Top 5 most requested crime/mystery novels for November 2012

"Nobody reads a mystery to get to the middle. They read it to get to the end. If it's a letdown, they won't buy anymore. The first page sells that book. The last page sells your next book."
- Mickey Spillane

Introduction here. Or, better yet, an 'introduction here' that would have actually been an introduction. Due to ISP issues (saying it was connected but absolutely was not connecting - oh, interwebs, I thought you'd deserted me) this post published minus an introduction *sigh* And, as a result, I had to race into a local library (Otara Library you are full of win) to pop in and finish it. Only now I can't remember what it was that I wanted to actually write. It would have been EPIC, though. So I'm going to shush my face (as Mr2 says) and let you at the list: Top 5 most requested crime/mystery novels for November 2012.   If you get a chance make sure to check out what our most popular library books were for this year!  

5 books that make up my second attempt at Spine Poetry

Falling together
Circus of ghosts
Of love and evil
Miss Fuller
Twice kissed
- Tosca, but not really - read the post and you'll see what I mean

Spine poetry. What is it? Take the spines of books and make poems out of them. It really *is* that simple. And how can you avoid it? You can't. Not if you're reading this blog, anyway. Congratulations - you're my first captives :) Most days I have books lying around on my desk waiting for me to review them, add them to a blog post, finish reading them or, sometimes, remember that they're there. Yesterday, in a moment of whimsy, I decided to try my hand at Spine Poetry...and spent a couple of minutes frowning, shuffling, frowning some more, re-arranging, and (you guessed it) frowning again. Finally, I decided I had a poem bad enough to share. What do the books have in common? Nothing, really, except two things: they were on my desk, and they're all fiction. Et voilà! 5 books that make up my second attempt at Spine Poetry. The first of which you can find on our tweetstream (complete with pic) here.

Top 5 most requested items for April 2012

"If we didn't have libraries, many people thirsty for knowledge would dehydrate."
- Megan Jo Tetrick

So, the other day I tweeted the fact that our copy (yes, I daftly used the word 'copy' instead of 'copies') of The Hunger Games had a large number of requests and, well, our tweetstream exploded. A lot of what came through were very funny responses suggesting that we buy more than one copy to go round *clears throat* because I had crazily made it sound like we only have one :/ Rookie mistake that I won't be making again. All of which culminated in an article with the NZ Herald. Yeah so it'll be a wee while before I do *that* again *sigh* A few people even suggested we manage the request list with death matches. I'd quickly like to point out that umm we won't. The reason I relate this story is because the book in question - indeed, the entire series - features in top spots for today's list. And so, this being the time that I write my monthly 'Top 5 most requested items' post, I'm feeling a little bit leery and hoping that the blog doesn't explode (implode?) in much the same way. Here are *she says hesitantly* our top 5 most requested items for April 2012.

Top 5 most requested items for January 2012

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!

Top 5 deadly summer reads

List by Danielle

'Every young person should have one summer they look back on for the rest of their lives.'
From The poison tree, by Erin Kelly

Summer can be terrifying. Anyone contemplating wearing a pair of togs in public knows and understands this. But! There are actually far more reasons to fear summer than not looking like Jessica Alba in a bikini (or Daniel Craig in speedos). If you're looking for something a bit suspenseful to read over the holidays, the books below all feature long, hot summer days that mark turning points in the lives of their unlucky characters. The stories that follow lure you in as the narrators gradually pick apart the threads of that one crucial day, and you begin to make sense of the echoes that have chased them down the years.

Top 5 most requested titles for September 2011

List by Natalie and Tosca

"Lord! when you sell a man a book you don't sell just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue - you sell him a whole new life. Love and friendship and humour and ships at sea by night - there's all heaven and earth in a book, a real book."
- Christopher Morley

Kia ora and gidday! October has arrived, people :) Before I offer up our Goodies list - top 5 most requested titles for September 2011 - I want to take a few minutes to point out some new content on our library website that YOU WILL LOVE OR ELSE.

Have you checked out our New Titles page, yet? It has, quite quickly, become my most favourite page on our entire website). Our new lists are updated monthly (the first day of every month, to be exact) and display over 100 categories of new adults, children and teens items. The lists consist of our newest books, CDs, DVDs, audio books, kids' material, large print, console games and non-English items. With such a wealth of new items to choose from you won't be disappointed. A big, Big, BIG thank you to Danielle, Julia and Natalie for all of the hard work that went into building these lists :) Try out the new section and let me know what you think of it!

