December 2010
Monthly Archive
3 December 2010
Christmas is a magical time and all of us have special memories that come flooding back with a particular smell or sound. Music is an important part of this experience and after being force fed Christmas muzak as you do your present shopping, it’s nice to relax, unwind and settle into the mood at home, with music you have chosen yourself.
The library has a great collection of Christmas CDs covering a wide range of tastes. Here are some of our favourites.
Find out more on our Christmas music page.
Merry Christmas from the Music Team
3 December 2010
Posted by zackids under
Books,
Children | Tags:
Aleksandra Machowiak,
children's books,
Fierce Little Woman and the Wicked Pirate,
Gecko Press,
H.O.U.S.E.,
Joy Cowley,
Noisy Book,
Sarah Davis,
Soledad Bravi,
Zac |
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Gecko Press have been keeping up their tradition of producing English language versions of curiously good books from around the world. Here are three of the best recent releases.
The Noisy Book by Soledad Bravi is a board book filled with bright, bold illustrations and lots and lots of noises (over 100 pages). There are noises you would expect to find, like ‘The cat goes meow,’ ‘The horse goes neigh,’ and ‘The rooster goes cockadoodle doo.’ But what I like most are the noises you don’t expect, like ‘The cold goes aachoo,’ ‘Mummy goes kiss kiss,’ and ‘The power socket goes NO!’ This is the perfect book to share with babies and toddlers because everyone can enjoy making the noises.
The Fierce Little Woman and the Wicked Pirate is a newly illustrated edition of one of Joy Cowley’s most loved picture books. I loved this book as soon as I set my eyes on it! Sarah Davis‘ illustrations are absolutely stunning and she has captured Joy Cowley’s characters perfectly. Thank you Gecko Press for giving this wonderful story new life.
H.O.U.S.E (or Habitable, Objects, Unique, Spatial, Extraordinary) by 
Aleksandra Machowiak and Daniel Mizielinski is a fascinating book about contemporary architecture for kids. It’s a book for all those children (and adults) who are fascinated with buildings of all shapes and sizes. Inside, you’ll find spiky houses, inflatable houses, houses in trees and houses underground, from all over the world. The authors explain the inspiration behind the design of each house, as well as the materials used to build it, and where in the world it can be found.
These are just three of the latest and greatest books from Gecko Press. I’m sure we can look forward to more curiously good books from Gecko Press next year.
2 December 2010
I love, love, love The Literary Review’s Bad Sex in Fiction Award. Every year, since 1993, the English broadsheets roll out their uniquely tame brand of innuendo and double entendre, as they attempt to get down and dirty covering the award’s short-list and winner. Hurrah for November silly season!
This year, added interest was aroused with speculation that Tony Blair’s mea non culpa The Journey would make it onto the previously fiction only short-list. The judges finally decided that while Blair’s sexual recollections were revoltingly memorable, they were not of sufficient length to merit inclusion. Ha.
The proud winner, who collected his award in person on Monday night, was Rowan Somerville with his novel The shape of her. Not content to just write icky sex scenes he managed to insult the entire English race by declaring “There is nothing more English than bad sex, so on behalf of the entire nation I would like to thank you”. No, thank you Mr Somerville. To sample his goods read The shape of her, or try one from the shortlist:
2 December 2010
Posted by all1s0n under
Photography,
Season's greetings | Tags:
1960s,
1964,
Canterbury Yacht and Motor Boat Club,
ccliotw,
Christchurch,
Lyttelton,
Regatta,
Season's greetings,
yacht,
yachting |
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Area adjoining the Canterbury Yacht and Motor Boat Club’s shed at Lyttelton during the second day of the regatta. 1964.
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.
1 December 2010
Gap Filler has been set up by a small group of enthusiastic people who have responded in a creative way to the shock and impact of the recent earthquakes on the central city.
They aim to temporarily activate vacant sites within the central city with creative projects, to make for a more interesting, dynamic and vibrant central city.
What a great idea, and plenty of people have been turning out at the site in Colombo Street. Items to decorate the space have come from donations and it all looks so much better than a pile of dust and bricks.
Perhaps ideas from our books and magazines on home and outdoor decorating could also be of use to Gap Filler, (although judging from the site they have done incredibly well on their own!) Or maybe with all this lovely weather you are planning a bit of outdoor living yourself, and realise that the garden area could do with a new lease of life?
Or try our website for plenty of Gardening ideas.
1 December 2010
This is a beautiful cover.
I’m coming right out of the PC closet with this one:
I do judge a book by its cover.
And if this makes me a bad, bad person then so be it. Face facts, 2010 has been a mighty disappointing year in so far as quality adult fiction covers is concerned. From the shortlisted Booker prizewinners (yawn) to the horrors regularly dished up on Large Print fiction, it has been tough for the visually inclined.
Honestly speaking, cover-wise, is it really too much to ask:
- that a cover match the content of the book and its title
- that the cover show a little creative flair and
- that said cover should be devoid of glittery raised lettering that can be read like braille?
This is a feast of great covers.
It really was better in the past. Look back at some of the mouthwatering covers that we have feasted on over the years in Seven Hundred Penguins – and sigh.
I am not alone in this I know, and who better to give an incisive, bitingly intelligent slant on it than Lionel Shriver. When I interviewed her on her novel So Much For That, she was extremely vexed over the cover choices on offer to authors. And there is nothing better than Shriver vexed and on a roll. You can read her in full swing here. One of her pet peeves is the “pretty in pink” approach to women writers. As only Shriver can put it:
“trussing up my novels as sweet, girly and soft is like stuffing a rottweiler in a dress.”
And that I think is my literary quote of the year!
What, I wonder, were your quotes and covers of 2010?
1 December 2010
Good librarians. How quaint…
I bet you’re imagining quiet people dressed in cute floral overcoats (called “smocks” by the way), eating cheese and discussing whether Dewey really got it right…
Don’t be fooled! This is merely a cover, a ruse to make you think that’s all librarians do.
Want to know the truth? Well, I can’t tell you. It would mean your certain death (and no, not from boredom!)
But if you really want to delve into the danger, intrigue and utter ridiculousness of super librarians saving the world, start here…
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