Christchurch City Libraries Blog

Is it bad form to recommend a book you haven’t finished? Oh well, too bad if it is.  I wanted to rave about a sci-fi book I’m only a third of the way into … The unincorporated man by Dani Kollin & Eytan Kollin.

It’s set over 300 years in the future, and yes there are flying cars in this imagined future. Instead of investing in company stock, the earth’s population invest in people stock – that is, you buy shares of a person. The goal of most people is to buy a majority share in themselves, so that they can make decisions about their jobs, their future and their life, rather than their shareholders. Banks no longer exist, instead, private companies print money. The government doesn’t manage the economy, the companies do. It’s an interesting incorporated world. Everyone, and everything, is incorporated to some degree.

Cryonics is commonplace, so much so that there are jobs for re-animators – that is, bringing people back to life from their suspension units. Normally folks are brought back to life within a matter or months, or at most, a few years.

So how does this world cope when an unincorporated man drops into the mix? Justin Cord is from the past, the distant past, way before anyone was incorporated. His suspension units was one of the first to be created, and he’s been hidden away in a cave for over 300 years.

Justin doesn’t fit into this structured corporate world. While he is navigating his way through a new future, one that he could only have imagined of 300 years ago, those around him are trying to work out how he fits into their world. It’s an interesting take on where the future might be headed.

Although I am not sure if the ending will match the start of this novel, it has high praise from Kage Baker on the back cover, and it is an intriguing read so far. So if you wanting something a little unusual, try this novel.

I had one of those wonderful serendipitous moments in the library last week.  It was right near the end of my lunch break and I had about 5 minutes to find a book and it was a desperate moment as I was currently without anything to read -  a situation I find very hard to be in. I was scanning the new titles and the recently returned when I happened on Mindy Friddle’s The garden angel. 

It is every thing I love in a novel – quirky, with memorable characters and set in the South.  I haven’t quite worked out why I love books set down there but any of the books that I have read, or movies I’ve seen seem to talk to my soul and Cajun food feeds it. Mmmmm Gumbo.   At the back of the book it had a website to visit and Mindy has written a second book, so I have been in touch with the book buyers at the libraries and the dears have ordered Mindy’s second offering Secret Keepers.

But back to The garden angel, this is the abridged blurb from the book jacket:

Cutter Johanson is plucky and eccentric, nostalgic about her family’s once-glorious past. In her spare time, she gardens in the family cemetery and knits hair doilies. While writing obits for the local newspaper and waiting tables at the Pancake Palace, she is desperate to ward off potential buyers from her dilapidated ancestral homestead – and goes to extreme and often hilarious lengths to succeed. …Elizabeth Byers rarely ventures outside the brick ranch she shares with her husband, Daniel, a professor at Palmetto University. Agoraphobic and stricken with panic attacks, she fills her days gardening and writing her dissertation on Emily Dickinson. But one day, an anonymous call brings disturbing news that propels her into action…Cutter is losing her house, and Elizabeth is losing her husband. Surrounded by offbeat characters, the women pull together to seek sanctuary, only to plunge into a string of misadventures that will irreparably disrupt their lives – and the lives of others.

So grab a mint julep (always wanted to try one – maybe this summer after the wee rugrat is weaned) and a bowl of gumbo and enjoy!

The anniversary of Sibelius’s death may have passed relatively unnoticed, but the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra chose to honour him with a full programme of his music last weekend. Perhaps this is because Maestro Jari Hamalainen, one of the newest conducting stars to come out of Finland was conducting (check him out on YouTube. ) Attracted though I was to hearing Sibelius conducted by a fellow Finn, I had never been to a concert featuring the works of only one composer before, especially a composer whose works I am not very familiar with. Would I be bored with Sibelius by half time I wondered? The answer is a resounding no. In fact it was a very satisfying experience, like having a three course meal of  Sibelius so to speak.

 The experience was helped along by the riveting performance of the violin concerto op .47 in D minor by the young Bulgarian violinist Bella Hristova, the 2007 winner of the Michael Hill International Violin Competition. I will certainly be looking to see where her career takes her. Unusually she has not only already won number of prestigious prizes, but has she also featured in O, The Oprah Magazine and Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion, so it could be an interesting journey. If you would like to hear her play try the Naxos database on our website.

• Music by Sibelius in our collection

Did you know that Christchurch City Libraries have an image collection? You will now, because every week we are going to post an image for your viewing pleasure. If you see something you like just complete this form and you can order a copy to frame, gift, collage… you get the idea. If you have any further information on any of the images, or if you would like to donate images to our collection please contact us.

The other day I was checking if any of my fave authors have new books out. 

Dan Rhodes? Nope.
Peter Ackroyd? Yes! A big juicy book on Venice.

Venice

Everything is here: the merchants on the Rialto and the Jews in the ghetto; the mosaics of St Mark’s and the glass blowers of Murano; the carnival masks and the sad colonies of lepers; and, the doges and the destitute and the artists with their passion for colour and form – Bellini, Titian, Tintoretto, Tiepolo. There are wars and sieges, scandals and seductions, fountains playing in deserted squares and crowds thronging the markets.

