Back in time and half a world away

Armchair travel is always a big hit over the Summer holidays, so we’ve put together a travel list with a bit of a twist… Come, throw yourself backwards in time and half a world away.

Our new booklist, International Historical Fiction, has heaps of recommendations from all over the world, and from many different time periods.

My personal favourite is Eowyn Ivey’s new one To the Bright Edge of the World – Alaskan wilderness, science and exploration bordering on the world of magic and myth. Sophie, young and newlywed in the 1880s, is fascinated with the science of photography and a bit of a weird outcast among the other women, while her husband Allan is leading an expedition across the unexplored (by white people, at least) wilderness of Alaska. I could use lots of words like ‘frontier’ and ‘isolation’ and ‘fascinating detail’ and ‘gosh white explorers are awful when it comes to the native people.’

   

If you like stories with huge scope that traverse through multiple countries and confront harsh historical realities, have a look at Homegoing, a story of half-sisters with two remarkably different destinies. One young woman, Effia, is given in marriage to a high ranking British official, while her half-sister, Esi, is held in the dungeons below as a slave. The ramifications of the distance between them and the unhealed scars of slavery run through this novel for seven generations.

Similar in scope is Annie Proulx’s new novel, Barkskins. Both Homegoing and Barkskins begin in the 18th century, but Barkskins opens in New France. At over 700 pages it should keep you going all holidays, and take you through the two intertwining families through the generations.

Or if you want to load up on an entire epic series, let Conn Iggulden’s five book Conqueror series take you back to the time of Ghengis Khan on the Mongolian Plains, or head east, to David Kirk’s Sword of Honour if you want to meet some samurai out for revenge.

    

For something perhaps a little gentler, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a beautiful story of a deep and powerful friendship between two women in 19th century China. Something a little bit more modern? Under the Udala Trees is set in the 1960s and 1970s in Nigera, a dangerous place to be if you’re a woman in love with another woman. A debut novel of gender equality and the right to love in a country recovering from civil war.

Recommended booklists from Christchurch City Libraries:

• International historical fiction
• Historical fiction about women
• Historical military adventures

Or check out our Staff Pickles personalised lists, some choice lists with a historical or international flavour are:

• Historical Fiction of the Masses – no drawing-room gossip or swooning in these novels! A list by Dan.
• Translated Reads – a glimpse of a life and a world originally told in another language. A list by Roberta.
• The World Wars: fiction and fantasy – stories of the brightest and darkest of humanities nature during two horrific time periods. A list by Alison.
• Behaving Badly in the 1800s – mostly young adult fiction, these are books about people busting out and breaking rules. Another list by Alison.
• Dead Dames – books written by dead women. A list by Alina.
• Microhistories – discover the unusual and often surprising history of things like sugar, human waste, bananas, milk, coal, plants and that most mysterious of the cutlery family, the fork. Another list by Alina.

Spooky stuff for Halloween

All Hallow’s Eve is coming up and if you’re in the mood for some ghostly good times, have we got the books, movies and info for you!

For Kids

We’ve got some great Halloween-themed books for kids. You might want to try –

• Halloween Board Books – Cheerful and not scary for little ones (my 2 year old LOVED Seven orange pumpkins).
• Halloween Picture Books – Longer stories with witches and ghosts (some New Zealand books included)
• Picture Books with Bite: Fruit, Vege & Food Fun – A great option if you’re worried about the Halloween-related “treating”, these stories are a good reminder about healthy eating.
• If you like… ghost stories for kids – Spooky tales for older children

We’ve also got this handy Halloween guide with a little bit of history, Halloween crafts and costumes, and safety tips, like this video from New Zealand Police.

For Adults and Teens

If you prefer things a little darker, we’ve got that covered too.

• After Twilight: More vampire tales for teen – Everything from pure horror, to supernatural romance, to straight-up vamp black comedy.
• Loathly ladies writing horror – Splendidly spooky writing by women. These monstrous madams will unsettle, disturb and horrify.
• Be Afraid – A list by the Staff Pickles of their scariest ever reads.
• Very best vampires – A list by the Staff Pickles of the favourite novels about bloodsuckers.
• Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse – Somebody’s got to. Let that person be you with these practical titles.

