Premier's Reading Challenge

On Tuesday 1st March the NSW Premier's Reading Challenge (PRC) 2011 starts.

As part of our core business of encouraging literacy and reading, Blue Mountains City Library has been supporting children participating in the PRC for many years now. The booklists are divided into 4 categories: PRC K-2, PRC 3-4, PRC 5-6 and PRC 7-9. Books are clearly marked on the spine of the book PRC K-2 stickers are red and are on the front of the book next to the library barcode too, PRC 3-4 stickers are green, PRC 5-6 stickers are purple and the PRC 7-9 ones are blue.

The PRC website has all the booklists for parents and teachers to download.

You can also search for PRC books using the library catalogue - enter Premier's Reading Challenge and the category.

Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) Display at Springwood Library

This year March 8th is International Women’s Day and this year is the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day. To coincide with that there will be a display by the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) at Springwood Library for the week commencing Monday 7th March.

On Monday 7th March there will also be a free morning tea at Springwood Library from 10:30am. Please join us and enjoy the refreshments and the display.

Founded in 1915, WILPF is an international non-government organisation that works for peace, disarmament and social justice and is active in 48 countries around the world.

WILPF Australia actively monitors, lobbies and networks at local, national and international levels on a wide range of issues for women and the pursuit of peace, justice and human rights for all. Activities include :

• Disarmament & political solutions to international conflicts
• Reconciliation, land rights and peace accord/treaty process in Australia
• Elimination of racism and all forms of discrimination
• Economic justice - ending poverty
• Environmental sustainability

You can contact the Blue Mountains branch by emailing : bluemountains@wilpf.org.au

What Library Staff are Reading . . .

Here's what Library staff have been turning to to get us through these long hot summer days and nights :

