February 2010
Monthly Archive
15 February 2010
Posted by joyciescotland under
Books | Tags:
dick francis,
horseracing,
racing |
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World War II pilot, champion jockey and internationally bestselling author, Dick Francis CBE has died today aged 89 at his home on the Cayman Islands.
The recurring theme of his many mystery thrillers was of course racing, and first out of the starting gates was Dead cert published in 1962. Publishing a novel a year, Francis employed a variety of main characters. Sid Halley appeared in several titles, as did Kit Fielding, and his leading men all shared similar character traits: solitary, physically and mentally tough, resourceful and attractive to women, Francis’s heroes strive to win but not at any cost. Decency, responsibilty, justice and fair play are central themes in all Francis’s 41 racey-pacey titles.
Unusually in 1999 his publishers acknowledged the important creative input of Francis’s wife Mary, previously she had been credited just with draft reading and editing his work, and after Mary’s death in 2000 Francis’s son Felix came on board as co-author.
Regardless of writing roles, together the Francis family made the racing world come alive.
12 February 2010
Valentine’s Day. Unless you’re in the “honeymoon phase” of a relationship it can be a fairly rough trot. Are you fed up with the chocolates and roses crowd and their sickening kissy-faces? Why wouldn’t you be?
It’s especially hard if you’ve just had your heart drop-kicked for goal by a callous cad or stroppy siren. There are books that can help you through the rough times and I’ve mentioned those in Valentines posts past but when it comes to heartbreak nothing is more succinct, more visceral, more pointedly true than the lyrics of popular songs.
Yes, you’ll find it hard to listen to the lovey-lovey stuff and don’t even go near “your song” for at least a year but songs are great for a bit of wallowing or even better a bit of “you suck and I don’t even care that you’re going out with my best friend now” catharsis. The following list has been cribbed from “On & off songs for the dumped” from The Advertiser but I’ve padded it with a few suggestions of my own to make it a nice round twenty.
- End of the road – Boyz II Men
- Ain’t no sunshine – Bill Withers
- Just don’t know what to do with myself – Dusty Springfield/The White Stripes
- Tainted love – Soft Cell
- Good riddance (Time of your life) – Green Day
- I will survive – Gloria Gaynor
- Everything about you – Ugly Kid Joe
- Hit the road Jack – Ray Charles
- Song for the dumped – Ben Folds Five
- You oughta know – Alanis Morissette
- You keep me hangin’ on – Diana Ross & the Supremes/Kim Wilde
- Irreplaceable – Beyoncé
- Crazy – Patsy Cline
- I hope I never – Split Enz
- Please don’t leave me – Pink
- Gives you hell – All American Rejects
- Since u been gone – Kelly Clarkson
- Crying – Roy Orbison
- Love is a battlefield – Pat Benatar
- Since I don’t have you – Skyliners/Guns n Roses
So what do you think of this list? Anyone got suggestions of their own for a lovelorn playlist for one?
11 February 2010
Posted by zackids under
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Oh no! There are rats in the library!
If you’ve been into Centre for the Child in Central Library over the last few days you may have noticed we have a rat infestation – Gavin Bishop’s Rats that is. Illustrations from Gavin Bishop’s fantastic picture book Rats, along with illustrations from other New Zealand illustrators Fraser Williamson and Jenny Cooper now line the walls in the Centre for the Child. If you dare, you can see rats scaring an old lady and running away with her cake, a boy on a skateboard chasing some slugs, a Cyclops swinging through the trees in search of lunch and a worried pirate with a pig for a pet.
The illustrations were originally part of the Off the Page exhibition of New Zealand illustrators, presented by Te Tai Tamariki, held at COCA Gallery. Te Tai Tamariki is the New Zealand Children’s Literature Charitable Trust that has been set up to preserve and promote New Zealand children’s literature. They host a number of events throughout the year including exhibitions and author visits, as well as creating a great calendar each year filled with illustrations from classic and more recent New Zealand picture books. You can read their newsletters or find out about coming events on the Te Tai Tamariki website.
You can find out more about these illustrators on the library’s New Zealand Children’s Authors and Stories pages and if you want to see the life-size versions of their illustrations come and see them in the Centre for the Child at Central Library.
11 February 2010
Jazz songstress Diana Krall will be performing at the Westpac Stadium on 18 February, along with two talented support artists.
It would be easy to be jealous of Diana Krall. She’s young, beautiful, talented, successful and rich. She is also so charming it is impossible to dislike her. This is absolutely in keeping with her music which is also is charming and cool. A little too cool for some, who find her uninteresting, but she is a surprisingly talented pianist and quite capable of delivering the complex music if she wishes. I certainly enjoy listening to her warm, intimate tones as long as I don’t get too much of her.
Even better reasons to go and buy a ticket are her two support acts Madeleine Peyroux and Melody Gardot .
I have long been a fan of Madeleine’s. Her music is distinctive, complex and beautifully phrased. She became involved in music performance via the buskers on the streets of Paris and still seems to return there between recordings. The uniqueness of her life style is reflected in her music. Although she is now singing her own compositions, my favourite album Careless Love is mostly covers, but fresh and wonderful covers of some delightful songs, backed by some wonderful musicians. My main worry is that she might not turn up on the night. During one of her publicity tours she disappeared, having simply jumped on a plane and headed off somewhere quiet when it all became too much.
Melody Gardot also has an interesting story and a beautiful voice. In 2003 she had a serious traffic accident as a result of which she suffered head and spinal injuries. This resulted in her confinement to hospital for a year and neural injuries which left her hypersensitive to light and sound. Music was part of her reahabilitation and she began singing and playing the guitar and eventually writing her own songs. The result has wowed the critics with what Billboard called “a noir yearning and forlornness” and a delivery that “enraptures with a torch sentimentality”. You’ll know what they mean when you hear her.
