Poetry on our windows

The Gloucester Street windows of the Central Library will be wreathed in words next week, leading up to National Poetry Day on Friday 30 July 2010.

Phantom Billstickers are helping us to celebrate the day by pasting Poem Posters on the windows of the library. Poem Posters feature New Zealand and American poems, they can be seen on streets all around the world – and next week they can be seen in Gloucester Street. 

If the posters whet your appetite, come on into the library and check out the books we have by the featured poets. My personal favourite is Tusiata Avia but there will be lots of other poets featured.

• Phantom Billstickers poetry posts on their blog
• Our previous posts on Phantom and Poetry
• Our previous posts on Poetry

Please please tell me now, is there something I should know?

These were the years of MTV and John Hughes movies; the era of big dreams and bigger shoulder pads … Inept flirtations. Dumb crushes. Deplorable fashion choices. Members Only jackets. Girls, every last one of whom seems to be madly in love with the bassist of Duran Duran.

It’s true, in the 80s all the girls loved John Taylor, bassist for Duran Duran.

This is the fertile territory of Talking to girls about Duran Duran, a novel by Rob Sheffield, author of Love is a mix tape.

But I reckon the thinking girl’s Durannie crumpet was singer Simon Le Bon. He’s got a lovely library too.

New books this week in the Aotearoa New Zealand Centre (ANZC)

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 Bill had the help Andrew’s unpublished manuscript of his experiences, and a car, which beats the transport that Andrew endured.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.

Warm thought for a cold day – Image of the week

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.

If you like TV, you might like …

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