• King's Mistress, Queen's Servant : the life and times of Henrietta Howard by Tracy Borman ~ Henrietta was mistress of William II. I didn't finish this one, it got too boring. Not my time in history I think
• Nourishment by Gerard Woodward ~ a wonderfully quirky story set in London during WWII
• The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry ~ the first book chosen for the ABC 702 Mornings with Deborah Cameron Book Group
• Rebus's Scotland: A Personal Journey by Ian Rankin and Ian Rankin and Inspector Rebus: The Official Story of the Bestselling Author and His Ruthless Detective by Craig Cabell ~ I preferred Rankin to Cabell
• The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters and The Small Hand by Susan Hill ~ both ghost stories for State Library of NSW's Read It 2011 Challenge (January was Scare up a Good Book) ~ both excellent reads
• Small Island by Andrea Levy ~ a wonderful depiction of the trials and tribulations of West Indian migrants during and after WWII and beautifully adapted for TV and shown recently on the ABC
• Friends, Lovers, Chocolate : An Isabel Dalhousie Mystery by Alexander McCall Smith
• Elephant to Hollywood by Michael Caine ~ autobiography. Some great stories from a well-loved actor
• Love On The Dole by Walter Greenwood ~ the title says it all. Written in 1933 and set in a northern English town during the Depression in the 1930s, this is the story of Harry Hardcastle who gets a job at the local factory as an apprentice but soon realises that, while he and his peers are guaranteed a job for the 7 years of his apprenticeship, after that they are on the dole. With a shotgun wedding and subsequently a family to support, life gets very very tough . . .
• Pride of Baghdad by Brian K Vaughan ~ a graphic novel (Comic book) telling of what happened to a small pride of lions that escaped from Baghdad zoo during the bombing of Baghdad in April 2003
• Inside Story : From ABC Foreign Correspondent to Singapore Prisoner #12988 by Peter Lloyd
• Italian Prince, Wedlocked Wife by Jennie Lucas ~ this was also for the State Library of NSW's Read It 2011 Challenge (February is Romance month) ~ Lowly petrol station attendant Lucy Abbott, struggling single mother of one-year-old Chloe, is kidnapped by Prince Maximo d’Aquilla from her work in Chicago, or Seattle and forced to marry Maximo so he can take revenge on Alexander (Lucy’s ex-fiance and father of Chloe who has done a bunk without paying child support) and a business rival (who turns out to be Lucy’s grandfather). If she marries Maximo until the old man dies she’ll get $1million for each month they are married plus more. Of course she fancies him, of course they end up happily ever after. There is lots of plump breasts, electricity and passion. It’s all so predictable – I’m told that’s the attraction of romance stories and repetitive. No surprise there!
• Ribbons of Grace by Maxine Alterio ~ a sad love story set in China and the gold fields of New Zealand in the past and the racism of the time
• The Medici Secret by Michael White ~ a Dan Brown style suspense/adventure set both in history and the present day mostly in Venice
• The Good Mayor by Andrew Nicoll ~ an unusual love story set in a fictional town somewhere in contemporary Europe
• Brodeck’s Report by Philippe Claudel ~ you get a beautiful feel for village life in France in this dark gripping novel
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling ~ on Talking Book. Loving Stephen Fry
• Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton ~ hooking into the 2011 Librarians Reading Challenge ~ this is a Vampire series that I am finding similar to the Buffy the Vampire Slayer story, but for grown ups
• Wonders of a Godless World by Andrew McGahan ~ a surrealist setting, quite powerfully written. As a reader I felt a little manipulated, but maybe that is the writer’s job? Not sure about that
• Raisins and Almonds by Kerry Greenwood ~ a friend put me on to these Phryne Fisher whodunnits, a genre I haven’t really attended to. Greenwood researches deeply the Melbourne of the twenties, and every one of these crime stories tells you more about some aspect of Melbourne life. I’ve also read Cocaine Blues and The Green Mill Murder in the same series. Absorbing and fun. Phryne (private detective) is a thoroughly modern gal, unassailable and determined to do her own thing. She always gets her man, in both senses
• The Writing Life by Annie Dillard ~ her account of how life is for her as a writer is honest, fearless, beautifully worded. This is my second visit to this book
• Aphelion by Emily Ballou ~ the great attraction of this novel for me is that it’s set in Adaminaby, on the shores of the lake that drowned Old Adaminaby. Old Jindabyne was also drowned, as part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme to dam all that useful snow-melt that otherwise ran away, untapped. The novel reaches down into the past to connect it to the present; the people in the story have past issues to deal with too. Very nicely written, but a bit short on narrative drive
• Aphelion by Emily Ballou ~ loved this, set in Adaminaby across four generations - great, strong characters and beautiful prose
• Freedom by Jonathan Franzen ~ I’ve only read 60 pages, but it looks like he’s going to do a slightly satirical look at suburban life in America. Reminds me a little of The Slap in its broad sweep and lack of sentimentality
• The F Word: how we learned to swear by feminism by Jane Caro and Catherine Fox ~ a great book about the current state of feminism in Australia, focussing on what it’s like to be a working mother
• Wholly Irresponsible Exploits: 65 ways to muck around with science by Sean Connolly – very fun and old-fashioned guide to amazing science projects.
• I read Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist and then I listened to Paulo Coelho The Alchemist because I thought I must have missed something. It’s set in Spain and Northern Africa and it reminds me of Jonathan Livingstone Seagull and that is all I can say
• I’ve ‘read’ through about 10 issues of Australian Patchwork and Quilting looking for inspiration for some fabric that I have
• I loved Dan Brown's Angels and Demons set in Rome ~ couldn’t put it down
• I’m just about to start Ann Cleeves' Raven Black ~ set in the Shetland Isles and recommended by a customer
• Cathy Kelly’s Homecoming ~ set in Dublin. Eleanor Levine left Ireland seventy years ago and now she’s returned from New York with her own memories. She watches from her window and becomes involved in the lives of Megan, Rae and Connie. It’s lighter than light!
• Messenger by Markus Zusak ~ a YA read – cleverly done, funny, the lead character is intriguing

Opera McCall Smith Style

Alexander McCall Smith CBE - author, professor of Medical Law, amateur bassoonist and co-founder of The Really Terrible Orchestra - is there anything AMS can't do? He helped to found Botswana's first centre for opera training, the Number 1 Ladies' Opera House and with Tom Cunningham has created an opera The Okavango Macbeth, a version of Macbeth set among a troop of baboons in the Okavango Delta.

The opera had its first public performances in Edinburgh on this past week. One review reads "Premiered in the No.1 Ladies’ Opera House last year, The Okavango Macbeth received its first UK performance at a gala evening in aid of Save the Children with a young cast of principals drawn from the RSAMD and chorus from Edinburgh Studio Opera. Director Nicholas Ellenbogen drew some uncannily realistic baboon behaviour from the cast, complete with calls, leaps and grooming rituals. Tom Cunningham has created an approachable score to go with the writer’s clever, wordy libretto – it isn’t often the phrase “internecine carnage” gets used in an opera chorus." (HeraldScotland)

Hopefully it will make its way Down Under at some stage, sounds intriguing . . .