Movies

• Frightening Flicks – My choice of the best horror movies from our library catalogue. With gore rating, so you can pick the level of fake blood you’re comfortable with.

Award-winning horror

Maybe try some horrific winners?

• Bram Stoker Awards – Named after the author of Dracula, and run by the Horror Writers Association.
• Sir Julius Vogel Awards – Named after a former New Zealand Prime Minister/science fiction novelist, the awards “recognise excellence in science fiction, fantasy, or horror works created by New Zealanders and New Zealand residents”.

Halloween events in Christchurch

• Science Snippets in the library will feature ‘Blood and Guts’ as the theme
• Linwood Library’s regular Gamezone after school club is having a Halloween party
• Garden City Orchestra Halloween Concert at Avonhead Primary School
• Eventfinda Halloween listings (mostly for grown-ups)

Halloween Party preparation

Or if you’re planning your own shindig, you’re going to need –

• Halloween food
• A costume
• Decorations

So that’s plenty of Halloween-y stuff to consume, just make sure you return it on time (or we’ll own your immortal soul, as per our library membership conditions*).

Not a library member yet? Join uuuuussssss…

*Not really.

I like big books and I cannot lie

“I’ve chosen the book for August” the email said, “It’s Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati”

With tablet in hand, and the bing-bong of the email hitting my inbox still ringing in the air, I searched the catalogue to place a hold. I started reading the comments…

Fans of “Outlander” by Diana Gabaldon will enjoy this series…

and

As a huge fan of the Outlander series I was so happy to find this book…

were top of the list. *Sigh* I hated the Outlander series!

A few days later, the book turns up–all 876 pages of it. …Mutter, mutter…fat books…never reads anyone else’s choice…gets us to read a blimmin’ 900 page book…*groan*…

Needless to say, I wasn’t looking forward to reading this big, fat, Outlander-esque  book for my book-club. I used to like fat books. A good, long read that would keep you going for weeks — so long you’d have to take it out three times maybe, like I did when I read Memoirs of Cleopatra. Books with plenty of pithy plot and scope for real character development. Books so heavy that reading in bed is a real workout.

But then I had kids,  and got a job* too, and life just got too busy for fat books.

I turned the book over in my hands. Just because the cover is emblazoned with Diana Gabladon’s words of praise, that doesn’t mean I’ll hate it, right? Just because Outlander fans love it, that doesn’t mean I won’t enjoy it.  Better not put off starting too long, or I’ll never get it finished in time. I cracked it open.

And I started to enjoy it. Right from the first chapter. Elizabeth was just a great character, so feisty! I couldn’t help but like her. And that was the general feeling from my book group too.  We (almost) all managed to (almost) finish it, despite the 876 pages. And we all quite liked it, though most of us aren’t going to rush out and read the rest of the series.

This morning, a bright, shiny new copy of The Gilded Hour arrived here at Spreydon Library for a hold, and I think I’ll add myself to the hold list.

I might even read the rest of the Wilderness series. Maybe. After all, once upon a time, I liked big books, and I cannot lie.

I put together a list of some of my favourite big books, perhaps you’ll like them too, they’re definitely worth the effort!

If you (unlike me) like Diana Gabaldon, you might like this If you like… list

Do you like fat books, or do you prefer a slim read?  do you have a fat book to recommend?

*At the library. I know, ironic right? No time to read fat books now that I work at the library

Don Draper’s bookshelf and other Mad Men reading

After seven seasons, and innumerable long, boozy business lunches, the very last episode of 1960s advertising drama, Mad Men, screened last week.

No more of the sharp-suited, advertising wunderkind and human trainwreck, Don Draper. No more of the prickly but talented Peggy Olsen. No more of the dapper and urbane Roger Sterling. No more Pete, Joan, or Betty.

