Seeking refuge in print this silly season?

C.S. Lewis once said that “You can’t get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me”. Now there is a man after my own heart! But where do you start? There seems to be such a vast array of new titles and then there are those wonderful shelves of older books just waiting to be discovered. To top it all off, where are you going to find a book as good as the one you have just read? This is where we can help. Let me present:

• Books and Authors: Helps you decide what to read next by allowing searches by genre such as wagon train westerns (!)  Then there is the Who, What, When, Where function where you can  browse by character, subject, location and time period. So, if you are looking for books on a boxer in London, this is the place to start!
• NoveList Plus: a reading advisory tool suitable for all age groups. My favourite bit is using read-a-likes where you use a favourite author or series  to find others just like it.
• NoveList K8 Plus: Aimed at kids and teens, this resource will help them find new reading options using their favourite writers, books or stories as a starting point.

All of these resources and many more are at the Source. You can access them at any community library or from the comfort of home with your library card number and PIN. Let’s face it, with the roads and shops the way they are, if you can escape into a book and a cup of tea then you have found yourself a happy refuge!

What’s the name of that book?

You know the one? The one about the enchanted toothbrush or the one about the rats that declare war on the invaders from Venus? Well, these books don’t exist (as far as I know), but all of us have a book whose title we yearn to find out. Usually it’s a childhood favourite and as the desire to find the book grows, the memory gets worse and worse.

Of course one could ask a friendly librarian or access our databases.  One of them, Books & Authors lets you browse by Character, Subject, Location and Time Period, and provides a visual representation of your matching books. There’s free access to this premium website in our libraries and from your home computer, although you will need to be a library member (with a PIN on your card) for the latter service.

Another service is provided by Abebooks in their Booksleuth forum. You will have to register, but this is free and provided access not only to a community forum, an on-line book group and a book finding service, but the invaluable booksleuth tool. Divided into the categories of general, children’s, science-fiction, romance and non-fiction, I’ve found my elusive titles about 90% of the time.

As the information providers are enthusiastic and friendly amateurs like oneself, one feels part of a club of worldwide readers, who are only too willing to help fellow bibliophiles. One also picks up ideas for books worth reading as well as those wretched elusive titles!