Books to help you host a Book Group

The Book Club Cook Book : Recipes and Food for Thought from Your Book Club's Favourite Books and Authors by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp - New York Pengin USA c2004

Recipe for a Book Club : A Monthly Guide for Hosting Your Own Reading Group by Mary O'Hare and Rose Storey - Sterling, Virginia Capital Books 2004

The Book Club Companion : A comprehensive Guide to the Reading Group Experience by Diana Loevy - New York, Berkley 2006

Book Summaries : These books all do the same thing - advise on the books you could read with your book group and how to tie in the food you might consume at that meeting.

The Book Club Cook Book is the heftier of the three with 519 pages. Each chapter profiles a different book ( from Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence to Winter Wheat by Mildred Walker via Angela's Ashes, Anna Karenina, Chocolat and Love in the Time of Cholera amongst many others - 100 titles in fact) giving a brief introduction and description of the book, the recipe and then a summary of their discussions from various book clubs.

Recipe for a Book Club is only 107 pages long and it is divided into 12 chapters - one for each month of the year in different genres. Each chapter give the suggested book title, a menu (with recipes) , a review of the book and information about the author (both very brief) and follow up suggested reading. The suggested readings often seemed to have only a tenuous link to the suggested book and theme.

The Book Club Companion is divided into groupings by genre with chapter headings such as The Beloveds, Brit Lit and Red, White and Noir. The chapters start off with a list of 'indispensible titles'. And there are some quite pragmatic suggestions for what to do, rules you might want to think about, questions you might come up with as well as the now obligatory recipes.

Review : Given that the Recipe for a Book Club authors state that "our intent is to help you create a relaxed atmosphere and minimize the stress that individuals often feel when they host a gatherng" I think in some ways these books might cause book group hosts more stress.

In my civilian life I belong to two book groups. With the first, we meet at an hotel each month and just partake of the food and drink on offer there. With the other group we meet in each other's homes but the host of the group is only required to provide tea, coffee and water so the task is not too daunting. Those of us who are visiting bring along the food and any wine, etc. we might wish to share. There is one member who likes to do the whole theme thing when we are at her house (Spanish decor and clothing for The Shadow of the Wind for example) but that is her thing and none of the others of us make any attempt to compete.

I may be biased but I feel both these approaches fulfil the "create a relaxed atmosphere and minimize the stress" criteria.

These books are both are heavily US centred so many titles may not appeal/be available to Australian readers. And while they are new to Blue Mountains City Library, none of these books were published any less than 5 years ago and so won't mention many notable books published since then. That said, if you are thinking of starting a book group with friends - and it's so easy to do - these would be a nice jumping off point for ideas.

Reviewed by : Alba

Goodreading magazine online

The March issue of goodreading magazine is now online here - all you have to do is enter your library card number.

In this issue you'll find :

Cover story : Jeffrey Archer on his book Only Time Will Tell

Me My Shelf I : Joanna Trollope tells us about her favourite books and authors

Send panic packing : Sarah Minns reviews books on anxiety disorder

Cooking the books : Bill Granger shares a favourite recipe with us

Readers' life : Find out what other book lovers are reading


So go on, log on to the online goodreading magazine, or check out the paper copy from the library.

Read It 2011 - Real Time Discussion

Tonight (Wendesday 23rd February) will be the first real time twitter discussion for #readit2011.

At 8pm (AEST) come online to talk about this month's #heartreads. What titles are good for the heart?

To participate you will need a twitter account. Don't forget to use #heartreads in your tweet.

For dog lovers

Two lovely doggy books came across my desk recently The A-Z of Unfortunate Dogs and Best in Show.




The A-Z of Unfortunate Dogs is by Adam Elliot who created the Academy Award winning animated film, Harvie Krumpet. As you might expect Elliot travels through the alphabet describing a variety of unfortunate pooches from "A is for Andrew whose tongue is too long" to "Z is for Zak who's hopeless at tricks".


A personal favourite is "X is for Xavier who's scared of his bed".

My nephew is called Xavier. He's two and resists his bed as long as he can, yahooing round his bedroom until he sleeps where he drops!


If you're not allowed a dog, knit yourself one. Best in Show : Knit Your Own Dog by Sally Muir and Joanna Osborne has 25 patterns for knitting yourself a dog.

