Christchurch City Libraries Blog

Are you feeling overwhelmed by the number of new books that you really want to read but can’t imagine where you’ll find the time? Well prepare to feel even worse, because there are some fascinating new books in our reference centre – ANZC.  Most of these books will also have borrowable copies in the library.

About 30 years ago Robert Long dropped out of Medical School and took up life in remote Westland. Since then he has been joined in this frontier land by wife Catherine and  2 children He tells the story in A life on Gorge River : New Zealand’s remotest family..

In After Andrew: two kiwis cross Australia by Bill Lennox, Bill retraces the steps of his grandfather, Andrew Lennox, from Adelaide to Darwin in 1899. Bill had the help Andrew’s unpublished manuscript of his experiences, and a car, which beats the transport that Andrew endured.

From rags to rivets: the Trevor Bland story: a biography compiled and written by Ron Pemberton, is the story behind one of the founding members and driving forces behind the New Zealand Warbirds Association. If the words Vampire, Venom and Hawker Hunter strike a thrill in your heart then you really need to read this book.

Cornelius & co: collected working class verse, 1996-2008 by John O’Connor is an anthology which springs from the author’s background of working class Irish Catholic Addington.

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Sunbathing at New Brighton beach, Christchurch. January 1, 1919.

Do you have photos of Christchurch? We love donations.

Also contact us if you have any further information on any of the images. Want to see more? You can browse our collection.

Winter time often finds me on the couch, in front of the fire watching TV. I found an article on an American website with a list of book titles to go with  favourite TV programmes, and this got me thinking about programmes featuring on our screens at the moment.  

What could you offer to the ‘Coronation Street’  addict? I thought of Swallowing Grandma by Kate Long, a quirky story with the understated humour that makes The Street so popular.

The Vampire Diaries’ is easy – we have the books by L.J. Smith, and Charlaine Harris does a good line in vampires.

‘Brothers and Sisters’ might be a bit harder,  although I am enjoying reading Jennifer Johnston, who has a liking for tricky family relationships.

‘Top Model’ devotees might enjoy books about Pattie Boyd, Kate Moss and Marie Helvin and ‘Midsummer Murder’ watchers have probably read all the books by P.D. James and Ruth Rendell, but could well like  Simon Brett and Catherine Aird.

A previous  post talked about The Wire;  does it have anything similar in fiction, and what about Outrageous Fortune

• Books and Film into television
• New Zealand Television

photo courtesy of Alice in Videoland

There’s a business in town that has become a cultural icon, celebrating 25 years of promoting good film in Christchurch. Alice in Videoland has been around since May 25 1985, providing a treasure house of art house and classic movies,  first on video and now on DVD.  

Movie fans will remember the original Alice in Hereford Street complete with  giant tea-pot counter and  a little humpbacked bridge at the entrance. When Alice moved into the old Post Office building on High Street they were among the pioneers of funkiness at that end of town. The new digs provided even more space and today the place is an institution. Long time Alice identity Nick Paris is a regular spokesman for the International Film Festival which starts later this month.

Ok, I confess. I am a literary snob. I happily join the ranks of uptight people who read books described by the Times and Margaret Atwood as ‘meaningful’, ‘thought provoking’ and ‘poignant’. I revel in subplots, experimental language and universal themes. Yearly, I anxiously await the Man Booker Prize list so I can rush to the computer and place holds on at least five titles.

However, I have been feeling out of touch recently. A series of delightful female customers have asked me for advice in finding a ‘light read’. I was coming to dread these interactions because they left me gabbling and sounding like I didn’t know what on earth I was talking about, which I didn’t, and I hate that. “If you like…” help pages only go so far.

So, when the Five Book Challenge came along, I decided to leap in and tackle my greatest fear – Chick Lit. The snob in me was appalled but you’ve only got to look at the statistics to see how popular the Chick Lit genre is. Danielle Steel alone has sold over 530 million copies worldwide whereas many titles that make the Booker shortlist have trouble covering publishing costs. I started to wonder if there is more to Chick-Lit than I realised.

My first problem was finding where to start …

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Jackie French is one of Australia’s most prolific children’s authors.  She puts out at least 2 books a year for a range of different age groups, from picture books to young adult novels, and she writes on all sorts of topics.  Historical novels for children are her speciality and she always includes some of her research at the end of her novels so that you can see where her ideas have come from.  She has written 3 brilliant books lately – Baby Wombat’s Week, Queen Victoria’s Underpants, and Oracle.

Baby Wombat’s Week is the hilarious follow-up to Diary of a Wombat, illustrated by long-time collaborator and one of Australia’s best illustrators, Bruce Whatley.  Baby Wombat’s Week follows a week in the life of a baby wombat who (much like his mother) likes to sleep, eat, and generally create havoc.  He destroys the garden, tunnels into the house and makes friends with a human baby.  Parents will sympathise with the mother wombat and kids will love the cute baby wombat and his silly antics.