Well this simply will not do. I need something to fill the Jon Hamm-sized hole in my life. Fortunately we have plenty of reading material to keep pining Mad Men fans occupied.

First up are the Mad Men reading lists. Books read by characters, referred to, or quoted from in every episode. We’ve compiled two lists of titles we hold for you to consult for seasons 1 – 4, and 5 – 7 (based on the lists made by the inimitable New York Public Library).

But there are plenty of other options for delving into the world of Don Draper like the following –

• The advertising world in the 1960s was a pretty interesting time and place and according to Mad women: The other side of life on Madison Avenue in the 1960s and beyond, yes, it really was that sexist. Read more in The real Mad Men, The golden age of advertising, and 60s all-American ads.

• Just what is in an Old-fashioned? Or a Manhattan? Other than an interesting way to spend an evening, that is. Vintage cocktails: Retro recipes for the home mixologist has the answers.
• Fully immerse yourself in the world of Mad Men by planning a holiday in New York and scoping out the real life locations used in the show with Mad Men’s Manhattan.
• Music can evoke an era like nothing else can. Listen to Mad Men: A Musical Companion (1960-1965) for a little 1960s crooning and grooving.
• Missing the sleek sixties styling of Roger Sterling’s office? Tempted to add some to your own home? Then look no further than Miller’s Collecting the 1960s or Sixties style.
• I think I’ll miss the clothes the most *sniff*. Fortunately there are a range of titles that fit the bill in this department. Try Fifty fashion looks that changed the 1960s, The 1960s or The fashion file: Advice, tips and inspiration from the costume designer of Mad Men.

The Beauty of Lists

Memory – as you get older – seems to fail you at the most inopportune moments…  And if, heaven forbid, you are a little ‘distracted’ or ‘stressed’, then it completely goes out of the window.

Once upon a time I could remember the titles of books and authors’ names without having to play mental ‘charades’  with myself (or rope in increasingly bewildered colleagues) to acquire them! Ah, those were the days…

Thank heavens for our catalogue’s nifty little function entitled Lists. I was asked a question the other day: ‘what books could I recommend’. Well, this time I was prepared. I had a List, you see. Quick as a flash I went into My Account on BiblioCommons, clicked on My Lists and there they were – my top books (in no particular order) that I have access to via the library collection.

You don’t have to make lists public if you are of a reticent nature; whilst I make my own private  lists, I also peruse the public list titles on the catalogue page and find that some of them are really rather quirky and/or list very unusual topics. I’ve actually found quite a few books to place reserves on via this method.

Who could fail to be impressed with titles such as If you like… fiction for hipsters or If you like… Chick Lit – Beyond Bridget Jones and Marion Keyes? And, if you are desperate to find Lee Child-like books by different authors, THEN miraculously there is a list called If you like… Lee Child which puts forward 21 different authors to try. Yeah!!

Have you ever created or made use of a list? Check out the Staff Picks lists created by our librarians (you can choose from Adults, Kids and Teens) – I guarantee you’ll be surprised by the range they cover.

New Year’s Resolution (4)

The resolution to read seven books off The Guardian Best Books of 2013 list is proceeding well with no duds so far.

The latest is Breakfast at Sotheby’s, which was on William Boyd‘s list. Perhaps Boyd liked it so much because he features in the book, as the creator of an elaborate hoax that began on April Fool’s Day 1998 with the launch of a biography of artist Nat Tate. Except Nat Tate never existed outside William Boyd’s imagination. He even painted some works ostensibly by Nat Tate, one of which sold at Sotheby’s in 2011 for £6,000.

Boyd thought that Breakfast at Sotheby’s is “an entire art education contained in under 350 pages”.  It’s witty, learned and unusual in that it considers how art and money mix. It’s also full of fascinating characters from the history of art. My favourite discovery is Henriette Ronner-Kipp, one of the most popular female artists of the nineteenth century, who specialised in cats doing cute things long before YouTube.

