Top 5 most requested items for February 2013

"Books are delightful society.  If you go into a room and find it full of books - even without taking them from the shelves they seem to speak to you, to bid you welcome." - William Ewart Gladstone

Bookishly speaking, I am an unabashed voyeur. I am forever curious about what people are reading. I don't care HOW they're reading. I'm not concerned about whether it's an eBook, eAudiobook, audiobook, printed book, or fanfiction. I'm not even fussed if it's Facebook updates, Twitter posts, blog posts or gaming. I rejoice in the fact that people ARE reading. I'm not at all snobby about it. The alternative is just too sad to comptemplate, and I feel like we would all lose in that instance. So lists like this - our top 5 most requested items for February 2013 - are, to me, like peeking through someone's underwear drawer, you know? Literary voyeurism. It's a thing. And I'm wholly unrepentant about knowing what some of you are reading.

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 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 DVDs I kid myself I'm actually going to have time to watch while on annual leave

List by Tosca

"The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder."
- Alfred Hitchcock

I'm on annual leave this coming week and I have a stack of cookbooks and fiction (romance, murder mysteries, historical fiction, steampunk etc.) to keep me more than amused. Between that and catching up with mum, seeing dad in hospital, visiting my grandaunts in Kaitaia (my mum's Ngai Takoto and that's where her dad's from), catching kaimoana and trying to soak up the sun (without catching sunstroke which I've never yet managed to do), I'm sure I'll have more than enough to do. But just in case I don't, I'm taking 5 DVDs with me. I sternly told myself that five was my limit and that none of them were allowed to be Supernatural season one, Supernatural season two, Supernatural season three, Supernatural season four or Supernatural season five. (My obsession with Dean and Sam Winchester borders on the obsessive/possessive). It was touch and go for a moment as to whether or not I'd cave and take them, anyway :) My final selection is a combination of movies and tv shows. I figure I'll try the first episode in each series, that way if I can't stand them then no harm no foul. Just a quick list.

Top 5 most requsted Auckland Libraries titles as of right this minute

List by Tosca

"This nice and subtle happiness of reading, this joy not chilled by age, this polite and unpunished vice, this selfish, serene life-long intoxication."- Logan Pearsall Smith

Here's a first for me: a nice, short and uncomplicated post that is, very simply, the top 5 most requested Auckland Libraries titles as of right this minute! I'm not quite vicarious about other people's reading habits (ok, maybe I am a little) but I do like to stalk the 'Recently Returned' shelves and trolleys. I have this idea that if other people have read these books they must be fantastic...of course, they may be terrible in which case that's why they've been returned. I'm almost 100% certain that 'terrible' is *not* the case with these titles below :)