Top 5 Goodies

5 spoilers for books, tv, film and life I'm not upset to have...umm...spoiler-ed

2012-02-13T07:30:00.002+13:00

List by Tosca

"Here is the perfect book for everyone who reads the last page of a book first."
- Robb Pearlman, Spoiler alert : Bruce Willis is dead and 399 more endings from movies, tv, books, and life

SPOILER ALERT! If you do not enjoy spoilers of any kind then AVOID THIS POST!

If you're more like me, and you live for spoilers, then stay a little longer. It sounds strange to say that I live for spoilers, but it's true. I quite happily nip into libraries and bookstores and flip to the last page of a book to see how it ends. And yes, I still take it home/buy it. I get so impatient for weekly episodes of any one of my current favourite shows, and jump online and read ahead. And by 'read ahead' I don't just mean finding out what happens next. I also look out for reviews, fandom opinions (haters and all), debates (that usually turn into flame wars), fanvids (some truly terrible and most really good) and, if I'm lucky enough, even cast interviews. And yes, I do the same for movies, too. I have no hang-ups whatsoever about my inability to wait and be surprised. Truth be told, even if I have read ahead/looked ahead, I am surprised when events unfold, and squeal, cry, clap and chortle as if I knew nothing. (Mostly because half the time I've forgotten what I'd read, anyway). Imagine my absolute delight, then, to find that we have a book that is all about the spoiler and nothing but the spoiler. The spoiler book to end all spoiler books. Spoilers, in fact, for everything I could ever wish to have spoiled. And, for this post, I get to pick which ones I liked/laughed at/was surprised by the most. Yay me!

Honourable mention:

#240 It's Pocahontas. In space. And blue. (Avatar)

#62 You will not want to look at what's going on in the attic. (Flowers in the Attic)

#63 They look in the attic. (The Diary of Anne Frank)

#46 Bella marries Edward (The Twilight Saga)

#27 Strippers are nice to everyone

#15 You will like him more when he's angry (The Incredible Hulk)

#132 Laura Palmer was killed by her father (Twin Peaks)

#83 The swan dies (Swan Lake)

Natalie Portman dies (Black Swan)

Movie spoilers: Best series of spoilers about films with planes
#285 Karen Black lands the plane
- Airport

#286 Robert Hays lands the plane
- Airplane!

#287 The plane lands in the ocean
- Airport '77

#288 Hilary Swank never really lands the plane, per se, anywhere
- Amelia

#289 Jack Lemmon moves on to a plane where neither days nor dates hold meaning
- Tuesdays with Morrie

Life spoilers: Most unusual online spoilers that may not be spoilers (or true)
#122 Your Facebook friends aren't really your friends

#123 Nobody reads your blog

#124 Mark Zuckerberg makes billions from our inability to keep anything private

Movie spoilers: Things I had thought about in my head but never voiced aloud
#266 Darth Vader is Luke's father
- The Empire Strikes Back

#265 Luke and Leia are twins
- Return of the Jedi

#266 The kiss between Luke and Leia is, in retrospect, a little unsettling
- Star Wars

Movie spoilers: Best series of spoilers about dance films ever
#78 They all dance
- Footloose

#79 Some of them dance
- A Chorus Line

#80 She never stops dancing
- Red Shoes

#81 He becomes a professional dancer
- Billy Elliott

#82 They never dance again
- West Side Story

TV spoiler: Saddest spoiler ever
#36 Sam never makes it home.
- Quantum Leap

Tosca's comment: I adored the tv show Quantum Leap but, somewhere as a teen, never finished the series. So...what happened to Sam? Did he die? Did he get lost in transit? Or is he forever destined to travel time, fixing history as he goes, with Al forever at his side? I find that appallingly sad.

5 things I did not know you could make out of books

2012-02-08T07:30:00.006+13:00

List by Tosca

"It has been said that art is a tryst, for in the joy of it maker and beholder meet."
- Kojiro Tomita

Art is a tryst. One that seems to have taken place over and over again without me, I fear. I'm not particularly good at crafts. In fact, I'm terrible at it. I'm one of those kinds of people who has more enthusiasm than skill. Like...way more. That doesn't stop me from trying, though. I just figure that after a lifetime of glitter in uncomfortable places, hair glued together by accident (more than once), fingers jabbed by needles, a scarf with both dropped stitches and made up stitches, misshapen pickle people (don't ask!), accidentally swallowed beads and a whole host of other craft mishaps...I figure it's time to take it as a sign, and leave it to those who can do it, and do it exceptionally well. Case in point, The repurposed library: 33 craft projects that give old books new life by Lisa Occhipanti. If any book had the power to make me wish most devoutly that I was some weird kind of mashup of Martha Stewart and, darn it, someone else really famous whose name makes you go OOOHHH! that I can't think of because, hey, so *not* a crafter, it'd be this one. Occhipanti collects outdated books from library book sales and flea markets and gives them a new purpose. Some oh-so-very surprising and quite delightful. For this post I got to do little more than flip pages, admire the pretty and wishwishwish I could operate a band saw. Or a bottle of glue. Or even a ruler. Or, you know, a pencil. So, here are 5 things I did not know you could make out of books :)

Book ledge, page 43
"This simple, stacked book ledge brings a whimsical aesthetic to any room and is a sweet spot to display a beloved knickknack. The project works best using five books in graduated sizes, all of which share a theme. I chose the books shown here for their color - I couldn't resist grouping a series of greens. This is a very easy project, through you will need to use a band saw to cut one of the books down to size. If you're not familiar with power tools, have a friend with band saw know-how help you with this step!"

Music book, page 103
"This musical book, designed by Jen Khoshbin, is fitted with the tune of your choice. Aside from the crank-arm protruding from the spine, the book appears untouched, so it's important to choose one with a stunning cover (or, better yet, one that matches the tun). Because the book I used here is French and "rose" is in the title, I chose "La Vie en Rose" for my melody."

Tosca's comment: A music book music box! DO WANT!

Sewing box, page 22
"This clever storage box is an ideal way for sewers to stash away all their little tools. Special compartments keep needles, spools, bobbins, seam rippers, and measuring tapes organized, and a built-in pincushion adds a plush touch. A book on the subject of sewing is ideal for this project, but any book will do. This box can be used to stash other crafting and stationery tools, as well - think about the tools you use regularly and customize the compartments to suit your needs."

Tosca's comment: Yeah, it totally doesn't make sense why I'd want a sewing box when I don't really enjoy sewing. But I do!

Literary lampshade by Charlotte Lyons, page 111
"Charlotte Lyons is a designer, writer, and lifelong crafter. One day, she wrote a post on her blog, Wren Studio, about a lampshade she had constructed from old family letters. I couldn't help but think this would be a perfect way to utilize book pages - especially ones left over from projects that only repurpose a book cover. Charlotte graciously agreed to adapt her project for this book. As a decorative element, she also suggests stitching patterns and designs on the shade with a sewing machine."

Biographical bracelet, page 35
"This bracelet uses basic materials to create a very un-basic piece of jewelry. It makes a thoughtful gift for a loved one, since you can personalize the bracelet by cutting out adjectives or phrases from loose book pages that describe the person who will wear it. I like to use really distinctive words or phrases as I think they make the most interesting bracelet."

Tosca's comment: As bracelets go, these are way classier than anything I actually wear myself. I'm crazy about plastic and big, tacky, gaudy beads. So imagine my surprise to find I like something like this. Now I need to con somebody into making me one...

Top 5 most requested items for January 2012

2012-02-05T20:44:00.011+13:00

List by Tosca

Just a quick post from me this morning for two very good reasons: it's a public holiday, and y'all probably have far more interesting things to do today instead. This post is our top 5 most requested items for January 2012! So I won't hold you up except to say that however you're choosing to celebrate Waitangi Day, I wish you a beautiful day with great friends.

There are a few big events taking place around Auckland today:

Toi o Manukau Waitangi Day Family Celebrations 2012 in Sir Barry Curtis Park - this year you can expect to see Katchafire, David Dallas, Ardijah, Maisey Rika, Sons of Zion, Bella Kalolo and Foundation. And, for the first time ever, China’s number-one reggae band (only reggae band?), Long Shen Dao. I'll be there, so if you see me make sure to come up and say HI

The Black Seeds with dDub, Sassy and the Pocketbook - Henderson Park, Wilsher Crescent, Henderson, Auckland, 2pm-6pm

Manurewa Waitangi Day - Jack Shelley Field, Mountfort Park, Weymouth Road, Manurewa, 12pm-6pm. You'll see stalls, children's activities and entertainment from local talent including Sweet N Irie, One Sound, Potensity, A2J, Resample, Wicked, Pack of Maori, E12, Michael, Risnm, Unknown Peace, Khona Gray and J.Roc

Te Hana Te Ao Marama Waitangi Day Celebrations - Te Hana Te Ao Marama, 317 State Highway 1, Te Hana (near Wellsford). Powhiri is at 10am at the marae

Muriwai Waitangi Day Festival - Houghtons Bush Camp, 75 Motutara Road, Muriwai Beach, 10am-6pm. Limited number of tickets available, so do check their page for details

And that's it from me until Wednesday. Be safe, whanau!

Mockingjay / Suzanne Collins
Teen fiction. Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she's made it out of the bloody arena alive, she's still not safe. A revolution is unfolding, and it is up to Katniss to accept responsibility for countless lives and to change the course of the future of Panem. Book 3 in the Hunger Games trilogy. Ages 14+

Reviewer comment:

"This concluding volume in Collins's Hunger Games trilogy accomplishes a rare feat, the last installment being the best yet, a beautifully orchestrated and intelligent novel that succeeds on every level." (Publishers Weekly)

"Mockingjay is a fitting end of the series that began with The Hunger Games (2008) and Catching Fire (2009) and will have the same lasting resonance as William Golding's Lord of the Flies and Stephen King's The Stand." (School Library Journal)

"...Collins has brought the most compelling science-fiction saga of the past several years to a satisfying and provocative conclusion." (The Horn Book)

"The highly anticipated conclusion to the Hunger Games trilogy does not disappoint. If anything, it may give readers more than they bargained for: in action, in love, and in grief." (Booklist)

Catching fire / by Suzanne Collins
Teen fiction. By winning the annual Hunger Games, District 12 tributes Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark have secured a life of safety and plenty for themselves and their families, but because they won by defying the rules, they unwittingly become the faces of an impending rebellion. Book 2 in the Hunger Games trilogy. Ages 14+

Reviewer comment:

"Collins has also created an exquisitely tense romantic triangle for her heroine. Forget Edward and Jacob: by book's end (and it's a cliffhanger), readers will be picking sides-Peeta or Gale?" (Publishers Weekly)

"All I will say about the second is that it is as much of a page-turner as the first and leaves the reader even more desperate for what comes next. Why It Is for Us: If heart-stopping adventure is not your cup of tea, consider reading The Hunger Games and Catching Fire for their winning characters and epic themes of oppression, rebellion, and love. Collins cannot write the third book fast enough." (Library Journal)

"The stunning resolution reveals the depth of the rebellion, while one last cliffhanger sets the stage for a grand finale. Collins has once again delivered a page-turning blend of plot and character with an inventive setting and provocative themes." (The Horn Book)

"Honestly, this book only needs to be good enough to satisfy its legions of fans. Fortunately, it's great. And if you were dying to find out what happens after the last book, get ready for pure torture awaiting the next." (Booklist)

The help / Kathryn Stockett
General fiction. Limited and persecuted by racial divides in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, three women, including an African-American maid, her sassy and chronically unemployed friend, and a recently graduated white woman, team up for a clandestine project.

Reviewer comment:

"Assured and layered, full of heart and history, this one has bestseller written all over it." (Publishers Weekly)

"Is this an easy book to read? No, but it is surely worth reading. It may even stir things up as readers in Jackson and beyond question their own discrimination and intolerance in the past and present." (Library Journal)

"With pitch-perfect tone and an unerring facility for character and setting, Stockett's richly accomplished debut novel inventively explores the unspoken ways in which the nascent civil rights and feminist movements threatened the southern status quo. Look for the forthcoming movie to generate keen interest in Stockett's luminous portrait of friendship, loyalty, courage, and redemption." (Booklist)

The affair / Lee Child
Adventure/crime fiction. March 1997. A woman has her throat cut behind a bar in Carter Crossing, Mississippi. Just down the road is a big army base.Is the murderer a local guy - or is he a soldier? Jack Reacher, still a major in the military police, is sent in undercover. The county sheriff is a former U.S. Marine - and a stunningly beautiful woman. Her investigation is going nowhere. Is the Pentagon stonewalling her? Or doesn't she really want to find the killer? The adrenaline-pumping, high-voltage action in The Affair is set just six months before the opening of Killing Floor, and it marks a turning point in Reacher's career. If he does what the army wants, will he be able to live with himself? And if he doesn't, will the army be able to live with him? Is this his last case in uniform?

The Hunger Games / by Suzanne Collins
Teen fiction. Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games." The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When Kat's sister is chosen by lottery, Kat steps up to go in her place. Book 1 in the Hunger Games trilogy. Ages 14+

Tosca's comment: The Hunger Games trilogy, you might have noticed, takes out 3 spots this month. The movie of the first novel is due out in March and I know I'm not alone in wanting to see it. If you're even halfway curious about the movie, here's a link to the trailer.

5 Mardi Gras laws I will have no problem obeying

2012-02-03T09:45:00.001+13:00

Today's list is taken from New Orleans by Tom Downs (although the comments are my own)

"Mardi Gras is the love of life. It is the harmonic convergence of our food, our music, our creativity, our eccentricity, our neighborhoods, and our joy of living. All at once."
— Chris Rose, 1 Dead in Attic: After Katrina

I love New Orleans. There isn't any one reason that I can point to and say, "I love New Orleans because of THIS!" (Although, yes, one of the reasons I adore the place is because I realised I was staying just down the road from a Banksy - the one attached to this post). It's not that kind of affection that I have. It's more that I see it for what it used to be, what it is, and what it's working to become. I have no illusions about her as a city. She is a mix of everything: dirty, rich in history, edgy, new, old, crazy, eclectic, cultural times a thousand, incredibly hopeful and ohsomuch more. She has all the quaint and faded beauty of a Southern belle, the kind who remains forever mysterious, full of secrets and eternal feminine guile. She keeps you coming back for more. It is the kind of place that can have you dancing in the street with hundreds of others one minute, and crying the next when you realise how hard they're trying to rebuild still. As a tourist, your own first world problems have no place here. I can't wait to get back there in *checks calendar* 11 days and counting and see how much has changed/is still the same/will never be the same again. I'm there during Mardi Gras (yes, again) and plan to visit a few more places I wasn't able to get to last time, eat a few more dishes I had no room for then, and meet a whole bunch of people I have never spoken to before. Mardi Gras might happen only once a year, but, really, I think that New Orleans itself is a living, breathing, lifelong Mardi Gras, as evidenced by the wild fusion of food, music, people and cultures. I predict good times! Well, good times but safe times. How safe, you say? You can see for yourself in today's post: 5 Mardi Gras laws I will have no problem obeying :)

Do not cross police barriers unless permitted to do so
Getting arrested while on holiday is not *my* idea of a good time. One thing I noticed last time is that even though it's a crazy time of year, the police are amazingly tolerant. They'll smile and pick you up and dust you off when you keel over and send you on your way with a gentle reminder to be careful. When they start to get firm is when people indulge in behaviour or activities that have the potential to hurt themselves or others. I remember seeing one young man (a little worse for wear) shove his friend so hard he fell onto the road into (very slow) oncoming traffic. In a matter of seconds they were both bundled up, handcuffed and taken away to recover. Eep.

It is against the law to throw anything at the floats (except for Tucks' toilet float)
Probably the largest number of health and safety incidents during/after parades are made up of people who got hit in the head by beads. Or bags of beads, rather. And yes, I said bags. Each bag contains something like a half dozen necklaces. Most people take the necklaces out of their plastic bags, and a few don't. You wouldn't believe the number of times I got clocked in the head. Those things hurt. By the end of my stay I was understandably leery of anything that even looked like it was going to come flying at my face. (I'd like to point out that that did not, however, stop me from catching over 120 beaded necklaces at the parades to bring home). Also, what is a toilet float? I'm almost afraid to Google it.

During parades, do not cross the street if it means stepping between members of marching bands or in front of moving floats
I'm guessing that if they've got this law then it's because there really are people who would just dart out in front of hundreds of marching/driving people. Why? The thought of being trampled by marching bands, baton twirlers, the National Guard and great, big, huge floats is not my idea of fun.

Police tend to look the other way (figuratively, anyway) while women expose their breasts in the French Quarter. But don't expect the same tolerance elsewhere
This isn't an activity I purposely make time for here in NZ, so it's a safe bet that I'm not going to do it in New Orleans, either. I'm also stumped as to how this 'tradition' came about. For me, it's like the Sevens and the people who dress up. What does it mean? How did this start? And did it involve copious amounts of alcohol? Where's the link between the Sevens/dressing up? Or flashing for beads/Bourbon Street? I don't get how this started. Is it the debauchery thing? (For the beads, not the Sevens, I have no clue if there's any debauchery involved in attending the Sevens). I do know, though, that there's a certain amount of...not contempt, exactly, but exasperation, certainly, at the flashers, and locals just roll their eyes and carry on business as usual.

It isn't true that it's okay to have sex in public
Am I the only who reads that statement and thinks, 'So..wait what? So that means that there are places in the world where it IS ok to have sex in public? What?' My head hurts.

5 ways I'll be celebrating Waitangi Day 2012

2012-01-31T09:54:00.019+13:00

List by Tosca

For a lot of people, the Treaty of Waitangi is an uncomfortable and contentious issue that sees a lot of good people come away with rather polarised views. I'd like to assure you that it isn't always this way. I celebrate Waitangi Day every year, without fail. Not always in the same way, though. Some years I'll spend it with siblings discussing how things have changed for Maori (better/worse/indifferent) from the year before. Other years I'll spend it with thousands of others, listening to live music and just being in the moment and remembering that sometimes being Maori is such an incredibly positive experience. Sometimes I'll spend it listening to politicians talk about Maori in a somewhat less than celebratory manner, and come away heart heavy and soul tired. More often than not, though, it's a chance for me to do a quick 'cultural check-in' and use it as an opportunity to re-assess where I stand in relation to, well, everything else. (Big ask, I know). However I choose to celebrate it, I find that there is always room for personal growth, and that I am challenged in new and interesting ways every year. In keeping with our Auckland Libraries theme; Whakamana te Tiriti o Waitangi: Elevate and Celebrate the Treaty of Waitangi, I've decided that this year I would like to attend 4 Auckland Libraries' seminars and an outdoor gathering. Maybe, if you're looking for the same kind of experience, I'll see some of you there, too :)

How are YOU celebrating Waitangi Day 2012?

See our website to find out where else these seminars are being held. And, if you're looking for ways to brush up on your knowledge of NZ's history, we can help with that, too!

Exploring Pākehā identity in Aotearoa/New Zealand (a presentation and workshop)
Thursday 2 February 2012, 6pm - 7:30pm
Whare Wānanga, Level 2, Central City Library
Introduced by Carl Chenery, Presentation by Kate Terry from Client Services - Media NZ and Anca Cernic from Nielsen NZ
To book, contact Central Auckland Research Centre on 09 307 7771

Treaty and the Constitution
Tuesday 7 February 2012, 11am - 12pm
North Auckland Research Centre, Level 2, Takapuna Library
Presentation by Susan Healey
To book, contact North Shore Research Centre on 09 486 8466

Introductory session to the Treaty of Waitangi - The Treaty - What’s it all about?
Thursday 9 February 2012, 2:30pm - 3:30pm
South Auckland Research Centre Meeting Room, Level 1, Manukau Library
Presentation by Christine Herzog
To book, contact South Auckland Research Centre on 09 261 8637

Foreshore and Seabed - What’s all the controversy about?
Friday 10 February 2012, 12pm - 1pm
Whare Rūnanga, Level 2, Waitakere Central Library, Henderson
Presentation by Christine Herzog
To book, contact West Auckland Research Centre on 09 836 8000

Toi o Manukau Waitangi Day Family Celebrations 2012
Monday 6 February, 10am-6pm
Barry Curtis Park, Chapel Road, Flat Bush, Manukau
Call 09 262 8900 ext 8241 or email Nigel Borell, Kaiwhakahaere, Toi o Manukau

Tosca's comment: Where else could I see Katchafire, David Dallas, Ardijah, Maisey Rika, Sons of Zion, Bella Kalolo and Foundation in one place for free? And, as an added bonus (and for the first time ever), Long Shen Dao, China's number one reggae band, will be there, too. EPIC WIN!

