, can work together to recover these indigenous knowledge systems which can be used to help the youth in upliftment, better living and more harmony. Instead, there was a quasi-religious cultural exposition on how (black) Africans forgot their roots and how everything that does not sound like it is from a (black) African language should be changed. Now I have no problem with ‘returning to our roots’ and w...

There are different reasons why people read. Some read for entertainment only, others read to enhance themselves, still others read to be more informed about their jobs. There are also reading for research, reading for study and reading for escape. There is, however, at least one thing that kind of or reason for reading have in common and that is in the fact that it helps in shaping your identity. Every time we read anything, from newspapers and magazines to novels and popular fiction as well as any kind of non-fiction, we consciously or unconsciously interact with the text. We may cry or get angry at certain characters in a novel or get upset and write letters to the editor due to certain articles. These interactions, I believe, influence the way we think, form opinions and act. Unconsciously we do not only have an opinion on what we read about but we also change our opinions as we read. Our identity is who we are, how we think and argue, what we like and dislike; and it help us m...

I come from a Christian background where spiritual warfare is an important, yet widely misunderstood, aspect of religious practice. Within this practice such things as Satanism, witchcraft, discerning of spirits, exorcising of demons are elements of which one need to have knowledge in order to wage spiritual warfare. When I were much younger, still in high school, I used to have a healthy interest in these elements (one of my favorite books were one on how to recognize Satanism by a detective Kobus Jonker) and at times practiced spiritual warfare both on my own and with some friends. In the mean time much of my ideas around the subject changed as I learned and understood more. What I thought of as 'witchcraft' were a very childish view which could basically be summarized in the idea that any supernatural 'power' which did not conform to the conservative Christian idea of or from God and the Holy Spirit; had, by default, have to be evil. I did not, as yet, made compariso...