Queen Victoria’s Underpants is Jackie’s latest picture book collaboration with Bruce Whatley.  This charming and witty tale is the story of how the very first pair of royal underpants were made for Queen Victoria.  During Queen Victoria’s reign, few women wore underpants, but the Queen requests some to be made for her.  But what sort of underpants would she want? Silk or linen, lace or frills, long, short or knee-length?  The story is witty and the illustrations are stunning.  I particularly like the expressions of the characters that Bruce Whatley always does so well.

Oracle is Jackie French’s latest novel and once again, it’s a historical novel, but set in a very different time and place from her earlier novels – Ancient Greece.  Nikko and his sister Thetis live in a small village in the mountains, but one day they are taken from their hard life into a world of luxury.  They are trained as acrobats to perform for the King of Mycenae and soon forget their old life.  But Nikko’s sister is both cursed and blessed – if she speaks she must tell the truth.  When Thetis tells the King a truth about his future, their world comes crashing down around them.  Jackie’s historical detail is amazing and her descriptions of life in Ancient Greece (the sights and smells) were so clear in my mind.

I recently watched Sleeping Dogs again – the  library has the video, C. K. Stead’s book Smith’s Dream, and the soundtrack, which is heavy on Murray Grindlay.  While some aspects have naturally dated, much of the film has stood the test of time – a testament no doubt to the book, and the skill of director Roger Donaldson.

I’m thinking The Quiet Earth will be next. Or should I choose another Kiwi film?

Which New Zealand films have stood the test of time for you? Or are they all too cringeworthy?

Handy little things, bookmarks. Always popular.  You may think that all they do is save your place in a book – but the NZ Ecoexpo bookmark can help you do your bit to save the planet with two-for-one adult entry into this weekend’s event.

So get to a library before the weekend to get your bookmark – supplies will be limited. You can visit our sustainable living pages to help find some great reading too.

Along with all the stands and exhibitors at the Christchurch Convention Centre, there’s also a selection of films – including the visually stunning, totally non-verbal  Baraka.

There is something about fairies,  if you have a 6-year old daughter they are everywhere. Books about fairies are everywhere! To take just the the Rainbow Magic series – there are colour fairies, jewel fairies, animal fairies, dance fairies, ocean fairies,  sporty fairies, fairies for the days of the week, holidays (including 5 devoted solely to Christmas) and even the weather – one suspects that they must be running out of ideas soon – surely! Series for children are not all bad – previous blogs here have discussed their role in encouraging early readers. I remember  my first solo reading - Five go off in a Caravan.  I pulled this from my mother’s hands to try to read by myself as I was so frustrated by her rationing of one chapter a day.  Ignore the badly written prose, poor storyline and zero dimensional characters – getting kids hooked reading words is the goal that will lead them on to higher things.

However, at this stage – my daughter’s not reading the fairy stories – I am!  Since my daughter’s primary judgement for good reading  is based on how pink the cover is – sometimes I do get a reprieve.  In addition to fairies, there are princesses and also ponies, and sometimes I am truly lucky and I get all three – Princess Evie’s Ponies – Silver the Magic Snow Pony - fortunately due to the wise judgment of library selectors not available at Christchurch City Libraries.  I am afraid to say that I am not always the most patient of parents – some of these books I have found so truly dreadful, that despite protests and even  tears, I am physically incapable of reading more than one page. 

So what series are good to read to your 6 year old girl? Well, we have found some that we both enjoy:

• Grandpa Chatterji - a delightful series about a strange and mysterious grandfather from India who comes to stay.
• Ivy and Bean - Two friends who get up to mischievous pranks.
• Just Grace – Imagine being in a class with 4 other Graces.
• Tilly Beanie – Tilly has a great imagination and always wants to be someone she’s not.
• Katie – The Revolting bridesmaid - the girl who hates pink and “exquisite beading” has to be her sister’s bridesmaid.
• Daisy and the trouble with … - Daisy is a cheeky girl who is often a  bit naughty and things go wrong and she gets into all sorts of predicaments.

As someone who thinks mall foodcourts are the third circle of Hell (why do they play loud canned music when the echo chambers they build are already full of noisy people?), reading a book about silence appealed. But it has been a challenge. Novelist Sara Maitland writes about her personal journey into silence. That is pretty challenging in itself as she describes the transition from noisy family upbringing, vocal feminist campaigner, to vicar’s wife, to Catholic convert, to seeker of silence in the Sinai Desert and the isle of Skye. Fascinating but sometimes taking me well out of my depth in religion, philosophy and psychology – areas I don’t usually read.

And boy does she love her words – I had to reach for the dictionary -  “apophatic” “kenotic” “phylogenetically” and more.

The Book of Silence finishes with Sara living in a very underpopulated area of Scotland – I hesitate to call it remote as in Kiwi terms it is not. But her house sits alone on a moor, she practices a disciplined life of meditation, prayer, reading and writing with no radio or television and the phone unplugged on a certain number of days. It’s not hermit in a cave stuff but in modern terms it certainly is a challenging way to live.