Choose from Hounds, Terriers, Gun Dogs, Utility Dogs and Working Dogs.

My daughter has put in her order for an Old English Sheepdog but I'm rather taken by the West Highland Terrier shown on the cover.

Reviewed by : Alba

Cancellation of Art Classes for Thursday 24th February

We regret to have to cancel the Art Classes with Naomi for this week because of a bereavement in her family.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

The Diagram Prize 2010 shortlist

Ooooh one of my very favourite literary prizes! The Diagram Prize is awarded to the (real) book with the most unreal title.

From an initial field of 66 books, 6 have been named in the shortlist by The Bookseller magazine:

8th International Friction Stir Welding Symposium Proceedings - various authors

The Generosity of the Dead by Graciela Nowenstein

The Italian's One-night Love Child by Cathy Williams (Mills & Boon)

Managing a Dental Practice the Genghis Khan Way by Michael R Young

Myth of the Social Volcano by Martin King Whyte

What Color Is Your Dog? by Joel Silverman (Kennel Club)

You can vote for your favourite title here. The winner of the public vote will be announced on Friday, 25th March.

There is a great article in The Guardian about the shortlist - read it here.

Although no prize is awarded to the author of the winning book, Horace Bent of The Bookseller said last year's winner, Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes, received a big sales boost thanks to international coverage of the award: "Before the prize was awarded, Dr Taimina's book was selling just half a dozen copies per week in the US. A week after she picked up my prestigious gong, her book sold an incredible 95 copies in just seven days at $35 a pop. You can't buy that kind of publicity".

Alisons Picks - February 2011

Andrew McGahan : Wonders of a Godless World

Kerry Greenwood : The Green Mill Murders

Jorge Luis Borges : Collected Fictions

Emily Ballou : Aphelion

Mary Wesley : A Sensible Life

International Mother Language Day 2011

Today is International Mother Language Day. The international day was proclaimed by UNESCO's General Conference in November 1999 and has been observed every year since February 2000. The aim is to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism.

'Preserving endangered languages is a vital part of securing the culture and heritage of our rich human landscape. Language keeps traditions alive, it inspires knowledge and respect about our past and the planet on which we live, and it links communities across borders and beyond time.'

'Just like endangered animal species, languages are rapidly dying out and need our commitment and interest to keep them alive. Once, there were between 7,000 and 8,000 distinct languages. Now, very few people speak most of the 6,000 known languages around the world. Half of today's languages have fewer than 10,000 speakers and a quarter have fewer than 1,000. Linguists face a race against time to document many of the remaining ones.' (UN Works for Cultural Diversity : Endangered Languages)

Friends, Lovers, Chocolate by Alexander McCall Smith

Friends, Lovers, Chocolate by Alexander McCall Smith

London Little, Brown 2005

Plot Summary : This is the second in the Isabel Dalhousie/Sunday Philsophy Club series set in contemporary Edinburgh.

Isabel is an independently weathly woman in her early forties who edits a philosophy journal and lives in southern Edinburgh. At the beginning of this book she is helping her niece, Cat, by running Cat’s deli. One day she strikes up a conversation with one of the customers. He is Ian and he’s a former psychologist and recent recipient of a heart transplant. He is wondering about cell memory having had some visions of a man. Perusing the newspapers of the time of Ian’s transplant, Isabel thinks she comes up with the donor’s name. Only Isabel has gone off half-cocked (as usual) and and starts to blunder about driven by the need to put things right.

Review : The philosophical musings are for the most part interesting, although Isabel/McCall Smith tends to overanalyse everything and Isabel’s need to do the right thing can be annoying and can have disasterous consequences. I wasn’t mad keen on the ending with Isabel and Ian going a bit too far I felt.

I read this with my book group and we were agreed that we probably wouldn't like Isabel Dalhousie if we knew her in real life - too much moralising and interfering for our liking.

And unlike the wonderful characters McCall Smith has created in his other series such as Precious Ramotswe in The Number One Ladies Detective Agency series (Series 1 available on DVD in the Library) and the various characters in the 44 Scotland Street series, we felt the character of Isabel wasn't well-drawn. She comes across more like a woman in her mid-60s than mid-40s
- or perhaps more like a university professor in his mid-60s!

It is however, a nice, easy read and those of us familiar with Edinburgh appreciated the ramble through a much-loved city.

