Top 5 most requested items for June 2012

"Let us read and let us dance - two amusements that will never do any harm to the world."
- Voltaire

Books! The topic of today's post. To be specific, our most popular books. What are they? A teen trilogy (seriously, the entire trilogy is on this list), a New Zealand novel (yay Emily Perkins!) and a 'lewd' first novel (published fanfic). I'd like to quickly point out that the term 'lewd' isn't mine, it belongs to this NZ Herald article. In my mind, the label is right up there with 'Mummy Porn.' Seriously, no wonder my fellow fanfic readers/writers and romance readers are leery of mainstream media. The whole Fifty Shades kerfuffle has not been handled well *winces* Make sure to visit the Top 5 blog again tomorrow because, hey, lewd books - we haz 'em, and I'll be highlighting 5. And, no doubt, rolling out a Cranky McRanty Pants post to go with them. For now: Top 5 most requested items for June 2012.

Top 5 New Zealand titles

List by Josie

'Though methods of warfare have changed, the military machine remains essentially the same; and the record of my own battle against that machine, on behalf of my fellow humans, is therefore relevant to this time also.'

~ Archibald Baxter, Preface to the 2003 edition of 'We will not cease'

Another in our series of posts celebrating New Zealand Book Month, here we present Josie's favourite NZ titles of all time. Josie works in the South Auckland Research Library as an Assistant Reference Librarian.

Top 5 NZ fiction recommendations

List by ex-Manukau Research Library and Central Services staff

'I have always known that in another life I was - or will be - a dolphin. I am a pink human, caught in a net of ambition and years of hard work. In a few minutes I will dive into artificially turquoise water waiting at my feet. A minute later I'll either be ecstatic or a failure.'
~ From 'Alex', Tessa Duder

In honour of New Zealand Book Month, I put out a call for votes for top reads by New Zealand authors, and here are the favourite fiction picks from my neighbouring librarians. I decided not to number them because I would have had to have asked the librarians in question to duke it out for rankings (though I have a sneaking suspicion that Jolene's passion for the Alex quartet may have taken out top spot, so's you know)...

Top 5 reads for my NZ Book Month challenge

List by Tosca

"No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting."
- Mary Wortley Montagu

I don't read a lot of NZ authors as an adult. As a child, yes. As a teen, absolutely. As an adult - very, very few. If I see an NZ sticker on the spine in the library I tend to wince and move on. The 3 most recent NZ books I read were Mr. Pip by Lloyd Jones, The 10pm question by Kate de Goldi and Ruined: a novel by Paula Morris and those were well over a year ago. It was while reading 'Ruined' that I realised I'd become an NZ-book bigot and, really, my reason for being so wasn't good enough: I don't identify with a lot of NZ books. Which sounds totally daft because, as some of you know, I edit our romance newsletter and there's no way in Hades I identify with a Greek gazillionaire tycoon nor an impossible virgin secretary. Maybe, then, it's that I identify too much with NZ characters. I don't read romance stories with Maori or African-Americans because the character voices - and the possibilities - would feel too much like I was looking into my sibling's backyard. That would strike too close to home. And I think I'd prefer to have it all one giant step removed.

A year or two ago I set an NZ book challenge and lost focus halfway through. This year I plan to step outside my comfort zone (or maybe step back into it, I'm not totally sure yet) and pick 5 books across kids, teens and adults (fiction and nonfiction) and read them all for this year's NZ Book Month. The hardest part of setting this challenge has been choosing the books. Remember, it's been years since I've really read anything NZ-ish that hadn't been picked by our branch book club so I had no clue where to start. In the end I looked up a mix of book award finalists and winners from the Montana Book Awards,NZ Post Children's Book Awards and the NZ Post Book Awards - and so I offer up a jumbled mishmash of all.

I'm already partway through my Top 5 NZ Book Month challenge and, so far so good! Touch wood it stays this way. This month could either be really interesting. Or really awful. I'm about to find out. There are no re-reads on this list - everything is a first-time read for me. Almost as if I were an impossible virgin secretary about to meet a Greek gazillionaire tycoon but yet not.

Top 5 books I hope never to read again in their entirety

List by Tosca

"Feelings are the universal language and are to be honored. They are the authentic expression of who you are at your deepest place."
- Judith Wright

Sometimes the way I react to books isn't necessarily about how well-written or solid the storyline is. More often than not it's to do with how the book makes me feel or what kind of reaction it evokes. For example, Andrew Davidson's 'Gargoyle' was exceptionally well-written and yet it didn't move me. I admired the skill and the talent it took to write the novel but had no feeling or empathy whatsoever for the characters involved. I saw myself more as an interested observer. Then, earlier this year, I read 'The arrival' by Shaun Tan and immediately felt like I had a personal connection to the story, which is weird because I'm NZ Maori and this is my homeland. I know no other country, unlike the father who sets off to make a home for his family to join him. There's no rhyme or reason or even method to my madness, I only know that there are definite books I don't enjoy other than in a technical sense. There are also titles I hope to never read again in their entirety. My reasons are nothing to do with logic and all about my own personal prejudice and bias...and the top 5 of those are listed below.