News Blog @ Wellington City Libraries

This month the focus is on water sports in our selection of recent sport and recreation books at Wellington City Libraries. Get a first-hand guide to sea-kayaking, share the thrilling stories of extreme surfers, or learn more about sailing in time for a (hopefully) hot Wellington summer. Our November selection will help you do all this and more. Also included this month: items dealing with the hot new version of poker – Texas Hold’em – as well as more traditional games like chess. Plus, discover in more detail a whole variety of sports including cycling, marathon running, basketball and even Bruce Lee’s own combat system, Jeet Kune Do. And if you’re interested in tramping, hunting or skiing in New Zealand, make sure to check out this month’s Sport and Fitness Recent Picks.

This month’s selection of New Zealand non-fiction will wet your appetite for the subjects covered! Topics this month include Kiwi cooking, leadership, the Kiwi brogue, New Zealand wildlife, and much more… Interested in the subject of leadership? Don’t miss Christine Rankin’s Light the flame – a distilled account of her views on leadership, activism and effectiveness, and the lessons she’s learned over her years in the public spotlight. Also this month, discover what the Swinging Sixties were really like in New Zealand and find out exactly what the impact of this decade was on our society. New Zealand history in general is covered in our selection, plus we also feature several books that focus on the New Zealand cooking tradition. And if New Zealand ecology interests you, you’ll find items that deal with climate change, wildlife and the NZ Geographic – all in this month’s New Zealand Recent Picks.

There’s something for every gardener and decorator in our selection of recent home and garden books this month! If your garden is climatically challenged and you’re having trouble persuading anything to grow in it, check out Great plants for tough places. Also in our recent picks this month, books on growing plants for use in the kitchen, designing a Zen garden, and getting new ideas for other types of garden – even minimalist ones. We’ve also included books that will help you decorate the house and transform your home into an ecological and sustainable haven. If you can’t wait to check these books out, visit this month’s Home and Garden Recent Picks.

Have you ever wondered about alternative ways to travel? With all the talk about our carbon footprints, why not avoid planes and discover destinations off the beaten path with Flightless? Or, if you have a thirst for unusual, controversial and even dangerous holidays, go atomic and visit nuclear plants and other radioactive locations. Another option would be to go into the wild and visit Central Asia for some adventure tourism, or go to Dixieland and get acquainted with the American Deep South and its inhabitants. You could also choose to cycle along the Danube through Bavaria and Austria, discover the Mediterranean or simply decide that there is no better place to explore than home in this month’s Travel Recent Picks.

Wellington writer Jenny Pattrick has been awarded the $100,000 New Zealand Post Mansfield Prize. This pestigious award covers her travel and living expenses for six months in France with time to be spent at the Villa Isola Bella in Menton, the south of France, where between 1919 and 1920, Katherine Mansfield lived and wrote. Previous winners include, Lloyd Jones (1989), Maurice Gee (1992) and Damien Wilkins (2008).

Jenny Pattrick is best known for her historical novels, The Denniston Rose (2003), Heart of Coal ( 2004) and Catching the Current (2005 ). Her latest work, Landings, is another historical fiction this time set along the Whanganui River.

Do you find yourself fascinated by the world’s different religions? Get your questions about different world religions answered in our selection of recent religion books this month. Want to know what locations are considered significant to the different world religions? You need The Atlas of sacred and spiritual sites. Has Hinduism always intrigued you? Our picks this month include a beginner’s guide to Hinduism. Interested in Christianity? Our selection includes a wide range of books on different aspects of this subject, including: Mary Magdalene and her role in the times of Jesus, Christian prayers, theology, ethics and doctrines, and the crisis of the Church. You can even earn about how Christian saints misbehaved, before they were canonized. And if the history of the Qu’ran and Islam interest you, make sure you check out this month’s Religion & Beliefs Recent Picks.

There are so many picks to choose from in our selection this month that you’ll find it difficult to make up your mind what to borrow! Topics include: French ghosts, ghouls & haunted locations, the history of banana imports, how to take an idea and start your own business around it, the history of fair trade, and a glimpse at how American Muslim women live their lives. Also included this month, books about vehicles that run on green fuel, climate change and land tenure in New Zealand, energy management, international relations, privacy issues and how to be a domestic goddess (not!), plus a history of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Want to know why you should always go to bed on an argument? Interested in an account of a Chicago murder trial during the roaring twenties? Check out this month’s Popular Non-Fiction Recent Picks.

Do you feel your life is as bitter as a lemon? Then Get a life that doesn’t suck by following ten pieces of advice that will allow you to enjoy life to the full. In this month’s self-help selection, we feature dating tips, a manual to help you take charge of your life, and an anti-”nice girl” guide. Whether you are a dad, a husband, a daughter or a mum, Daughters and their dads can help build bridges and heal relationships, and is a great guide to raising beautiful girls from the inside-out. Lastly, if you are interested in making the most of your senior years, or in piercing the secret of meditation, check out this month’s Personal Development Recent Picks.

There will be blood
Daniel Day Lewis is the finest actor of our generation and ‘There Will be Blood’ is his finest work. His portrayal of a man, lacking in any greater social conscience, and his inevitable self-destruction is flawless. Director and screenwriter Paul Thomas Anderson has crafted a masterpiece here, massive in scope, yet intimate in every detail, the story of Daniel Plainview’s assent as an oil prospector and his moral decline is magnificent. Every facet of the film, from the sets to the costumes, the cinematography to the scenery, is all so expertly handled it’s breathtaking. The script is rich in painful nuance and foreboding doom, yet its finest detail is perhaps its minimalism, not much is said, but what is said is interwoven with scene upon scene of such expertly constructed film it is a wonder to behold. With a sublime soundtrack from Radiohead’s Johnny Greenwood this stark tale of spiritual corruption is worthy of repeated viewing. (Craig)

More reviews can be found on our Popular Topics: Movies page.

American writer Michael Crichton has died after a long battle with cancer aged 66. He was a man of many talents, being a medical doctor, an author, film producer, film director , screenplay writer and television producer. He is best known for his science fiction and techno-thriller novels, selling over 150 million copies. The movies of his novels, Jurassic Park and its sequel The Lost World,  had huge global success. His first novel was published under his pseudonym John Lange, which he used until 1972, along with the name Jeffrey Hudson. He also wrote and directed 8 movies and created the popular television series ER, writing the first three episodes. Michael Crichton had strong views on global warming, which he expressed in his penultimate novel State of Fear published in 2004. His last novel Next was a futurist suspense thriller about scientific discoveries.