Christchurch City Libraries Blog

Back in the day, Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot sang Bonnie and Clyde – I love the distinctive whooping noise in the chorus.
I guess other people did too, since it has been sampled by such tracks as MC Solaar’s Nouveau Western, and more recently, Kylie Minogue’s Sensitized.

There are other interesting musical interludes inspired by these glam outlaws.

Recent New Zealand visitors Jay-Z and Beyonce sang an ’03 Bonnie and Clyde.

Eminem’s dark tale ’97 Bonnie and Clyde is infamous. It was covered to chillingly beautiful effect by Tori Amos on the album Strange Little Girls.

Here’s a multiple choice quiz to start the year. You are in a bird hide on the banks of the Limpopo River in Africa with a pair of binoculars. Do you:

(a) Train them upwards to follow the flight of circling raptors

(b) Look down to better spot the lurking Big Five or

(c) Aim straight ahead to the pink smudge that is a lone house on the Mozambican side of the river.

I’m a (c) and there’s a book for people like us, it’s At Home: A Short history of Private Life by (little fanfare here) Bill Bryson.

Bryson must be one of the most engaging writers of our time. He has proved this in books like A Short History of Nearly Everything and Notes from a Small Island. He has an unerring ability to dish up huge wodges of information in an entertaining way.  You’ll find you have to read bits of it out loud to your significant other. His writing is detailed, disarming and droll.

Using the floor plan of his home in Norwich as the comforting structure of this book, he free ranges over a vast array of loosely domestic topics from every corner of the globe. From the rise of the female gardener to burial grounds in London, from everything you never wanted to know about rattus rattus to poisonous beauty aids, this book has it all.

In a way, At Home sanctions my walking to and fro in front of any interesting house in the hope that the homeowner will come out and ask (nicely – not snarkily): “Would you like a closer look?”  And I’d go in for  a Cook’s tour and a  Grand Designs type of a chat. When I leave the owner might be taken aback to find that all the toilet seat covers have been firmly pressed down but you won’t be once you’ve read the book, where on page 259  Bryson quotes:

” One of the oldest of all urban legends, that rats come into homes by way of the toilets, is in fact true. On several occasions, rats were found alive in covered toilet bowls.” If ever there was a reason to put the lid down, this could be it.

In the end I had to own this book. It’s now added to my list of Desert Island Reads. What would make it on to yours?

Across the Universe is the absolutely amazing debut  Young Adult novel by Beth Revis and I can already tell that it is going to be one of my favourite books of the year.

The story starts with Amy who, along with her parents, is being prepared to be cryogenically frozen for the next 300 years as they travel to a new planet.  Her parents and the other adults on the ship all have special skills that will help to colonise this new planet, while Amy is a nonessential, just there because of her parents.    There are also others on board the ship, Godspeed, who are not frozen but keeping the ship moving on it’s course.  Elder is one of these people.  He is the youngest person on the ship and the one chosen to lead the next generation.  When Amy is violently woken 50 years before they are due to arrive on the new planet, she creates tension in Elder’s carefully ordered society.  On a ship in the middle of space where everyone has the same skin and hair colour, similar features, and never questions the rules, Amy is not welcomed.Amy’s questions and Elder’s own discoveries lead them to uncover the lies that Eldest has been telling them all about the ship and their quest for Centauri-Earth.

Beth Revis leads you on a rollercoaster ride, with lots of unexpected twists and turns.  Across the Universe has something for just about every reader – a dystopian society, science fiction, mystery, murder, and a touch of romance.  It’s the first book in a new trilogy and I really can’t wait to read more.  Get your hands on what is going to be one of the most talked about YA novels of 2011.

You can also check out Beth’s website and read her very entertaining blog.

John Alldis, 1929-2010
Conductor whose choir specialised in contemporary music and worked with Pink Floyd and Duke Ellington

Helen Boatwright, 1916-2010
Soprano who championed the performance of American song and in particular the music of Charles Ives, of whose work she recorded the first full-length album

Jerry Bock, 1928-2010
Songwriter whose partnership with Sheldon Harnick yielded one of the theatre’s most successful shows – Fiddler on the Roof.

