New books on display at Hurunui District Library from 12 Jan – 19 Jan

 

 

 

 ”Sweet as” by Garth Cartwright

“I come from Mt Roskill. Somebody has to.” So says Garth Cartwright of growing up in New Zealand’s largest suburb. It had acres of rugby fields and more churches than anywhere else in the country – but there were no cinemas, music venues or pubs. In search of a little more culture, a young Garth up and moved to London. Twenty years after leaving he returned to revel in a Kiwi summer. That summer was spent travelling the country from top to bottom and observing New Zealand and its citizens in all their eccentric glory. Taking to State Highway 1, he met old friends, cult rockers, aspiring politicians, potters, bikers, visionary artists, hunters, undercover cops and all manner of other Kiwi characters. Surfing, hitching, driving, sailing and tramping across New Zealand allowed him to reflect on how much New Zealand has changed in the last twenty years – and how much it hasn’t. [Cover]

 

 

 

 ”Whispers” by Rosie Goodwin

Sometimes the past really does come back to haunt you…The old manor house has stood empty for years, left to rot since the last master of the Fenton family died. Until Jess Beddows steps inside, and feels she has come home. Against her family’s wishes, she buys the house, promising to bring it back to life. Upstairs, in an attic room left untouched for a century or more, she finds a journal. It holds the heartbreaking tale of Martha, and of the cruel, entangled lives of the house’s servants and masters nearly two hundred years before. As Jess is drawn into their tragedy, the whispers begin. Before long, everything she loves will be threatened by violent emotion and long-kept secrets. Can she survive the echoes from the past? [Cover]

 

 

 

 ”Huggable crochet” by Christine Lucas

This delightful book is the perfect guide to making huggable-sized, stuffed crochet animals, featuring a wide variety of creatures from the farm to the jungle and even the sea. Catering for all imaginations, “Huggable Crochet” shows you how to make each adoreable animal with its traditional colours and then as a vivid and vibrant alternative. Featuring illustrations and patterns for both basic crochet stitches and crochet animal construction techniques, this book makes it quick and easy to make the ideal cuddly for children of all ages. [Cover]

 

 

 

 “Tiger men” by Judy Nunn

‘This town is full of tiger men,’ Dan said. ‘Just look around you. The merchants, the builders, the bankers, the company men, they’re all out for what they can get. This is a tiger town, Mick, a place at the bottom of the world where God turns a blind eye to pillage and plunder.’Van Diemen’s Land was an island of stark contrasts; a harsh penal colony, an English idyll for its landed gentry, and an island so rich in natural resources it was a profiteer’s paradise. Its capital Hobart Town had its contrasts too; the wealthy elite in their sandstone mansions, the exploited poor in the notorious slum known as Wapping, and the criminals and villains who haunted the dockside taverns and brothels of Sullivan’s Cove. Hobart Townwas no place for the meek. Tiger Men is the story of Silas Stanford, a wealthy Englishman; Mick O’Callaghan an Irishman on the run; and Jefferson Powell, an idealistic American political prisoner. It is also the story of the strong, proud women who loved them, and of the children they bore who rose to power in the cut-throat world of international trade. Tiger Men is the sweeping tale of three families who lived through Tasmania’s golden era and witnessed the birth of the Commonwealth of Australia, only to watch its young men consumed by the fires and horror of the First World War. [Cover]

 

 

 

 “The tribal imagination” by Robin Fox

We began as savages, and savagery has served us well–it got us where we are. But how do our tribal impulses, still in place and in play, fit in the highly complex, civilized world we inhabit today? This question, raised by thinkers from Freud to Levi-Strauss, is fully explored in this book by the acclaimed anthropologist Robin Fox. It takes up what he sees as the main–and urgent–task of evolutionary science: not so much to explain what we do, as to explain what we do at our peril.  Ranging from incest and arranged marriage to poetry and myth to human rights and pop icons, Fox sets out to show how a variety of human behaviors reveal traces of their tribal roots, and how this evolutionary past limits our capacity for action. Among the questions he raises: How real is our notion of time? Is there a human “right” to vengeance? Are we democratic by nature? Are cultural studies and fascism cousins under the skin? Is evolutionary history coming to an end–or just getting more interesting? In his famously informative and entertaining fashion, drawing links from Volkswagens to Bartok to Woody Guthrie, from Swinburne to Seinfeld, Fox traces our ongoing struggle to maintain open societies in the face of profoundly tribal human needs–needs which, paradoxically, hold the key to our survival. [Cover]

Other titles on display this week :

“The pregnant widow” by Martin Amis

“The Somme” by Peter Barton

“How to build animal housing” by Carol Ekarius

“The breakers” by Claudie Gallay

“Table of contents” by Judy Gelman

“The birthday party” by Veronica Henry

“The Ares Decision” by Kyle Mills

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

 Avril