5 Dresden Dolls library ninja gig tweets by YOU

2012-01-29T12:10:00.002+13:00

List by Tosca

"All deep things are song. It seems somehow the very central essence of us, song; as if all the rest were but wrappages and hulls!"
- Thomas Carlyle

Friday. Wow. Friday. I can't thank Auckland people enough for Friday. Most certainly I cannot thank Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione enough, either. Friday afternoon's library ninja gig at Central City Library was everything I wanted it to be and then some. (I often tell people that my idea of customer service is built on that idea - you give customers what they want, and then you give them something they didn't know they wanted, and the ninja gig was a lot like that). I get such a buzz out of live music. You hear a song, or a group and you listen to them enough that you know every single lyric by heart. You know where to pause, which words to put emphasis on, how to vocally (and emotionally, too) build the song up to this moment of great intensity...and then let it fade away. And start it all over again. Know what I mean? It's a beautiful thing but, let's be honest, it's nothing compared to hearing it live and in your face and, for a little bit there when Amanda Palmer crowdsurfed a seated audience, literally over your head, too. And right then you're shocked out of your musical complacency and you remember why you adore the drama and the theatricality of a group such as the Dresden Dolls, and the words of their songs combined with the outright fun-ness of it all make it that much more real and special. Gah *flails*

I could go on and on about how fantastic it all was (you know I could), but I'm not going to. Instead I've rounded up some tweets that floated across our stream that capture the mood and the feeling of the library gig so much better than I could on any given day. You know that moment when everything comes together and you have the right band, the right crowd and life is good-fantastic-I'm-gonna-be-smiling-for-days? That. So much that. THANK YOU, Auckland, for sharing all of that with us. And, just quietly, thanks Corin (Manager Digital Services, Auckland Libraries) for arranging the library ninja gig. Tres cool, boss man, tres cool :P And thank you to those who allowed me to highlight their tweets :)

@x_chemicalism_x
Made it to the Auckland Library with a bit of time to spare - cigarette then the NINJA GIG TO END ALL NINJA GIGS. 21 hours ago via txt · powered by @socialditto

This tweet? This tweet right here? THAT is what I was hoping everyone else was wanting, too, the NINJA GIG TO END ALL NINJA GIGS. Thank you, @x_chemicalism_x, for putting it in words.

MORE!
If you get the chance I'd really love for you to check out:

Kat's blog post - Dresden Dolls at the Auckland Library - my favourite line 'It was the perfect amount of nerdy and naughty.'

Entertain Me's Q&A session with the Dresden Dolls - I wonder if they really *do* get their ideas that way...?

Brian Viglione in one of our Auckland Libraries t-shirts - he quite happily posed for my shot

Amanda!Librarian and her gangstah librarians - quite scary, actually :)

Matthew Finch's Tumblr post

YOUR TWEETS!

@alkalinekiwiWish I was at the @dresdendolls show tonight. #regrets. The ninja gig at the library was amazeballs 11 hours ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

@chimaeratweet#amandapalmer in full vocal flight @ Auckland Public Library - bliss. http://t.co/lxhgAo5x 42 minutes ago via Photos on iOS · powered by @socialditto

@carolgreen
@amandapalmer just crowd surfed over a seated audience at @Auckland_Libs. Priceless. 19 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

@deevatweetLOVED LOVED LOVED the Dresden Dolls ninja gig at Akld Central Library #aldresdenninja #aucklandlibsninja thank you @Auckland_Libs 18 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

@lin_nah
Oh Wow! what a day! First time seeing @DresdenDolls live at @Auckland_Libs ninja gig + in concert. Amazing experience. 10 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

EXTRA TWEET
An extra tweet for two reasons:

my ability to count has always been appalling and...

because I can :)

@MCrtt
Awesome! #aldresdenninja #aucklandlibsninja http://t.co/oTKv9ool 1 day ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

5 reasons you have to come see us TODAY

2012-01-27T08:15:00.009+13:00

List by Tosca

"...and it looks like i am shaking
but it's just the temperature
and then again
if it were any colder i could disengage
if i were any older i could act my age
but i dont think that youd believe me..."
- The Dresden Dolls, Girl anachronism

I'm kickstarting my morning with Girl Anachronism by The Dresden Dolls because because because they're here in town today *claps hands*

What: Dresden Dolls library ninja gig
Where: Central City Library, Lorne Street
When: Friday 27 January, 2pm
Why: BECAUSE WE WANT TO! BECAUSE WE WANT TO! (Ok, so I'll apologise for the little bit of Billie Piper (as in pre-Doctor Who Billie) reference, there).

Brace yourself! The Dresden Dolls are doing a library ninja gig. Today. For Auckland Libraries. When I first saw the conversation take place on Twitter between my boss and Amanda Palmer, well, I don't mind telling you my heart skipped a beat. I felt faint and had to sit down. And that was before anything was confirmed. Now that the day is here I can barely contain my fangirlness.

I'm always late to the party, so I don't mind confessing that I had never heard of the Dresden Dolls until 2008. (I know, I know, I suck!). I can't even remember what I was doing at the time but, knowing me, I was probably randomly following links and being nosey about all kinds of things and, before I knew it, ended up at their website...and had my mind handed to me on a silver platter. Seriously, I can't even begin to describe the effect it had on me, I only know that I've been an unabashed fangirl ever since. In 2009, I was lucky enough to be able to see Amanda Palmer perform at the Bodega Bar in Wellington (I had returned home for two reasons: hear Neil Gaiman's talk, and listen to Amanda Palmer) and loved. Every. Minute. Of. It. I have no rhythm and can't dance for peanuts (probably a little too inhibited) but in that moment, with everyone else? It didn't matter. I remember one girl was so hyped up she passed out. One minute we were standing beside each other and the next thing I know she's passed out on the floor from excitement. It was kinda sweet. People picked her up, dusted her off, and then we all carried on again. It was kinda magical (ok, granted, maybe not the part where someone passed out, but all the bits before and after it definitely). And I'm hoping to experience a little bit of that night all over again :) Which is why I would LOVE to see you all there today. And here are five reasons why...

Amanda Palmer. Dresden Dolls. Up close and personal. ARGH
Yes, I'm a fangirl. And yes, the SQUEEing kind. I can't even find it in myself to be embarrassed about that.

Who doesn't want to listen to music that, quite frankly, defies description?
You can call them "punk cabaret" (and people do) but that doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of their style

They're fun, crazy, and maybe a little bit weird...
...but that kind of weird that makes you feel more comfortable because, hey, it's the kind you can relate to, it's the kind you are.

It's FREE. FREE music. In the library
Wait...in the library? Yes! In the library :) Who'd be daft enough to turn down a free international ninja gig?

What a great way to end the working week
You get to hang out with likeminded people, be entertained (let's face it, they *are* endlessly entertaining), sing and dance and just generally have fun. Roll on 2pm!

5 reasons to read Don't Mess With Texas by Christie Craig

2012-01-24T07:00:00.001+13:00

List by Tosca

"Get anything?" he called.
"There's two Nikki Hunts," Tyler called back. "One's a dancer at a men's club - very hot - the other's an artist and almost as hot. Which is she?"
"You know which one we're voting for, don't you?" Austin called.
Dallas slipped a shirt over his head and envisioned the woman back at the parking lot. She'd been hot, but was she the stripper kind of hot? Were strippers that soft?
- Dallas, Austin and Tyler from Don't mess with Texas by Christie Craig

What kind of hero wonders if the heroine is 'stripper kind of hot?' THIS KIND, apparently. I've just finished reading contemporary romance novel Don't mess with Texas by Christie Craig and thought it was worth a Top 5 list. Specifically, top 5 reasons to actually read it.

So, what's the book about? "Nikki Hunt thought her night couldn't get worse when her no-good, cheating ex ditched her at dinner, sticking her with the bill. Then she found his body stuffed in the trunk of her car and lost her two-hundred-dollar meal all over his three-thousand-dollar suit. Now not only is Nikki nearly broke, she's a murder suspect. Former cop turned PI, Dallas O'Connor knows what it's like to be unjustly accused. But one look at the sexy-though skittish-suspect tells him she couldn't hurt anyone. The lead detective, Dallas's own brother, has the wrong woman and Dallas hopes a little late-night "undercover" work will help him prove it...? -- Publisher description.

Of course, if you're not a romance reader than you can feel free to totally disregard this post! By the way, I'd recommend that any men reading this post take this advice into account: You can think that your own real-life heroine is 'stripper kind of hot' but do not ever, under any circumstances, tell her so. I'm just saying.

I'd also like to point out that just because I read romance novels doesn't mean that:

I'm looking for a Greek tycoon or a billionaire playboy

I'm going to end up with unrealistic expectations of relationships - I'm quite capable of separating fact from fiction

I think life is all about happy endings - I enjoy romance novels because THEY all end with an HEA (happy ever after)

all romance novels are disparaging toward women - there are some strong, independent and grounded characters in love stories

all books are formulaic - so *not* true, sure the guy may get the girl, but not everyone ends up there the same way, the journey is just as important as the ending

it's literary porn - that's demeaning to the time and effort authors put into their work, and it's demeaning to readers. Out of context, of course some of the steamier passages can seem LOLworthy, but it's unrealistic to expect that sex play no part in any solid relationship, so why should it here? Does not art reflect life, and vice versa?

anyone can write romance - if that *were* the case then, surely, everyone *would* be writing romance? You might have noticed that everyone is not

And so, on to the list: 5 reasons to read Don't mess with Texas by Christie Craig...

It has a slight cheese factor
Emphasis on 'slight.' I'm going to list the cheese factors just to put it out there before anyone else points it out to me (again): The hero is Dallas and his BFFs (don't tell me guys don't have BFFs) are Austin and Tyler and, yes, those are also cities in Texas. They own and operate the Don't Mess With Texas Detective Agency. So there!

Rather steamy read *adjusts collar self-consciously*
I feel pervy just for saying that but, really, it is a steamy read. Not in a gratuitous sense. I don't mean that the characters have sex willy nilly (probably not the best phrase to use, considering the subject), because they don't. I mean that the quality of it is steamy. While I don't believe that a sex scene in a romance novel is de rigeur, I find the ending somewhat more believable if the hero/heroine actually are real people who have real emotions, great sex (good sex?) that forms a part of an actual relationship.

Somebody dies...
...and I love it when people die in romance novels. Don't look at me like that. It's not romantic if there's no murder. (And yes, I do realise how unromantic that statement sounds).

This book will make you LOL
I laughed out loud. Seriously. The snort-that-turns-into-choked-coughing kind of laughter. (Possibly I have a perverse sense of humour). The hero/heroine first meeting is a hoot (see #1 on this list) and it just sort of keeps getting better from there.

Nikki pukes on his shoes AND his shirt...
...and they still fall in love. Awww. In fact, he even kisses her. Not right after she hurls on his footwear because eeek, toothbrush/toothpaste, anyone? BUT STILL, as Amanda Palmer said of her relationship with Neil Gaiman, '...(on a side note: neil says that one of the moments he realized that *I* really loved *him* was the time he was sick with the flu in a texas hotel room. he puked in the bathroom, and when he came back to bed i still made out with him. that’s love, he said.)' So there! Dallas can be sure Nikki really loves him :)

Top 5 graphic novels: animals with issues

2012-01-21T08:00:00.000+13:00

List by Danielle

'A cat is a puzzle for which there is no solution.'
~ Hazel Nicholson

Graphic novels featuring animals can be fabulously entertaining, whether the creatures in question are occupied by realistically natural fights for survival, companionship or dominance, or on a more existential quest for the meaning of life. When art accompanies the story, you get to marvel at the artists' ability to nail those aha! moments of animal behaviour and body language - the way a dog obsessively chews a patch of his hair, the hunched shape of a pet rat, the way a cat looks when he's pleased with himself... I borrowed a very funny new graphic novel yesterday, sub-titled 'Sled dogs with issues', which inspired this list - here, then, are a handful of great graphic tales that feature animals facing major life challenges.

Honourable mentions:
Salvatore, which I haven't read but will look to borrow, looks great; likewise Pride of Baghdad
Lions, tigers and bears is a great junior series to get kids started on graphic novels, with plenty of adventure and great character dynamics (but not recommended if the kids in question are scared of toothy monsters in the wardrobe)
Fruits Basket, a wonderful manga (and anime) series about a family who transform into the animals of the zodiac; the story and characters are very cute, but there's an interesting darker side to the family, as well.

The Mouse Guard series
In the Winter of 1152, the Mouse Guard face a food and supply shortage threatening the lives of many mice through a cold and icy season. Some of the Guard's finest - Saxon, Kenzie, Lieam, and Sadie, led by Celanawe, the legendary Black Axe - traverse the snow-blanketed territories acting as diplomats to improve relations between the mouse cities and the Guard, and find themselves on a race against time to deliver crucial medicines. This is a winter not every Guard may survive...

Epic fantasy writ small. These are heroic tales of the warriors of the Mouse Guard, who seek to save their people by a mixture of battle smarts, bravery and sheer persistance against the odds. The art is wonderful, with tonings that shift with the seasons, from the rich browns, reds and golds of autumn to the bleak white-grey-blues of winter.

Joe the Barbarian / Grant Morrison, writer, creator ; Sean Murphy, artist ; Dave Stewart, colorist ; Todd Klein, letterer
Joe Manson is no hero. He's just a 13-year-old kid with a pet rat named Jack, a mom who's trying hard to keep their family afloat, and a case of diabetes that ensures an insulin coma is only a single missed meal away. He's got a notebook full of drawings, a room full of toys, a school full of bullies, and a house full of memories. He's no one special. Until tonight. On this particular evening Joe is transported to an incredible world of danger and daring - one that's both strangely familia and unlike he's ever seen. In this uncanny new world the stairways, hallways and doorways of his big, dark house are mist-shrouded mountains, vast kingdoms and forbidding gateways to parts unknown, while his toys and his pet are mighty warriors, and Joe is the Dying Boy - the long-awaited savior who can overthrow King Death and restore the light...

A wonderful one-off adventure that transforms Joe's night-time, storm-struck house (there's a power outage) into a magical and very dangerous kingdom. There are pirates, and steampunkish inventors, and then there's Jack... Joe's pet white rat and closest friend. In this other world, Jack might look like a mighty warrior with flashing blades, but he's carrying a hefty load of emotional baggage that's left him snarky and surly. He's the runt of the litter, he's woefully claustrophobic, his recently executed gang of brothers despise him; he has an awful lot to prove.

The Rabbi's cat series / Joann Sfar
The preeminent work by one of France's most celebrated young comics artists, The Rabbi's Cat tells the wholly unique story of a rabbi, his daughter, and their talking cat - a philosopher brimming with scathing humor and surprising tenderness. In Algeria in the 1930s, a cat belonging to a widowed rabbi and his beautiful daughter, Zlabya, eats the family parrot and gains the ability to speak. To his master's consternation, the cat immediately begins to tell lies (the first being that he didn't eat the parrot). Full of drama and adventure, their trip invites countless opportunities for the rabbi and his cat to grapple with all the important - and trivial - details of life.

Very funny, with a dry sense of humour and the catlike impulse to puncture pretensions wherever they're met. The unfamiliar setting gives the backdrop to the cat's adventures a lot of interesting detail, and the cat's beautifully-observed body language, in particular, adds to the humour. This is definitely a cat with issues (aren't they all?!) - not the least of which, he's never sure if gaining the ability to speak is a blessing or a curse.

The unwritten series
Tom Taylor's life was screwed from go. His father created the Tommy Taylor fantasy series, boy-wizard novels with popularity on par with Harry Potter. The problem is Dad modeled the fictional epic so closely to Tom's real life that fans are constantly comparing him to his counterpart, turning him into the lamest variety of Z-level celebrity. In the final novel, it's even implied that the fictional Tommy will crossover into the real world, giving delusional fans more excuses to harass Tom. When an enormous scandal reveals that Tom might really be a boy-wizard made flesh, Tom comes into contact with a very mysterious, very deadly group that's secretly kept tabs on him all his life.

Okay, so the animals with issues are only a fairly small side-bar in Mike Carey's story, but they really are animals with ISSUES - the way the puppets in Meet the Feebles are puppets with ISSUES. Pauly Bruckner is a bit part - a minor enemy of Tom Taylor's father - who for various reasons winds up in rabbit form in a nice, cosy little fictional hell of his own called Willowbank Wood. Pauly Bruckner is not cute, bunny material, though, and it's not long before he's going on a severely foul-mouthed rampage in order to get back where he belongs. Watch as nasty Mr Bun crosses paths with frustratingly helpful hedgehogs and dogs (vol 2, Inside man), or looks to overthrow wise old Badger (vol 4, Leviathan). Oh, he is a very, very bad bunny.

Mush! : sled dogs with issues / written by Glenn Eichler, art by Joe Infurnari
Venus wants Buddy to quit asking her to screw. Buddy wants Winston’s help wooing Venus. Winston wants Guy’s respect. Guy wants Dolly’s job. Dolly wants to know the meaning of it all. Nobody knows what Fiddler really wants, not even Fiddler. But mostly . . . these sled dogs just want to run. Sounds simple? It should be, but even dogs have their office politics. And let's not even start on their humans.

Like a bumper episode of Seinfeld, but with more dominance fights and conversations about being on heat. Funny and very very human problems make these dogs instantly recognisable, though their more animal behaviour is wonderfully depicted as well. The human relationship in the background has an interesting path, too. A great, quick read with art a little reminiscent of Footrot Flats. Highly recommended.

5 permission slips for creative play

2012-01-20T13:10:00.001+13:00

List by Danielle

'You get better at dancing by dancing. You get better at skiing by skiing. You get better at creative work by doing creative work. Your creativity needs feeding and care.'
From Raw art journaling by Quinn McDonald

So I requested a stack of books from the journalling post earlier this month, and they're amazing. Full of colour and quirk, and some brilliant exercises to get you started with various ideas and techniques. (I'm starting to feel like I'm overloading my slender window of 'grown-up time' each day with expectations of artsiness, but that's another story.) Best thing about these books? The authors and artists want you to play. They want you to have fun with colours and shapes and words and creating stuff. They tell you that anytime is a good time start, on whatever scale feels most comfortable to you. I'm sure there are times to stretch yourself creatively, and do something outside of that comfort zone, but for someone with a current creative balance of near-to-zero, that's a really timely message. Sometimes you just need a bit of encouragement to let go of perfectionism and doubt, and pick up a paint brush or some craft shop bits and pieces and see what happens. If you're thinking of making 2012 the year you get the 'play' back into your work-life balance, try one of these beauties, or have a browse around the 745s for your own inspiration!

'When looking for materials to use, don't overlook the objects you would normally discard. This is your opportunity to give them a second chance. Every object has the potential to become something great - just like every artist.'
The elemental journal : composing artful expressions from items cast aside / Tammy Kushnir
In The Elemental Journal , readers discover myriad new ways to craft a very popular mixed-media project: the art journal. Using five different elemental substrates as the basis for her creations, author Tammy Kushnir guides readers through the process of gathering found objects from their attics and garages - and even the dust bin - and crafting them into personal and meaningful works of art. The Elemental Journal is a new take on using found objects in mixed media art, marrying journalling with cast-aside items.