Did you know that we've added new sections to our website? Our Collections and services section contains four in-depth portals for our blogs, computers, kids, and Maori services.

October is a very busy and exciting month that sees us celebrating Diwali, the Rugby World Cup 2011 and the school holidays. We're also hosting a number of author talks and presentations from personalities such as Margaret Pope, Spiro Zavos, Dr. Anna Sandiford, and John Dybvig. You can view all upcoming special events and regular programmes in the Events section of our website. Our What's On eNewsletter, edited by the wonderful Jo, provides a wonderful monthly summation of any and all upcoming events.

On to the top 5 most requested titles for September 2011: teen spies, Gods of Olympus, a New Zealand television personality, a book-turned-film set in Mississippi and the latest Jack Reacher novel. Happy reading!

Top 5 items I nicked from Manukau Library's new books trolley

List by Tosca

'I would never read a book if it were possible for me to talk half an hour with the man who wrote it.'
- Woodrow Wilson

When I'm in need of inspiration or timeout (not like the naughty corner/naughty step kind of time out, though) I sneak away downstairs and raid their collections or their new books trolley. I find that I am greatly in need of inspiration this month. Ordinarily, I am full of words that are clamouring to be given voice here in this blog, but August seems to be a solemn month for me. As a result I have posted very little. I spent some of the last couple of weeks fretting about how hard I'm finding it to write posts that are engaging and funny or even relevant. And then last night I decided to let it run its course. After all, it doesn't mean I love books any less :) So today I offer up a simple post that is less about my sense of humour and all about the books: top 5 books I nicked from Manukau Library's new books trolley that are well worth the mention. Many thanks to Shanta for letting me ooh and aah over the trolley and 'borrow' a stack of new books for the day.

My top 5 confessions about library items I've read/watched this week

List by Tosca

"Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it."
- P.J. O'Rourke

This list will not have much in the way of an introduction. It's a list of confessions - things these books/dvds made me think, do and/or feel. What have I learnt about myself? That I'm not a particularly complex person :)

Top 5 most requested titles for May 2011

List by Natalie, Tosca

"A good book is always on tap; it may be decanted and drunk a hundred times, and it is still there for further imbibement."
- Holbrook Jackson

Good morning, good morning! I'm hopped up on chocolate and so you're all wonderful, wonderful and the world is a beautiful, beautiful place where, apparently, I repeat everything twice, twice :) All chocolate-weirdness aside, it is a beautiful day. Rain or no. Just a quickie post for today where we list the top 5 most requested titles for May. And can I just say YAY to Jeff Kinney for having two junior fiction titles in the top 5 and 1 as an honourable mention!

Honourable mention:

Greg Heffley's journal by Jeff Kinney - Diary of a wimpy kid series, book 1

Belle by Lesley Pearse

The fifth witness : a novel by Michael Connelly - Mickey Haller series, book 4

Accidentally overweight : solve your weight loss puzzle by Libby Weaver - nonfiction

The villa girls by Nicky Pellegrino - NZ author

Top 5 crime fiction debuts I enjoyed because they were murder most foul done so well

List by Tosca

Please note: This top 5 list has been transferred across from our Manukau Libraries website.

"Thrillers are like life—more like life than you are ... it's what we've all made of the world."
- Graham Greene

I'm an armchair detective at heart, whether it's tv series or books I fancy myself as Sherlock Holmes. Only with rings, bracelets and a pair of pink tartan shoes. There are a number of crime fiction series that I enjoyed following at first, only after a while they became formulaic, and I carried on reading them for no other reason than loyalty. But sometimes...sometimes, a debut novel comes along and reminds you of how it should be done.

The books below are all debut novels that made rather a big impression on me for various reasons.