The author is Philip Hook, who is a director and senior paintings expert at Sotheby’s. Before that he worked for Christie’s, but what is truly impressive is that from from 1978 to 2003 he was on  Antiques Roadshow. There can be no higher recommendation, although he calls his performance on the show pedestrian and says “it was charitable of the BBC to put up with me for so long, 25 years as it turned out”.

I do love a list and Breakfast at Sotheby’s has some great ones: Middlebrow Artists (artists who are looked down upon because people like them too much), Individual Artists (the most expensive and sought-after modernist artists) and Fictional Artists. Two of my best fictional characters of any occupation are on the latter list – Gully Jimson from The Horse’s Mouth and Charles Ryder from Brideshead Revisited.

A good dip-into book, guaranteed to turn up something of interest on any page you pick.

Purplerulz’s Top Five for 2013

To add to the lists being written from everyone’s reading for the year, I’m going to put forward my top five.

This may not be my absolute top five if I had a decent memory and I had kept my completed bookshelf on the library catalogue up to date… New Year’s resolution – I will do this in 2014! But they are ones that have stuck in my mind and have lingered long. They are in no order, I can never just have one favourite book.

cover of Every Day

1. Every Day by David Levithan: Imagine waking up every day in a new body, in a new life. For one teen this is all he/she knows but when faced with true love and a desperate desire to stay put, how will they get the life they long for? Great Young Adult fiction that speaks to adults as well.

2. Levels of Life by Julian Barnes: This little stunner of a book combines the raw pain of Julian Barnes’ grief after the death of his wife, with little known facts and stories about hot air ballooning. Odd combination, but it works. Highly recommended.

3.  The Wild Shore by Kim Stanley Robinson: An eighties dystopian novel about a post apocalyptic California dealing with a threat from foreign shores.

4. Perfect by Rachel Joyce: Could Ms. Joyce top the charm and cleverness of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry? Why yes she can, this book is very different to her first, but an excellent premise and wonderful characters.

cover of Perfect

5. The Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy: No year of mine can go by without a Cormac or two, and this is probably my favourite book of the year if I really had to pick one. Stunning prose, bleakness and such wonderful characters, he never disappoints. Check out my earlier blog about this great book and author.

And as this is my last day at the libraries for two whole weeks, count them…16 days, I’m arming myself with a couple of recommendations from colleagues and a few movies.

Harvest by Jim Crace and The Novel Cure are at the top of the pile.

I’d like to wish everyone a wonderful holiday period, even if you are working.  May the awesome book fairy shine upon you and the Santa of perfect prose leaves something so excellent, it lingers in your mind for a long time.

Meri Kirihemete!

The novel cure

An A-Z of Literary Remedies

Sometimes when you wake up, your first thought is: I just can’t do today.

Maybe you’ve been dumped by your lover, maybe you’re feeling old before your time, or the muzak in your local mall is a reminder that you have only twenty-something days left to slap Christmas into shape. Whatever your problem, it’s a Duvet Day and The Novel Cure has the book for you.

The authors, Ella Berthoud and Susan Elderkin, call their discipline Bibliotherapy (the prescribing of fiction for life’s ailments.) If that sounds exactly like library work to you, let me  remind you that not only have they written this book, they also run sell-out Bibliotherapy sessions and retreats in the UK. So it does beg the question: Why didn’t we think of this first? And if this just lowers your feelings of self esteem, they have a cure for that too – The Shipping News (Annie Proulx). It should cheer you right up!

Presented in alphabetical order and engagingly written, the authors suggest reads for everything from abandonment to zestlessness and all manner of malaise in-between. There are fascinating book lists as well, my favourite being The Ten Best Audio Books for Road Rage. I do have one small quibble and that is the unhealthy pallor of the cover that has been selected. Surely something with rosier cheeks would have been better?