Reviewed by : Alba

Children's Activities for 2011

Internet Training for Seniors

Blue Mountains Libraries will be offering free Internet Training for Seniors throughout March, from 10am to 12noon on the following dates and venues:

• Tuesday March 8 at Springwood Library


• Wednesday March 9 at Blackheath Library


• Tuesday March 15 at Lawson Library


• Wednesday March 16 at Blaxland Library


• Tuesday March 22 at Katoomba Library


• Wednesday March 23 at Wentworth Falls Library

Learn about the internet, emails, Facebook, Skype, blogging and more . . .

Please drop into or phone your local Library branch or and book in. Places are limited and are going fast!

Commonwealth Writers’ Prize 2011 shortlists announced

The Commonwealth Writers' Prize, established in 1987 by the Commonwealth Foundation is a highly respected prize for fiction by authors from the 53 nations of the Commonwealth.

The Prize is divided into four regions with two prizes, Best Book and Best First Book, being awarded in each region :

Shortlisted for the South East Asia and Pacific Best Book

Reading Madame Bovary by Amanda Lohrey (Australia)
That Deadman Dance by Kim Scott (Australia)
Time’s Long Ruin by Stephen Orr (Australia)
Hand Me Down World by Lloyd Jones (New Zealand)
Notorious by Roberta Lowing (Australia)
Gifted by Patrick Evans (New Zealand)

Shortlisted for the South East Asia and Pacific Best First Book
21 Immortals by Rozlan Mohd Noor (Malaysia)
A Man Melting by Craig Cliff (New Zealand)
The Graphologist’s Apprentice by Whiti Hereaka (New Zealand)
The Body in the Clouds by Ashley Hay (Australia)
Traitor by Stephen Daisley (Australia/New Zealand)
A Few Right Thinking Men by Sulari Gentill (Australia)


Shortlisted for the Africa Best Book

The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna (Sierra Leone)
Men of the South by Sukiswa Wanner (South Africa)
The Unseen Leopard by Bridget Pitt (South Africa)
Oil on Water by Helon Habila (Nigeria)
Blood at Bay by Sue Rabie (South Africa)
Banquet at Brabazan by Patricia Schonstein (South Africa)

Shortlisted for the Africa Best First Book
Happiness is a Four Letter Word by Cynthia Jele (South Africa)
Bitter Leaf by Chioma Okereke (Nigeria)
The Fossil Artist by Graeme Friedman (South Africa)
Colour Blind by Uzoma Uponi (Nigeria)
Voice of America by E. C. Osondu (Nigeria)
Wall of Days by Alastair Bruce (South Africa)

Shortlisted for the Canada and Caribbean Best Book
The Sky is Falling by Caroline Adderson (Canada)
Room by Emma Donahue (Canada)
The Master of Happy Endings by Jack Hodgins (Canada)
In The Fabled East by Adam Lewis Schroeder (Canada)
The Death of Donna Whalen by Michael Winter (Canada)
Mr. Shakespeare’s Bastard by Richard B. Wright (Canada)

Shortlisted for the Canada and Caribbean Best First Book
Bird Eat Bird by Katrina Best (Canada)
Doing Dangerously Well by Carole Enahoro (Canada)
Mennonites Don’t Dance by Darcie Friesen Hossack (Canada)
Light Lifting by Alexander MacLeod (Canada)
The Cake is for the Party by Sarah Selecky (Canada)
Illustrado by Miguel Syjuco (Canada)

Shortlisted for the South Asia and Europe Best Book
Lyrics Alley by Leila Abouleila (UK)
The Betrayal by Helen Dunmore (UK)
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell (UK)
The Long Song by Andrea Levy (UK)
Sex and Stravinsky by Barbara Trapido (UK)
Union Atlantic by Adam Haslett (UK)

Shortlisted for the South Asia and Europe Best First Book
Serious Men by Manu Joseph (India)
Saraswati Park by Anjali Joseph (India)
The House with the Blue Shutters by Lisa Hilton (UK)
Children of the Sun by Max Shaefer (UK)
Grace Williams says it Loud by Emma Henderson (UK)
Sabra Zoo by Mischa Hiller (UK)

The regional winners will be announced in March. Each prize winner will win £1,000.

From these winners the overall Best Book Prize (prize money £10,000), won in 2010 by Rana Dasgupta (UK) for Solo and Best First Book Prize (prize money £5,000 ), won in 2010 by Australian Glenda Guest for Siddon Rock, are chosen and the winners named in April.