Top 5 most looked at Top 5 posts

List by Tosca

"Good taste is the excuse I have given for leading such a bad life."
- Oscar Wilde

Have you led such a bad life, readers? Do you have excellent taste in books, movies, music? Only time, and blogger's inbuilt stats tools, know :) I was poking around in the Stats section of our Top 5 blog and came across info displaying the most looked at pages...which translates into this fly-by posting of our top 5 most looked at Top 5 posts. Oy, what a mouthful! And you know what? They tell me next to nothing about your varied interests at all LOL You'll find a link to each of the separate posts below as well as their full introduction. Enjoy :P

Top 5 most requested fiction titles for August

List by Tosca

"Truth is so hard to tell, it sometimes needs fiction to make it plausible."
- Francis Bacon

You might've noticed that earlier this week I posted the Top 5 most requested DVDs during August.  I thought it'd be a nice idea to make this a regular monthly posting for DVDs, fiction, nonfiction, kids and teen titles.  If nothing else it's interesting to see what your fellow library-goers are enjoying.  It might also give you some ideas for what to read/see next.  So...enjoy our 'Top 5 most requested fiction titles for August' list :)

Top 5 audiobook trolley-finds

List by Tosca

"It's just different discipline, just doing the voice over..."
- Blair Underwood

A long-winded intro follows - you have been warned! Up until late last year I hadn't tried an audiobook since I was a kid. Those who know me (either IRL, via Twitter, my blog or Facebook) will know that to date my audiobook experiences have been fairly disastrous and nothing short of hilarious. I belong to an online reading group as well as an IRL one (IRL=in real life) and quite a few of them listen to audiobooks. Being a fairly genial sort of person, I decided to give them a whirl myself *blinks* That was probably my first mistake. I picked a romance novel *whistles* That was my second mistake. I chose an author whose work I knew inside out *winces* And that was my third mistake. What I should've done was worked up to it. Slowly.

Papakura Library guest post: Top 5 books or series that cause others to stare at you because you are laughing so much

List by Emily

“I will find humor in my everyday life by looking for people I can laugh at.”
- Anonymous

My last Top 5 list was on humorous films, and this time I’ve chosen five humourous books or series that in my opinion are sure to tickle your funny bone. The list has a variety of books that I have enjoyed, including two crime fiction series, two non-fiction series and a biography.

Top 5 titles I wanna, gotta, needa read/hear this month

List by Tosca

"I used to walk to school with my nose buried in a book."
- Coolio

I was one of those kids that walked to school with my nose buried in a book. I still do it now only these days I'm more likely to find myself buried in an ebook while walking to the bus stop. I did try paper books but what I read now is a heck of a lot bigger than what I read as a child and awfully hard to juggle while trying to walk at the same time. One thing that hasn't changed, though, is that crossing the road while reading is still a slight challenge :) Every month I have a haphazard reading list of some 20 plus titles I feel like I wanna, gotta, needa read/see/hear so the real challenge was narrowing down my top 5. Et voilà, after much heated discussion and argument (all with myself, I might add) here they are.

Agatha Christie's Top 5 Poirot novels

List by Karalisa

"If you are to be Hercule Poirot, you must think of everything."
- Agatha Christie

Chrisitie's detective fiction is perfect for those who prefer murder mystery with an emphasis on mystery rather than gruesome murder. The little Belgian man is one of my favourite detectives and below are some of the novels I enjoyed. I've chosen to include ones that also have graphic novels or DVDs as I love adaptations into different media. The graphic novel or DVD may be a great place to start and, if you like the storyline, delve into the novel as well.

My top 5 crime fiction series titles

List by Rongo

'Every man at the bottom of his heart believes that he is a born detective.'
- John Buchan

Tosca says: I asked my sister to list her top 5 crime fiction series titles - boy was that an undertaking! You should see the paper with the scribbles on it: authors were ordered and re-ordered, crossed and highlighted, crossed again and then ticked, notes were made in the margin and then scribbled over again...you get the point. Why? For the simple reason that my sister takes books seriously, and crime fiction even more so.

Top 5 titles I cannot bring myself to ever finish (for reasons logical and nonsensical)

List by Tosca

"It's never over till it's over."
- Proverb

Some books become your best friends. So much so that the thought of them ending is more than enough to cause a twinge of pain and panic. Then there are the books that are mind numbing and sleep inducing and you'd give anything to try to finish chapter one, nevermind the whole book. Oh yes, I went there! Here's my list of books I can't bring myself to finish for both good and bad reasons ;) Do you have a list like this? We'd love to hear from you! Simply leave your own version as a comment.



The Da Vinci code / Dan Brown
While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call. The elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum, a baffling cipher found near the body. As Langdon and a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, sort through the bizarre riddles, they are stunned to discover a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci - clues visible for all to see and yet ingeniously disguised by the painter. The stakes are raised when Langdon uncovers a startling link. The late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion - an actual secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others. Langdon suspects they are on the hunt for a breathtaking historical secret, one that has proven through the centuries to be as enlightening as it is dangerous. In a frantic race through Paris, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu find themselves matching wits with a faceless powerbroker who appears to anticipate their every move. Unless they can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle, the Priory's secret - and an explosive ancient truth - will be lost forever.