Hugues Cuenod, 1902-2010
Swiss tenor who ranged from French mélodie to opera and continued performing into his nineties

Denis Dutton, 1944-2010
Academic, web entrepreneur and libertarian media commentator/activist, Professor of Philosophy at Canterbury University

Peter Hofmann, 1944-2010
German tenor who excelled in heroic Wagnerian roles but stretched his voice to breaking point

Richard Holbrooke, 1941-2010
‘The Raging Bull of US diplomacy’ who brought peace to Bosnia but antagonised allies in Afghanistan

Anthony Howard, 1934-2010
Outstanding journalist who blew away the cobwebs, clichés and fawning of 1950s political discourse

Philip Lawrence, 1921-2010
Educational psychologist, Canterbury University Emeritus Professor

Val McGirr, 1951-2010
West Coast genealogist

Harvey McQueen, 1934-2010
NZ poet, anthologist and educator

Jessie Mould, 1916-2010
Akaroa historian and author

Thomas Newnham, 1926-2010
NZ educationalist and political activist

Ruth Park, 1917-2010
NZ-born author who spend most of her life in Australia

Norman Roberts, 1915-2010
Scientist, founding Director of WRONZ, community man and author

James Tyler, 1940-2010
Lutenist involved in the Early Music revival who brought forgotten instruments back into the mainstream

New Brighton beach goers are delighted with the offer of a free book or magazine as local  librarians trundle their wheelbarrow along the beach during the summer holidays. This initiative has been running at New Brighton and the Affirm festival for several years now.

This is a chance to talk to people one on one about what they want from their library as well as to keep them informed the library has on offer.  People are constantly amazed by the variety.

Dan Daly

New Brighton Library

When a blog becomes a book it is apparently called a Blook.  Over the years this has become a bit of a trend, possibly because it is a cheap way of writing a book, there is already an established readership, and the book feeds off the blog and visa versa.

If you have a blog there are a number of websites that will  self publish your musings.  Some blogs get picked up by mainstream press when it has generated enough interest to warrant a book.

Recent titles that the library has bought are:

Petite Anglaise writing a blog while living in Paris with a new baby was a way for this author to alleviate the boredom and give Francophiles some enjoyment at the same time.

Craft hope : Handmade crafts for a cause This blog has encouraged readers to make handmade items for charities.  This book includes many of these projects  alongside where to donate.

Miss Masala : real Indian cooking for busy living Inspired by her blog “Cookery Goddess” Millika Basu reveals secrets to Indian cooking

A life in frocks : a memoir Author of thecraftyminx blog, Kelly Doust shares her love affair with fashion

Stuff white people like : the definitive guide to the unique taste of millions Directly uplifted from the blog of the same name this is a sartorial take on the things white people like,  including free trade coffee and biking to the farmers market.

Awkward family photos We all have them – and they are often very bad.  Another book taken directly from the blog of the same name.

The sartorialist People on the street who look great

Baghdad burning II : more girl blog from Iraq an older title and perhaps one of the first blogs to be turned into a book, it follows the day-to-day life of a teenage girl during the Iraq war.

The Sir Julius Vogel awards will be open in January. The award is for any science fiction, fantasy or horror works created by a New Zealander and first published or released in the 2010 calendar year. Anyone can make a nomination and it is free!  See the website for the categories open and get busy reading NZ authors and watching NZ movies.

Past winners include Russell Kirkpatrick, Nalini Singh, Helen Lowe, Brian Falkner and Under The Mountain.

Nominations open on 1 January 2011 and close on 31 March 2011 at 8pm.

For more information about the SJV Awards, please go to the SFFANZ web-site
You can find full details about the nomination procedures and rules, including eligibility criteria at

Christchurch City Libraries has a page on the award listing past winners