The Man from Beijing by Henning Mankell

The Man from Beijing by Henning Mankell

London Harvill Secker 2010

Book Summary : January 2006. In the Swedish hamlet of Hesjövallen, nineteen people have been massacred. The only clue is a red ribbon found at the scene. Judge Birgitta Roslin has particular reason to be shocked: her grandparents, the Andréns, are among the victims. The police insist that only a lunatic could have committed the murders. But when Birgitta discovers the diary of another Andrén - a gang master on the American transcontinental railway in the nineteenth century - that describes the cruel treatment of Chinese slave-workers, she is determined to uncover what she suspects is a more complicated truth.
The investigation leads to modern-day Beijing and its highest echelons of power, to Zimbabwe and Mozambique. But the narrative also takes us back 150 years, into a history that will ensnare Birgitta as she draws ever closer to solving the Hesjövallen murders.
(Source : Fantastic Fiction)

Review : This is my first novel from Mankell and I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. What Birgitta eventually uncovers leads her into an international web of corruption and a story of vengeance that stretches back over more than a hundred years, linking China and the USA of the 1860s with modern-day Beijing, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, and coming to a shocking climax in London.It really is a sweeping international drama and I would like to read another of his novels.

Reviewed by : Carolyn

Library Lovers Loving their Library

Here are some pictures of our happy Library Lovers who joined us for morning tea at Springwood Library this morning.

The atmosphere was very pleasant and we had such a good time we are thinking of making this a regular thing - keep your ears to the ground for news of more morning teas.

Library Lovers Day

It's that special day for all Library Lovers - Library Lovers Day - and Blue Mountains Libraries are sharing the Luuurve with all our customers!


Get down to your local library and get a special heart-shaped chocolate and a love poetry card.

If you're in the Springwood area you can join us for morning tea from 10:30am.

Sister Cities Gift to Blue Mountains City Library

On Friday 11th February Blue Mountains City Library recieved a gift from our sister city, Sanda.

Janne Bent, Secretary of the Blue Mountains Sister Cities Committee delivered four beautiful framed photographs of Sanda City to Vicki Edmunds, Manager Libraries and Community Services.


Sanda donated several more photographs to the Blue Mountains Sister Cities Committee and they have been hung in other areas in Council. The four photographs given to the Library will be hung in our libraries soon so look out for them.

The Blue Mountains Sister Cities Committee promotes Sister City links with our two sister cities, Flagstaff, USA and Sanda, Japan. They encourage exchange of cultural, community, education and sporting information between Sister Cities.

If you're interested they meet at 7:30pm on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at Springwood Neighbourhood Centre. Contact them on 4780 5090 for more details.

Anniversary of the Prime Minister's Apology to Australia's Indigenous Peoples

This Sunday 13th February, marks the third anniversary of the Apology to the Stolen Generations.

If you click here you'll link to a question and answer fact sheet from Reconciliation Australia, this fact sheet is part of a series Reconciliation Australia is producing aimed at informing the community and stimulating conversations about the issues that affect us all. www.reconciliation.org.au

The fact sheet provides such information as :

• Why was the apology important?
• Have there been compensation claims
• What is the Government doing to assist members of the Stolen Generations?

There are some straightforward answers to these questions and more.

Here is the apology by then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on 13th February 2008

Random Acts of Kindness Week

Here's a week I really like the sound of. From 14th February to 20th February we ask you to participate in Random Acts of Kindness Week.

The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation was founded in 1995 as a not-for-profit organisation and aims to help us create a better world by spreading awareness and increasing engagement in kind actions. Their website has lots of ideas for Random Acts of Kindness, stories and resources. Go and get some ideas.

Actually, like Father's Day, Mother's Day and some other Days, I don't see why this isn't a practice we all incorporate into EVERY DAY, many Random Acts of Kindness take nothing more than a little bit of thought for other people.

Latest issue of Goodreading magazine now online

The February issue of goodreading magazine is now online here - all you have to do is enter your library card number.

There are always heaps of book reviews and this month the featured author is the award-winning Kim Edwards. Kim talks to Roze Abraham about her writing career, while Australian crime writer Alan Carter takes us on a tour of his bookshelf. And catch up with the musicians from Selby & Friends as they talk about what they are reading.

Charlotte Smith will take you through her priceless collection of vintage dresses and other fashionable collectables, while Elizabeth Paton shows discusses some popular blogs that have become books.

