Yes we are open today.

Click here to find out the library opening hours for this week.

Normal hours resume on Friday 2 January 2009.

Books to give this Christmas

Are you struggling with last minute Christmas presents? Why not choose a book for that special someone? Here are some suggestions carefully selected by our librarians:

Cookery & travel
Maggie’s Harvest & Maggie’s Kitchen both by Maggie Beer
Nigella Christmas : food, family, friends, festivities by Nigella Lawson
In the kitchen : more than 1000 recipes for everyday by Allan Campion and Michele Curtis
Venezia : food & dreams by Tessa Kiros
Fire : a world of flavours by Christine Mansfield
Lonely Planet's Best in travel 2009 edition
The big trip by George Dunford

Crime and mystery
Private patient by P. D. James
A brass verdict Michael Connelly
A most wanted man by John Le Carre
Moscow rules by Daniel Silva
Girl with the dragon tattoo by Stieg Larrsson
Girl who played with fire by Stieg Larrsson
The Birthday present by Barbara Vine
Cross country by James Patterson
The Charlemagne pursuit by Steve Berry

Biographies
Churchill and Australia by Graham Freudenberg.
Manning Clark : a life by Brian Matthews
Gough Whitlam : a moment in history : the biography. volume 1 by Jenny Hocking.

Cricket biographies
True colours : my life by Adam Gilchrist
Captain's diary 2008 : a season of tests, turmoil and twentytwenty by Ricky Ponting and Geoff Armstrong

Science & Non-fiction
Reading the OED : one man, one year, 21 730 pages by Ammon Shea
Sex sleep eat drink dream : a day in the life of your body by Jennifer Ackerman
The brain that changes itself : stories of personal triumph from the frontiers of brain science by Norman Doidge
Two kinds of decay by Sarah Manguso
Like I give a frock : fashion forecasts and meaningless misguidance by Chloe Quigley and Daniel Pollock, illustrations by Kat Macleod
I was told there’d be cake by Sloane Crosley
The really useful grandparents' book by Eleo Gordon and Tony Lacey

Gardening
Contemporary Australian garden design : secrets of leading garden designers revealed by John Patrick and Jenny Wade.
Australian gardens for a changing climate by Jenna Reed Burns; photographer Simon Griffiths.
One magic square : grow your own food on one square metre by Lolo Houbein.

Literature and Australian fiction
The lieutenant by Kate Grenville
Wanting by Richard Flanagan
The boat by Nam Le
The rip by Robert Drewe
Vertigo : a pastoral by Amanda Lohrey
The slap by Christos Tsiolkas

Reading my way through the year

Emma, a Community Outreach Officer at the Boroondara Libraries set herself a herculean task in 2008.

She decided that she would attempt to read her way through 50 books from January to December (with two weeks to wind-down from all that literature). She had some titles which she had wanted to read for some time, otherwise it was a mixed selection: long, short, deep or light reading. Her choice of books did not require that she read a book a week but rather whatever took her fancy or came to her attention via reviews or suggestions from friends, library colleagues or by serendipity when she saw something interesting while working at the circulation desk.

As we approach Christmas, Emma has just finished the 48^th book. Some of her favourite reads this year include: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen; Unpolished Gem by Alice Pung; The Ghost’s Child by Sonya Hartnett; Gould’s Book of Fish by Richard Flanagan; The Marchesa by Simonetta Agnello Hornby (translated from Italian); Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn; and In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O’Brien.

The process of reading 50 books was not hard for Emma. However a book that did not live up to her expectations, or was a reading experience that was too intense, slowed her down.

Emma enjoyed this project. She does not think she would do it again; it puts pressure on a person as a reader and it simply takes time to read and digest some books properly. Slow reading and thinking about what an author is trying to achieve is important, as is having time to let a book linger in your mind for some time after you have finished it.

Yes, there are still two books to go for Emma to complete her task. Will she get there???? Stay tuned.

Happy holiday reading and perhaps you can make it your New Year’s Resolution to follow Emma and set the goal of 50 books for 2009. Start a list, visit the Boroondara Library Service where you will find a great range of fiction and non-fiction to motivate you … and start reading!

Poet Dorothy Porter dies at age 54

Dorothy Porter died this morning from complications due to cancer. She was one of Australia’s best known and most loved poets. Dorothy wrote five crime thriller fiction books that were in poetry verse instead of prose. She also wrote many collections of poetry in which she experimented with her craft and took the medium of poetry to new levels. Her style is short, sexy, and forthright. She was a ground-breaking and award-winning poet, a brilliant speaker, a passionate author, and an outspoken defender of writers and authors.

Her most recent publication, El Dorado was shortlisted for Dinny O'Hearn Poetry Prize (Age Book of the Year Award), the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, the Prime Minister's Literary Award for Fiction, and Best Fiction in the Ned Kelly Awards.

I heard her talk for the first time at a writer’s festival in Brisbane about ten years ago. Unlike many poets, Dorothy knew how to deliver her poems with punch. She was impressive. I can still hear her voice as I read her books.

If you have not read her books try searching the library catalogue using the words Dorothy Porter. Her crime thriller fiction in verse include:
El Dorado
Wild Surmise
What a piece of work
The Monkey’s Mask
Akhenaten

The Walkleys

The Walkleys are awards in the field of journalism and this year a couple of interesting non-fiction books have been given awards.

Don Watson has won the non-fiction writing award for American Journeys. In the category of Coverage of Indigenous Affairs, Last drinks : the impact of the Northern Territory intervention by Paul Toohey has won.

Both of these books are available through the library catalogue.

Kew Library Closed 8th December

Just a reminder that the Kew Library will be closed on Monday the 8th December for electrical works.

All of our other branches will be open as usual. Loaned items will still be able to be returned through the after-hours chutes.

We apologise for any inconvenience this closure may cause.

To contact one of the other libraries just call 9278 4666.