All in all it should be a good night out, as long as Westpac Stadium can deliver the intimacy required to fully appreciate these great talents.
Read reviews on our internet gateway and find out more about these artists at their websites
Tickets via Ticketek
11 February 2010
A group of water-skiers waiting their turn at the Water-Sports Carnival at Kairaki. 1961.
Opposite is the entrance to Brooklands Lagoon.
Do you have any favourite Christchurch summer photos? We love donations. Contact us
Also contact us if you have any further information on any of the images. Want to see more? You can browse our collection here.
8 February 2010
The first season of one of the best shows on TV ended on Friday night with a great episode that had all the singing, dancing, and drama that I have come to love. If you watch Glee you know what an awesome show it is and if you don’t watch it you really don’t know what you’re missing. For the uninitiated Glee is set in McKinnley High School in America and is about the ups and downs of a group of teenagers who belong to the school’s Glee Club (like our school choirs but so much better). All the stereotypical high school groups are thrown in with lots of teenage issues, which doesn’t make it sound all that appealing but when you add some great musical numbers such as ‘Don’t Stop Believing,’ ‘My Life Would Suck Without You,’ ‘Jump,’ and ‘Gold Digger,’ and some cool dance moves you’ve got a great show.
The music is the best part of the show for me and I can’t get enough of the songs. While driving to the West Coast and back last week both of the soundtracks got played endless times yet I didn’t get sick of the songs. If you’re like me I’m sure you’ll have the songs stuck in your head for days. We now have both Volume One and Volume Two in the library to help you get over your Glee withdrawal symptoms so that you can survive until Season Two returns later in the year.
5 February 2010
Essie Summers is one of a number of successful New Zealand romance writers. The Guru has suggested some more with a Christchurch connection. These include:
Alison Roberts is the pseudonym of a Christchurch writer who is still going strong with Mills and Boon. The Press has an interview with her called “A career built on love”.
Nora Sanderson, 1905-1975. Nora was writing for Mills and Boon in the 1960s and 70s and possibly lived at Templeton. She was born Nora Brocas and the library has her book about growing up in New Zealand. Her novels can be interloaned from the National Library.
Mavis Winder, 1907-1987. Our libraries still have plenty of her works. She wrote some titles under the name Mavis Areta and published in the USA as Mavis Areta Wynder to ensure correct pronunciation. Her maiden name was Wright. Her books had some wonderful titles – ‘The fanned flame’, ‘Love keeps no score’, ‘Folly is joy’…
Does anyone know anything else about these writers or any other successful romance writers based in or around Christchurch?
5 February 2010
Are you a poet? Festival of Flowers, in association with Heritage Christchurch, is holding a poetry competition combining the the Festival theme ‘The Tree of Life’ in the year the Festival turns 21. Poems can be up to 30 lines, with choice of style wide open: sentimental, quirky, hilarious, philosophical. Email up to two poems by 24 February to: summerpoets@gmail.com
The Judges will be James Norcliffe and Ruth Todd, who both officiated at the 2005 event. Finalists will read their works out at a Soirée (at Heritage Christchurch) on 2 March prior to the supreme winner being announced. A selection of poems will later appear on the Festival of Flowers website.
5 February 2010
Up until recently our house was dominated by two small hairy dogs. According to the trainer who came to help us, we needed to gain control and become ‘leaders of the pack’. Suggestions ranged from eating out of their bowls first to establish top dog status, (you will be relieved to know that this did not require becoming partial to dog roll), to holding them by the collar when making a point to assert our dominance.
Dog Trainers of course come at a cost, and if you want to save money but still get good advice, then the library has many books that can help tame and train the small and hairy, to the large and boisterous.
4 February 2010
My colleague’s recent post about Don McGlashan reminded me that Mr McGlashan truly is a living legend (Dick Hubbard awarded him the title so it must be true). I didn’t get to interview him at Auckland Writers and Readers, which was just as well when the temptation to bow down and intone “I am not worthy” in the manner of Wayne and Garth when they meet Aerosmith was almost overwhelming, and that was from the third row of the audience .
Such enthusiasm in a mild-mannered middle aged librarian caused some amusement to colleagues but I think it’s fully justified in this case. It seems admirable and increasingly rare to just keep on making good work, year after year, to say that “the work itself is its own reward” and to be almost surprised that when you go on tour in the middle of a recession you still sell out around the country.
Fiona Farrell talks about ‘poetry moments’ – those times when when you’re doing something else and suddenly a few lines of poetry come back to you. McGlashan did say at the songwriters’ session in Auckland that songs aren’t just poetry but I have poetry moments all the time with his songs, probably because they are about here; Highway One, not Route 66, and because for a long time it seemed nobody sang about here in a voice that recognisably belonged to someone from here. All the singers in New Zealand bands put on American or British accents.
Mount Eden brings to mind “Dominion Road is bending, under its own weight, shining like a strip cut from a sheet metal plate ’cause it’s just been raining” and crossing the Auckland Harbour Bridge it’s “lights across the water, a bracelet in these sky” In Wellington it’s “she loves Wellington, she was born there, she grew up out in the Hutt Valley”
At home in Christchurch it’s “I sell sporting goods I’ve got a shop not far from Cathedral Square” and when in Aramoana the haunting “And oh yes..one of those AK47s for some collector down the line”. I’ve even had one on the Tube in London “talking loud in a Kiwi accent”. How could you possibly pick a favourite? (although mine is Andy)
I make it a rule to see Don McGlashan and whatever great band he’s assembled at least once a year. This year it will be in Wellington at the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts, and I can’t wait.
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