July School Holidays: Landscape Art collage techniques

Wednesday 14th July @ Springwood Library
"Landscape Art collage techniques" with Jane
10:30am - 12noon
6yrs - 12yrs
$5.00 per child
Bookings are essential!

Children's Author of the Month

Steven Herrick - Frequently Asked Questions

Question & Answer

When did you start writing?
I was eighteen and travelling around the country. One night I decided to write a poem for something to do. It was about how "love is like a gobstopper". When I returned to my Mum's house, I typed it up, sent it off to a poetry magazine, and they published it and sent me $5. I thought, "Wow. Money for poetry!!! From then on, I read lots of poetry, all types, and decided that's what I wanted to be - a poet.

Did you read a lot when you were young?
Yes, but not that many books. Mainly soccer magazines from overseas. It wasn't until I was fourteen when I started to read novels. Then I read everything I could get my hands on - although I still enjoyed those silly sports magazines…

What were the important experiences in your life?
Let me answer that, in two ways.
Firstly, the simple answer to that question is meeting my partner, Cathie, and our relationship with each other and our two children, Jack and Joe, are the pivotal experiences of my life. They mean everything to me.
Secondly, as a writer, I'm not sure you can classify particular experiences as being important, and other experiences as being of less importance. When I look back on the initial experience that lead to me writing particular books, I can see that, at the time, I had no idea that these experiences would be so important that I'd write about them ten or twenty years later. Maybe that's what writers do - they take everyday, "unimportant events and make worthwhile, interesting stories or poems out of them.

Where do you get your ideas?
For my verse-novels, my starting point is often a particular location I'm familiar with. A physical place I want my characters to inhabit.
In "the simple gift" - it's the disused train carriage in a country town. In "by the river" - it's the place where I grew up in Queensland. In "The spangled drongo" - it's our house in the Blue Mountains.
Once I have a location, I feel comfortable "dropping in my characters. And I take the story from there.

How do you go about writing?
I don't have a set routine. Usually, I write from nine in the morning until midday. Then I have lunch and take a long walk. In the afternoon, I may edit the morning writing, or I may do something relaxing like kayaking, play golf with my son Joe, or just sit on the back deck with my wife. I write a book every year using this method and see little reason to change it now. I must say I never feel stressed about my writing. I think I'm fairly organized and I tend to be at least a year ahead of schedule.

Why do you like writing?
A thousand reasons - some important, some trivial. I like being able to create a story purely out of my imagination mixed in with my life experiences. I like being able to create characters that I hope are interesting and believable.
I enjoy not having a boss and I love working out of my home and being able to write when I feel like it. I love the fact that my writing gets me invited to lots of places around Australia and the world.
Most of all, I love it that somebody has taken the time out of their life to get to know, and hopefully enjoy, one of my books.

Where do you do your writing?
At my desk in our lounge room. Unlike many writers, I don't have a room or a studio to work in. Our house is too small for that. And even though I could afford to build a studio in our back yard, I'll never do it. I like the fact that I share my desk with my family.
The actual desk I write on means so much to me because my Mum gave it to me when I told her I wanted to be a writer at eighteen. The next day, Mum went out and bought the desk and I've written every book on it since that day nearly thirty years ago. Mum died recently, aged 88, and I feel closer to her when I'm sitting at my desk. It reminds me of the faith she had in her youngest son, all those years ago.

What is your favourite book by someone else?
I have two…
"Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon - the best travel book ever written!
"The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck - a classic, of course. For me, the prototype of what great writing can do within a society. It can influence, and change, people's view of the world.

What are your favourite books for young people?
I've been shortlisted for CBCA Book of the Year six times. I read some of the books shortlisted with me - you know, to see what my book is up against…
And everytime I do this, I find so many wonderful books for children and young adults - the standard is always so extraordinarily high. I loved "A Bridge to Wiseman's Cove" by James Moloney (winner in 1997), and "The Running Man" by Michael Gerard Bauer (winner in 2005), to name just two recent examples.

How do you go about getting a book published?
I read somewhere that one in one hundred manuscripts received by publishers ever gets published so you have to be lucky to begin with. But, maybe it's a little like the Lottery - you have to be in it to win. So send your manuscript off to publishers and see what happens. If it's rejected, send it to another publisher.
Be realistic though - get as much professional advice as you can. Join a writing course at a University, or join a local writer's group. Contact your local Writers' Centre - they'll be running workshops - take them.

Are you writing a book at the moment?
I'm always writing a new book! At present, I'm editing the final draft (at least I hope it's the final draft) to a verse-novel for YA called "Wolf - it's about two families who live on isolated farms and their search for the mythical wolf.
The other book is a verse-novel for adults (or YA - I'm not sure yet!) about a 16-year old boy who lives in a small coal town and a murder that occurs in that town.
These two books are the final two parts to a loose trilogy based on country-town Australia that began with "by the river" in 2004.