Tammy's art is stunning, but truth to tell I found the book a little daunting. I'm not there yet in terms of techniques, tools or time. I love her use of cast-aside items, though, and the pictures are gorgeous. Her journals are very personal objects, and assembling them is a way of exploring your emotional life. If you do have a bit of time on your hands and wanted some guidance on new ways of fitting a range of media together, the well-illustrated step-by-step guides here would be very handy.

'There are no rules. There's no right or wrong way. It's up to you to let your journal evolve into what you, personally, want (or need!) it to be. This book provides a map, as it were, with signposts along the way, but you choose your destination.'
Artist's journal workshop : creating your life in words and pictures / Cathy Johnson
Based on her own 40 years' experience in keeping an artist's journal, Cathy Johnson knows that an artist's creative life can benefit from written and visual explanations and experiments. Over the course of this book, you will benefit from the tips, techniques and exercises that will make your artist's journals your own. You will also discover how to use your journal to celebrate any occasion or milestone, work through a problem or creative block, plan future works, sketch from life and experiment with new materials or techniques. With 24 contributors from around the world there is a variety of styles and perspectives throughout the book, and with 15+ exercises you will learn to personalize your journal in a variety of ways.

Colourful and encouraging, this one would be particularly inspiring if you were a reasonably experienced artist thinking of keeping a nature journal, or a travel journal. As a recent beginner to painting, I found the beautiful variety of journal pages a bit daunting, as above. I think the desire to make things look good would stop me before I started... but if you're a bit more confident, there are a lot of great suggestions here.

'I don't make art to be perfect or to produce what someone else defines as art. I choose to make meaning, not perfection. Through art, we figure out who we are and where we are going.'
Raw art journaling / Quinn McDonald
Raw art journaling brings self-expression through the act of art journaling to its most basic, "raw" and easiest level ever. Beginning and seasoned artists and writers often come up against blocks when prompted to write or draw something original. This obstacle is addressed with exercises such as creating found poetry, the words as tarot exercise and a wide range of abstract, doodle-like design suggestions- just to name a few. Chapters cover surfaces to journal on; what to write and how to incorporate words-as-art into journaling; transferring the exercises into a variety of media including photography and textiles; and creating basic backgrounds with paint, tape, stitching and more.

Seriously, I would quote the whole book here if I could. If you're surrounded by books with what looks like unobtainably gorgeous artwork, this is the one that will give you the license to play and learn. It is endlessly, sensibly encouraging, and I love it to bits. It's not as pretty as the other books, but that's kind of the point. I really love the section on making found poetry collages. There are a lot of practical ideas here to just get you started, making something.

'As children we drew all the time, sharing our fears and joys or stories of imaginary friends. As adult that joy of expressing ourselves seems to get pushed aside...As you read this book, I hope you begin to take more joy in the fact that your daily world is a giant library of visual inspirations.'
Creative illustration workshop : for mixed-media artists : seeing, sketching, storytelling, and using found materials / Katherine Dunn
Whether you have experience drawing or are completely new to it, this exciting workshop-style book provides practical, inspiring, and creative exercises which will expand your drawing skills and provide a framework for integrating illustration with other mixed-media techniques, With a focus on drawing what you love and what is familiar, you will be led through the development of several illustration exercises, which launch from jotted notes and eventually blossom into unique mixed-media creations. You will become familiar with a wide variety of media and approaches to drawing, learn how to work through 'creative blocks,' and discover ways to scan and layer your illustrations using a computer.

Another wonderful book, full of simple encouragement to play with colours, shapes and textures. There are some practical suggestions for turning the things that you see every day, the things that interest you visually, into a story you can share with others. The artist lives on a farm and her love of animals and nature shines through her colourful paintings. One of two titles on the list from Quarry Books, a publisher I will definitely be seeking out in the catalogue!

'On your mark, get set, play!'
Mixed-media dollhouses : techniques and ideas for doll-size assemblages / Tally Oliveau and Julie Molina
This book takes the artistic approach of assemblage and collage, and combines it with the long-loved tradition of making doll houses--but these doll houses are anything but traditional! Begun as an artistic challenge between a group of talented friends, these mixed-media doll houses include beautiful castles, undersea fantasy-lands, gothic attics, inspiring tree houses and much more. Authors Tally Oliveau and Julie Molina share a host of interesting alteration techniques while showing readers how to construct beautiful, fantasy doll houses. Readers learn to how to construct or repurpose found boxes into rooms and houses, how to decorate interior surfaces, how to build miniature furnishings, how to make their own paper dolls, and how to embellish their houses using a variety of imaginative materials.

This book! About half an hour after picking up my request I was buying two copies off ABE Books so that I can invite friends to start a dollhouse project and have the book there to refer to. Although it shows you a range of basic techniques for assembling your art, it's the sort of book that lends itself to kickstarting your own creative ideas and creating dollhouse rooms which are entirely your own. The pictures are awesome, there are a variety of styles and approaches - from fairly simple to bogglingly elaborate - and the collaborative nature of the project means that you have a multitude of imaginations at work, so prepare for surprises!

My 5 favourite finds of 2011

2012-01-19T11:35:00.005+13:00

List by Danielle

I'll take vampires over werewolves anyday...
~ From 'Vampires', by Minuit

2011 = much YA and more short stories and graphic novels than usual, in an attempt to actually finish some reading, what with the demands of work (apparently I have to work there, and not just read) and wonderful young kids. Also, 2011 brought a memorable 31 days in May listening to a new NZ cd each day, for NZ Music Month. Well, new to me. Which brings me to: Note: I'm not an early adopter. I don't so much start trends as fall over them in my near-sighted way a few years down the track, and marvel at their shininess. With that in mind, here are my favourite 'discoveries' of 2011 (oh look, the Wheel! Sliced bread! An Interweb!)...

Zombies vs. unicorns / [comp. by] Holly Black, Justine Larbalestier.
The highest justice / by Garth Nix -- Inoculata / by Scott Westerfeld -- The purity test / by Naomi Novik -- Bougainvillea / by Carrie Ryan -- A thousand flowers / by Margo Lanagan -- The children of the revolution / by Maureen Johnson -- Care and feeding of your baby killer unicorn / by Diana Peterfreund -- Love will tear us apart / by Alaya Dawn Johnson -- Princess prettypants / by Meg Cabot -- Zombietown / by Cassandra Clare -- The third virgin / by Kathleen Duey -- Prom night / by Libba Bray.

The stories are great, but for me, the fun stand-out was the endlessly snipey debate between Black and Larbalestier about Team Zombie vs Team Unicorn. For the record: Team Unicorn for the WIN, though I have to say, it's really really hard to defend that position.

Grilled pizzas & piadinas / Craig W. Priebe, with Dianne Jacob ; photography, Charles Schiller.Through quick and easy instructions for over 75 recipes, full colour photographs, step-by-step techniques and party menus, a beginning cook or seasoned chef will be inspired to fire up the grill.

This book is awesomesauce. There is a recipe in here for a steak and baked potato pizza, and man, I am telling you... it is the most amazing thing to assemble and eat. Definitely a completely different process to throwing together the standard pizza, with an incredible variety of flavours in each mouthful. Try it!

20th century ghosts / Joe Hill ; introduction by Christopher Golden. Best new horror -- 20th century ghost -- Pop art -- You will hear the locust sing -- Abraham's boys -- Better than home -- Black phone -- In the rundown -- Cape -- Last breath -- Dead-wood -- Widow's breakfast -- Bobby Conroy comes back from the dead -- My father's mask -- Voluntary committal.

A short story collection by my favourite find of 2011, horror writer Joe Hill. Loved his Locke and Key graphic novel series, enjoyed his longer fiction (particularly The heart-shaped box), but there was something about the weirder entries in this book that has stayed with me since reading. 'My father's mask' and 'Voluntary committal' send the collection out with a bang - odd, unsettling, deeply creepy without being at all graphic (although many of the other stories are at times fairly violent, so's you know).

The Hunger Games / by Suzanne Collins.
Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games." The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When Kat's sister is chosen by lottery, Kat steps up to go in her place.

While other big name teen-adult franchises have not lived up to the hype for me, I loved this series and powered through it. Great storytelling, great pacing; an interesting story, well-told. Big ups too for making the 'good guy' part of the love triangle intriguing, sympathetic and wry.

Find me before I die a lonely death.com [compact disc] / Minuit. Wayho -- Run run -- 25 Bucks -- Queen of the flies -- I hate you -- Maserati -- Aotearoa -- Yeah yeah -- 10ft tall -- Vampires -- Daddy-o -- I'm still dancing -- Long live zero -- Everyone from everywhere.

Amplifier says their genre is Electronic, the library catalogue says Rock. I say, poppy rocky electronic music with real quirky lyrics that get into my head and stick there. Much fun. I heartily recommend throwing yourself into NZ Music Month and listening to something new, something a bit outside your usual. Totally well worth it, there's such a huge variety that you never know what you'll find!

Top 5 anti-kissing picture books

2012-01-18T11:55:00.000+13:00

List by Annie, Central Library

'A child's kiss is magic. Why else would they be so stingy with them?'

~ Harvey Fierstein

There’s a stage when your little guy doesn’t want a kiss or a hug – from mum, or auntie, or… These picture books acknowledge that stage, and its passing.

What I want to know is – why is it mostly aunties who are the problem? I can’t remember any of my nephews (and it’s always boys in these books) having an issue with their aunties, or grandmothers. Mothers, though, they were a different story. So, those ‘no kisses from mum’ books may be right. Or, maybe I was lucky in my nephews. Hmmm… wonder how well the great-nephews will survive?

Honourable mention:
No more kisses! / by Margaret Wild ; illustrated by Nina Rycroft.
Baby has had enough kisses. He squirms and giggles and cries Stop! Stop!. Then he runs away, across the garden. His friends playfully chase him - until baby turns the tables and tries to kiss them instead!

Rollicking rhymes and backyard fun, with a great repeating refrain, make this a wonderful read aloud.

Zero kisses for me! / Manuela Monari ; illustrated by Virginie Soumagnac.
A pint-size toddler bear is fed up with the many kisses he receives--until it's bedtime and the monsters appear. And everyone knows that the best defence against the monsters is a goodnight kiss from Mom.

Very cute – with a temper tantrum thrown in for good measure.

No more kissing / Emma Chichester Clark.
Momo doesn't approve of kissing. He especially doesn't like being kissed. So he sets out on a campaign to stop it - but then his baby brother comes along.

Momo’s campaign is pretty cute – and so is his baby brother he accidentally kisses.

No more kisses for Bernard / story & pictures by Niki Daly.
"Bernard loves his aunts, but he hates being kissed by them. It's time to take a stand. "No more kissing!" says Bernard, and he means it. How Bernard's aunts come up with the perfect way to show their affection is comically and warmly told in this brilliant picture book by a master of the genre."

If I was Bernard, I think I’d avoid some of those kisses!

Kisses are yuk! / Julia Jarman ; illustrated by Erica-Jane Waters.
Jack loves getting prizes and cups of all sizes, but if there's one thing he hates - it's being kissed! And with an army of aunts and uncles, there's no getting away from it. What's a boy to do?

Very cute. I wonder if any of my nephews would describe my hugs as being like an anaconda? Maybe only those why try and escape.

Kiss! Kiss! Yuck! Yuck! / by Kyle Mewburn ; illustrated by Ali Teo & John O'Reilly.
Andy really does love his Aunty Elsie, but she insists on grabbing him and giving him a big kiss, first on one cheek and then on the other, every time she sees him. And Andy hates it. So he hides. But every time Aunty Elsie finds him out.

This is SO much fun! And great to read aloud. Just throw yourself into it!

Top 5 quirky food books

2012-01-17T08:00:00.001+13:00

List by Annie, Central Library

I have long believed that good food, good eating is all about risk. Whether we’re talking about unpasteurized Stilton, raw oysters or working for organized crime ‘associates,’ food, for me, has always been an adventure.
~ Anthony Bourdain

From my posts, anyone would think I liked food and cooking. Well, I do, but more from a theoretical point of view, really.

I’m fascinated by the history of food and its impact on society – now and in the past. Oh, and if there happens to be a couple of recipes thrown in, I might even be tempted to try them out.

Honourable mentions:
What the great ate : a curious history of food and fame / Matthew Jacob and Mark Jacob ; with illustrations by Rick Tuma.
No recipes (worse luck) but a collection of interesting / intriguing anecdotes about people and food.

Mosh potatoes : recipes, anecdotes, and mayhem from the heavyweights of heavy metal / by Steve Seabury ; foreword by Chris Caffery ; introduction by Luke Tobias.
This held so much promise – and it still has an appeal, but some of the ingredients might be difficult to source in New Zealand.

In the devil's garden : a sinful history of forbidden food / Stewart Lee Allen.
Filled with incredible history and the author's travels to many of these exotic locales, In the Devil's garden also features recipes like the Matzoh-ball stews outlawed by the Spanish Inquisition and the forbidden "chocolate champagnes" of the Aztecs. This is truly a delectable book that will be consumed by food lovers, culinary historians, amateur anthropologists, and armchair travelers alike.

Pick your favourite sin and find the food that most represents it. Informative, fun and thought-provoking.

The fearless diner : travel tips and wisdom for eating around the world / Richard Sterling.
The editor of the award-winning "Travelers' Tales Food" has done it again with this pocket companion for those who like to see the world through food. Bold epicures will find all the tips and wisdom needed to feast with savages, break bread with kings, and get invited home to dinner. Look it up. It's a literary mess kit.

Because you never know when you need tips on how to survive at a formal banquet… and it’s always handy to know that you have to drink all the vodka in a bottle once it’s opened while in Russia.

A taste of history : the stories behind our favourite foods / Bryan Bruce.
Where did the first tomato come from? What spice was more valuable than gold? Develop a taste for history with this fascinating illustrated book on travel, food and cooking. Chocolate and sex - who started the rumour? What vegetable began a social revolution? Open your pantry door and discover a world of mouth-watering tales of love, lust, jealousy and hate, enterprise and folly - all based on the discovery and development of everyday cooking ingredients. Along with the stories of the origins and history of our favourite foods are classic recipes from around the world.

A chatty, self-confessed self-indulgent look into the history of some foods, including chocolate, sugar, coffee and potatoes.

The year of eating dangerously / Tom Parker-Bowles.
The year of eating dangerously is an account of Tom Parker-Bowles's global odyssey in search of culinary extremes. Bored by the increasingly homogenised fare doled up by the supermarkets and charisma-drained establishments in the UK, he sets out to discover the most exotic food from around the world - the edible products of landscape and history, moulded by peoples and cultures entirely different from our own, and now in danger of disappearing entirely. Passionate about local foods and conserving culinary cultures, this is a subject close to Tom's heart, as he seeks out the links between home, food and happiness.

So many of the adventures begin along the lines of ‘I knew I shouldn't have drunk so much the night before…’. Some might be put off by some of his foodie adventures – I took comfort in the fact it wasn’t my stomach involved… His other books are equally amusing E is for eating : an alphabet of greed and Full English : a journey through the British and their food.

Simmering through the ages / by Roland Rotherham, in cahoots with Simon Smith ; photographs
A collection of unique and mouthwatering recipes from the annals of history brought back to life by culinary historian, Professor Roland Rotherham. Written with humour and translated from many different historical sources, this book provides a veritable feast of fabulous food and fascinating facts from the Pharaohs' banquets of Ancient Egypt through to the decadent splendour of the Victorian tea table.

This is a delight. Truly quirky, and packed full of recipes – adjusted for the modern palette. I flicked through it, and decided then and there that my dinner that night would be ‘Shrimps Bruges’ – they were amazing. I lent the book to my mother, who now has lots of recipes to try out.
I’m hoping we can persuade someone in the family to host a mid-winter Christmas and try out some historic Christmas-type food.
My ideal dinner menu, all from recipes in this book is (currently!):
Entrée: Shrimps Bruges (17th century Flemish)
Salad: Coriander and Pine Nut (Crusader)
Main: Roast hand of stuffed pork accompanied by Crumbed beans
Pudding: Tart of Strawberries
After: Royal Shortbread
Then… cheese, to close off your stomach, in traditional Medieval style.

5 things you might find rather odd if you saw them in your parents' house

2012-01-16T08:45:00.000+13:00

List by Tosca

"Now I am obsessed with collecting Platypus paraphernalia."
- Trevor Dunn

A colleague asked me the other day, "Where do you find these books in our collection?" And the truth is, I'm not sure. A variety of places and ways, is probably the best answer. Some are recommended by friends, some by colleagues, some by siblings, some by Amazon and GoodReads. Most I find by happy accident while either looking for something else or with an idea of something altogether different in mind. My latest read, Crap at my parents' house by Joel Dovev, is of the 'happy accident' category.

Truly, you have to read this book to believe it. And if you do have things like this just oh, I don't know, hanging around your house (your walls, your toilets, and YES I said your toilets), please send me a picture!

Honourable mention:

Michael Jordan matryoshka doll

macramé fly swat

Ron Jeremy figure with a bow tie that reads "Pull down firmly" (I don't ever want to pull Ron Jeremy's anything let alone a bow tie)

a rifle (complete with telescopic sight) kept underneath the coffee mug rack

eight years worth of Pizza Hut condiments

fondue fuel (it needed FUEL?)

a toilet spray called 'Poopsie Daisy'

a ceramic frog dressed and posed rather provocatively - whether or not there's an 'appropriate' way to pose half-naked frogs isn't something I want to contemplate

figurines of mating elephants

antlers...minus the heads - WHERE ARE THE HEADS? This is going to keep me up at night, I just know it

Mary (as in mother of Jesus, wife of Joseph) inside a...I'm not sure what it is, I only know that when it's closed it resembles a - well, I'll leave it to you to decide when you request this

a ceramic angel holding what is MEANT to be a candle but sure as heck doesn't LOOK like one

what looks like a ceiling height squirrel cage in a lounge, which made me look at my own lounge in a whole new (somewhat confusing) light

A stuffed puppy - page 118
"It's just like getting a puppy for your birthday. Except it's not your birthday. And the puppy is dead."

An actual puppy but stuffed. I've never understood taxidermy and I suspect this is because I forever associate it with Norman Bates in Hitchcock's Psycho. You might remember his mother? That scared me witless as a kid, so much so that this is what I think of when people talk about 'taxidermy.' And I know, deep down, that that isn't really what it's like, but at 36 I don't think this is going to change any time soon. I can only be profoundly thankful that my parents never had any stuffed anything, except teddy bears, while I was growing up. The thought of dead eyes staring at me is...somewhat unsettling.

A Molotov cocktail with a tampon fuse
"The public library charges a fee for late books. My parents' private library has a slightly more intimidating policy: a Molotov cocktail with a tampon fuse."

Tosca's comment: I know you think I'm making this up but I'm so not. I promise. And, really, words fail me. For once they truly, truly do.

A reborn doll
"Oh, cool. A totally lifelike doll. I don't like sleeping with my eyes closed anyway."

Tosca's comment: These...disturb me. Vinyl dolls deliberately made to resemble human babies that are also, as Danielle showed me via Google (Oh, Google, you destroyer of innocence), purchased/collected by (predominantly) women who dress them up and treat them like real-life babies. And by 'treat them' I mean buy them clothes, cribs, take them out with them, etc.

Crossword toilet paper... - page 158
"What's an eight-letter word for the worst place to do a crossword puzzle made out of toilet paper while listening to AM radio?"

Tosca's comment: Because we all, apparently, yearn to finish a crossword while sitting on the bog while listening to Engelbert Humperdinck, right...?

A box of cremated remains that doesn't belong to anybody in your household or family - page 191
"From the submitter: My sister and I were cleaning out a closet at our parents' house. We discovered this little gem: the cremated remains of our nanny's husband, Hans. Our nanny "forgot" Hans when she retired in 1975."