Tosca's note: B-O-R-I-N-G. I swear this book became my 'go to sleep' bedside book. If I couldn't rest then I'd yank this out and read it. Sure enough, two paragraphs in I'd be fast asleep. Never got past chapter 1 and I had it out for 2 months *winces* I did enjoy the movie, though. In fact, I've found that those who liked the book detested the movie and vice versa.


Eclipse [book 3 in the Twilight series] / Stephenie Meyer
As Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob - knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella has one more decision to make: life or death. But which is which?

Tosca's note: Oohh I'm not a fan of the Twilight series. I've read books 1 & 2 and the first few pages of book 3 and then given up. I'm usually a stickler for reading books before watching their movie adaptations but this is definitely one I'm going to pass over. Bella's whole co-dependency vibe is not my cup of tea.

Beyond reach [book 6 in the Grant County series] / Karin Slaughter
Sara Linton resident medical examiner/pediatrician in Grant County, Georgia, has plenty of hardship to deal with, including defending herself in a heartbreaking malpractice suit. So when her husband, Police chief Jeffery Tolliver, learns that his friend and coworker detective Lena Adams has been arrested for murder and needs Saras help, she is not sure she can handle the pressure of it all. But soon Sara and Jeffery are sifting through evidence, peeling back the layers of a mystery that grows darker by the day until an intricate web of betrayal and vengeance begins to unravel. And suddenly the lives of Sara, Lena, and Jeffery are hanging by the slenderest of threads.

OMG! What the heck was going on in Karin Slaughter's mind with this novel? Since Slaughter's debut (btw is that her real name because if it is it's fantastic and if it's not then it's a cheap marketing ploy that works really well) 'Blindsighted' I've followed every Grant County novel with almost fanatical devotion. Until this one! And it's my own darn fault. I'm an inveterate 'last page reader' and if any book was going to cure me of it then it would have been this book. Seriously, I read the ending *SPOILER ALERT AHEAD* saw that Jeffrey got blown up - WHAT THE HECK?! - and then, predictably enough, was shocked and teary eyed and then closed the book and refused to read it in its entirety. I liked Jeffrey Tolliver (literary crush, thing) and, now, I don't want to pick up that book ever again. It's my own fault for reading the ending first but wow, way to kill a buzz *sigh*

Inspector Morse : the remorseful day [DVD] / starring John Thaw & Kevin Whatley
Super sleuth, Inspector Morse has an ear for music, a taste for beer, and a nose for crime. He sets out with Sergeant Lewis to solve each intriguing case.

I'm a diehard Morse fan from way back and I was stoked to find that Manukau Libraries holds a copy of every single episode starring the very brilliant John Thaw. I worked my way through all of them and then got to the last one, figured out what was going on in the first few minutes, promptly burst into tears because it was so gosh darn sad and switched it off. Then I chucked the remote at the tv screen *wails* I'm not ready for it to end! EVER grr. One day, maybe, I will be but oohh I'm not convinced.

Curtain: Poirot's last case / Agatha Christie
Arthritic and immobilized, Hercule Poirot takes up his last case, relying on old friend Captain Hastings to be his eyes and ears as he hunts down the slipperiest criminal of his career.

Tosca's note: Hercule Poirot is my idol for the simple reason that he was all about symmetry and order. Having grown up in a household of 6 other siblings this was bliss. I started collecting Christie's novels from as early as 9 or 10 and, over time, lost copies. A few years ago an aunt gave me hardback copies of almost every book in the series, making it possibly one of the best birthday presents I ever received. I cannot bring myself to finish the last Poirot novel because I'm not ready for my lifelong love affair with Poirot to end just yet. Maybe, one day, I'll be ready to but I really don't think so.

Hmm, I've just realised, looking at these titles, that they're all crime.

Top 5 most requested titles for May 2010

List by Natalie

"Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it."
~ P.J. O'Rourke

The wonderful Natalie told me what our top 5 most requested titles were for May 2010. Two of them I expected (numbers 2 and 1) and the other 3 - seriously, what are you people reading? Kidding! Is there something slightly strange about us wanting to share what other people are requesting? Absolutely. Does that make you slightly voyeuristic for wanting to see what your fellow bibliophiles are reading? Sure does :) Enjoy.