Do you ever model any of your characters on family or friends?
Only very occasionally, and very loosely! Although, having said that, many of the poems in my three poetry collections for children, were inspired by incidents that happened in our family or at the school my children attended.
But the verse-novels have fictional characters living in real locations. Perhaps of all my books, "by the river" uses characters and situations that actually occurred.

What topics do you like to write about?
Now that is a tough question…
Simply put, I like to write about families in all their forms. I like to explore the notion of "community and what it means to each of us. I believe that every action we take as individuals has a bearing on the world we inhabit - it might only be in the micro-world of the family unit, but that action means something: the ripples of each action gradually expand over many years. It can be a scary thought, but also a really empowering one - I guess I believe in all the "you get what you give stuff. My books often explore that notion.

Books available by Steven Herrick at
Blue Mountains City Library

A place like this. (YA)
Poetry to the rescue. (JNF A821.3 HER)
The spangled drongo: a verse novel (JF)
Love poems and leg spinners: a month in the life of class 5b. (JNF A821.3 HER)
Water bombs: a book of poems for teenagers. (JNF A821.3 HER)
The place where the planes take off. (Easy)
My life, my love, my lasagne. (JNF A821.3 HER)
Tom Jones saves the world. (JF)
Do-wrong Ron. (JF)
Naked bunyip dancing. (JF)
Love, ghosts & nose hair. (YA)
Lonesome howl. (YA)
Untangled spaghetti: selected poems.(JNF A821.3 HER)
Cold skin. (YA)
The simple gift: a novel. (YA)
By the river. (YA)
Rhyming boy: a novel. (JF)

July School Holidays: Clay Workshop

Tuesday 13th July
@ Wentworth Falls Library
"Clay Workshop" with Jane
10:30am - 12noon
6yrs - 12yrs
$5.00 per child
Bookings are essential!

What Library staff are reading . . .

• If I Stay by Gayle Forman is worth a read ~ a young adult book about a coma victim from the coma victims point of view. I really related to the character and her family’s reactions so it wasn’t one I’d want to be reading in a public place, too many tears as I’m such a sop but if you like a moving story this one’s quite an easy read


• I was inspired by the May, Children’s Author of the Month, Odo Hirsch, to read his Darius Bell and the Glitter Pool. This has been shortlisted for the Children’s Book Council, Book of the Year : Younger Readers ~ it is a requirement and tradition that once in every 25 years the Bell family provides a gift to the city in recognition of the city’s generosity in granting the estate of the Bell house to the Bell family. The gifts have ranged from a statue to a bell tower. It’s Darius’ father’s turn and Hector hasn’t any money for an outstanding gift. This is a beautiful story with a moral suitable for primary aged children


• I listened to Turner’s Paintbox written by Paul Morgan and read by Humphrey Bower - this is the story of the love affair between Gerard and Julia. Gerard is a Sydney-based art consultant with a special interest in Turner and Julia is a migrant education teacher. They are different in many ways. I enjoyed this and would like to read the book now to savour some of the moments


• I re-read Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta before I started on The Pipers Son which is the sequel ~ I was introduced to this author by my daughter and read Saving Alibrandi and Saving Francesca quite a few years ago. Melina Marchetta captures the modern multi cultural Austalian young adult coming to terms with challenging family and peer relationships in a sensitive and straight forward manner, and I have enjoyed getting re-acquainted with the characters five years on in their lives


• A Truth Universally Acknowledged : 33 great writers on why we read Jane Austen by Susannah Carson ~ I suppose this is one just for Austen fans, but the essays are all interesting in their own right


• Poster Boy by Alan Cope ~ a very unusually told story very much worth the read


• So Much to Tell You by John Marsden


• The River Baptists by Belinda Castles


• The Winner Stands Alone by Paulo Coelho


• Kylie Chan's Dark Heavens trilogy; White Tiger, Red Phoenix and Blue Dragon


• The Pages by Murray Bail ~ I didn’t read Eucalyptus and if this anything to go by I won’t. The language is beautiful but the story left me cold


• Notwithstanding by Louis de Bernieres ~ a delightful collection of short stories


• Sebastian by Anne Biship ~first in the Landscapes of Ephemera series and am part way through the second, Belladonna


• Whisper of Leaves by K.S. Nikakis ~ first in the Kira Chronicles


• The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin ~ Gretchen’s entertaining account of a year-long experiment, aiming to increase her everyday level of happiness


• Possible Side Effects by Augusten Burroughs


• Dark Places,by Kate Grenville ~ the prequel to Grenville’s Lillian’s Story, this book is written from the point of view of Lillian’s father