Tosca's comment: Lost. For. Words.

5 reasons this book is hilarious

2012-01-13T11:10:00.000+13:00

List by Tosca

"When baking, follow directions. When cooking, go by your own taste."
- Laiko Bahrs

Unless we're talking about this book. Do not, under any circumstances, eat the dishes in this book. Although if you do, please write in and tell me about it? That's worth a Top 5 list of its own. If you've ever sat for hours on end and pored over your mother's (or grandmother's) dated cookbooks and been equal parts amazed and terrified at the large number of ugly dishes that people could ever have made pre-1980s, THEN THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU! And I know this, because I was (am?) one of those people. My mother had an odd assortment of cookbooks that she'd collected over the years. They came from garage sales, school fairs, second hand book shops and various other places. I don't remember that she made a lot of the dishes that were in them (Some? Yes. As many as we had books for? No), but I do know that she would read them often and make her own variation of them. (Not the ones involving aspic, thank gosh). I would spend hours going through the very ugly covers and marvelling at how many truly horrible types of food could be made in jello. WHY WHY WHY? My eyes can never unsee some of those dishes. Never. And I wouldn't trade it for a minute. Which is why this book, The gallery of regrettable food by James Lileks, is full of win. Hilarious comments from the author combined with the most frightfully awesome images. What's not to like? You think I'm kidding, don't you? I intend to prove to you that I'm one hundred percent serious by sharing 5 dishes *and* Lilek's description of them. The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the eating. Seriously, though, don't eat these...but DO take this book out!

Honourable mention:

Balls! Page 31 has balls. Balls on picks, even. And not just any balls, but: Anchovy balls (mashed anchovy paste with hard-cooked eggs, Worcestershire sauce, cayenne pepper and minced parsley); Celery balls (minced celery, cream cheese, salt, pepper, cayene pepper); Green balls (Swiss cheese, minced ham, mustard, egg yolk, salt, pepper, minced chives); Burning bush - I swear I am not making this up (cream cheese, minced onion, minced dried beef); Liver sausage rolls (liver sausage, minced celery, minced green pepper, garlic, dill pickles)

Aspic entrees! Seriously, tongue mousse and jellied calf's liver. I only wish there had been an image to go with these

Erect wieners in a sea of beans! I swear, hand on (what should be) my heart I am not making this up

Veal ring salad that, according to Lilek, looks like 'human finger bones jammed into a cat brain, wrapped in a nice bow, sealed in aspic.'

Lowell Thomas's London Loaf - page 69
"Beware of meals whose names consist of a city and a genre. Salmon loaf doesn't tell you much, but you have reasonable expectations of salmon. Ditto meat loaf; one assumes it contains meat. So London loaf contains...what?"

For truly distinctive desserts cook with Ketchup... - page 108
"Well, there's no disputing that statement, is there?
Here's the example they give: Ketchup-Pistachio Cake.
And for truly distinctive dinners, cook with ketchup, tinfoil, and small ground-up Lego fragments! Good? Nay - but distinctive."

Roasted pigeons - page 133
"Believe it or not, this is an enlarged picture of that delightful dish: Roasted Pigeons.
The pigeons appear to have curled together to comfort one another in death."

Barnacled scrod - page 139
"Say ahoy to Barnacled Scrod! What this is doing in a salad book, I've no idea. It has French fries, some sort of fillet soaking in a light black sauce, and three strange nodules fastened on the fillet like nautical parasites.
It seems to be the antithesis of salad, unless you count that dispirited heap of humiliated greenery in the corner, and I don't."

Roadkill? - page 188
Roadkill? No, no. This is Ironed Chicken with Tomato Fragments.
For a curiously Masonic touch, there's a disembodied eye floating in the middle of the dish, just like that one on the back of a dollar bill. For that matter, this meal appears to be giving itself the secret Masonic handshake."

5 inspirations to kickstart your 2012 journalling and scrapbookery

2012-01-11T10:33:00.007+13:00

List by Danielle

"Scrapbooking is cheaper than a therapist."
~ Original source unknown, quote found at scrapbook.com

Clunky title? Clunky title. *nods* But did you know that our Central Library is having the coolest exhibition at the moment, Saved Memories: Scrapbooks 1570 - 2011? On display in the softly-lit and mysterious spaces of Special Collections are a selection of heritage scrapbooks, with intriguing bits and pieces of the past pressed between their pages, old photos, hand-drawn sketches, long-forgotten tidbits from Auckland's past... if you're at all interested in that kind of collagey treasure hunting, you should go check it out. If you go between 12 and 1pm on a Wednesday, you will even get a guided tour of the best bits, from exhibition creator/curator Kate de Courcy! And for those of you who can't make it in to town, here are some other sources of inspiration for starting off 2012 with some artsy journalling and storytelling of your own.

Added bonus: Auckland Libraries' online exhibition: Sarah Mathew's album
"Turn the pages of a Victorian scrapbook" - and you can! Page through Sarah's scrapbook, a digitised version of the 1830-1885 book kept by Sarah Mathew, wife of New Zealand's first surveyor Felton Mathew. Along the way you will find gorgeous sketches of her travels, illustrations of plants and animals, and actual keepsakes (including emu feathers - 'Poor Jack my tame emu killed by a dog 1835'). The album is here, and there's an essay for those who want to know more about the woman behind the scrapbook.

The works of Barbara Hodgson
A writer of both fiction and non-fiction. She illustrates her novels, and they're beautifully designed; you can find The sensualist, The lives of shadows and Hippolyte's island on our shelves. Her non-fiction clues you into a few of the things that captivate the author, from the folklore of rats and the tragic history of laudanum to the historical journeys of 'adventurous women travelers'. You'll find a wonderfully evocative mix of old maps, sketches, diagrams, photos, pressed objects and more in the pages of her stories.

The works of Nick Bantock
If you've never had the delight of reading the Griffin and Sabine series, give 'em a go. They tell a (possibly) supernatural love story through the medium of postcards and letters - actual, openable letters in envelopes stuck into the books - and are just beautiful to look at. As with Barbara Hodgson, Bantock shares a love for Victorian-style ephemera, and the stories are decorated with colourful sketches of treasures from museums across the world, whimsical personal mythologies, and a myriad of tickets and stamps. We even have a copy of the author's 'how to' guide, Urgent 2nd class : creating curious collage, dubious documents, and other art from ephemera!

Altered books
"You do not need to be able to draw, paint, or even cut a straight line to alter a book." (From Barbara Matthiessen's Altered book collage)
Obviously we're not suggesting you start hacking up library books (unless you've bought them from the withdrawn trolley), but there are some imaginative and intriguing ideas here for making something artful out of existing books and other materials.
Favourite titles include:
Pockets, pullouts, and hiding places : interactive elements for altered books, memory art, and collage / Jenn Mason
Playing with books : the art of upcycling, deconstructing, and reimagining the book / Jason Thompson
Altered books, collaborative journals, and other adventures in bookmaking / Holly Harrison
More...

Diaries and ephemera
"Keeping a journal is easy. Keeping a life-altering, soul-enlightening journal, however, is not." (from Samara O'Shea's Note to self)
Whether it's a diary or a blog, explore some ideas for recording your life in a totally personal way:
Vintage collage journals : journaling with antique ephemera / Maryjo Koch
Note to self : on keeping a journal and other dangerous pursuits / Samara O'Shea
Collage lost and found / Giuseppina "Josie" Cirincione
The art of personal imagery : expressing your life through collage / Corey Moortgat
More collage...

Artists' journals
"...raw art is you and it thrives on creative play, on experimentation and even on making mistakes." (from Quinn McDonald's Raw art journaling)
Start your own mixed media journal of images and words with some ideas and techniques in titles such as:
Raw art journaling / Quinn McDonald
Journal revolution : rise up and create! : art journals, personal manifestos and other artistic insurrections / Linda Woods and Karen Dinino
Artist's journal workshop : creating your life in words and pictures / Cathy Johnson
More...

Our top 5 bedtime stories for January

2012-01-10T10:13:00.007+13:00

List by Danielle

"There was never a child so lovely but his mother was glad to get him to sleep."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Blessed, beautiful holiday sleep-ins this month have meant that the kids aren't so tired at bedtime, and are often still widely, loudly, bed-bouncingly awake by the time *I'm* ready to sneak off to bed with my own book. At 3 and 5, neither of them are really reading on their own - though the 5 year old is surely working on it - so they tend to latch onto interactive books (flaps, puzzle-solving, spot-the-whatever type books), or books with simple, funny stories that they can remember and tell each other, or books with plenty of visual stuff going on to absorb them.

Olivia acts out / adapted by Jodie Shepherd ; illustrated by Patrick Spaziante
Assigned the less-than-leading role of "Cow Number 2" in her school's play, Olivia manages to secure her place in the spotlight after all.

A novelisation (picture bookisation?) of one of the episodes of the TV series, this is a tale about drama queen pig Olivia finding out that "there are no small parts, only small actors". A good read-aloud book that lends itself to funny voices and shrieking as Olivia tries to find 'the perfect moo'.

My dad is beautiful / Jessica Spanyol
An illustrated picture book that celebrates the relationship between a little bear and its dad, showing the different ways that fathers can be wonderful.

Spot-on: the bear's dad buys ice-creams, watches cartoons and does all the cool things dads do with their kids. "But it doesn't have eating chippies," says our daughter.

Traction Man meets Turbodog / by Mini Grey
Traction Man, an action figure, teams up with the high-tech but not-so-bright Turbodog to rescue Scrubbing Brush, his missing sidekick, from the terrible underworld of the bin.

A Christmas present from Aunt Kezia, whose quirky choices are always a treat. Mini Grey's Traction Man books are illustrated in an appealing, comic book style, and there are plenty of funny details to pore over and point out. In this title, the underworld of the bin is drawn in loving close-up, from the Yoda-like withered potato to the sinister and menacing piece of pepperoni pizza.

The Viking saga of Harri Bristlebeard : a heroic puzzle adventure / by Jonathan Stroud ; illustrated by Cathy Gale
In this activity book, children relive the heroic adventures of Harri Bristlebeard, the hairy Norseman with the lucky trousers. There are a range of tricky riddles and perilous puzzles to overcome fierce trolls, savage wolves, the World Serpent and other dire dangers.

Lucky trousers! What's not to love. This was a withdrawn book from my mum's school library, and a neat find for our 5 year old. She can mostly remember the quests for each page (a landmark, a hidden raven, an increasing number of disguised lemming stowaways), but there's plenty of challenge involved in tracking things down each time. If you have a puzzle lover in your family, I also recommend the Usborne '1001 things to spot' series for some good, absorbing fun.

There are cats in this book / Viviane Schwarz
The reader is invited to lift the flaps and follow the cats as they play with yarn, boxes, pillows, and fish.

There are cats in this book? There are FIGHTS over this book. I fear for it's future as a library book. The playful fun rockets along as the reader helps out the three cats, Moonpie, Tiny and Andre, by lifting flaps to find wool, pillows for pillow fighting, and a floodwave of fish. This is a gorgeous, simple, and very fun book. (For the record: Dad does the best funny voices.) Oh - plus - check out Viviane Schwarz's most beautiful website!

Top 5 sci-fi books from childhood

2012-01-09T10:40:00.006+13:00

List by Danielle

As for courage and will - we cannot measure how much of each lies within us, we can only trust there will be sufficient to carry through trials which may lie ahead.
~ Andre Norton

New books are wonderful, but old books, stains, funny smells and all, are another pleasure altogether. Our Research Centre stacks have a trove of YA books from the distant past with the gloriously 70s-style covers I remember from my own childhood reading, with all of the terrible psychedelic 'space' pants-suits you could wish for. I've just finished H.M. Hoover's Another heaven, another earth, something I'd not come across before, but something that stands out in stark contrast to the newer YA I'd been reading lately. Don't get me wrong, I love recent YA to pieces, and it's cool seeing sci-fi dystopias making a comeback, but it was a nice change to read something that didn't wrap itself up in teen angsty knots, didn't obsess over forbidden love, and dealt both thoughtfully and emotionally with the ethics of colonisation from the points of view of both colonisers and colonised.

I'm not a big sci-fi reader, and I haven't read most of the classic authors, but I do remember a handful of great sci-fi stories that I read and re-read as a kid, including another H.M. Hoover that I was lucky enough to be able to buy, second-hand, ex-library, with all of it's stamps and everything. These stories had everything I was looking for, and more - excitement and adventure, great characters in tough situations, moments of despair and triumph - all the stuffs of good storytelling. So feel free to add your own recs in the comments, I'd love to take a tour through other folks' favourite space adventures!

Honourable mentions:
Read as an adult & loved: Ender's game / Orson Scott Card; Archer's goon / Diana Wynne Jones; Sweets from a stranger / Nicholas Fisk; A fall of moondust / Arthur C. Clarke
SHAME we don't have a copy: The green futures of Tycho / William Sleator (although we do hold his House of stairs)
Not really for kids but I loved it anyway: Julian May's Saga of the Exiles series

To ride Pegasus / Anne McCaffrey
The telepathic Talents which they shared set them apart. They met with suspicion, then outright hostility from the un-Talented. Disaster loomed large when freaks, "wild" Talents, brought dissension to the group and threatened to destroy it.

Psychics in peril! With high emotion, humour & drama, McCaffrey brings her wonderful human touch to these short pieces about the psionic men and women of the North American Center for Parapsychic Talents.

Exiles of ColSec / Douglas Hill
When a space craft carrying twelve youthful offenders, who have in someway rebelled against the Earth's harshly authoritarian society, crash lands on an alien planet, the six survivors must contend with the planet's hostile life forms.

As well as the ColSec trilogy, I recommend the author's Last Legionary series as well - real boy's own stuff, with pulp-cartoon action covers, space battles, tough kids stuck in the wilderness, battle tests, EXCITING! Not sure how well it would have aged, to be honest. But at the time, I devoured 'em.

Dread companion / Andre Norton (appears in collected form as 'Dark companion')
Kilda's home planet has no place for her, so she takes employment as a teacher and governess to two young children on the planet named Dylan. But she soon finds that one of her charges has an invisible "dread companion"- and soon Kilda knows that the companion is not imaginary at all, as it leads her charges into an other-dimensional world resembling the legends of Faerie.

I loved this spooky tale of resourceful governess Kilda, and her unexpectedly tough job tracking her sinister charge Bartare through an alien world. It has an understated romance plotline that I really enjoyed, too.

A rag, a bone and a hank of hair / Nicholas Fisk
The birthrate is falling, and the government have begun manufacturing "Reborns", new people from old. Brin is sent to live with a Reborn family. Initially he fears and dislikes them, but gradually becomes friends and tries to save them when the government decides to terminate the experiment.

Brilliant and heartbreaking and dark and wonderful. Seriously! Go read it. This book taught me about - of all things - what it might be like living during the Blitz in London.

This time of darkness / H. M. Hoover
Eleven-year-old Amy lives in a decaying underground city. Ignored by her mother and under surveillance by authorities because she can read , Amy reluctantly finds herself befriending Axel - a strange boy who claims to have come from a mythical place called ... Outside . Is Axel crazy? Amy knows there is no such place as Outside. But what if there were? What would it be like? Curious, Amy convinces Axel to escape. What she hopes to find is something Axel remembers called freedom . But what she discovers is beyond her wildest dreams.

A classic post-nuclear type dystopia with some heart-wrenching moments. Like Arthur C. Clarke's 'A fall of moondust', I think part of the appeal was the shiver of the claustrophobia it evoked. Amy's a great, resourceful, 'too smart for her own good' heroine, too.

Top 5 fictional TV shows

2012-01-09T08:00:00.001+13:00

List by Danielle, Natalie and Tosca

"Television! Teacher, mother, secret lover."
~ Homer Simpson

Danielle: The inspiration for this list came from a New Books list find, Paul Hornschemeier's Life with Mr Dangerous, a slice-of-life graphic novel about getting your creative mojo back that includes an homage to a surreal little cartoon called 'Mr Dangerous'. I got to thinking: what other meta-fictional TV shows might we have known and loved in our reading & watching? Thanks to Wikipedia, I have an incomplete but very entertaining list, which includes some of our choices below.

The Truman Show
TV show: The Truman Show
Truman doesn't realize that his hometown is a giant studio set run by a visionary producer/director/creator, that the people who living and work there are Hollywood actors, and that even his wife is a contract player. Gradually, he discovers the truth, and develops his own response to the discovery.
Tosca: My mind was blown by the thought of what it would be like to find that your entire life was an experiment, to be massively betrayed by a secret reality tv conspiracy. A great idea for a movie - even Jim Carrey (insert rude noise) couldn't wreck it.

Life with Mr. Dangerous : a cartoon / by Paul Hornschemeier
TV show: Mr Dangerous
Somewhere in the Midwest, Amy Breis is going nowhere. Amy has a job she hates, a creep boyfriend she's just dumped, and a best friend she can't reach on the phone. But at least her (often painfully passive-aggressive) mother bought her a pink unicorn sweatshirt for her birthday. Pink. Unicorn. For her twenty-sixth birthday. Gliding through the daydreams and realities of a young woman searching for definition...
Danielle: There's a lovely, heartfelt scene where lonely, self-loathing Amy winds up in a near-empty ice-cream shop on her birthday, and, inspired by the willingness of the man behind the counter to actually talk to her, ends up on an impassioned description of her favourite cult show, Mr Dangerous. Ice cream boy's response: Wow, sounds interesting - not really my kind of thing though. This graphic novel should be dedicated to all of us who have had a mad (and overly-talkative) jones for one show or another.

Magic for beginners / Kelly Link (short story from Pretty monsters)
TV show: The Library
Weird, wicked, spooky and delightful, Pretty Monsters is a book of tall tales to keep you up all night. Blending fairytale, fantasy, horror, myth and mischief in a delicious cocktail, Kelly Link creates a world like no other.
Danielle: Kelly Link write fabulously quirky, genre-defying short stories, and this is a classic tale (and not just 'cause of the library connection). If you've ever obsessed over a show with friends, try out this tale of a renegade TV show which has no schedule and where the actors routinely swap parts, starring duelling librarians, wizard-pirates and Forbidden Books! But wait, it gets weirder...

Futurama
TV shows: many, including The Scary Door, Single Female Lawyer and Everybody Loves Hypnotoad
Natalie: The Scary Door was a satire of The Twilight Zone. The best thing was the very seriously read introduction: "You are entering the vicinity of an area adjacent to a location. The kind of place where there might be a monster, or some kind of weird mirror. These are just examples; it could also be something much better. Prepare to enter: The Scary Door."

Daria
TV show: Sick, Sad World
Natalie: Sick, Sad World was a spoof of vacuous television in general. It was rare to actually see any part of an episode of Sick, Sad World on Daria, all we saw was the ads for what was coming up next. Some of my favourites were "Are bats sneaking into your neighborhood disguised as cute flying squirrels? Rabid Rodent Rip-off, tonight on Sick, Sad World." and "Could a family of ghosts be living in your house, rent free? Freeloading Familial Phantoms, next on Sick, Sad World."

5 books I’m taking away with me

2012-01-07T10:45:00.000+13:00

List by Annie

"What is reading but silent conversation?"
- Walter Savage Landor

Pretty soon I’ll be leaving on a jet plane… then spending ten days cruising around. As always, I’ll be taking books away with me – I might even read some. [I have a history of taking books away on holiday, and leaving them untouched the whole time].

[I’m actually on leave for three weeks, so have HEAPS to read while relaxing at home. Trust me. My dining table is merely an extension of the library. January is my catch-up reading month… all those books I should have read during the last year, and a couple of boxes of manuscripts.]

These 5 have a guaranteed place in my suitcase. The problem is holding off reading them until then :D

Honourable mention:
The hunter by Theresa Meyers
Brothers Winchester, Remington, and Colt Jackson take up the family tradition of vampire and demon hunting in this steampunk western. Colt battles a vampire, fallen archangel, and a demon lord while looking for his father's Book of legends. He also encounters the succubus Lily, who is willing to make a bargain to become human again.

