New books on display at Hurunui District Library from 29 Oct – 5 Nov

 ”New Zealand sculpture : A history” by Michael Dunn

The first important study of sculpture in New Zealand – well received by art lovers and educational institutions alike on its publication in 2002 – is now back in print in an updated edition. For the new edition, Dunn has added a chapter, ‘Crisis of Identity: Sculpture since 2000′, in which he discusses New Zealand sculpture’s international reach, its role at Venice Biennales and the importance of overseas-based New Zealand sculptors such as Francis Upritchard and Ronnie van Hout. Dunn also sees a new popularity for sculpture with the establishment of several outdoor sculpture walks. The book now charts the growth of sculpture from the era of British imports and influence to the more confident art of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It includes a general bibliography and reading lists for each major artist and fourteen new colour plates have been added to the original 76 black and white figures and 92 colour plates. [Cover]

 “Living as a moon” by Owen Marshall 

Set in both Europe and the Antipodes, these twenty-five stories are at once arresting, moving, funny and full of insight into human condition. This new collection of stories from master short fiction writer Owen Marshall is rich in people exploring their identities and how they are affected by others. There’s Patrick, whose life is radically alerted by a random encounter with a killer; widowed Margaret, who faces a new kind of existence alone; David, who experiences the spontaneous and passing friendship of strange Ian, whose wife’s demands for a better lifestyle lead him to a new career in telephone sex. Set in both Europe and the Antipodes, these twenty-five stories are at once arresting, moving, funny and full of insight into human condition. [Cover]

 “Sleeping with the dead” by Marko Cunningham 

“Today I raced through the streets of Bangkok in my rescue vehicle, extracted an injured man from a truck at the port, then took him to hospital. Shortly after, in another area, I donned a fire suit and breathing apparatus and walked into a flaming building looking for trapped people and ended up rescuing a firefighter who had fallen. Later in the day I went to a house to collect a dead body and took it to the local morgue. I will do the same all night, getting attacked by street dogs, arguing with arrogant and ignorant policemen and nurses, risking being struck by unconcerned and aggressive motorists at every accident I attend, or even shot by a rival group …” This is a normal day for New Zealander Marko Cunningham, the only foreigner to work as a volunteer ambulance officer or ‘bodysnatcher’ in Bangkok, Thailand. This is the story of eight years of his crazy adventures in the happy chaos that is Thailand – involving snakes, gun-toting policemen, bombings, fires, traffic accidents etc – as well as his moving first-person account of working in cadaver recovery and other aid in the popular tourist resort of Phuket, following the 2004 tsunami. [Cover]

 “Shanghai girls” by Lisa See 

May and Pearl, two sisters living in Shanghai in the mid-1930s, are beautiful, sophisticated, and well-educated, but their family is on the verge of bankruptcy. Hoping to improve their social standing, May and Pearl’s parents arrange for their daughters to marry “Gold Mountain men” who have come from Los Angeles to find brides. But when the sisters leave China and arrive at Angel’s Island (the Ellis Island of the West) – where they are detained, interrogated, and humiliated for months – they feel the harsh reality of leaving home. And when May discovers she’s pregnant the situation becomes even more desperate. The sisters make a pact that no one can ever know. [Cover]

 “Sea Robber” by Tim Severin 

In his latest adventure Hector Lynch follows his quest for the young Spanish woman, Maria, with whom he has fallen in love. His search takes him and his friends on a nightmare passage around Cape Horn where they come across a small warship entombed on an icefloe, her only crew two skeletons – the captain frozen to death in his cabin and a dog. The corpse is the long-missing brother of a local Spanish governor in Peru. In gratitude for learning his brother’s fate, the governor tells Hector that Maria has moved to the Ladrones, the Thief Islands, on the far side of the Pacific. On the way there, Hector’s ship picks up an emaciated native fisherman adrift on a sinking boat. He dupes his rescuers into thinking that his home is rich in gold. But his poverty-stricken island proves to be the jealousy guarded by a Japanese warlord who treats the visitors as trespassers. Only when Jezreel, the ex-prize fighter, defeats the Japanese swordsman in a duel can they escape. Reaching the Thief Islands, Hector allies with the native people, the Chamorro, to launch a night raid on the Spanish fort and is finally reunited with Maria. But will the young couple ever be able to settle down? As a known sea robber, Hector will only be safe where the law cannot touch him so their journey continues…[Cover] 

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

 Avril

New books on display at the Hurunui District Library from 8 to 14 May 2009

    “Forgotten Anzacs : the campaign in Greece, 1941″ by Peter Ewer

‘Every school child in Australia and New Zealand is brought up on the legend of the Anzacs. This, though, is the largely unknown story of another Anzac force which fought not at Gallipoli, but in Greece during World War II. Desperately outnumbered, and fighting in deeply inhospitable conditions, these Anzacs found themselves engaging in a long retreat through Greece, under constant air attack. Most of the Anzac Corps was evacuated by the end of April, but many men got only as far as Crete. Fighting a German paratroop invasion there in May, large numbers were taken captive and spent four long years as prisoners of the Nazis. Just as Gallipoli provided military academies the world over with lessons in how not to conduct a complex feat of arms, Churchill’s Greek adventure reinforced fundamental lessons in modern warfare… ‘ [Cover].