• Had to read Animal, Vegetable, Mineral by Barbara Kingsolver, this year’s Orange Prize winner (see blog post) ~ it’s about the year she and her family spends trying to reduce their carbon footprint by growing as much of their own food as possible and sourcing other produce locally. It’s a noble idea but, while I subscribe to the idea behind the book, I found Ms Kingsolver’s tone hectoring and holier-than-thou. I could only get to page 40-something, even for book group. I have no idea if, after the year, they went back to normal and that’s all anyone can stand, or if it’s something they have continued with


• At Home : a Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson is a delightful look at domestic history – the who, what, when and where of salt, electricity, sex, privacy and a whole lot more about the home that we take for granted


• The House of Special Purpose by John Boyne ~ a love story set in present day London and in the past in Tsarist Russia. Not as good as The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander


• A History of Scotland by Neil Oliver ~ the book that goes with the TV series


• Talking About Detective Fiction by PD James ~ as the title suggests, crime writer PD James takes a look at crime fiction - it’s history, it’s format, it’s influences and it’s leading proponents. It’s a small, interesting, quite personal book which I very much enjoyed, especially some of the cartoons which preceded each chapter. This one was my particular favourite:

• Ransom by David Malouf ~ a sensual read (as in full of great descriptions of smells, sounds, etc.)
• The Best Australian Poems 2009 edited by Robert Adamson ~ lots of post-it notes on this one now, marking my favourites

Australia's Health Report 2010

Australia's Health Report 2010 has been released and is freely available online as a pdf document (just click on the report's title back there)

It is the premier source of statistics and commentary on: determinants of health and keys to prevention; diseases and injury; how health varies across population groups; health across the life stages; health services, expenditure and workforce; the health sector's performance. The report and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare web site are useful tools for HSC PDHPE students and anyone interested in Health. Both links are bookmarked on Blue Mountains Library's Delicious account: you can use the PDHPE, HSC or Health tags to find them.

John Marsden "Tomorrow Series"

July School Holidays: Best Beaded Bookmarks

Friday 9th July
@ Blaxland Library
"Best Beaded Bookmarks" with Naomi
10:30am - 12noon
6yrs - 12yrs
$5.00 per child
Bookings are essential!

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly : Reviewed by You

A review by Library user, Joy, in one of our The Good, the Bad, the Ugly : Reviewed by You journals. Look out for them in your library and add your own review.

Title : The Heaven Tree Trilogy (The Heaven Tree, The Green Branch, The Scarlet Seed) by Edith Pargeter who also wrote as Ellis Peters.

Setting : Medieval England

Plot Summary : A master mason building a church for his master, Ralf Isambard. The mason's son is also involved. Bound to the master by trickery he swears to avenge his father's death after he is killed by the master.

Review : I borrowed one of the volumes through the library. The trilogy I then bought through an online bookshop. To me they were all spell-binding if you like books of this era.

Sexually I'm more of a Switzerland

Sexually, I'm more of a Switzerland : more personal ads from the London Review of Books, edited and with an introduction by David Rose is the follow up to the equally wonderfully titled They call me naughty Lola (unfortunately, a title we don't have at BMCC Libraries, a situation I will endeavour to rectify).

This small book is a collection of personal ads from the London Review of Books. And it's one of the funniest books I've read for a while - and I'm reading the very funny Solar by Ian McEwan at the moment.

I've only just dipped into it during my lunch hour but guffawed and spluttered my way through the introduction and took a quick peek at some of the ads. Don't read it in public unless you don't mind reading out loud to strangers. You will just have to share these.

So here are a few tasters:

• If fate brings us together, destiny will probably tear us apart. Kismet may see us off in the morning. Causality might cook dinner. Hubris will almost certainly iron my trousers. Determinedly deterministic man, 37. Mostly leaving everything in the hands of Royal Mail and a box number reply-forwarding system that made no sense whatsoever when Louisa at the LRB tried to explain it. (p8)



• I am Mr Right! You are Miss Distinct Possibility. Your parents are Mr and Mrs Obscenely Rich. Your Uncle is Mr Expert Tax Lawyer. Your cousin is Ms Spare Apartment On A Carribean Hideaway That She Rarely Uses. Your brother is Mr Can Fix You Up a Fake Passport For A Small Fee. Man, 51. (p62)



• My last date resulting from an ad in this column didn't turn up because he'd been rushed to hospital having mixed two industrial cleaners whilst mopping his kitchen floor. Thanks for nothing, LRB and Cillit Bang (brand name of a range of cleaning products). Women with tales of dating woe more agonising that this please write to box no xxx. I've given up on sex and now just need words of reassurance.