Take a peek at some Indigenous from art+soul and read and grow rich with books to help you with your everyday finances. Test your IQ by trying one of the puzzles from Einsteins Riddle : Riddles, Paradoxes and Conundrums to Stretch Your Mind by Jeremy Stangroom and peek inside The Second Book of General Ignorance by John Lloyd and John Mitchinson of the QI TV program team.

Enter the February competitions - this month you could win tickets to a performance by Selby & Friends on their first tour of 2011. One lucky reader will win a Literature package for the 2011 Somerset Writers' Festival. There are 10 copies each of Cathleen Schine's The Three Weissmanns of Westport and Paul Taylor's Rip Off! to be won as well.

So go on, log on to the online goodreading magazine, or check out the paper copy from the library.

The Edgar Awards Nominations 2011

Last month the Mystery Writers of America announced the crime books that have been nominated for the presigious Edgar Awards 2011.

There are several categories in the Edgars. The winners will be announced on 28th April 2011 at a gala dinner in New York.

BEST NOVEL
Caught by Harlan Coben
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin
Faithful Place by Tana French
The Queen of Patpong by Timothy Hallinan
The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton
I’d Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR
Rogue Island by Bruce DeSilva
The Poacher’s Son by Paul Doiron
The Serialist by David Gordon
Galveston by Nic Pizzolatto
Snow Angels by James Thompson

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
Long Time Coming by Robert Goddard
The News Where You Are by Catherine O’Flynn
Expiration Date by Duane Swierczynski
Vienna Secrets by Frank Tallis
Ten Little Herrings by L.C. Tyler

BEST FACT CRIME
Scoreboard, Baby: A Story of College Football, Crime and Complicity by Ken Armstrong and Nick Perry
The Eyes of Willie McGee: A Tragedy of Race, Sex, and Secrets in Jim Crow South by Alex Heard
Finding Chandra: A True Washington Murder Mystery by Scott Higham and Sari Horwitz
Hellhound on his Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for his Assassin by Hampton Sides
The Killer of Little Shepherds: A True Crime Story and the Birth of Forensic Science by Douglas Starr

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL
The Wire: Truth Be Told by Rafael Alvarez
Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making by John Curran
Sherlock Holmes for Dummies by Steven Doyle and David A. Crowder
Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and his Rendezvous with American
History by Yunte Huang
Thrillers: 100 Must Reads edited by David Morrell and Hank Wagner

BEST SHORT STORY
"The Scent of Lilacs" – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Doug Allyn
"The Plot" – First Thrills by Jeffery Deaver
"A Good Safe Place” – Thin Ice by Judith Green
"Monsieur Alice is Absent" – Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Stephen Ross
"The Creative Writing Murders" – Dark End of the Street by Edmund White

BEST JUVENILE
Zora and Me by Victoria Bond and T.R. Simon
The Buddy Files: The Case of the Lost Boy by Dori Hillestad Butler
The Haunting of Charles Dickens by Lewis Buzbee
Griff Carver: Hallway Patrol by Jim Krieg
The Secret Life of Ms. Finkleman by Ben H. Winters

BEST YOUNG ADULT
The River by Mary Jane Beaufrand
Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King
7 Souls by Barnabas Miller and Jordan Orlando
The Interrogation of Gabriel James by Charlie Price
Dust City by Robert Paul Weston

BEST PLAY
The Psychic by Sam Bobrick
The Tangled Skirt by Steve Braunstein
The Fall of the House by Robert Ford

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY
“Episode 1” - Luther, Teleplay by Neil Cross
“Episode 4” – Luther, Teleplay by Neil Cross
“Full Measure” – Breaking Bad, Teleplay by Vince Gilligan
“No Mas” – Breaking Bad, Teleplay by Vince Gilligan
“The Next One’s Gonna Go In Your Throat” – Damages, Teleplay by Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler & Daniel Zelman

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD
"Skyler Hobbs and the Rabbit Man" – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Evan Lewis

GRAND MASTER
Sara Paretsky

RAVEN AWARDS
Centuries & Sleuths Bookstore, Forest Park, Illinois
Once Upon A Crime Bookstore, Minneapolis, Minnesota

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER - MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD
Wild Penance by Sandi Ault
Blood Harvest by S.J. Bolton
Down River by Karen Harper
The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths
Live to Tell by Wendy Corsi Staub

Carolyn's Books of the Month - February 2011

Best read : The Man from Beijing by Henning Mankell

Thriller : Live to Tell by Lisa Gardner

General Fiction : The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell

Saga/Romance : Wildflower Hill by Kimberley Freeman

Australian Author : The Brave by Nicholas Evans

Crime : Daisy Chain by G.J.Moffat and Broken by Karen Slaughter

Books are only one aspect of what libraries and librarians are about

At the end of January (I've been on leave and at a conference) The Guardian had an article called Beyond books: what it takes to be a 21st century librarian and I urge you to click on the link and give it a read.