   “Handle with care” by Jodi Picoult

‘Willow O’Keefe is born with osteogenesis imperfecta, or brittle bone disease, which means she will suffer hundreds of broken bones as she grows, and a lifetime of pain. As the family struggles to cover medical expenses, her mother Charlotte decided to file a wrongful birth lawsuit against her obstetrician for compensation that might ensure a lifetime of care for Willow. But it means that Charlotte has to say in a court of law that she would have terminated the pregnancy if she’d known about the disability in advance. And the obstetrician she is suing isn’t just her physician – she’s her best friend…’ [Cover].

   “The good thief” by Hannah Tinti

‘Young Ren is missing both his parents and his hand. Worse still, he doesn’t know what happened to any of them. All he knows is Saint Anthony’s, the cold New England orphanage in which he has grown up. And he is beginning to fear that no one will claim him: that his dream of a family will come to nothing. But one day an exciting stranger arrives at the orphanage. To Ren’s astonishment, the glamorous Benjamin Nab says that he is his brother, come to bring him home. And even when Benjamin’s stories grow more extraordinary, when he puts Ren’s life in danger again and again and sets him first to theft and then to grave-robbing, Ren cannot quite abandon hope that one day all the hunger and danger and unwanted excitement will be worth it, that he will find a family. But whether Benjamin is to be trusted is another story… Set in the wild, seamy and extremely strange America of the nineteenth century…’ [Cover].

   “William Morris in applique” by Michele Hill

‘Past meets present in this amazing collection of unique applique quilts by Michele Hill. Inspired by the genius of William Morris, each magnificent quilt captures the beauty and richness of nature so exquisitely interpreted by Morris. Michele’s use of colours and patterns and her ability to translate the sumptuous style of William Morris into simple forms appropriate for applique is outstanding. Made from more than forty individual patterns, the six main projects are accompanied by clear and easy to follow instructions and coloured diagrams. Easy to use, full size templates are included on tear out pattern sheets. For those new to applique and quilting a chapter of essential basic  start to finish step-by-step instructions are included’ [Cover].

Other titles on display this week:

“Corsair” by Clive Cussler

“Just take my heart” by Mary Higgins Clark

“The best of times” by Penny Vincenzi

“Memoirs” by Nana Moskouri

“The spend less handbook” by Rebecca Ash

“A reliable wife” by Robert Goolrick

“The gate of air” by James Buchan

“Stray sock sewing” by Daniel.

 

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

Sylvia

Can any mother help me? by Jenna Bailey

This book took me by surprise. When I ordered it from the website I thought it looked interesting, but once I started reading it I found I couldn’t put it down – which you might expect from a good novel, but not often with a social history.

In 1935 a young mother wrote to a magazine, admitting she was lonely and bored with her domestic life and asking readers for help. The letter drew responses from women all over Britain, from all walks of life, and so a private magazine began – the Co-operative Correspondence Club or CCC. The contributors all wrote under pseudonyms and sent their articles to the editor, who put together a fortnightly magazine which then circulated on a mailing list. The women wrote candidly about most aspects of their lives, readers added comments, and some continued to do so for the fifty year lifespan of the magazine.

The author of this book discovered a number of surviving articles, which had been donated to an archive; tracked down the few surviving members of the club and the families of others, rounded out their biographies and assembled a selection of the articles chronologically and according to subject matter.

I found this book funny, sad and absolutely fascinating and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys history and biography. It is available at the Hawarden library.

Susan

if you have a soft spot for dogs or vagrant alcoholics …

well – how could one resist a picture like this?

This short novel is an interesting read – not perfect in its construction but with  enough memorable ideas to justify the time taken in reading. One such idea shows Willy doing his best to produce a symphony of smells with the help of Mr Bones so they can make their fortunes. The logic is that as dogs enjoy smells so much, there must be scope equal to that of the musical world in the olfactory one.

Paul Auster is interested in exploring many topics. The main focus of this book is the inevitability death but it is treated in an unusual and mainly palatable fashion.

recomended by Susie

New books on display at Hurunui District Library from 20 March – 27 March

 “The confetti cakes” by Elisa Strauss

New York city’s most sought-after cake designer shares her secrets for creating distinctive, gorgeous confections. [Cover]

 “The killer’s wife” by Bill Floyd

A gripping thriller about a woman who discovers her husband is a serial killer … even after he is jailed and sentenced to death the evil he has unleashed refuses to leave her alone. [Cover]

 “Classic kiwi pubs” by Debra Little

Debra Little has made it her personal mission to get back to basics when it comes to having a pint, and this pocket reference guide charts the hidden treasures that can be found in both the North and South islands. Each pub profile includes a brief history of the building, its owners and is accompanied by photography that captures the essence of each watering hole. [Cover]

 ”A wartime marriage” by Mary Jane Staples

It is 1918; the Kaiser’s empire is about to fall and Captain Harry Phillips, a prisoner of war in a Romanian hospital, has had a very hard time of it. Then, out of the blue, comes an offer he can’t refuse, a ticket home to his beloved England and to the arms of his much missed fiancee Elizabeth. But this ticket comes with a heavy price to pay; Harry must marry beautiful, headstrong Princess Irena of Moldova, who’s only hope of survival is to leave the country and he must risk both their lives by escorting her back to England. As they set off on their long and treacherous journey with enemies at every turn, Harry begins to realise that Irena is not only dangerous but extremely precious cargo. Will he sacrifice everything for this wartime marriage? [Cover]

 ”Mad dog” by Johnny Adair 

Raised as a Protestant, Johnny Adair earned his reputation as a paramilitary leader long before he understood the politics but quickly came to realise the purpose of the paramilitary antics – freedom and peace in Northern Ireland – and this belief fuelled his passion for the campaign, making him ruthless in his quest. Here, he tells his story.
[Cover]

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

Avril