I thought I'd investigate whether these types of ads still/really exist in the pages of the LRB - and the 8 April 2010 edition has some :

• Reformed trapeze-performing reprobate (F39) seeks creative, sane(ish), trampy-looking (but non-smelling) boy for sober fun



• My ambition is to build a community swimming pool so small that it can fit on the edge of a low-limit credit card. M, 43. Architect and, some may say, dreamer



• I am the Frida Kahlo of both personal adverts and sandwich artistry. Woman, 48. Mad as a balloon.

So not only is the LRB a fantastic source of literary information, it has it's quirky side too (the New York Review of Books personal ads were very staid). Who'd a thunk it?

The London Review of Books is a fornightly publication and is available at Katoomba and Springwood Libraries. The newest editions are on closed access, meaning you can read them in the library only, but older editions are available for loan. Check it out soon.

Note to Tony Abbott - p5 clearly states, in black and white, that "Speedos aren't a good look for anyone."

Blackheath Bookworms in July

July School Holidays: Making Gift Cards

Thursday 8th July
@ Lawson Library
"Making gift cards" with Jane
10:30am - 12 noon
6yrs-12yrs
$5.00 per child
Bookings are essential!

July School Holidays: Dream Catchers

Wednesday 7th July
@ Springwood Library
"Dream Catchers" with Naomi
10:30am - 12 noon
8yrs - 12yrs
$5.00 per child
Bookings are essential!

Crime writer wins the 2010 Miles Franklin Literary Award

Congratulations go today to crime writer Peter Temple who has been awarded the 2010 Miles Franklin Literary Award, worth $42,000, for his latest book, Truth.

Recognised as Australia's most prestigious prize, the Miles Franklin Literary Award which was established in 1957, is given to the novel of the highest literary merit that presents Australian life. Truth, also makes history as the first work of genre fiction to win the award.

"It unusual for a crime writer to receive such a prestigious award, so cop it sweet," Temple told AAP upon receiving the award. He joked that Australia's first Nobel laureate, Patrick White, would find it "unthinkable" that a crime writer had won the prize.

Temple says he feels "enormously elated" by his win. "One only has to look at the people who have won the Miles Franklin," he added. "In order to join that company, you have to believe that you've joined something quite special."

"I mean in any other terms it really would be like winning the Nobel Prize."

Truth is the sequel to The Broken Shore, also highly regarded, and follows Inspector Stephen Villani, the head of the Victoria Police Homicide Squad who we met briefly in The Broken Shore. It is set during the aftermath of the devastating Black Saturday bushfires of February 2009 when 173 people died and 414 were injured.

2010 Miles Franklin longlist

July School Holidays: Landscape Art

Tuesday 6th July

@ Springwood Library

"Landscape Art in oil pastels

& pencil"

with Jane Davidson

10:30am - 12 noon

6yrs - 12 yrs

$5.00 per child

Bookings are essential!

YourNextRead

Here's a nifty site YourNextRead (this link is to the UK version, closer to what we're used to Down Under, but our North American friends can have a more relevant choice by clicking on the US or Canadian flags - there are also French and German flags)

At YourNextRead you can enter the name of a book or author or genre you enjoy reading and you will be given a choice of books to try next.

Here's the result of my search using Wolf Hall.



It's a little hit and miss - how did Stieg Larsson's The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest get there? Was it because of an Ian Rankin search I'd done previously?

Anyway, if you go on to click on any of the recommended books, not only do you get a description and Amazon review for the book, but another set of recommendations will be generated.

Possible Worlds Canadian Film Festival

The Wake of the Flood, a feature documentary on Canadian author, poet, critic, feminist and environmental campaigner Margaret Atwood, will have its world premiere at Possible Worlds, Sydney’s 5th Canadian Film Festival.

The film will screen Wednesday 4th August at Gleebooks, 49 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe followed by a live video conversation with Margaret Atwood in Toronto.

The evening will kick off with a welcome drink at 6:30pm, followed by the screening at 7pm.

Tickets are $14 and available from Gleebooks from July 1st

Ph: 02 9660 2333 or visit http://www.gleebooks.com.au/

Directed by acclaimed director Ron Mann, the film follows the author’s unique carbon-neutral world tour which accompanied the release of her recent bestseller The Year of the Flood. Each event along the tour was designed with environmental sustainability in mind, each a fundraiser for a local green charity. The documentary follows the author as she travelled around the world, taking part in locally hosted theatre and choir performances inspired by the novel.

“I'm so pleased that In The Wake of the Flood will be screening at Possible Worlds, Sydney's 5th Canadian Film Festival in Australia”, says Atwood. “This festival is bringing together relevant films from Canada engaging work on an international stage. Ron Mann and I are thrilled that In The Wake of the Flood will be a part of it.”

Margaret Atwood was born in Ottawa in 1939. She is Canada's most eminent novelist and poet is the author of more than thirty books of fiction, poetry and critical essays. The Handmaid's Tale, Cat's Eye, Alias Grace and The Blind Assassin have all been shortlisted for the Booker Prize with the latter winning in 2000. Her work has been translated into thirty-three languages.