Annie's comment: Steampunk. Western. Vampire / demon slayer. Succubus. What's not to like?

Gaslight grimoire : fantastic tales of Sherlock Holmes / edited by J.R. Campbell and Charles Prepolec
A collection of eleven all new tales of mystery and dark fantasy featuring Sherlock Holmes, master of deductive reasoning, confronting the irrational, the unexpected, and the fantastic in the weird worlds of the Gaslight Grimoire. Includes stories contributed by Barbara Hambly, Christopher Sequeira, Barbara Roden, M.J. Elliott, Martin Powell, Chico Kidd, & Rick Kennett.

Reviewer comment:

"As a whole, this mixed bag fails to differentiate itself from other similar anthologies." (Publisher's Weekly)

"Introductory essays by the editors and an evocative full-page illustration by Phil Conell for each story round out an excellent addition to the Holmesian apocrypha. A good addition to any library." (Library Journal)

"Holmes devotees may be a bit disappointed, but fans of fantastic fiction should be happy to see the famous detective stepping into their world." (Booklist)

Annie's comment: Sherlock Holmes with magic. What’s not to love?

Fast ships, black sails / by Naomi Novik ... [et al.] ; edited by Anne and Jeff VanderMeer
An anthology of original stories featuring a science fiction and fantasy romp through pirate-infested seas. The settings of these stories vary from the traditional 17th century Caribbean glory years of piracy to the frozen seas off colonial Boston to unnamed far future oceans to deep space itself.

Reviewer comment:

"These ingenious variations on a theme deserve to be savored slowly." (Publisher's Weekly)

"... these stories should satisfy pirate and pirate fantasy fans..." (Library Journal)

"The VanderMeers impressed some high-quality scribes into contributing, and, whether comic or dramatic, almost every one of this pirate-themed anthology's 18 stories is well worth reading." (Booklist)

Annie's comment: Pirates! Ok, maybe not the best choice to read while onboard – but, come on, check out the list of contributors...

Belle's song / K.M. Grant
When Belle meets Luke, son of an alchemist and Scribe to the famous poet Chaucer, she is determined to travel with him to Canterbury on a pilgrimage. She hopes for a miracle: that her father will walk again. She also hopes to atone for her own part in his accident. It is a time of unrest across the country and the young King Richard II is just hanging on to his throne. A malign character on the pilgrimage suspects Chaucer of treason and slowly winds Belle into a political intrigue. At the same time, the impulsive Belle is drawn towards both Luke and to Walter, the wealthy son of a Knight. But Walter himself is in love with Luke...As the uprising against the King starts to draw pace and the web of intrigue around Belle and Chaucer tightens, Belle and her friends must risk everything to save their country and themselves...

Reviewer comment:

"Filled with political intrigue, vivid historical detail, and poignant moments, this homage to Chaucer's beloved verse should delight both adult fans of the Tales and teens who will have likely first encountered them in English lit classes." (Publisher's Weekly)

"A light, fun read." (School Library Journal)

Annie's comment: Hello... Geoffrey Chaucer! Well, his scribe anyway – and medieval politics, and a love triangle, and a mystery... and it sounds sooo good!

Except the queen / Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder
Cast from the high court of the Fairy Queen, sisters Serena and Meteora must find a way to survive in the mortal realm of Earth. But when signs point to a rising power that threatens to tear asunder both fairy and human worlds, they realise that they were chosen to fight the menace because they were the only ones who could do what must be done.

Reviewer comments:

"Unconventional narrative techniques and a full dose of magic and folklore give this urban fantasy a lyrical, mythic feel." (Publishers Weekly)

"...the authors succeed in crafting a modern fairy tale that should appeal to a broad readership. Highly recommended." (Library Journal)

Annie's comment: Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder… fairies and swords... 'nuff said.

The duke and I / Julia Quinn
By all accounts, Simon Basset is on the verge of proposing to his best friend's sister, the lovely - and almost-on-the-shelf - Daphne Bridgerton. But the two of them know the truth; it's all an elaborate plan to keep Simon free from marriage-minded society mothers. As for Daphne, surely she will attract some worthy suitors now that it seems a duke has declared her desirable. But as Daphne waltzes across ballroom after ballroom with Simon, it's hard to remember that their courtship is a complete sham.

Annie's comment: A comfort re-read. I loved the Bridgertons when I first came across them – so I can imagine nothing better than reacquainting myself with them while on holiday. A guaranteed good read, with laughs and romance. And not that much brain-power needed.
~ Annie.

Top 5 kitchen experiments over Christmas

2012-01-04T10:41:00.007+13:00

List by Danielle

The worst gift is a fruitcake. There is only one fruitcake in the entire world, and people keep sending it to each other.
~ Johnny Carson

We have some beautiful, beautiful cookbooks downstairs on the Manukau Library's shelves, and I took an armful of them home over the break to see if I could learn to make some new Christmas classics for the family. Something about the warmer weather just seems to lend itself to experimenting with new techniques and flavours... or maybe it's just that smidgeon of extra time to relax and get playful in the kitchen. It's also kind of cool to have small kids and to start finding your own Christmas traditions, to mix and mingle with your own family standards (which for us is my mum's marinated pork fillet, and any kind of dessert that mulches strawberries together with cream). We went a bit old-school this year, too, after a radio ad for roast turkey inspired me to ask my mum to roast a chicken; hers is the BEST roast chicken, and something I'm completely incapable of, even if I buy a pot of lard. So, this year, to add to those old favourites, we tried a few new treats:

Anything from Warm bread and honey cake / Gaitri Pagrach-Chandra
Admission time: I haven't tackled anything from this mind-meltingly gorgeous book yet. Yeast scares me - I've barely dabbled in those warm, grey, foamy waters before. BUT... this book is like a manual of inspiring challenges when it comes to non-bakers like me. It's one of those matte-photo cookbooks, all vintage crockery and soft lighting, with browns and golds and soft buttery tones - pastries, soft rolls, fresh fruit and powdered sugar. A whole section on baklava variants! Super-talented Digital Services team-mate Julia is making jars of plum jam from the abundant crop at my house this year, so I may have to woman up, brave the yeast, and learn how to make some plaited loaves or sweet rolls.

Roast potatoes: from The perfect cookbook / David Herbert
Nowadays few of us are taught the sort of real home cooking we all adore. We love to eat lasagne, roast chicken and lemon tart, but we're lost when it comes to finding the definitive recipe.Packed with foolproof recipes from David Herbert's popular 'perfect' column in the Weekend Australian, The perfect Cookbook is the book you wish you'd been given when you left home.

Awesome! No longer are my roast potatoes distressingly soggy, thanks to advice in basic, 'how-to' cookbooks like this one. Tips include: buy the right kind of spud (d'oh!), boil briefly first, rough 'em up, heat oil in a pre-heated dish which is shallow enough to allow steam to escape easily, and only then drop in your boiled, roughed up taties to roast. Simplicity!

Aitutaki beef: from Sonja's kitchen : sustainable cuisine from the Cook Islands / Dee Pignéguy and Sonja Raela
These remarkably simple dishes are replete with healthy vitality and infused with flavour. Based on traditional, nutrient-dense fresh fruits and vegetables, poultry and seafood, with accents of ginger, lime, lemon, basil, garlic and coconut, Sonja's dishes excite the palate. This is sustainable cuisine!

A really tasty light dinner for a summer evening, good with rice and whatever veges you want to prepare alongside. Now I just have to get adventurous enough to try some of her recipes with breadfruit or cassava.

Crushed candy cane drink: from Take three : 200 fabulous fuss-free recipes using three ingredients or less / Jenny White
Eleven easy-to-use chapters, with recipes for every occasion, from breakfast bites and teatime cookies to al fresco meals, speedy suppers and elegant dishes for entertaining.

One of Tosca's finds... honestly, Tosca's desk is like a mini library of it's own, and full of marvels... this book kind of sort of cheats a bit - many of the recipes count pre-prepared food as at least one of their ingredients, so they really do have more than three ingredients - but their ease of assembly is a real drawcard. My favourite, and a new Christmas tradition for our household, I hope, is a luscious icy slurry made from pulverising candy canes and blending them with milk. A few drops of red food colouring turns the slush an appealing pale pink. YUM.

Lime and chilli dressing: from Speight's southern man cookbook / Speight's Brewery ; writing, Nicola McCloy
The Southern Man. No matter where he lives his heart is always in the south. He's straight talking and straight shooting. He's as rugged as the southern landscape. He loves a Speight's and he loves a girl who loves a Speight's. This is a masculine and hardy high-quality cookbook - a collection of simple tasty fare done the southern way and meant to be enjoyed across the country.

Ya gotta laugh at a book which only includes one recipe in it's pasta section, and then insists that Southern men don't eat pasta. Seriously, though, this is one of those cookbooks I'm going to have to buy because it is illegal to photocopy the entire book. Once you get past all the manly manliness, the recipes are just awesome, and the home-made mayo dressing above is just a sample - zingy, bright and full of flavour, plus so darn easy you'll wonder why you ever bought mayonnaise off the shelf. In a home-made chicken burger (see p121), it will make you cry with happiness. This book even taught me how to make my own pies, easy as!

Next cooking challenge: learn how to use the Taiwanese mung bean noodles/cellophane noodles I picked up over the weekend. They are broader noodles than most of the pics I've seen online, wider than the 'bean thread' type. Tips most welcome!

5 books our followers thought were disturbing, entertaining and powerful

2012-01-04T09:35:00.000+13:00

List by followers on our Auckland Libraries tweetstream

"Twitter lets me hear from a lot of people in a very short period of time."
- Robert Scoble

On Tuesday of Christmas weekend I read a bunch of books. Two in particular stayed with me long after for a few very simple reasons: They were disturbing, complicated, moving, exceptionally well-written, entertaining and powerful beyond words. One was Margo Lanagan's Tender morsels (teen, fantasy fiction), and the other was What I did (adult, general fiction). My most recent post on the Rodney blog covers the top 5 reasons why 'What I did' by Christopher Wakling is the most disturbing book I've read all year. I struggled with writing the post. Not out of disinterest, but out of a fear that I wouldn't be able to do it justice, or that I would miss something out altogether or, even worse again, that it would run away from me and that people would liken this UK story to section 59 of our Crimes Act (what NZers call the 'anti-smacking' bill) when that was not my intent. I didn't want it to find any way to become about that. Not for this post. I guess, in short, I didn't want THIS BOOK to become about THAT ISSUE. The last time I had this exact same challenge was when I wrote 5 books or films you may not have known were banned or challenged in New Zealand, June 2011. What I did made me ponder, out loud on our tweetstream, "Ever read a book that disturbed, entertained and was full of such power at one and the same time?" We received a few answers, all of which make up this post: 5 books our followers thought were disturbing, entertaining and powerful. Feel free to share your own suggestion.

P.S. It's 2012! Happy new year :) I wish you all wonderful friends, great opportunities, much happiness and fantastic (thought-provoking, life-changing, challenging and, yes, light-hearted) books.

@first_lines
Waimakariri Libraries: @Auckland_Libs Skallagrigg, by William Horwood 1 day ago via web · powered by @socialditto

@chang_mrs @Auckland_Libs the girl with the dragon tattoo along with the rest of the trilogy is a must! 1 day ago via web · powered by @socialditto

@lavoixhumaine @Auckland_Libs Water for Elephants. Was a great one for that. 1 day ago via YoruFukurou · powered by @socialditto

@grannyg_in_nz @Auckland_Libs the uncles story by witi ihimeara made me cry so much I had to take a day off work 1 day ago via HootSuite · powered by @socialditto

@manikpixi @Auckland_Libs The Sparrow & sequel Children of God by Mary Doria Russell. Some of the most gut-wrenching story arcs I've ever read. 1 day ago via Seesmic · powered by @socialditto

Top 5 things I would include in a letter to my 16 year-old self

2011-12-30T08:00:00.005+13:00

List by Tosca

"I'm writing this on the first piece of paper I could find. It's the kids notepad - yes you have three of them (kids, not notepads...)..."
- David Arnold in Dear me : more letters to my sixteen-year-old self edited by Joseph Galliano

I spent Tuesday evening reading a book I randomly picked up from Manukau Library's display shelf. Some of my best finds happen that way. The book was Dear me : more letters to my sixteen-year-old self and is a collection of letters by celebrities who wrote words of advice, assurance, humour for their 16 year old selves. Some are funny, some are blunt, some are truly sad. All are quite poignant and touching. (Wait. Do those mean the same thing?) My favs were those written by Jodi Picoult ('He won't remember hurting you. But when you write, you will always remember what it felt like to have that bandage ripped off your heart. And that's why, when people read your stories, they'll bleed a little on the inside'), Amistead Maupin, David Arnold, Gillian Anderson (P.S. Follow your dreams not your boyfriends') and Alan Rickman ('Make your own unique messes, and then work your way out of them'). They all made me teary eyed and a little wistful. They also made me wonder what I would write to myself if I had to. If I'd have known at 16 what I know today...what kind of person would I be? One I'd like? One I could live with? I mean, think about it, if we could send our 16 year old selves a letter with a heads up about who to love/not to love or what opportunities to grab/ignore, then I'm not fully sure we'd any of us be the people we are today. And, speaking for myself, I'm actually ok with who I am. I don't regret anything I've done. It's more a case of regretting chances I hadn't taken, or things I hadn't just gone out and done without all of the planning and lists and angsting. If I could, though, if I could somehow write a letter to myself without adversely affecting time and history (think Bradbury's 'butterfly effect' here, people), this is what I'd tell myself...

Honourable mention:

You were born to read. Your love of Austen, Dickens, Ludlum, Plato et al. at 9 years of age is not weird. In fact, read more. It's your ticket in life. You won't believe me but you will find a profession full of people just like you. It will all make sense later :)

Mum and dad were wrong. You *can* get a job being fluent in Māori, with a nose piercing and a tattoo. Cut them some slack. They just worry about you and are incredibly supportive whatever you choose to be in life (except possibly a serial killer but we've never tested this so I can't say it with any certainty, just a niggling suspicion that it is the case)

You've always believed that the people you choose to surround yourself with can say lots about your values and ethics. Stick with that, and temper it with a little more forgiveness (honest forgiveness not just lip service) and a little less grudge holding

That boy? And I know you know the one. He's a total frog. Kiss him, anyway, because he's not worth feeling like you can never open up to people again. Mark the experience up to 'just one of those things' and move on. At 16 you shouldn't be thinking about 'happy ever after,' anyway. Worry about finishing your assignments on time, instead. It'll stand you in good stead later in life, trust me. In a few years you'll twice consider marriage, but remember that if you can look at the mother and see the daughter twenty years on, then the same could be said of fathers and their sons as well

December 2011
Auckland

Dear Me,

This is you/me/us, twenty years into the future (yes, people do live that long) with a little bit of advice for the 16 year old you/me/us from then. (Doesn't that just do your head in?) Ignore this if you will. (We both know you probably will). Know, though, that I do this with the best of intentions (ignore the trite old saying about 'The road to hell...' etc.). Here are five things I want you to know:

Life is for living!
Stop making lists! Maybe not altogether, because we do love lists. Just don't make so many. At 16 we were using them to talk ourselves out of experiences. How about instead of making a list you just go out and DO whatever the list is about? Sometimes, it's the only way, the best way, to be.

Learn how to give to others without expecting anything in return
Volunteer for community based projects. It'll help you build character. And if it doesn't, it'll stop you from being so self-obsessed. ('Cause honey, we were/are self-obsessed and can definitely do with being a little less so). Being intense and edgy is all well and good but living in your head too much means you're stuck on the sidelines of your own life. If you're living it well and helping others at the same time, you'll be a halfway decent person.

Control what you can, enjoy what you can't
High school is confusing. Grown up life even more so. That doesn't mean that confusing can't be wonderful. That doesn't mean there isn't some kind of beauty to be found in chaos and disorder. You don't appreciate either of those right now. There will come a time, though, when you will crave it. In fact, you will revel in it. To some extent you will make a career out of it. Feel ok about needing to control what you can to the nth degree. Just remember that there is freedom in not being able to control everything. Learn to enjoy disorder and order in equal measure.

Your family are all mad
Get used to it 'cause they're as crazy twenty years on as they are now with you. Embrace the madness. Learn to love the McClutchie kink. To stay some kind of normal, though, stick at the guitar and singing. Most especially the singing. Music will keep you grounded and, let's face it, life is so much better with it. You know how you wanted to try out for the school musical, but were too afraid? DO IT, ANYWAY. You'll kick yourself forever if you don't. What have you got to lose except five minutes of your time?

Normal is overrated
You're going to take the scenic route in life. There's no other way to put it. All of your friends will pick out their careers, their husbands, their baby's name before they even start third form. Let them. That was never your pathway, anyway, and some part of you knew it. Your biggest concern is that you haven't quite found your voice, yet. It worries you endlessly. Know, though, that the moment you do, you will speak up, speak out and be heard. (Forever, and I'm still not sure this is a good thing). Although you could do with being a little less blunt and ensuring that you listen as much as you speak.

Life is good to you, so you can relax and trust yourself (and others) a little more.
- tosca

Please note: You might want to start with Galliano's first book Dear me : a letter to my sixteen-year-old self (which I'm reading, and enjoying, today). And my apologies, apparently I had more to say to my old self than I ever thought I would.

5 cookbooks with tips for cooking roasts

2011-12-28T08:15:00.001+13:00

List by Tosca

"As for those grapefruit and buttermilk diets, I'll take roast chicken and dumplings."
- Hattie McDaniel

So...Christmas has come and gone. Somewhere around 8am on Sunday I found myself sitting in the middle of a lounge strewn with discarded wrapping paper, watching while Miss 7 tried on earrings and Mr. 1 zoomed around on his toddler-size skateboard eagerly clutching a toy car in either hand. I suspect that if not for the two of them it may have ended up feeling like just another day. I would like to be all virtuous and say that I slaved over a hot stove all day but that would be a blatant lie. Instead, we had brunch, mooched around for a couple hours, had a celebratory glass of wine (or two), and then everyone took nana naps. Such is life in your mid-thirties, apparently. Eventually, somewhere around 2pm, we realised that somebody was going to have to cook or we were all going to starve (although not really but it would sure feel like it). Ugh. Luckily, I drew out actually getting to the kitchen for so long that my sibling and her husband volunteered. Nice save, what? It has just occurred to me today, though, that that means I will be cooking New Year's lunch. Turnabout is fair play and all that. Huh. I've checked the freezer and we have a very large chicken, and lamb. Roast it is, then. Only, it's been over ten years since I had to cook a roast anything, and I'd like to do something a little flasher than just shove them in the oven. I'm just not quite sure what. Rosemary? Thyme? Garlic? White wine? Orange juice? Gah so much to decide. So, I did what I usually do...requested some books. Seriously, that's my answer for most things I want to try. In this instance, I'm fairly certain this selection of titles will give me some ideas for where to start with cooking a roast. Hopefully. If you're looking to find your way back to cooking like I am (only probably with a lot more skill and a lot less haphazard luck) then feel free to use these books as suggestions. I took my cooking skills for a test drive on Tuesday night and made dinner: roasted lamb chops with herb potatoes. Nobody gagged and nobody suffered food poisoning, but I didn't count it a successful evening until I noticed that nobody had asked for bread. I'm not sure if it's a Kiwi thing or a Māori quirk that bread and butter be at every meal. Either way, it bodes well for this Sunday :)

All about roasting : a new approach to a classic art / Molly Stevens
This book presents a thorough explanation of the principles of good roasting and explains many essential processes from preparatory techniques to carving. It includes a list of sauces, condiments, relishes and vinaigrettes as well as wine and beer suggestions to accompany the meal.