Sounds tasty.

And a new book called Maintenance of the headway by Magnus Mills! Ah Magnus. Thomas Pynchon called him a demented, deadpan comic wonder. And he ain’t wrong. The Mills humour is so dry it’s positively desiccated. His unique style features pithy tales laden with black humour where people are pitted against mad processes. Bureaucracy gone mad.

For a good example of this,  there’s his book  The Scheme for Full Employment. The Independent reviewed it thus:

The story concerns a mythical Scheme whereby people are employed to drive “Univans” around all day, delivering and picking up crates. The narrator is on a circuit of seven depots and spends eight hours a day shuttling back and forth. It’s only about a third of the way through that we discover what’s in the crates: spare parts for the Univans. The work is light, agreeable and well-paid, and everyone’s very thankful to be on the Scheme: “It’s like being in a great big feather bed.”

Much is made of the fact that Brummie born Mills once drove buses for a living (read all about it in the article Why my career is back on route). And find out more about Magnus from his publisher Bloomsbury.

I reckon there’s a shortage of authors writing funny stuff so Magnus is a real catch. Can’t hardly wait to read his newbie.

Britpop

Jarvis Cocker that loveable, bespectacled beanpole has a new CD out called “Further Complications”. Some of you may, if you are as aged as moi, remember Pulp and the Britpop glory days of Blur, Suede, Elastica etc. Ah golden years of yoof…

Jarvis is a well known past master of the whimsical, piss-taking  ditty; songs wryly observing the banality of everyday life but inter-cut with a knowing grandeur and tongue-in-cheek posturing. This new album has all of that and also some very interesting new vocal explorations. I particularly marvelled at “Caucasian Blues” where Cocker, against all the odds, managed to sound like the bastard child of John Lydon singing  a Monkees number. Truly thrilling. And how I sniggered at these  lyrics “I met her in the museum of paleontology, and I make no bones about it”.

The Guardian review of “Further Complications” was less wholeheartedly enthusiastic and wondered “What’s eating Jarvis Cocker? Reviewer Craig McLean found the album lacking Cocker’s customary warmth but also noted that Jarvis had recently announced the end of his marriage. This new angry Jarvis Cocker, seething mass of bitterness though he may be, if the Guardian is to be believed, still managed to tootle down to HMV record store in London and spend 2 hours flogging and signing his CD over the counter. Now that is working class.

Anyway “Pah” and “granny-knickers” to the Guardian, what do they know, and yay to Jarvis Cocker and his new beard. And even if you don’t like this new one, The Jarvis Cocker record  from 2006 is always worth another listen.

The Bicycle Band
[ca. 1900]

Christchurch’s Bicycle Band claimed to be the only one of its kind in the world.

Like what you see? Complete this form to order an image. If you have any further information on any of the images, or if you would like to donate images to our collection please contact us. Want to see more? You can browse our collection here.

Margaret Kedian of Magpies describes Fifi la Belle: Ship’s Cat by Lucy Davey as an absolute delight but I wasn’t as convinced. It should be popular with little girls of about 4 to 6 years and it has all the ingredients of this genre. A spoiled cat, a doting owner, a crazy land and sea journey and lots of interesting rhyme and rhythm to stop the parent reader from dozing off on the tenth reading.

This is the third book in the series and the colourful prose is matched by equally colourful illustrations by Christine Ross.

Necrology – a list of notable people who have died recently. Now a regular feature on our blog.

• David Carradine, 1936-2009
  Actor whose career was revived by Quentin Tarantino 20 years after he found fame in the cult series Kung Fu

• Fleur Cowles, 1910-2009
  Editor and socialite who was a supreme global networker, befriending artists, actors and royalty

• Koko Taylor, 1928-2009
  Singer who electrified the Chicago blues scene and scored a hit with Wang Dang Doodle

• Charles Tingwell, 1923-2009
  Actor whose starring role in Emergency – Ward 10 made him a television heart-throb in the 1960s

• Norman Walker, 1921-2009
  Christchurch doctor who combined a varied medical career with extensive outdoors activity and community service

TV music

Music fans always have their ears tuned – for the familiar sound or something new&exciting. Even when the telly is on. The Library has a list of Advert music where you can find out what is that tune tantalising you in the ad break. And if we have it on CD we’ll link you to it.

 Some recent goodies:

• that body painting Air NZ ad (it’s the smooth yet growly voiced Kiwi Gin Wigmore singing  Under my skin)
• the kids performing eyebrow stunts for Cadbury: Don’t Stop the Rock by Freestyle (we don’t have a copy but that’s the tune)The Adidas Originals house party ad features a banging Pilooski re-edit of Beggin by Frankie Valli)
• The music used in the Samsung LED tv ad is the beautifully melodic  Kelly watch the stars by French duo Air

If your educated ears spot the music in any adverts currently showing let us know and we’ll add it to the list