Welcome to book reviews and good conversation, to worlds only imagined and people who think like us...

Welcome to the Francis Library!

As all journeys start with a single step, all libraries start with a single book - this site is like my own book, a working biography in a way; as each book I read reminds me of different times of my life. Gradually I will fill up the virtual shelves with titles and in the process tell you about my life as a bookseller and all the books I have encountered along the way. Don't forget to have a look at my 'blogs'  by clicking the catalog link on the right. This more than any other is truly my conversation with you, and unlike a book or article, one that you can reply to and continue the conversation with other people, by adding your comments. 

The book is a conversation.  

Librarians and Booksellers are people who keep an encyclopaedic knowledge of the thousands of books that they have encountered in their careers. Each day to the hundreds of people they meet, they pass on a recommendation. Each of these books is a conversation with an author wherein they create a picture of their imagination, their life, their work and skills, the places they’ve lived in and travelled to and their thoughts, feelings and experiences.  

As we read we broaden our own personal reality to include the fantasies and realities of people we may never meet; because they have died, because they live far away or because they are too far removed from our circle of family and friends. We are not able to reply and convey our personal reality to them but their book allows them to converse with us and to influence us in any number of ways. Biographies and autobiographies are especially intimate conversations.

Our history is in our books.
 

We visit many ancient civilizations through the words of their authors. As time moves on and all things change, the languages, histories, myths, traditions and skills of our ancestors sometimes remain only, (if at all), in the pages of a book. Of what use are they to us, busy with the demands of a digital world, our real time families and work? Each person must answer that for themselves, and many people, it's true, will have very little use for books, satisfied with their 'now' and fulfilled in their life...

For many of us though, books enable us to add skills and answer questions; and to transport us to realities we can never visit otherwise, both factual ones and fictional ones. For me, the colour of those worlds is rich, the sound and sense sublime, the people fascinating, and the places awe-inspiring. For me, a book can be a friend, a helper, a mentor, a leader, a fascinating stranger, a favourite relation, a holiday and an addiction. Oh yeah, that's best case scenario; some books can be a real dud.

It's hard to find good books.
 

Yet how do people find a book that speaks to them, for all books have an audience and not all books have the same one. How do they recognise the one book that will touch their need from the immense collection of them in a library or bookstore?

Trial and error is the most usual path, a recommendation from a friend perhaps, a book review in a magazine or paper, sometimes just the best book can be the one that appeals on the sale table in the book store. For academics it might be a bibliography or a recommended reading list from a lecturer, or a set text or classic. Unfortunately time is hard to find for browsing collections in bookshops and here, we are often limited to what is in print or on the shelf...

The wonderful world wide web has made it amazingly easy for those with computer access to find out of print books and specialised books that a local general bookstore cannot afford to keep in stock. For example a service such as http://www.bookhunter.com.au can help people find all kinds of books new and out of print and has experts to search for them. Seek and yea shall find; the resources are seemingly endless and certainly more than one person could read in a lifetime.

I hope you enjoy your visit and feel that you want to join the conversation by commenting on the blogs.Now that I'm working at home, I miss the contact with my customers and I too need to hear about the good books you read, so do share - please. 

Julie Francis

The Francis Library is a network of information sites that will enable people to access the ‘conversations’ of writers, readers, booksellers and librarians through the provision of online information on a topic, and a bibliography of ‘best books’ on the topic. Digital products are available on many sites. There is also a ‘Recommended Reads’ blog for non fiction and a ‘Who Writes Like…?’ blog for fiction, to help with finding a book that is similar to one that you really liked defined by a genre or a similar theme. We're only just beginning, so please check back often, there will be more articles added regularly.