Reviewer comment:

"It is a compelling collection that drives home the difference between a chef merely showing off some recipes and a teacher exploring her craft." (Publishers Weekly)

"...a comprehensive, must-have volume that deftly illuminates a seemingly simple technique." (Library Journal)

Masterclass : how to make the perfect roast / food director Pamela Clark
This book has everything you need to know to make a perfect roast. If you can roast it, we've got the perfect recipe for it. There are recipes for roast chicken in all its guises, roasts quail, duck, turkey, and even goose. Roast beef, lamb, including the shanks, pork and vegies are all covered. Every question you've ever had on roasting is answered here - should you use a rack or not? When and how to baste meat, protect wings, cover with foil, rest meat and how the make the perfect gravy.

Roasts / Good Housekeeping
Although eating habits have changed dramatically over the years, a traditional roast with various trimmings forms the centrepiece of a perfect weekend. This guide presents recipes from ginger and honey-glazed ham to goose with roasted apples - and the techniques section covering fish, poultry, meat, vegetables and sauces.

Roast : classic + contemporary / food director, Pamela Clark
The most traditional of family dinners, roasts have never lost their charm. From roast beef with Yorkshire puddings to spicy Portuguese chicken and that beautiful Indian roasted lamb dish, Raan, there's something here for everyone. You'd expect to find lamb, beef, pork, chicken and veal roasts in this book, but there are also recipes for roasted vegetables plus roasted duck, turkey, baby chicken, and fish. If any book will tempt you back to the Sunday roast, this is it.

Sunday roast : the complete guide to cooking and carving / Clarissa Dickson Wright and Johnny Scott
Here, Clarissa Dickson Wright offers guidance on the traditional Sunday lunch with both familiar and new recipes. Johnny Scott, meanwhile, shows just how to carve and serve joints of beef, lamb and pork and of other meats and the birds and fish that may also grace the Sunday table.

Top 5 books that encourage you to change the world

2011-12-24T16:38:00.000+13:00

List by Tosca

"By changing nothing, nothing changes."
-Tony Robbins

You might remember that I don't do New Year resolutions. Changing myself is boring. I do, though, often think about how I'd like to change the world. Not all of it, obviously. Just the bits that I can change. And not in huge chunks, either. Little things, here and there. Things that can really make a difference. I'm just never sure where to start. I'm always a little haphazard, and lurch from one activity to another without any clear idea of what I'm doing. What I should do is choose what it is that I'd like to change, and then make an action plan that supports it, and then I'd live it. What's that saying? Be the change you want to be. I don't know if these books have all the answers. I do know that they're a great place to start. So...here's to changing the world, one person at a time.

It's Christmas Eve, folks. That means that this is the last of our 12 posts of Christmas lists. I hope you've enjoyed reading them as much as I've enjoyed blogging them. Whether you're spending the day with friends, family or a combination of both tomorrow, I really do wish you all a very merry Christmas :)

Honourable mention:

365 ways to change the world by Michael Norton

The teen guide to global action : how to connect with others (near & far) to create social change by Barbara A. Lewis

500 ways to change the world / Global Ideas Bank ; edited and compiled by Nick Temple
500 inspired ideas from around the world that cost nothing to implement but could enhance all our lives. They range from ideas that could benefit charitable organizations (donate airmiles to disaster relief fundraising schemes), to ideas that make people's working lives better (write the minutes of a meeting before it takes place), to ideas that help social relations as a whole (Boomerang Days when you return all the things you've borrowed over the course of the previous year).

Change the world for ten bucks : 50 actions to change the world and make you feel good / Tim Ashton
This book contains 50 simple everyday actions that are easy for anyone to do. And if enough of us actually do them, we really will change the world. With contributions from across Australia, this book shows how a single person can truly make a difference.

Craft activism : people, ideas and projects from the new community of handmade and how you can join in / Joan Tapper ; photography by Gale Zucker
Join the Handmade Movement! We make to give. We make to share. We make to connect with others. Crafters all over the world are using their hands and hearts to make a statement, change the world, and build community. Craft Activism is an inspiring celebration of this growing movement. Inside, dozens of superstars of this grassroots phenomenon share their experiences, tips, and advice on living, teaching, and promoting a more meaningful DIY lifestyle. Learn to craft for your cause, connect with other crafters, think green, organize a fair, host an online exchange, create yarn graffiti, and more. The book also includes 17 creative projects from designers who challenge you to reimagine how your craft skills can be used to make a difference. Whether you knit, sew, crochet, or collage—and even if you’re not sure where to begin—this book is your guide to the incredible power of handmade.

Reviewer comment:

"There are a few familiar figures, such as Jenny Hart of the Sublime Stitching company, but most will be new to readers. The profiles and the projects that follow them are diverse, and readers are bound to find inspiration in this nicely curated volume" (Library Journal)

The great typo hunt : two friends changing the world, one correction at a time / Jeff Deck and Benjamin D. Herson
The signs of the times are missing apostrophes. The world needed a hero, but how would an editor with no off-switch answer the call? For Jeff Deck, the writing was literally on the wall: “NO TRESSPASSING.” In that moment, his greater purpose became clear. Dark hordes of typos had descended upon civilization& and only he could wield the marker to defeat them. Recruiting his friend Benjamin and other valiant companions, he created the Typo Eradication Advancement League (TEAL). Armed with markers, chalk, and correction fluid, they circumnavigated America, righting the glaring errors displayed in grocery stores, museums, malls, restaurants, mini-golf courses, beaches, and even a national park. Jeff and Benjamin championed the cause of clear communication, blogging about their adventures transforming horor into horror , it’s into its , and coconunut into coconut . But at the Grand Canyon, they took one correction too far: fixing the bad grammar in a fake Native American watchtower. The government charged them with defacing federal property and summoned them to court-with a typo-ridden complaint that claimed that they had violated “criminal statues.” Now the press turned these paragons of punctuation into “grammar vigilantes,” airing errors about their errant errand.. The radiant dream of TEAL would not fade, though. Beneath all those misspelled words and mislaid apostrophes, Jeff and Benjamin unearthed deeper dilemmas about education, race, history, and how we communicate. Ultimately their typo-hunting journey tells a larger story not just of proper punctuation but of the power of language and literacy-and the importance of always taking a second look.

31 ways to change the world : by 4,386 children / produced by Nick Stanhope ; art direction and design by New Future Graphic ; written by Tanis Taylor and 4,386 children (more or less)
Inspiring ideas from children on how to make this world a better place have been distilled into 31 practical aactions that children, and adults, can do to improve our environment.

Top 5 books I'm using to learn how to play the mandolin

2011-12-23T16:10:00.001+13:00

List by Tosca

"The sound of the mandolin is a very curious sound because it's cheerful and melancholy at the same time, and I think it comes from that shadow string, the double strings."
- Rita Dove

This is a picture of a mandolin. Not just any mandolin. MY mandolin. It's beautiful. And it makes the loveliest sound. Just...not when I play it. I'm teaching myself to play the mandolin. Why? One big reason: I want to play bluegrass music! I want to be good enough to play the songs in The complete idiot's guide to bluegrass mandolin favourites. :) One day (obviously not today) I want to be good enough to be the Earl Scruggs of the mandolin. (I can't think of a mandolin equivalent of his style of banjo playing, so stop mocking me). And if you ask me, 'Who is Earl Scruggs?' I'm going to cry :P Why bluegrass? I'm not sure. I just know that I fell in love with the style of music when I was about 9 or 10 years old. There are only three places in my whole life I've had such a yearning to see: New Orleans, Route 66 and Kentucky. Specifically, Kentucky for all of their various bluegrass festivals and the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail. This has to happen. It just *has* to. Confession: I also want a banjo of my very own, and have done so since I was about 12. I just don't think I'm ready for one yet. Weirdly, when I do buy myself a banjo, I want to play it not like Earl Scruggs, but like Steve Martin. And if you haven't seen him play with Men With Banjos Who Know How To Use Them you so need to fix that. I can help! Here's a YouTube clip of them playing on the David Letterman show. MAD LUV. I'm going to use the Christmas/New Year period to learn to play a tune in a halfway decent manner. Or something approaching it. Hopefully, 5 tunes so that that can make up another post. Maybe. So, not today, but someday very soon, I'm going to stun you all with my mandolin. And not by whacking you over the head with it :)

What I really want to be able to play:

The complete idiot's guide to bluegrass mandolin favorites [music] : 16 bluegrass classics, all in both easy & intermediate arrangements by Dennis Caplinger

New classics for bluegrass mandolin [music] by Butch Baldassari

Mel Bay presents mandolin classics in tablature [music] [arranged] by Robert Bancalari

Mel Bay's First lessons. Mandolin by Dix Bruce [music]
c2002. First Lessons Mandolin teaches the absolute basics of learning to play mandolin from holding the pick to performing easy mandolin tunes. It doesn't get any easier than this! Students learn how to hold the mandolin correctly, how to read mandolin tablature, basic note reading,, the most popular mandolin chords, how to play easy melodies in several musical styles, basic picking technique, how to tune the mandolin, and much more. Along the way students will learn about the greatest mandolin players and their music. The main emphasis of First Lessons Mandolin is to get the student up and playing immediately and to have fun doing it!

Teach yourself to play mandolin / Dan Fox
1996. This book teaches you how to play the mandolin with an easy-to-follow approach that will have you playing instantly. Different strumming techniques help you play in any style including folk, bules, pop and country. Great songs like La Bamba, Greensleves, and When the Saints Go Marching In and many more are included with lyrics. Upon completion of thie book, you will be able to play your favorite songs on the mandolin, play with a musical group in many different styles and know how to read music.

You can teach yourself mandolin [music] / by Dix Bruce
2002, c1993. Another great "Teach Yourself" book with "play-along" examples to help you get started. You'll learn all about accompanying yourself and others, common chords and useful strums, reading simple melodies, playing a colorful assortment of mandolin folk songs, and much more. In notation and tablature. The CD is in split-track format and features each song played at both slow and normal tempos!

How to play mandolin / Jack Tottle
1975. The fundamentals of mandolin technique are taught through familiar tunes with this book which works great for group or individual use. It includes standard notation, mandolin tablature, chord names and diagrams, photos and more! Topics covered include: playing in rhythm, playing melodies, using down-up strokes, 3/4 or waltz time, the slide, double-string melodies, mixed single and double strings, and more.

Bluegrass mandolin / by Jack Tottle
Learn from the music of Bill Monroe, Bobby Osbourne, Jesse McReynolds, Frank Wakefield, John Duffey and others. This instruction book and collections of bluegrass mandolin music covers in detail everything from simple basics to fancy fingerwork. Songs include: Arkansas Traveller * Banks of the Ohio * Boil Em Cabbage Down * Cripple Creek * Fisher's Hornpipe * Lonesome Road Blues * Oh! Susanna * Will the Circle Be Unbroken * and more.

5 books to kickstart your literary bucket list

2011-12-22T20:30:00.002+13:00

List by Tosca

"You know you've read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend."
- Paul Sweeney

Every now and then I wonder about the quality of books I read. This thought is often followed by the idea that I'm not 'reading well' (and by 'well' I mean 'worthy'). I then feel guilty and decide that I need to do something about it. That something usually translates as checking a bunch of places (interwebs, books, magazine articles) to see, roughly, what other people are recommending, reading, enjoying, disliking. What I end up with is a huge list of 'possible reads' that I then try to narrow down to things. Stuff and things - see how scientific I am about it...? And then I pick (or try to pick, anyway), books that appeal. Sometimes by cover, sometimes by write-up/review and sometimes by title. Sometimes I'll deliberately pick ones that people thought were truly awful. One thing I discovered about myself years ago is that my opinion will, more often than not, be the total opposite of critics. Books that they wax lyrical about I don't see the same way. I often find myself appreciating the style of writing while not feeling any emotion or empathy for the characters or their journey. One book I return to every now and again for 'literary bucket list' ideas is The big read : book of books by the BBC. In 2003 they conducted a poll to find out what the British public considered their most popular 100 novels were, and the result was this book. It was a customer who first pointed this gem out to me. Back then I was working in City Centre Library, which used to be in Westfield Manukau mall. This particular customer was a regular and we'd often have some great discussions about all sorts of books. One day she brought the book up to the desk and declared that she was going to work her way through it. I remember we both commented on the fact that we'd read quite a few of the listed titles already, but that it'd be nice to continue to read as much of the rest as we could. Not all in one hit because, hey, life is what happens when you're making other plans, but in and around everything else. It's probably one of the more enjoyable literary bucket lists I could ever think to have. A sibling asked me the other week why this book, and the only reason I can think of that makes sense to me is that the authors, the titles, the writing styles are familiar to me. My parents either read them to me, or encouraged me to read them (or books much like them) for myself. This coming Christmas break I intend to cross another one or two books off, which will leave me with about 10-15 to go. Slow but steady. So if, like me, you have your own higgledy piggledy version of a literary bucket list, or if you want to kickstart one, here are some suggestions to get you started.

More suggestions:

Time Out 1000 books to change your life

501 must-read books project editor Emma Beare

Best books - subject search with 80+ titles to choose from

Book lust to go : recommended reading for travelers, vagabonds, and dreamers / Nancy Pearl
Includes both nonfiction and fiction reading recommendations for armchair or "real" travelers. This librarian famous for reader's advisory covers places as diverse as Afghanistan, Appalachia, Arizona, Baltimore, Boston, Burma, Congo, Corfu, Detroit, England, Finland, the Galapagos, Guernica, Hawaii, Iceland, Iran, Ireland, Jordan, Korea, Law Vegas, Los Angeles, Maine, Malaysia, Martha's Vineyard, Miami, Nebraska, New York City, New Orleans, Niagara Falls, Norway, Ohio, Parma , Patagonia, Peru, Philadelphia, Poland, Provence, the Sahara, San Francisco, Siberia, Spain, Texas, Vienna, Vietnam, Wales, and many other real and imaginary places.

Reviewer comment:

"It might have been easy to stick with the country structure for a book like this, but Pearl mixed it up, to good effect, with chapters like "So We/I Bought (or Built) A House In." which includes books about homes in Morocco, Mexico, France, Brazil, and Ireland. Pearl has produced a winner and the perfect bedside companion." (Publishers Weekly)

"This is recommended for voracious armchair travelers and librarians looking for a quick readers' advisory tool for patrons who value setting and frame." (Library Journal)

500 essential cult books : the ultimate guide / Gina Mckinnon ; with Steve Holland
This is the most definitive collection of cult classic books ever compiled, and readers will surely have fun debating and discussing the 500 choices. Not only does it include the classics of English literature, it also takes an international perspective. Sci-fi, horror, nonfiction, dramas, comedies, memoirs, mysteries-all the books that have endured due to their devoted and growing audiences are here! The 500 include: Naked City; The Anarchist's Cookbook; Howl; Carrie; The Killer Inside Me; Candy; Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas; Naked Lunch; I'm With the Band; Watership Down; A Walk on the Wild Side; Geek Love; Dune; Fahrenheit 451 and many, many more!

The torchlight list : around the world in 200 books / Jim Flynn
A professor for over 40 years, Jim Flynn found fewer and fewer of his students were in love with reading. However, they were willing to try if he gave them lists. This inspired him to create the definitive list: books so wonderful to read, and so revealing about times and places, that they make learning enjoyable and effortless. The title is in honour of the author's 'uneducated' Irish-American family, who made him love reading - including an uncle who, while an able seaman in World War I, read by torchlight on board ship. Flynn begins by offering five novels he believes will convince anyone to make reading a habit, including one that will change your life.

1001 comics you must read before you die / general editor, Paul Gravett
Over the centuries, comic books and their offshoots, such as graphic novels, and bandes dessinees have evolved into a phenomenally popular, influential, and unique art form with which we can express our opinions, our fantasies, our nightmares, and our dreams. In short: comics are emphatically no longer just for kids. This diverse, constantly evolving medium is truly coming into its own in the 21st century, from Hollywood's blockbuster adaptations of super-powered caped crusaders to the global spread of Japan's manga and its spinoffs, and from award-winning graphic novels such as Maus and Persepolis to new forms such as online webcomix. But comics also have a long and rich history, dating back at least to the Swiss teacher Rodolphe Topffer in the early 19th century, and far earlier in China. 1001 Comic Books You Must Read Before You Die is the perfect introduction to this dynamic and globally popular medium. There have been other guides to the best comic books, but none has embraced every genre and scoured the globe to glean the very greatest works of sequential art, graphic literature, bandes dessinees, tebeos, fumetti, manga, manhwa, komiks, strips, historietas, quadrinhos, beeldverhalen, and plain old comics. This authoritative guide is organized according to the year of first publication in the country of origin. An opening section acknowledges pioneering pre-1900 masterpieces, followed by sections divided by decade, creating a fascinating year-by-year chronicle of the comics medium worldwide.

1001 books you must read before you die / general editor, Peter Boxall
For discerning bibliophiles and readers who enjoy unforgettable classic literature, 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die is a trove of reviews covering a century of memorable writing. Each work of literature featured here is a seminal work key to understanding and appreciating the written word.The featured works have been handpicked by a team of international critics and literary luminaries, including Derek Attridge (world expert on James Joyce), Cedric Watts (renowned authority on Joseph Conrad and Graham Greene), Laura Marcus (noted Virginia Woolf expert), and David Mariott (poet and expert on African-American literature), among some twenty others.Addictive, browsable, knowledgeable — 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die will be a boon companion for anyone who loves good writing and an inspiration for anyone who is just beginning to discover a love of books. Each entry is accompanied by an authoritative yet opinionated critical essay describing the importance and influence of the work in question. Also included are publishing history and career details about the authors, as well as reproductions of period dust jackets and book designs.

Top 5 books I've read this week that are ALL about the laughs

2011-12-21T08:49:00.016+13:00

List by Tosca

"I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose."
- Woody Allen

I don't know about anybody else but I know from firsthand experience that laughing until milk, coca cola and/or tea comes out of your nose HURTS. But I wouldn't take back the laughter that caused it. No way. I'm not a fan of Woody Allen, but the quote above? I heart it. I suspect I'm not a fan because his humour feels complicated and so far above my head that it loses me. I watch other people laugh at his wit and I feel left out and somewhat disgruntled. I am a frat-boy-movie-with-toilet-humour kind of girl. Sad, but true. And usually, by this time of year, my well of good humour (very small to begin with) has well and truly run dry. For some reason, though, the 'I hate Christmas' Scrooge mentality has hit me late. The reason for it, I believe, is that I've unintentionally been in the middle of a comedy fest of my own. After reading F in exams: the funniest test paper blunders by Richard Benson, I decided that I'd like more books in that same funny vein. A quick search in the catalogue and I'd requested some *does a quick count* 9 or 10 books that have kept me in high spirits the last week or so. And that's today's 12 posts of Christmas list! Oh, and no, you don't have to be a Woody Allen fan or a frat-boy-movie-with-toilet-humour kind of person to enjoy these books. They'll appeal to most people :)

Awkward family photos / by Mike Bender & Doug Chernack
Based on the hit website, AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com ('painful, regrettable, horrifyingly awesome snaps of family bonding, you will laugh so hard that people in adjoining offices will ask what's wrong with you' - Esquire), this book features never-before-seen photos and hilarious personal stories covering everything from uncomfortable moments with relatives, teen angst, sibling rivalry, and family vacations from hell. Cringe at the forced poses, bad hair, and matching outfits - all prompting us to look at our own families and celebrate the fact that we're not alone. Nothing says awkward better than an uncomfortable family photograph!

Tosca's comment: I feel so much better about my family photos after paging through this. Ours were terrible due to technical faults or just plain bad photography. These? Wowsers. Some sweet, some odd, and some are total WTH. And I have nothing but respect for the people who voluntarily sent in their pics. We also have Awkward Family Pet Photos, which really lives up to the title.