As well as an explaination of some of the stuff we get up to when not sitting with our feet up on our desks devouring the last Dan Brown, there are case studies of various librarians and what they do.

And last week the BBC had an item called Are Libraries Finished?

Any surprises for you who use our libraries?

Safer Internet Day 2011

An annual event coordinated by Insafe a European organisation which works to promote safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones, especially amongst children and young people across the world, Tuesday 8th February has been designated Safer Internet Day 2011. The day supported in Australia by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).

The theme for 2011 ‘It’s more than a game, it’s your life’ and prmotes safer and more responsible use of social networking sites and will highlight the importance of protecting privacy and digital reputation as well as the need for good online etiquette.

Within the website there are pages with information for kids , teenagers and their parents as well as resources for schools and teachers.

Springwood Art Class

The first week of Springwood Art Class for kids had young artists trying their hand at stop-motion animation. You can see their great work online, just make sure your sound is up :)

Watch the animation here!

Book Review: Floor Sample by Julia Cameron

Julia Cameron is well known for her book "The Artist's Way". That book saved my creative life in my early twenties as it made me sit still and connect pen to paper in a way that was both gentle and disciplined. I have since recommended it to various people who are looking to live a creative life. For some people it was great - for others it didn't quite connect.
So when I saw this book in the Library, I was curious. Cameron's books (and there are many) all have a reassuring, stable, strong tone to them. She has a step by step method to a particular goal, and a path to sustained creativity. So I imagined this book to be just the same.

What I found was completely different - and honestly brilliant. This is a memoir of Julia's years from childhood to writer. The tone is rollicking, mad and sometimes beautiful. It has such a vulnerability to it that hooked me right in, and allowed me to engage completely with her world.


Cameron wrote this when she was 57, and it was published 2007. She details her marriage to Martin Scorsese, her alcoholism and increasing drug use. Then her hard won sobriety, and her focused dream to write and make music. But things don't end there.

One part of the book details an increasingly strange Cameron, falling into psychosis, living holed up in London. She doesn't eat, she feels allergic to electricity, and refuses all help. Her walls are plastered with scripts, songs, images and scribbles, all of which she is attempting to feed into a musical which she feels she must write. Birds and trees begin to hum and speak to her. The world becomes a surreal dream and nightmare all rolled into one. She is beset my unimaginable terrors and events, and finds herself hospitalised.

Even when she returns from overseas, she cannot settle, and seems to move compulsively from Chicago, to Taos, to Los Angeles, to New York. In every place she finds people who nuture her, and others who abuse her trust. Yet she tries and commits to living with an open heart, and a connection to God.

We who are writers and creative spirits know that sometimes we are close to the edge of realities. This can be terrifying and wonderful and heartbreaking. Although I will always love Julia Cameron's books about spirituality and creativity, it was this book that really showed me something about writing. Through all of her journeys, Julia did one true thing - she just kept going. And she is going still.
here is a link to the book in the Library: Floor Sample

reviewed by the bookbird :)

Well I find this funny!

Perhaps it's an old one? Of course it is, there's no mention of computerised library systems.

Still found it funny . . .

The new librarian decided that instead of checking out children's books by writing the names of borrowers on the book cards herself, she would have the youngsters sign their own names. She would then tell them they were signing a "contract" for returning the books on time.

Her first customer was a 2nd grader, who looked surprised to see a new librarian. He brought four books to the desk and shoved them across to the librarian, giving her his name as was the custom.

The new librarian pushed the books back, smiled, and told him to sign them out. The boy carefully printed his name on each book card and then handed them to her with a look of utter disgust. Before the new librarian could even start her speech he said scornfully, "At least that other librarian we had could write."

Blackheath Library Bookworms

Children's Author of the Month

The author of the month is Theodor Seuss Giesel - "Dr Seuss". Click here to link to our Library catalogue.