Her latest novel, The Year of the Flood will be published in Australia in paperback on July 29 by Virago and will available for purchase on the night.

Sydney’s Canadian Film Festival showcases the best new films made in Canada. The Festival unfolds August 2nd – 8th 2010, running a week of film premieres, filmmaker Q&A’s, industry talks and of course, parties. Welcoming prestigious filmmakers to Sydney, the Festival is a meeting point for the Canadian and Australian film industries, while providing a rare chance for locals to watch the best new Canadian films and meet the artists. The full program will be revealed on Canada Day, July 1st 2010.

For more details about the festival visit the website: http://www.possibleworlds.net.au/

Wolf Hall wins Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction

I was surprised that The Lacuna won the Orange Prize a couple of weeks ago, beating Man Booker Prize winner Wolf Hall. I loved Wolf Hall (history is my thing) and can't wait for the next book(s) to come out so I can read it again.

I was very pleased then to see that Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall has won a new literary prize, the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction which comes with £25,000 prize money.

The Walter Scott Prize, is sponsored by the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch (distant descendants of Sir Walter Scott) with support from EventScotland and was launched only this year. The prize's definition of historical is where the events described take place at least 60 years before publication, and so stand outside personal experience of the author. The definition comes from Scott's subtitle for his novel Waverley: "Tis Sixty Years Since."

The judges described Wolf Hall as "as good as the historical novel gets – immersive, engaging, beautifully crafted, and compulsively readable. Choose any superlative: it will fail this book. Mantel's empathy for, and assimilation of, her world is so seamless and effortless as to be almost disturbing."

Shortlisted for the prize were :

• Hodd by Adam Thorpe
  
• Lustrum by Robert Harris
  
• Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant
  
• Stone's Fall by Iain Pears
  
• The Glass Room by Simon Mawer
  
• The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds
  
• Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

July School Holidays

Our tudors for the July School Holidays are:

Jane Davidson
Jane is a freelance artist. She is a sought after tutor for workshops in Regional Galleries and Councils for children, both primary and secondary age.

Naomi Oliver
Naomi is a Blue Mountains-based artist, who has exhibited her artwork both nationally and internationally. She has been involved in Art Gallery public programs and has contributed to HSC study material for NSW students.


For more information contact Children’s Services
4723 5036

Bookings can be made at any Branch Library.

NO Bookings taken on phone.

Payments must be made when booking.

No refunds are available unless workshop is cancelled by the Library.
BOOKINGS ESSENTIAL!

Drug Action Week

Next week, 20th to 26th June is Drug Action Week.


Drug Action Week 2010 is an initiative of the Alcohol and other Drugs Council of Australia, with funding support from the Australian Government and aims to raise awareness of alcohol and other drug issues. It provides individuals, organisations, and communities with the opportunity to promote awareness of the harms of alcohol and other drugs.


Drug Action Week goes from strength to strength, with the number of Drug Action Week events quadrupling in three years from 150 in 2007 to over 650 registrations for the 2010 campaign.

The Australian Government remains committed to being tough on drugs and is providing some $359 million over four years in the health portfolio alone for prevention and harm reduction efforts against illicit drugs. The Government is also committed to changing the culture of binge drinking in Australia, and in the 2010-11 budget announced an additional $50 million for the National Binge Drinking Strategy including:

• $25 million for a community sponsorship fund to provide community sporting and cultural organisations with an alternative to alcohol sponsorships;


• $20 million to support community level initiatives to reduce binge drinking; and


• $5 million to enhance telephone counselling and referrals for people with alcohol-related
  problems.
  
  
  For more information please go to: http://www.druginfo.sl.nsw.gov.au/ and http://www.drugactionweek.org.au/index.php
  

Chill-out zone during Winter Magic

As part of the

2010 Winter Magic Festival

Paint the Blue Read

will be presenting Storytime at

Katoomba Library on Saturday June 19th

10am-12pm

Come along and meet their mascot

Billy Booksie

and share the fun with children’s storyteller

Rachel Besser

and other community readers.

What if the bean counters got their way?

(From LISNews) A new report from KPMG into public sector reform says that "giving councils total freedom on libraries could mean that they create huge social value from engaging a community in running its own library, backed up with some modern technology, whilst also saving large amounts of money on over-skilled paid staff, poor use of space and unnecessary stock".

Speaking earlier this week, one of the report's authors, Alan Downey, said that although "libraries are hugely important in the national psyche ... there is a problem with libraries, that they are not very much used and very expensive to run".

"We're not suggesting in this report that libraries should be closed down, we are saying that libraries and other community facilities might be better off if they're run by [a] community that values them rather than by the state," he said.

