December is #Summerreads

Summer – the season of sunshine, holidays, relaxation. Long evenings to languish with a good book. That’s what they’d like you to think. In reality, summer can means frantically running around organising that last Christmas present, food shopping, cleaning the house, mothering children etc. ect. That is until… Boxing Day. Then my summer of reading begins.
I have a list.
A long list.
Hot reading, all of them.

I have something for everyone on the list. How-to guides, a couple of biographies and some wicked crime fiction for the menfolk. Plenty of picture books, Where’s Wally and I spy to keep the little ones amused. For school age children, join the Summer Reading Club? This year’s theme is “The Amazing Read”. Find some gruesome facts in the Ripley’s “Believe it or not” series, catch up on Zac Power’s, the Beastie Boys’ and Geronimo Stilton’s latest escapades and read about the latest fairy from Daisy Meadows. Seen the movie? Now read the books - try Harry Potter and Diary of a wimpy kid. For teenagers I’m thinking vampires, steampunk and graphic novels.
Now if you haven’t planned a holiday recently, summertime is exactly the time to start. Lonely Planet, Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness travel will have you travelling through exotic landscapes or testing your strength climbing mountains. I’m looking forward to some new cookbooks (reading not necessarily cooking), some light romantic fiction… so what about you?

What will be your hot reads this summer? Maybe they’ll be cool reads?
Whatever they are, make plenty of time for them.
Join us for our last Twitter Reading Group discussion in 2011,  on Tuesday December 13th, 8pm AEST. Use hash tags #summerreads #readit2011

Helen

Reading Mo (ments) in Movember

"Movember" is the month when it becomes fashionable for the male species to sprout and shape facial hair between their top lip and their nose. All for a good cause though...promoting men's health. Now, as our libraries are presently an all female affair, we were a bit stuck as to who could represent us for Movember... until our light bulb moment... Yes, you, all our male readers.
This is what we'd like you to do -
Grow and shape (or not) your mo
Come into the library and have your photo taken with your mo and one of your favourite books or,
Email your own photo to us at libweb@nsw.gov.au
You may also like to register at http://au.movember and collect a few sponsors
Now, this is all about having some fun and being part of the library community so...if you aren't hairy and don't want to grow a mo... get creative! We'll take drawn on mos, stuck on mos, hand held mos, we'll even have some props in the library to help so you can be included in our Reading Mo (ments)display.
We'll take photos until the last day of Movember so you've got 30 days to grow that mo!
Ad while your mo is growing, this month our New Books selection is just for guys, a great selection of male authors for you to borrow. Check out the library webpage and catalogue and reserve a few today.
Helen

October is #egoreads

Biographies, memoirs, lives. October is #egoreads.
I've been on a journey.
I love to explore.
I've stayed at home.
I've scored goals in stadiums.
I've scored chicks in stadiums.
I think that's funny.
I think you are funny.
I live amongst old people.
I ahve suffered.
I cry for my ilfe.
I wish his life had not been taken.
Oh, what a debonair life I have had.
And darling, what a grand life I have had.
And sadly, what a short life I have had.
For this life is one of many
I discover
I explore
I plunder
I abhor
I love
I adore
It's all about me, me me.

The Alice behind Wonderland by Simon Winchester

On a summer's day in 1858 Charles Dodgson photographed six year old Alice Liddell, the daughter of the college dean.
Simon Winchester deftly uses the resulting image as the vehicle for a brief excursion behind the lens, a focal point on the origins of a classic work of English literature. Dodgson's love of photography framed his view of the world and was partly responsible for transforming a shy and half-deaf mathematician into one of the world's best loved observers of childhood. Using Dodgson's published writings, private diaries and of course his photographic portraits, Winchester gently exposes the development of Lewis Carroll and the making of his Alice.