In fact this is far from the only Book about Books out there. The library has 221 items on this topic and you can find a really good list of them right here: like Book Lust to Go (novels for the traveller) and 12 Books that Changed the World by Melvyn Bragg. After a while though, reading these compendiums starts to make me feel quite queasy – don’t read them like a course of  antibiotics (once started must complete entire course). Instead you need to dip into these books, with long palate cleansing activity bouts in-between.

And if, after all this, you still feel you could have put together a superior compilation (The Novel Cure has suggestions to control feelings of both jealousy and competitiveness by the way), you can do that too – right here on our Best Reads of 2013 page. And if even a list is beyond you right now, just tell us your favourite Cheer Me Up read right here on this blog!

A book a day…

There may come a day when you will look back on all the reading you have enjoyed and think:

I could write a book on that…

Will Schwalbe’s The End of Your Life Book Club is one such book. With a membership of just two people, his dying mother and himself, Will Schwalbe writes so beautifully of the book bond between mother and son. And what a mother. Mary Anne Schwalbe was the first director of the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children. Her final endeavour, right up until her death, was helping to build libraries in Afghanistan.

But wait, there’s more: the evocatively named Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading by Nina Sankovitch is the story of her extraordinary quest – steel yourselves for this – to read a book a day for the year following her beloved sister’s death. Even at the thought of 365 reads a year, I start hyperventilating. When I saw that she has produced a beautiful book where each thoughtfully identified chapter comes with its own carefully selected quotation, and that she did this with a home, a husband and four sons to look after, I could have wept.

In both these books, the recommended reads are part of a larger story, so they are redeemed from that awful listiness that can so easily happen in books about books. And that is something to bear in mind if you embark on a project like this. That and the ennobling sentiment of one of the quotes in Sankovitch’s book:

When you have possessed a book in mind and spirit, you are enriched. But when you pass it on you are enriched threefold.
(Henry Miller, The Books in My Life.)

Love those lists! Have a play in our new BiblioCommons catalogue

Have you taken a look at our new library catalogue yet? I’ve spent quite a bit of time exploring BiblioCommons recently, and I think I like it… a lot. It’s the perfect place for opinionated people like me to go and be, well, opinionated. You can speak your mind about library materials you love or hate, agree or disagree with other people’s comments, tell everyone what (or what not to) read, watch or listen to, and much, much more.

During my adventures in BiblioCommons, I’ve come across lots of weird and wonderful lists other librarians and library users have made. Here is a collection of my favourites (of what I’ve seen so far):

Books

• Now for something completely different – not your usual murder mysteries, thrillers and romances;
• If you think you don’t like Science Fiction…then maybe you should try one of these titles;
• Read like a grown-up – a book list for teens who love books;
• Learn how to cook like a celebrity;
• Get to know paranormal heroines that could beat me up;
• Be prepared to get goosebumps or laugh lines with these books about seekers, seers and other shenanigans;
• Find safety in numbers.

DVDs

• If you like quirky indie films, Loose_Teeth has some recommendations for you;
• Have a glamorous night in with these sparkling black and white comedies;
• Avoid an awkward date by avoiding awkward movies;
• These swashbucklers on DVD give Johnny Depp a run for his money;
• Blimey! Here’s a few brilliant British detective shows when you want one;
• On a cold, wet weekend you can either play cops and robbers, or watch them.

CDs

• Find music suggestions for those times when you may lapse into a coma;
• A member of the Daniel Boone Regional Library offers aural enjoyment for the discerning gentleperson;
• Discover music essentials for the desert island (just make sure you have plenty of fully-charged coconut batteries lying around);
• If you’re a big fan of Modern Family like I am, you too will be wondering “What would Phil Dunphy listen to?”.

Audiobooks

• Neil Gaiman could read the phone book and I’d listen – Bronnypop, this one’s for you;
• Just because you’re an adult doesn’t mean you’re too old to enjoy teen audiobooks;
• If you’ve ever wondered whether listening to science audiobooks will make you smarter, then you and DalysJ should talk;
• Improve your life on your way to work each day with these Commuter Specials or perhaps you’d prefer to listen to nails on a chalkboard…