Passive aggressive notes : painfully polite and hilariously hostile writings, and just plain aggressive / compiled by Kerry Miller
Part voyeuristic entertainment, part group therapy, Passive Aggressive Notes offers a fascinating look at the all-too-familiar frustrations of embattled office drones, apartment dwellers, parents, and pet owners everywhere. This curated collection combines dozens of outrageous, never-before-seen notes as well as favorites from Passiveaggressivenotes.com a 2008 Webby Award Winner and the official "Best Blog" of the South by Southwest Interactive festival.

Example:
Dear Milk-thief,
that was breast milk!

Tosca's comment: Don't forget to check out PassiveAggressiveNotes.com!

When parents text : so much said--so little understood / Lauren Kaelin, Sophia Fraioli
A collection of insanely funny texts between parents and kids, "When Parents Text" is a surprisingly affecting window into the complicated time when parents aren't ready to let go, and kids aren't ready to "be "let go. The parents are well-meaning but hopeless, silly and a little corny, and befuddled by the technology.

Example:
Divorce
Dad: I'm not sure but I think I just accidentally divorced your mom on facebook... I'll keep you updated.
Me: (silence)
Mum: why is your father married to his sister on facebook?

Tosca's comment: You can visit the website, too!

Cake wrecks : when professional cakes go hilariously wrong / Jen Yates
Have your cake and laugh at it, too, with the sweet treat known as Cake Wrecks: When Professional Cakes Go Hilariously Wrong . From the creator of the ultrapopular blog CakeWrecks.com, here are the worst cakes ever, including the ugly, the silly, the downright creepy, the unintentionally sad or suggestive, and the just plain funny. With witty commentary and behind-the-scenes tidbits, Cake Wrecks will ensure that you never look at a cake the same way again. Since May 2008, Jen Yates has been blogging about such confectionery calamities at her popular Web site CakeWrecks.com, winner of the 2008 Blogger's Choice Award for Best Humor Blog, and three 2009 Weblog awards (Bloggies) for Best Writing on a Blog, Best New Blog, and Best Food Blog. Yates now offers up this inspired photo collection with over 150 Cake Wrecks, including 75 percent never-before-seen content.

Tosca's comment: Laughed so hard my ribs hurt. Seriously. I've also put in a purchase suggestion for Jen's second book Wreck the Halls: Cake Wrecks Gets Festive which we now have on order. I'm first in queue so HA! Don't forget to check out the CakeWrecks.com. I LOVE IT!

Damn you, autocorrect! : awesomely embarrassing text messages you didn't mean to send / Jillian Madison
If you own an iPhone, BlackBerry, Droid, or any smartphone, there's a good chance you've screamed that phrase out at least once. In Damn You, Autocorrect! Pop-culture blogger Jillian Madison shows you are not alone. Filled with submissions from readers of her popular website, this laugh-out-loud funny book features cringe-worthy exchanges with parents, friends, significant others, and co-workers that contain some of the most unintentionally hilarious - and mortifying - mistakes ever caused by Autocorrect. Inside, you'll find a husband who tells his wife that he just 'laid' (paid) the babysitter, a dad who tells his daughter that he and her mom are going to 'divorce' (Disney), and many more epic texting fails too raunchy to list here. Whether you love technology, texting humor, or taking just a little bit of pleasure in the misfortune of others, Damn You, Autocorrect! will leave you laughing until you cry, and thankful that nothing this embarrassing has happened to you. Yet.

Tosca's comment: Whatever you do, don't read this on the bus. I was laughing so hard I started crying, and the man sitting next to me got scared and changed seats as soon as he could. And then the next person who sat down in his spot looked rather concerned, so I had to explain why the book was so funny. She didn't get it *sigh* Don't people laugh at books any more? *plaintive tone* As someone who owns an iPhone, I know how easy it is to be caught out by autocorrect. I unintentionally called one sibling a 'doxy.' Luckily, she didn't know what that was (although she might be prompted to look it up now thanks to this post). There is a website, too. Just take note that there are curse words. Some days I think my iPhone swears better than I do out loud. Which is quite scary, really.

5 book-related tweets you may have missed on our tweetstream

2011-12-20T08:15:00.002+13:00

List by Tosca

"Using Twitter for literate communication is about as likely as firing up a CB radio and hearing some guy recite ‘The Iliad.’"
- Bruce Sterling, science fiction writer and journalist

@Auckland_Libs
Auckland LibrariesWhat we're #reading: Danielle is reading Jasper Jones, which is said to be 'an Australian To Kill a Mockingbird' http://t.co/LJjnLc2l 7 days ago via HootSuite · powered by @socialditto

Whenever I'm asked to explain why I find Twitter so appealing, I find that it makes me sound more manic and demented than ever. Possibly because the very busy-ness of it that puts most people off, is where I feel like I'm in my element. The visual cacophany of so much information and opinions and links and ideas (from the inane to the profound, from the absolutely useless to life changing beyond words) passing from person to person and at such a fast and furious rate is exciting. I made that comment to a friend recently, and I thought for sure he would laugh himself off his chair and onto the floor. His response was, 'Tosca, Twitter is the talkback radio of the internet.' I suppose, for some of us, that's a true statement. And just like talkback radio I can change the station (or website), or turn the radio (computer) off altogether and do something offline, instead. Our work tweetstream is not only about everything we're doing in Auckland Libraries because that would be too much like spam. I'm interested in my family, books, friends, movies, work, music, being inspired, literacy, inspiring others...the list is very possibly endless. I suspect that if my interests are quite eclectic, then perhaps yours are, too, which is why I keep it varied. If something we've tweeted strikes a chord, and people can use it in some way, then I consider it a win all around. Kind of like an online version of 'pay it forward.' Our list today is just a very small sample of what we tweet on a daily basis, in this instance: 5 book-related tweets you may have missed on our tweetstream. Should you ever find yourself on Twitter, feel free to follow us. I hope that you enjoy the links.

Honourable mention:

@Auckland_Libs
Auckland LibrariesIf you're looking for possible graphic novel reads, http://t.co/lBh1F6nc has some suggestions http://t.co/knOOLL4g 2 days ago via HootSuite · powered by @socialditto

@Auckland_Libs
Auckland LibrariesMy first time visiting @nybooks website and, so far, am in LIKE! How had I not heard of this? http://t.co/GRfyfDpz 6 days ago via HootSuite · powered by @socialditto

@Auckland_Libs
Auckland Libraries@nytimes Editors & critics pick their fav books of 2011 http://t.co/MjlcxW8X 9 days ago via HootSuite · powered by @socialditto

@Auckland_Libs
Auckland LibrariesThere's a new voice on the Teen blog! Alannah of Howick Library :) http://t.co/4B74reVz 3 days ago via HootSuite · powered by @socialditto

@Auckland_Libs
Auckland Libraries'The Most Beautiful Books of 2011' by NY Daily News consists of 2 books that are riffs on classics http://t.co/x53y6VHZ 4 days ago via HootSuite · powered by @socialditto

@Auckland_Libs
Auckland LibrariesIf you're over Best Of lists, why not try this one instead? The Most Overrated Books of 2011 by NY Daily News http://t.co/PWhojKLg 3 days ago via HootSuite · powered by @socialditto

@Auckland_Libs
Auckland LibrariesInteresting covers. Not sure they'd have been my top 10. What would YOURS be? 'The Top 10 Book Covers of 2011' via @PublishersWkly 5 days ago via HootSuite · powered by @socialditto

@Auckland_Libs
Auckland LibrariesAuthor Lev Grossman picks his 5 of the best, most interesting, most mutated sci fi and fantasy novels of this year http://t.co/45eZSZDj 3 days ago via HootSuite · powered by @socialditto

5 books with umpteen ideas for celebrating Christmas

2011-12-18T15:45:00.000+13:00

List by Tosca

For the first time in forever, our family will be celebrating Christmas in two different places. Five of us - myself, two siblings, one brother-in-law and Mr. 1 will be staying in Auckland. Everyone else - two sisters, one brother, one brother-in-law, one sister-in-law, five nephews and one niece - will be spending it with the parents in Taipa. From what I can gather, the plan is to have lunch either at Taipa riverside, across the road from the house, or at Taipa seaside, five minutes walk from the house. Assuming the weather is good enough. Looking out the window today I find it hard to envision a hot, sunny Christmas day. Were I a beach-type person I would be envious, but I've seen Jaws, it wasn't pretty. Images of chewed up body parts and boats has stayed with me through to today. Although a teeny, tiny part of me is a tad bit envious that they might be eating fresh fish, or gathering pipi and mussels :( I wish them well, however the day turns out. As for the rest of us, we're not quite sure how we're spending the day, where we'll be spending it, or even if we're putting up the tree. What are we, 7 days out and we still haven't decided that much? Eek. To give us a few ideas, or at least kickstart some, I've rounded up a few books, five of which make up today's 12 posts of Christmas list. Most of you probably already know what you're doing to celebrate because, no doubt, you're much more organised than we are. For those of you still unsure, I hope some of these books can help :) And if you can think of any to recommend - ideas or books - feel free to leave them as a comment!

More ideas for celebrating Christmas:

Christmas cooking

Christmas decorations

Christmas gifts

So, how are YOU celebrating Christmas?

Merry & bright : 125 festive ideas for celebrating Christmas / from the editors of Country Living
Make this Christmas season "Merry & Bright" with this delightful volume from the editors of "Country Living." Every page is breathtaking, with over 301 enchanting ideas for celebrating the most wonderful time of the year, including fabulous tree-toppers and exceptional ornaments from paper dolls to leather baby shoes. Wreaths and garlands adorn bed frames, doorknobs, and even hang from chandeliers. There are mantelpiece and tabletop displays with a contingent of Santa figurines, dazzling table and buffet settings, special recipes such as chocolate snowflakes, and even some simple crafts--including a silvery cone of jingle bells embellished with a beautifully tied bow.

Christmas cupcakes / Annie Rigg ; photography by Kate Whitaker
With more than 25 easy-to-follow recipes for delicious and imaginative Christmas cupcakes, this title includes gingerbread cupcakes, which may fill the house with the warming, spiced smells of Christmas. It also features imaginative ideas, such as little cakes topped with miniature gifts or 'glass' stars.

I'm dreaming of a green Christmas : gifts, decorations, and recipes that use less and mean more / by Anna Getty ; photographs by Ron Hamad
Advises on how to best choose a tree (real or fake?), mitigate the negative effects of necessary travel, organize and recycle post-holiday, and more. This title presents holiday craft projects and ideas for: pinecone wreaths; recycled sweater pillows; and, organic appetizers. This holiday season, Getty--environmental advocate, writer, television personality, mother, and chef--helps families reduce their carbon footprint and save money without sacrificing style or tradition. 60 color photographs.

Victoria, 500 Christmas ideas : celebrate the season in splendor / Kimberly Meisner
Have a Christmas to remember with these fabulous suggestions for decorating, baking, wrapping, and all things holiday! Brimming with beautiful color photographs, Victoria 500 Christmas Ideas provides the inspiration and instruction needed to surround yourself and your family with the beauty of the season. Create a winter wonderland in your front yard or an intimate table setting that sparkles. Bake delicious cookies good enough to leave for Santa himself. Load the Christmas tree with lovely decorations and uniquely wrapped gifts boxes. Display a handmade wreath on the door to welcome your guests. Many projects take only moments, while others need a little more time and attention. Either way, Victoria will bring the best of Christmas to your home.

Christmas gifts of good taste / Julie Gunter
With more gift-giving ideas and recipes than ever before, these 200 recipes and craft projects give readers the inspiration and know-how to share the taste of love for the holidays. Simple, delicious, and fun to give, each project has careful descriptions and beautiful photographs to show the stages of construction and final details.

Top 5 new horror/supernatural covers I liked (plus three author recommendations you should try)

2011-12-17T18:35:00.001+13:00

List by Tosca

"Like sex, horror is seductive - enticing the reader to accept the forbidden; allowing a fascination with the carnal, the forbidden; titillating the mind as sex does both the mind and sense. Reading horror is an act of consensual masochism: you willingly submit to the pleasures of fear - scare me! Please?"
- Paula Guran

What better time to get back into enjoying horror fiction than over the Christmas break? I'm serious. Think about it: long, hot sunny days (hopefully, even though I'm looking out the window at a miserably wild, wet afternoon) are as far removed from a dark, moody and atmospheric late night read. I get scared far too easily these days. It seems the older I get, the more my imagination can't handle the possibilities of a horror novel, no matter how unlikely the circumstances (e.g. zombies and post-apocalyptic life - or un-life). I remember a time when I used to devour scary books. (Get it? Devour? Har har har). Zombies, blood, gore, grisly deaths, supernatural elements - I enjoyed it all. Somewhere along the way I lost the anticipatory feel and let the actual fear of fear overshadow that, but a chance tweet I saw on our work tweetstream made me think that maybe it was time to reclaim what used to be fun. The tweet, by Andre Farant, asked if people had discovered horror authors Sarah Langan, Gary McMahon, and Robert Jackson Bennett. The link Andre included was to a post on his site; 'The new voices of horror,' and, in short, was what convinced me to give these books a try. Requested already, and waiting for them to come in from other branches. Merci beaucoup, Monsieur Farant :-) It then got me thinking, from our most recent batch of newly received horror/supernatural titles, where would I start? What would I request? It wasn't a huge list, but there were still too many for me to make up my mind about. In the end I decided to go with 5 of the most interesting covers which, not coincidentally, make up today's 12 posts of Christmas piece. Am I seriously encouraging you to read horror during a time when most people are celebrating the birth of baby Jesus and being with friends and family? TOTALLY.

Don't forget! You can follow Auckland Libraries on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and check out Andre Farant's tweetstream, too :)

The white devil : a novel / Justin Evans
An American teenage boy with a dark past is sent abroad to Harrow, the famous British boarding school, and finds himself fighting to save his own life by solving a 200-year-old literary mystery and freeing a ghost of its bonds.

Reviewer comment:
"...cast in the role of Lord Byron in a play written by drunken and bitter housemaster Piers Fawkes, Andrew finds himself adopting Byron's exotic lifestyle amid a love affair, a TB epidemic, and various bizarre elements in this disturbing gothic thriller." (Publishers Weekly)

"A breath of fresh graveyard air for horrorholics; fans of Dan Simmons, Anne Rice, and Joyce Carol Oates will inhale it." (Library Journal)

"Smart, scary, sexy, and gorgeously written to boot." (Booklist)

The city / David Moody
A disease of unimaginable ferocity has torn across the face of the planet leaving billions dead. A small group of survivors shelter in the remains of a devastated city, hiding in terror as the full effects of the horrific infection start to become clear. The sudden appearance of a company of soldiers again threatens the survivors' fragile existence. Do they bring with them hope, help and answers, or more pain, fear and suffering?

Pretty little dead things : a Thomas Usher novel / Gary McMahon (Yes, the same author Andre recommended in his tweet)
Thomas Usher has a terrible gift. Following a car crash in which his wife and daughter are killed, he can see the recently departed, and it's not usually a pretty sight. When he is called to investigate the violent death of the daughter of a prominent local gangster, Usher's world is torn apart once more. For the barriers between this world and the next are not as immutable as once he believed. Who Is Thomas Usher? His name is Thomas Usher. A normal man. An average guy. Until he is involved in a tragic accident and his wife and daughter are killed. After that, things begin to change. Usher is no longer normal. Or average. Now he can see the dead, and the dead can see him. They seek him out to help them, to usher them to the next level so they might face whatever comes next. The lost. The lonely. The departed. They never speak to him; they only ever demand his attention. The ghosts are drawn to Usher, and he is compelled to help them in the hope that he might once again see his family. But sometimes, just sometimes, it isn't enough and his efforts make things worse. His name is Thomas Usher. He is an usher for the dead. It's who he is. It's what he does.

Reviewer comment:

"McMahon's prose is serviceable; Usher is a competent-enough example of the paranormal gumshoe, from tragic backstory to gloomy worldview; and there is the necessary unresolved shadowy menace. Unfortunately, the novel never ventures past these basic ingredients." (Publishers Weekly)

H.P. Lovecraft goes to the movies : the classic stories that inspired the classic horror films / H.P. Lovecraft
With more than 100 movies based on his writing, H.P. Lovecraft ranks among the most adapted authors in history--along with Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen King. His unnervingly scary tales appeal to both diehard fans of horror and readers with mainstream tastes, and H.P. Lovecraft Goes to the Movies presents the very best of his filmed stories. Additionally, this unique collection provides an enlightening historical introduction, short headnotes for each story calling out interesting trivia, and an appendix with credits for each screen version. THE STORIES INCLUDE: "The Colour out of Space": filmed twice, once as a vehicle for Boris Karloff called Die, Monster, Die! "The Dunwich Horror," also filmed two times, once with Dean Stockwell "Pickman's Model" and "Cool Air": both for Rod Serling's Night Gallery TV program "The Call of Cthulhu," which laid the foundation for the Cthulhu Mythos.

Dead Mann walking / Stefan Petrucha
After Hessius Mann was convicted of his wife's murder, suppressed evidence came to light and the verdict was overturned-too bad he was already executed. But thanks to the miracles of modern science Hessius was brought back to life. Sort of. Now that he's joined the ranks of Fort Hammer's pulse-challenged population, Hessius attempts to make a "living" as a private investigator. But when a missing persons case leads to a few zombies cut to pieces, Hessius starts thinking that someone's giving him the run-around-and it's not like he's in any condition to make a quick getaway... Book 1 in the Hessius Mann series.

Reviewer comment:

"Petrucha successfully portrays the walking dead as more than mindless, flesh-eating killing machines, thanks to careful details of zombie life, culture, and slang." (Publishers Weekly)

Top 5 new Team Stetson romance novel covers

2011-12-16T09:15:00.004+13:00

List by Tosca

"I always wanted to be a cowboy, and Jedi Knights are basically cowboys in space, right?"
- Liam Neeson

I'm a fool for cowboys. Slow talking (but not dumb), southern drawl, big belt buckle, boots, a horse, and a hat. I *adore* them. So much so that when I was in Fort Worth, Dallas airport (the airport lounge at 9 o'clock at night was about as 'Texas' as I was going to get in that trip), I hoped, hoped, hoped that I'd bump into a cowboy (complete with buckle, hat and boots) who would tip his hat and wish me 'Howdy, ma'am.' If he'd had a horse that would be the cherry on top. (Yes, I know, a horse in an airport just isn't going to work, but that didn't stop me from wanting it). I didn't get that in Fort Worth. So disappointed. Life, being what it is, didn't give it to me while I was in the Lone Star State. It gave it to me while I was in New Orleans, instead. I was walking through the Aquarium of the America doors while a group of Texans were walking out, and one gentleman (in required buckle, hat and boots) tipped his hat and said, 'Howdy, ma'am.' I was so taken aback with delight I stood there grinning like a fool for a little longer than was necessary. I still appreciated it as much as if it had happened while in Texas :)

I blame Louis L'Amour. Don't get me wrong, I love L'Amour (do you know how weird it feels to type, in essence, that I love the love?). I read his Sackett series while growing up, and the optimistic part of me that wanted to one day marry and have children wanted to use the Sackett family names (Orrin, Jubal, etc.) as theirs. (It's strange, looking back, to remember I was ever that optimistic). The closest we ever came to that was an Alsatian dog called Hondo. My earliest memories of my parents are of them reading: to us, to each other, and to themselves. They read anything and everything, and would quite often hand a finished novel over to the other one, both of them discussing it afterward. Dad is particularly fond of historical fiction/nonfiction. I remember him reading L'Amour and Edson when I was about 7 or 8 years old. I didn't think much of it, until we moved to Auckland and I had managed to read my way through the school library, my own books, and then, because there wasn't anything else in the house, mum and dad's shelves, as well. In particular, the Sackett books. And I fell in love with them. I laughed, got mad at the bad guys, cried, rejoiced with the good guys, learnt parts of American Indian history I'd never heard about in school, fell in love with the wild west and developed a yearning to visit the States and see the land the way L'Amour did. I believe that this series gave me an idea of how important my own indigenous history was, up until then I'd kind of taken it for granted. I distinctly remember bawling my eyes out when William Tell Sackett's wife, Angie, was murdered and he spent a good portion of the book tracking down the men who did it and 'reading to them from the good book.' That used to be a running joke in our house, my mum would say to dad, 'Did you read to them from the good book?' and dad would reply, 'Nope, I just showed 'em the pictures.' (Seriously, my parents are odd). L'Amour's Sackett books also put me on to Dee Brown's Bury my heart at Wounded Knee and I remember that it was one of the few nonfiction books that broke my heart. It is, to this day, my most favourite (if saddest) nonfiction read ever. I re-read the Sackett novels on and off right up until my late teens and then, for some reason, forgot all about them. Now, every time I read a romance novel, I'm reminded of L'Amour's love of the land and good hearted people who lived by their word. So, there you go. A longwinded introduction (seems to be my trademark) that serves, really, to tell you that you can blame Monsieur L'Amour for this romance novel-related post that is all about the cowboy and nothing but the cowboy (albeit modern ones): Top 5 new Team Stetson romance novel covers.