What a beautiful little book. Well written. I loved the emphasis on Lewis Carrol and his life, so informative.
This is a lovely book to read. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Mr Kevin Gallagher

Until Tuesday by Louis Carlos Montalvan

Tuesday is a very unique Golden Retriever. He started his training from only 4 days old at the Service Dogs training facility. He then moved to the Puppies Behind Bars Program being looked after by various prisoners which left him feeling unloved, unsettled and in need of retraining. He then moved to a home for troubled youth so they could learn responsibility and help socialize the dogs. He then went back to the Service Dog training facility for his final training. As bright as he was, he had trouble coping with being moved around and not having his one special person to bond with. One day that would all change when he was matched up with his forever person.
Captain Luis Montalvan had trouble adjusting back into civilian life after his first tour of duty in Iraq and his marriage failed. He decided to sign up for a second tour of duty. He eventually came back to the United States in 2003 a highly decorated soldier, but he also came back a very damaged man, both physically and mentally. He had been stabbed, suffered brain damage and broke three vertebrae in his spine. He received an “Honorable Discharge” from the Army after writing a critical review of the war in the New York Times. Getting back to “normal” life after witnessing the horrors of the Gulf War was almost too much for him to handle. He suffered PTSD, agoraphobia and was in acute physical pain. He even contemplated suicide on a few occasions. He was just managing to make it through the day, fuelled by alcohol and pain killers, somehow even managing to go back to University part time to get his Masters Degree. Through all this he had to fight with the Government to get proper medical treatment. He was trying to get back to being a human being as best as he could. One day, he received an email that would change his life forever. Through a group that helps returned soldiers he learned of an organisation that matches disabled veterans with Service Dogs to help the soldiers have companionship, be able to live more independently, and to help them ease the anxieties of everyday living
On a day that was meant to be Tuesday the dog meets Luis the Veteran. A dog found a forever person and a wounded soldier found the help that he needed to get back to living a better life.
Together they campaign for better treatment of veterans and a better understanding about the role of Service Dogs and their role in helping people. Together they try to educate the community about the legal rights people with Service dogs have and try to end discrimination that is aimed at them.
No matter what your politics are about wars and government you will still find this book truly inspiring. When it comes right down to it, it’s a story about a dog that helps a man, and a man who helps a dog.
Chris.

#whodoneit

It's crime and mystery month.
With fiction sub-geners like detective, legal, historical, psychological, forensic, cosy corner, comic capers, spy and suspense, there is a never-ending supply of reading material and far too many authors to list. However, here's a few of my favourites at this moment...Louise Penny, Fred Vargas, Adrian Magson, Gerard O'Donovan, Martin Walker and David Hewson. I'm always looking for more authors, let me know your favourites.
Who really "done it"? Does the ultimate punishment fit the crime? Are the perpetrators even caught?
Non-fiction more your style? There's no shortage of material to read here either. seedy, cruel, heartbreaking, lawbreaking, fascinating, and often all at once.
Now if you aren't usually a fan of crime, you may be surprised to find crime and mystery in the likes of The name of the rose by Umberto Eco; The daughter of time by Josephine Tey; Do no harm by Carol Topolski. Let's not forget Louise Fitzhugh's Harriet the spy series or Enid Blyton's characters. Crime and mystery are everywhere. Even the picture books are into it...what did happen to Harry's sweater in No roses for Harry?
So join us this month in our suspenseful reading, send me a post to put on the blog, add tags to Trove, Library Thing, and tweet using the #whodoneit hashtag. Let others know what you are reading.
Helen

The humans who went extinct by Clive Finlayson

This is a fascinating text that gives a deep insight to the evolution and survival of early man, it also serves as a warning of the dangers of climate change to our own species. Far from being the dull-witted monkey-men we imagine Neanderthals to have been, they were intelligent, worthy proto-humans who were in the wrong palce at the wrong time and became extinct due to climate change. Their technology was equal to that of contemporary proto-humans, our species could just as logically possess equal social and technological skills as today, if Neanderthals had been our anccestors. The cover photo on the book is enlightening, a facial conmstruction of an Neanderthal skull - and without a doubt possessing "human" characteristics.
Stephanie