Andrew Motion, the UK's Poet Laureate and chair of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council has come out to bat for libraries in this Guardian article.

Mr Motion said that if the government were to take up the report's suggestions, it would "harm the most disadvantaged" in the UK. He stressed that maintaining libraries was fundamentally important.

"Of course money must be saved, and it will be saved, in the public library sector, but to put the whole thing at risk is absolutely the wrong step to take," said the former poet laureate. "Good libraries, like good anythings, need expert people working within them. Maybe there is a role for some aspect of volunteering but all the central stuff must be done by people who are qualified to do it ... I think it would be a catastrophe."

Alisons Picks - June 2010

Laurie Graham : Life According to Lubka

Peter Goldsworthy : Three Dog Night

Audrey Niffenegger : Her Fearful Symmetry

Brigid Pasulka : A Long Long Time Ago and Essentially True

Heather Rose : The Butterfly Man

Poetry Slam 2010

Blue Mountains City Library, The Winter Magic Festival and Word Travels present the 2010 Australian Poetry Slam.

The Katoomba Heat will be held at the Carrington Hotel Ballroom from 7pm on Friday 25th June. Sign-up from 6.30 pm

The event will be hosted by Tug Dumbly, winner of the 2007 Performance Poetry World Cup and regular on Triple-J and ABC Sydney 702 with his weekly news and current affairs segment, the Tug Report.

In 2008 local poet, Gregory North, won the State final to represent NSW at the Nationals. Come along, have a great night out and cheer on our local talent this year.

Reminder about the 702 ABC Knit In

The 702 ABC Sydney Knit In supports Wrap with Love which distributes colourful wraps for communities in need around the world.

Blue Mountains Libraries are helping out by having a Knit in at Lawson Library on Friday 25 June 11am – 2pm

All are welcome and afternoon tea will be provided

Please bring knitting needles, sewing needles, wool and thread

Please call Lawson Library on 4759 1446 for further details.

If you can't make it to the Knit In don't worry, you can still donate knitted squares or wool and hand them in at any branch of Blue Mountains City Library. Instructions for the knitted squares are available by clicking here.

Katoomba Library closure

This is a reminder that, because of extensive renovation work on the Civic Centre, Katoomba Library will be closed for 3 weeks from next Monday 21st June 2010

The library will re-open on Monday 12th July 2010

Both Blackheath and Wentworth Falls Libraries will operate for extended times and will be open

Monday-Friday 10am and 5pm and

Saturdays 9am and 4pm until Katoomba Library re-opens.

The After Hours Book Returns Bin will be relocated to the front of the Arcade level to allow for easy access for the general public and will be emptied on a regular basis.

Books housed at Katoomba Library will be inaccessible during the closure so Reserves will not be able to be placed until the library opens again.

During this period loans will be extended from the normal 3 weeks to 6 weeks for all our library customers.

A free community bus will be provided to allow Library customers to visit and borrow from Wentworth Falls Library.

The bus will be available outside Katoomba Library on Katoomba Street at 10am on the following days:

Friday 25 June

Tuesday 29 June

Thursday 1 July

Thursday 8 July

Library Management apologises for the inconvenience.

Caught by Harlan Coben

Caught by Harlan Coben

Plot Summary : A fast-paced, emotion-packed novel about guilt, grief, and our capacity to forgive. 17-year-old Haley McWaid is a good girl, the pride of her suburban New Jersey family, captain of the lacrosse team, headed off to college next year with all the hopes and dreams her doting parents can pin on her. Which is why, when her mother wakes one morning to find that Haley never came home the night before, and three months quickly pass without word from the girl, the community assumes the worst. Wendy Tynes is a reporter on a mission, to identify and bring down sexual predators via elaborate-and nationally televised-sting operations. Working with local police on her news program Caught in the Act, Wendy and her team have publicly shamed dozens of men by the time she encounters her latest target. Dan Mercer is a social worker known as a friend to troubled teens, but his story soon becomes more complicated than Wendy could have imagined. In a novel that challenges as much as it thrills, filled with the astonishing tension and unseen suburban machinations that have become Coben's trademark, Caught tells the story of a missing girl, the community stunned by her loss, the predator who may have taken her, and the reporter who suddenly realizes she can't trust her own instincts about this story - or the motives of the people around her.

Review : Caught tells the story of a missing girl, the community stunned by her loss, the predator who may have taken her, and the reporter who suddenly realizes she can't trust her own instincts about this story - or the motives of the people around her. I always like the way Coben mixes the thriller into the everyday and looks at themes from modern life. Typically his stories takes the common man or woman and puts them in a extraordinary situation. The story line is fast-paced and never stops for a moment; yet is also filled with deep characterizations especially the accused and his accuser. It is a powerful tale of justice is not blind when the media gets involved.

