New books on display at Hurunui District Library from 13 Nov – 20 Nov

 ”The comfort of Saturdays” by Alexander Mccall Smith 

Isabel Dalhousie is a new mother and a connoisseur of philosophy; she’d rather not be a sleuth. But when a chance conversation at a dinner party draws Isabel into the case of a doctor whose career has been ruined, she cannot ignore what may be a miscarriage of justice. As she attempts to unravel the truth behind Dr Thompson’s disgrace, Isabel’s patient intelligence is also required to deal with challenges in her own life. There is her baby son Charlie; Cat’s deli to look after, not to mention her vulnerable assistant Eddie; and a mysterious and unlikeable composer who has latched on to Jamie, making Isabel fear for the future of her new family. Isabel treads a difficult path between trust and gullibility, philanthropy and interference, while keeping in her sights the small but certain comforts of family, philosophy and a fine Saturday morning [Cover] 

 ”The woman who can’t forget” by Jill Price

 

 

Jill Price has the first diagnosed case of a memory condition called “hyperthymestic syndrome”- the continuous, automatic, autobiographical recall of every day of her life since she was fourteen. Give her any date from that year on, and she can almost instantly tell you what day of the week it was, what she did on that day, and any major world event or cultural happening that took place, as long as she heard about it that day. Her memories are like scenes from home movies, constantly playing in her head, backward and forward, through the years; not only does she make no effort to call her memories to mind, she cannot stop them. The Woman Who Can’t Forget is the beautifully written and moving story of Jill’s quest to come to terms with her extraordinary memory, living with a condition that no one understood, including her, until the scientific team who studied her finally charted the extraordinary terrain of her abilities. As we learn of Jill’s struggles first to realize how unusual her memory is and then to contend, as she grows up, with the unique challenges of not being able to forget – remembering both the good times and the bad, the joyous and the devastating, in such vivid and insistent detail – the way her memory works is contrasted to a wealth of discoveries about the workings of normal human memory and normal human forgetting. Intriguing light is shed on the vital role of what’s called “motivated forgetting” as well as theories about childhood amnesia, the loss of memory for the first two to three years of our lives; the emotional content of memories; and the way in which autobiographical memories are normally crafted into an ever-evolving and empowering life story. [Cover]  

 

 

“The birthday present” by Barbara Vine

It’s late spring of 1990 and a love affair is flourishing between Ivor Tesham, a thirty-three year old rising star of Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government, and Hebe Furnal, a stunning North London housewife stuck in a dull marriage. What excitement Hebe lacks at home, however, is amply compensated for by the well-bred and intensely attractive Tesham – an ardent womaniser and ambitious politician. On the eve of her twenty-eighth birthday, Tesham decides to give Hebe a present to remember: something far more memorable than, say, the costly string of pearls he’s already lavished upon her, involving a fashionable new practice known as ‘adventure sex’. A man arranges for his unsuspecting but otherwise willing girlfriend to be snatched from the street, bound and gagged, and delivered to him at a mutually agreed venue…Set amidst an age of IRA bombings, the first Gulf War, and sleazy politics, The Birthday Present is the gripping story of a fall from grace, and of a man who carries within him all the hypocrisy, greed and self-obsession of a troubled era. [Cover]

 “Tramping in New Zealand” by Shaun Barnett

Tramping in New Zealand is a highly innovative new tramping guide that has been developed around the latest generation of ‘bird’s eye’ computer-generated maps. These completely accurate panoramic overviews are constructed from map data, but because they can recreate a view of the landscape from any angle or height they provide a remarkably readable and clear way of understanding the lie of the land. For trampers, these bird’s eye maps offer a superb way of showing a tramping route in three dimensions, which cannot be done with a conventional topographical map. In this book the 40 most popular tramps in New Zealand are featured, each illustrated with at least one bird’s eye map. These have been created by Wellington company Geographx, whose cutting-edge maps feature in the acclaimed New Zealand Geographic Atlas. The maps are also supported by relevant route information and photographs from one of New Zealand’s most respected tramping authors, Shaun Barnett. The tramps covered include our best known Great Walks, such as the Milford Track, the Routeburn and the Tongariro Crossing, and many others from both islands, such as the Queen Charlotte Track, the ReesDart near Queenstown, and the Pinnacles Hut on the Coromandel. With such a high degree of readability and visual appeal combined with the highest quality information and photographs, Tramping in New Zealand creates a new benchmark for this kind of guidebook, and is set to become a classic in this popular genre. [Cover] 

 

 

 “The butterfly garden” by Chip St. Clair

Fear rocked Chip St. Clair’s world. As a boy, he never knew what would set his father off – maybe the ice cubes had melted in his glass of Tab, maybe dinner was overcooked or undercooked or the gravy was too runny. Regardless, the beatings always came. As did the twisted games of cat and mouse – being thrown from a rowboat into frigid Lake Michigan, the middle-of-the-night moves to different states, or being left to dangle over a ten-story balcony while his father watched from inside. But one fateful night when the police answered the call, the truth came to light from the shadows, sparking national headlines: Chip St. Clair’s entire life – his name, even his date of birth – had been a lie, and the man he called ‘Dad’ was an impostor, an escaped child killer who had been on the run for over two decades. The stunning revelation would send one of America’s Most Wanted to justice and another on a quest for his true identity. With chilling detail and a riveting, lyrical narrative, The Butterfly Garden reveals St. Clair’s struggle to piece together his haunted past before it consumes him and shares his inspiring metamorphosis from victim to victim’s advocate. The Butterfly Garden is a timeless triumph, a reminder that hope can be the most powerful of all emotions, freeing us to soar despite the past and the odds against us. [Cover]

 

To reserve any of these items please contact your local library or email info@hurunuilibraries.govt.nz

 

Avril