Also, you can add, in a smaller way, J.T. Edson, Forest Carter's Josey Wales books, Clint Eastwood's movies, and Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns (featuring Bud Spencer and Terence Hill) to the list of They Made Me Do It :)

The black sheep sheik / Dana Marton
Romantic suspense. Mills & Boon Intrigue. Mills & Boon Cowboys Royale. Waking up from a coma in a remote Wyoming cabin, Sheik Amir Khalid thought he was dreaming when he laid eyes on the woman he'd spent one steamy weekend with. Dr. Isabelle Andrews was every bit as gorgeous as he remembered--and nine months pregnant. But when shots rang out and it was clear their hideaway had been discovered, Amir's questions had to wait. Desperate to keep Isabelle and his unborn baby safe, Amir vowed to personally guard them 24/7. And as the independent beauty fought him at every turn, he knew it wasn't just royal protocol that made him want to keep her by his side. He'd give up everything that was expected of him if it meant protecting the family he'd only just met. Including his life.

Against the storm / Kat Martin
Romantic suspense. Redheads like Maggie O'Connell are nothing but trouble. But Trace Rawlins, a former army ranger turned private investigator, takes the case anyway. After all, he knows a thing or two about women. Trace can sense that something is wrong-Maggie isn't telling him everything. If these menacing calls and messages are real, why won't the police help her? And if they aren't real, what is she hiding? As Trace digs deeper to find the source of Maggie's threats, he discovers a secret that no one was meant to uncover. And the only puzzle left to be solved is whether the danger comes from an unknown stalker...or from the woman he's trying his hardest not to fall for. Book 4 in the Raines of Wind Canyon series.

Night Hawk / Beverly Jenkins
Historical romance. Outlaw. Preacher. Night Hawk. He's had many names, but he can't escape the past. Since Ian Vance's beloved wife was murdered years ago, the hardened bounty hunter knows he'll never feel love or tenderness again, so he's made it his mission to ensure others get their justice. But when he's charged with delivering a sharp-eyed beauty to the law, Ian can't help but feel he may still have something left to lose. Orphaned at twelve, Maggie Freeman has always found her way out of trouble. But now there's a vigilante mob at her back who would like nothing more than to see her hang for a crime she didn't commit. Maggie may have to accept help for the first time in her life, even if it's from the one man standing between her and freedom. As the past closes in, the sassy prisoner and toughened lawman may just find a passion between them that could bring blinding happiness, if they'll let it.

Reviewer comment:
"The romance either rushes or drags, and while the protagonists are quirky and engaging, the delightful side characters repeatedly steal the show" (Publishers Weekly)

Wrangled and tangled : a blacktop cowboys novel / Lorelei James
Erotic romance. Janie Fitzhugh and Abe Lawson have long been divorced and living apart. Now she's back in town, a changed woman-making cattleman Abe want to wrangle an invitation to her bed... To get his dream ranch, Renner Jackson has partnered with spoiled daddy's girl Tierney Pratt. She thinks she can handle this cowboy, but Renner won't make it easy. Little do they know they will be entangled in ways neither dreamed possible.

Reviewer's comment:
"...Renner must manage a professional relationship with his lender's daughter, Tierney Pratt, who he thinks is spying on his business. It's not long before attraction overcomes apprehension for both couples and enough sparks fly to satisfy fans of James's low-intrigue, high-passion style" (Publishers Weekly)

Cowgirls don't cry / Lorelei James
Erotic romance.Jessie McKay has accepted her marriage to Luke McKay wasn't perfect. After two years of widowhood, she's ready to kick up her boot-heels, until Luke's younger brother shows up to spoil her fun. But if Brandt thinks she'll ever take orders from another McKay male, he's got manure for brains. Brandt McKay has avoided his sweet, sexy sister-in-law ever since the night he confessed his feelings for her weren't the brotherly type. Unexpectedly faced with proof of Luke's infidelity, Brandt is forced to ask for Jessie's help in taking care of Luke's young son. Jessie agrees on one condition. She wants Brandt's boots exclusively under her bed for the duration. The sexual heat that's always simmered between them ignites. Brandt is determined to make the temporary situation permanent, proving to Jessie he's a one-woman man. And Jessie is shaken by feelings she's sworn never to have again for any man, specially not a McKay. Book 10 in the Rough Riders series.

5 books to help you (i.e. me) de-clutter that I won't use because I no longer do New Year resolutions

2011-12-15T08:15:00.003+13:00

List by Tosca

"Excuse the mess but we live here."
- Roseanne Barr

I try not to make New Year resolutions. I learned a long time ago that 1) I suck at them and 2) more often than not I set myself up to fail. Usually within the first few days of having jotted down some goals *winces* So, these days I don't make resolutions. But if I were to do so...I'd set them right about now, when I'm feeling somewhat reflective and hopeful (or as hopeful as I get) and envisioning quiet days leading up to the week in between Christmas and New Year. I would look at de-cluttering my desk/home/life (take your pick, all are relevant). At work, my desk can go to hell in a handbasket from Monday - Thursday, but come Friday afternoon I leave it spotless. As for my home life, I share a house with siblings/nephews, so I've learned to give up a little (a LOT) of control. Half of us riding herd on each other while the other half disavows all knowledge of any mess-making can be...chaotic. To put it politely. My nephews are living proof that you can live surrounded by constant mess and still thrive and remain quite unconcerned about it all. This isn't necessarily a good thing, it's just how they roll. And it's all mess that they make themselves, I'd like to point out. One sibling is extremely 'particular' (her words, I'd have used something much stronger). You can't put something down for 10 seconds before she comes along to clean it up. We have an unspoken agreement that I keep my bedroom door firmly shut all of the time because it constantly looks like gale force winds swept through it. It's my private space so I'm rarely ever fussed by the fact that my shoes are not in orderly pairs, or that I vaguely chuck things in the direction of the hanging racks and am not bothered if they fall to the floor instead. (Which they invariably do). I call it 'organised chaos.' Extremely 'particular' sibling calls it lots of interesting words that can never be repeated in polite company :) So, were I into resolutions at all, I would set about de-cluttering my room (and my nephews and, if I'm honest, the pile of paperwork on my desk) and use the books listed below to get me on the right track. Although I'm not sure I shall ever discover how to make de-cluttering my home/life an addictive pleasure. That sounds...terrible, actually.

Lucky I don't do New Year resolutions, anymore, huh?

Clutter rehab : 101 tips and tricks to become an organization junkie and love it! / Laura Wittmann
With 101 quick-and-easy projects for organizing your bathroom, kitchen, closet and more, Clutter Rehab takes the stress out of home organizing. As you painlessly tackle piles of toys, stacks of paper and over-spilling drawers, you'll discover how to make de-cluttering your home an addictive pleasure.

Banish clutter forever : how the toothbrush principle will change your life / Sheila Chandra
A revolutionary system to help even the most disorganized person live in a state of clutter-free bliss, forever Why is it that even the most disorganized person never seems to lose their toothbrush? How can this simple fact solve all clutter problems? The Toothbrush Principle is a simple yet inspired approach to decluttering any home. Whether in a mansion or a one bedroom apartment, this book will teach readers how to organize according to the unconscious blueprint that naturally tidy people have, so that getting and staying organized is easy. Using this system, readers will learn what to throw away with confidence; how to set up a wardrobe to get much more use out of the clothes they already have; how to work from home productively in a clear, designated space; and how to tame their inbox! Step-by-step, room-by-room, those looking to lose their clutter will soon find that they hardly ever lose things, that massive clear-outs become a thing of the past, and that they never spend more than 10 minutes a day tidying up. Here is the key to stop drowning in piles of clutter and start creating space to live out the life of your dreams!

The clutter clinic : organise your home in seven days / Romaine Lowery
With much needed guidance on de-cluttering and reorganizing your home or office, this complete clinic is the much-needed answer that every muddled person has been waiting for! Practical, inspirational, and colorfully illustrated throughout, this guide to restoring order examines each room of the house individually, and includes unique ideas for recycling, labeling, color coding, and a whole range of space-enhancing tricks. There's even an extensive shopping directory of retailers, mail order companies, and websites that sell everything you need to get organized--from great storage options to dual-purpose furniture by new young designers. With strong before-and-after visuals, these easily achievable suggestions will simplify even the most overwhelming task.

Cut the clutter : speed your cleaning and calm the chaos / Cynthia Townley Ewer
Fighting a losing battle against clutter and mess? There's hope. There's help. You can win the chore wars! You're not lazy, you're not crazy - and you're not alone. Cynthia Townley Ewer gives you the skills to conquer clutter, clean your house and give yourself more time for the good things in life

No more clutter : how to clear your space and free your life / Sue Kay
Clutter affects us all: stressed time-poor professionals, couples rowing over their junk, older people with a lifetime's accumulated possessions, people working from home, growing families and people facing life changes such as divorce or bereavement. As we all consume and acquire more and more stuff, we feel increasingly overwhelmed by our possessions. No More Clutter is the ultimate guide to liberating ourselves from the tyranny of clutter. It has simple practical solutions to immediate problems as well as advice on tackling the challenge of staying clutter-free in the long term, by getting to grips with the psychology of hoarding and the ethical basis for simplifying our lives. With case studies which pinpoint common clutter triggers such as moving house or divorce and practical tips on everything from tidying the cutlery drawer to creating your ideal harmonious home, No More Clutter is the essential tool for streamlining your life.

Top 5 recommendations (as suggested by followers on our tweetstream)

2011-12-14T17:30:00.000+13:00

List by our twitter followers

"The qualities that make Twitter seem inane and half-baked are what makes it so powerful."
– Jonathan Zittrain

Twitter is not everybody's cup of tea, and nor should it be, but neither is it the demon that some people believe it is. Your own personal experience of twitter is all down to you. It is as meaningful as you make it. It is as much a business tool as you want it to be. It is as useful as you allow it to be. It can be as lighthearted or as serious as you are.It's a blank slate just begging to be utilised. And utilised properly. Personally, I find that it provides me with a wide range of curiosities, and I have some of my most interesting conversations there with both colleagues and customers. A few days ago, on our work tweetstream, I asked the following question: "Curious: If you had to recommend only one book (or film or album), what would it be? All answers welcome!" It's a question I love to ask people. Not because I think it tells me anything in particular about the person, or that I feel they could be defined by one book/cd/dvd. Life isn't always that simple, so I certainly don't think people would be. I just love the way it makes people think. I enjoy the way it makes me think and, as ever, it provides new reading/listening suggestions for me to try, and then pay forward by recommending to others. I had no preconceived ideas about the sorts of responses I'd get so, really, anything would have been a delightful surprise. In the end I received 5 answers, all of which were quite varied and hugely interesting, and make up this list.

By the way, if you had to recommend only one book (or film or album), what would it be? Come on, now! You should have *known* that I would ask that question :) Just a reminder that this post is a part of our 12 days of Christmas posts series that, hopefully, you're enjoying.

Answers that came in at 6th and 7th:

To kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee

The power of one by Bryce Courtenay

Year of wonders : a novel of the plague / Geraldine Brooks
This is the story of a young woman's struggle to save her family and her soul during the most extraordinary year of 1666, when plague suddenly visited a small Derbyshire village and the villagers, inspired by a charismatic preacher, elected to quarantine themselves to limit the contagion.

Reviewer comments:

"...Brooks keeps readers glued through starkly dramatic episodes and a haunting story of flawed, despairing human beings. This poignant and powerful account carries the pulsing beat of a sensitive imagination and the challenge of moral complexity" (Publishers Weekly)

"This is an excellently portrayed study of the wonder of human courage" (School Library Journal)

Follower comment: Year of Wonders: a novel of the plague. Geraldine Brooks. any of her work is good.

A short history of nearly everything / Bill Bryson
Bill Bryson describes himself as a reluctant traveller, but even when he stays safely in his own study at home, he can't contain his curiosity about the world around him. This book is his quest to understand everything that has happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization.

Reviews:

"...readers in the field will already have studied this information more in-depth in the originals and may find themselves questioning the point of a breakneck tour of the sciences that contributes nothing novel. Nevertheless, to read Bryson is to travel with a memoirist gifted with wry observation and keen insight that shed new light on things we mistake for commonplace" (Publishers Weekly)

"Reflecting his gift for making science comprehensible yet fun, he tells the story of the discoveries and the people that have shaped our understanding of the universe. Along the way, we meet some fascinating and eccentric scientists. Although Bryson clearly intends this book for general readers, subject specialists will also enjoy his wry takes" (Library Journal)

"It is not a reference book, and to use it as such would be a crime. This wonderful book is highly recommended as an inspiration to budding scientists and those who spend moments wondering about the world around them" (CHOICE Magazine)

"To those acquainted with the popular-science writing Bryson has digested, his repackaging is a trip down memory lane, but to his fellow science-phobes, Bryson' s tour has the same eye-opening quality to wonder and amazement as his wildly popular travelogues" (Booklist)

Follower comment: Bill Bryson's 'A short history of nearly everything,' illustrated edition. I learnt so much reading it.

Freakangels series [graphic novel] / story Warren Ellis ; artwork Paul Duffield
Twenty-three years ago, twelve strange children were born in England at exactly the same moment. Six years ago, the world ended. Today, eleven strange 23-year-olds live in and defend Whitechapel, maybe the last real settlement in flooded London. When a dazed, gun-toting girl appears on the outskirts with a deadly grudge against the self-proclaimed Freakangels, the kids realize that an old enemy is still alive beyond the safety of their borders... a twelfth psychic child, evil and exiled, who can program human minds to hate, and send his private, pirate armies into Whitechapel for revenge. The first chapter in award-winning author Warren Ellis' post-apocalyptic web comic series!

Follower comment: Warren Ellis' Freakangels series - not only was it a thing of beauty in the library hardbacks, he released it online weekly.

Ready player one : a novel / Ernest Cline
It's the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place. Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets. And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune - and remarkable power - to whoever can unlock them. For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday's riddles are based in the pop culture he loved - that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday's icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes's oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig. And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle. Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt - among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life - and love - in the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.

Reviewer comments:

"The science fiction, video game, technology, and geeky musical references pile up quickly, sometimes a bit much so, but sweet, self-deprecating Wade, whose universe is an odd mix of the real past and the virtual present, is the perfect lovable/unlikely hero" (Publishers Weekly

"Verdict: Despite some flaws, this debut is a great geek beach book, an unapologetic romp with brains and style" (Library Journal)

"Mind-twisting settings, nail-biting action, amusing banter, and unabashed sentiment make for a smart and charming Arthurian tale that will score high with gamers, fantasy and sf fans, and everyone else who loves stories of bumbling romance and unexpected valor. With a movie version in the works, Cline's imaginative, rollicking, coming-of-age geek saga has a smash-hit vibe" (Booklist)

Follower comment: "ready player one" by Ernie cline (I think) awesome if you're a gamer!!

Beak of the moon / Philip Temple
In the remote valley of Kawee, the timeless world of the kea is suddenly disrupted when strange wingless birds appear. The destruction they bring causes hardship and corruption to kea society and forces young Strongbeak to flee the tyrannical boss Highfeather. Inspired by the prophecies of the great yellow kea, Glintamber, Strongbeak leads a group of rebellious young birds in a quest for a new world beyond the mountains. Sequel to Dark of the Moon.

5 books full to the brim with Christmas craft projects for kids.

2011-12-13T08:15:00.008+13:00

List by Tosca

"He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree."
- Roy L. Smith

As a kid, my mum always had a roll of butcher paper, a container of crayons, colouring pencils, felts, various craft supplies and books full of craft ideas for all sorts of occasions. She would often tell us they were for rainy day activities and, seeing as how we lived in Wellington, there was certainly no shortage of those. Mum has always preferred homemade presents over store bought ones and, over the years, it's something I've been a bit wary about. I find it easier to to buy something than agonise over making something. Weirdly now, as an adult (or a pseudo-adult, anyway), I've found that it's something I'd like to go back to. So for those of you with children (sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, grandchildren) who're hoping to find some craft ideas to work on, look no further: 5 books full to the brim with Christmas craft projects for kids! (Although we do have screeds more titles if you need more ideas - I'm never sure in this instance whether 'less is more' or not).

123 Christmas / words and recipes by Jocelyn Miller ; photography by John Williams ; illustration by Richard Deverell
Decorations, gifts, greetings cards, thank you notes...Whether you like to snip or stick or stitch or stir, this book is a cornucopia of quick and clever things to make at Christmas. Each of these 16 crafts can be achieved in just 1 2 3 steps, with each step explained in easy-to-follow diagrams. Crafts include: Christmas angels, jolly holly vases, cards to keep, brilliant bags, surprise cracker gifts, simple stockings, Christmas pudding truffles, pyramid boxes, snowball cakes, a note of thanks and peppermint creams. Ages 8+

The good green Christmas / words and crafts by Christina Goodings ; photographs by John Williams ; illustration by Adrian Barcla
Reduce, reuse, recycle! This craft activity book contains clear illustrated step-by-step guides for making a whole range of Christmas crafts and decorations, encouraging children to think about ways to celebrate the season without squandering resources or adding to landfill. Cards, decorations, gifts, giftwrap - all these can be produced simply, stylishly, and recyclably - often with reused, reusable or natural materials. Ages 9+

Big fun Christmas crafts & activities : over 200 quick & easy activities for holiday fun! / by Judy Press ; illustrated by Sarah Cole
For ages 3-7. Little hands will flourish as the author shows that creative expression, learning fun and respect for others can be the themes of engaging Christmas activities. Acts of Kindness encourage kids to do what comes naturally -- giving, caring and thinking of others at this special time of year. Quick and Easy sections provide simpler yet similar activities and crafts for younger children to do in shorter timer periods. Other sections include Waiting Games, Activities and Games Range, Light up the Night.

Christmas crafts from around the world / written by Judy Ann Sadler ; illustrated by June Bradford
Presents traditional Christmas customs, crafts, and recipes from various countries around the world. Suggested level: primary, intermediate.

Reviewer comment:

"A worthy addition to holiday craft collections." (School Library Journal)

"Though the projects have child-appeal, the instructions lack detail, supplies are not always well defined (dowel, skein), and the illustrations would be more helpful if they included labels" (The Horn Book)

"The tone is enthusiastic, and the attractive design, with an illustrated double-page spread for each project, will invite kids to give it a try. Another successful entry in the stellar Kids Can Do It series." (Booklist)

Fun-to-make crafts for Christmas / Tom Daning
From homemade ornaments to special Christmas gifts, this book has plenty of fun projects to make the holidays festive.

Reviewer comment:

"...the variety of projects, necessary materials, and skill levels will make these useful" (The Horn Book)

"Only a few of the projects have simple instructional sketches, and since the photograph of each project shows only the end result, some kids may not be able to visualize how to achieve the cute doily snowflakes or tissue Christmas tree..." (Booklist)