Reviewed by : Carolyn

Let us share some Librarian secrets with you

Nancy Pearl and Doorways to Reading for Readers' Advisory

If you are not familiar with Nancy Pearl, she is the author of Book Lust and More Book Lust, which have been described as ‘readers bibles’, when it comes to finding a good book.

Rather than just give you lists of books in genres, Nancy talks to you about those worth trying, and maybe those that are not, depending on what you are looking for in your next read.

This is where I found her interesting. I love talking books, and I love helping people find good books, but one of my biggest challenges is working out what a reader is looking for, and supplying them with something suitable.

This is where Nancy really helped me. First she talked about 'doorways' into books and how these different doorways open up to the reader. There are four of them – story, character, setting and language.

Simple? Yes, it is. But from my perspective (a librarian helping someone find a good book), it gets better. Everyone takes different doorways into their books. I, for example walk through the character or setting door, for these are what stay with me after really enjoying a book. The story or where it takes place is a secondary drawcard for me.

Everyone has their own preferences with these doors and it may alter depending on their mood, but as Nancy points out, finding a person’s doorway is as easy as saying “Tell me about the last book you really enjoyed.”

Common responses are –
“There was this guy . . .” – Character
“I had to stop myself from skipping to the end to find out what happens.” – Story
“I felt like I was there . . ." – Setting
“It was such a beautifully written book.” – Language

Try this on yourself. Work out which of the four doorways led you into that last really good read. Or try reading the synopsis on a book and working out its doorways yourself. You’ll soon get to know which books give you the most pleasure and you can avoid anything that is just a waste of your time.

A word of warning though - never dismiss a book completely. You’ll never know what’s behind a door until you open it!

Nancy Pearl's Doorways

Character

People describe their reading experience in terms of the characters they are read about – the characters of novels will sound like they are real people. The reader may not necessarily like the person or the character, but they will want to find out more about them.

• In fiction the works will often have a character’s name in the title, for non-fiction it will often be biographies or autobiographies.
• Many crime and mystery novels have strong character doorways as will some science fiction and fantasy. This is more likely to happen in series using the same detectives, and multipart science fiction and fantasy works
• Family sagas can have dominant character doorways as you need to know who has married whom.
• Romance is a genre which is almost totally character dominant (as you know that the man and woman will end up together). For romance you need to explore further into the character – what roles the men have (farmer, fireman, doctor…) and if it is a believable match
• Authors who write with character as a dominant doorway include Jamie Oliver, Ian Rankin and Richard Hammond

Language

People who read primarily for language describe the writing, or their enjoyment of the writing as part of the experience> They may describe books as being poetic, powerful or using powerful language. People may also describe their reading as being emotional, or having moving ideas or language.

• Most likely to be award winners (as most writing awards target literary fiction which is more likely to have language as a doorway)
• Steamy (for romance) or gory (for crime, science fiction, fantasy, horror) will be characteristics associated with language
• Includes writers likeMichael Ondaatje, Ian McEwan and Zadie Smith.

Setting

Readers describe the location as important - wherever or whenever. Readers will talk about the place (rather than the people). This will be a cross genre appeal characteristic, for example some people will only enjoy historical crime novels or only romances set in the middle ages or earlier.

• Works written about other times and other places, whether historical or imagined (speculative fiction) will include setting as a important doorway
• Speculative fiction has setting preferences. Some people may only like fantasy set in recognisable locations (such as Sean William’s works set in South Australia)
• Authors who have setting as a dominant appeal characteristic include Tim Winton, Alastair Reynolds and Ellis Peters

Story

These can be fiction or non-fiction. This doorway will include action and thrillers as well as slower moving works. Some of these works will not be strong in the language doorway. Readers will have preferences about what the story should include (crime must be solved, how did the couple meet).

• Most likely to be ‘the books which could not be put down” as people keep reading to see what happens in the story
• Have story points which resonate
• Examples of authors who write in this area include Terry Jones, Matthew Reilly and Minette Walters

Romantic Book of the Year Award

The finalists for this year's Romantic Book of the Year Award have been announced by the Romantic Writers of Australia:

Short Sweet Category

• Marriage Reunited: Baby on the Way and Single Father: Wife and Mother Wanted both by Sharon Archer
• Colorado Christmas by CC Coburn
• Wanted: A Father for Her Twins by Emily Forbes

Short Sexy Category

• A Doctor, A Nurse: A Christmas Baby by Amy Andrews
• Bedded by Blackmail by Robyn Grady
• Playboy Boss, Live-in Mistress by Kelly Hunter
• Billion-Dollar Baby Bargain by Tessa Radley

Romantic Elements Category

• Red Dust by Fleur McDonald
• Night's Cold Kiss by Tracey O'Hara
• Dark Country by Bronwyn Parry
• The Hunter's Wife by Katherine Scholes (this book has been subject of a Book Review and Book Chain in the past in Readers in the Mist)

Long Romance Category

• Mistletoe Magic by Sophia James
• Mastered by Love and Temptation and Surrender by Stephanie Laurens
• Wicked Little Game by Christine Wells

The winner will be announed in August.

Orange Prize Winner

The 2010 Orange Prize for Fiction has been won by American author, Barbara Kingsolver for her novel The Lacuna.

Head of the judging panel, Daisy Goodwin said, “We chose ‘The Lacuna’ because it is a book of breathtaking scale and shattering moments of poignancy. It wasn't a unanimous decision in the sense that we all said this was the winner, but I think it was fashionably consensual in that we all listened to each others' point of view." (Reuters)

"We decided to go for the book which aroused the most passion in the most people rather than settle for everyone's second choice."

The Lacuna beat the bookies favourite, Costa Book Awards shortlisted and 2009 Man Booker Prize winner Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. Other shortlisted books were The Very Thought of You by Rosie Alison, Black Water Rising by Attica Locke, A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore and The White Woman on the Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey. (see previous Readers in the Mist post on the shortlist)

The Orange Prize is open to any full length novel, written in English by a woman of any nationality, provided that the novel is published for the first time in the United Kingdom between 1 April of the year before the prize is awarded and 31 March of the year in which the prize is awarded. Although the novel's first UK publication must fall within these dates, it's still eligible if it was previously published in English elsewhere.

Also announced were the Orange Award for New Writers which was won by Irene Sabatini's novel, The Boy Next Door; the Orange/Harper's Bazaar Short Story Competition which was won by Anna Lewis - entrants were asked to write a story of no more than 2,000 words on the theme of ‘The Face’ and Orange Prize Youth Panel Award which was awarded to Anne Michaels for Fugitive Pieces - this prize is part of the Orange Prize's strategy to engage with younger readers and is awarded to the judges favourite novel from all the previous winners.

Carolyn's Books of the Month - June 2010

Best read for the month : Caught by Harlan Coben

Thriller : The Last Child by John Hart

General Fiction : Stillwater Creek by Alison Booth

Australian Author : Lovesong by Alex Miller

Saga/Romances : Crossroads by Belva Plain

Crime : Abandoned by Cody McFadyen and The Crucifix Killer by Chris Carter

New to the Reference Collection - Aboriginal Languages, Issues & Opinions

A handbook of Aboriginal languages of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory / Jim Wafer, Amanda Lissarrague and Jean Harkins

New South Wales was the first part of Australia to be colonised, so the written records of the state's Indigenous languages go back more than 200 years.

This handbook is a guide to Aboriginal languages, with illustrative vocabularies. It is divided into two parts: the first part, which includes maps, is a survey of the Indigenous languages of NSW and the ACT, giving information about dialects, locations, and resources available for language revitalisation; the second part provides word-lists in practical spelling for 42 distinct language varieties. There is also useful information on contact languages, sign languages and kinship classification, as well as an appendix on place names.

Held in Springwood Reference

Issues and Opinions Volume 1

By the editors of Issues in Society, Issues and Opinions Volume 1 is the first book in an ongoing series of annual volumes, featuring collections of recently published opinions on a range of contemporary Australian social issues which have been the focus of public debate.

Each chapter comprises a concise introduction to a given issue, followed by a variety of thought-provoking opinions from media commentators, politicians, academics and interest groups. Each chapter ends with a compilation of pros and cons in the debate, and a list of relevant websites for further research.

There are 12 chapters in this book, each featuring a topic for debate: Stem cell research; Climate change; Globalisation; Child care; Australia’s federal system of government; Food advertising and children; Multiculturalism; Intervention in indigenous communities; Criminal justice and punishment; Internet censorship; Australian bill of rights; Legalisation of illicit drugs;

Held in Blaxland, Katoomba and Springwood Reference.

Free Internet Training

If you are puzzled by the Internet or would like help setting up an email address you can contact any one of our libraries and book a time for free Internet assistance with a library volunteer.

• Blackheath and Wentworth Falls Libraries will arrange a mutually convenient time for you and the trainer (call Blackheath Library 4787 8893, Wentworth Falls Library 4757 2095)


• Katoomba Library has a trainer each Wednesday between 2pm and 4pm and on Saturday between 9am and 11am (call 4780 5750)


• Lawson Library has a trainer each Thursday between 10am and 11am (call 4759 1446)


• Springwood Library has a trainer each Thursday between 10am and 12pm (call 4723 5040)


• Blaxland Library has a trainer each Thursday between 12.30pm and 1.30pm (call 4739 4284)

Internet access and word processing facilities are available at all branch libraries. Internet access is free for Library Members. Charges apply for printing.

Books that Bite!