News Blog @ Wellington City Libraries

Are you bored with your teapot? Do you find it dull and lacking fantasy? This month’s selection can help with Tea Cosies and Wild Tea Cosies which provide you with patterns and design ideas to make your teapot the talk and envy of all your friends. Our selection also offers you a variety of books about interior decoration with second-hand, vintage, and eco furniture and fabric. And on the outdoors front, you can learn to apply permaculture (following nature’s pattern) to your garden, you can get an idea about what it is like to live in floating houses, and you can add colour to your garden with all sorts of mosaics. And if you are interested in self-sufficiency in London, and a take on Nature from two different Kiwi gardeners, check out this month’s Home & Gardening Recent Picks.

Do you want to know what our Collection Development Team has been up to during the weeks leading up to Christmas? Well, just check out their selection this month! First featured is an iconic and too soon departed artist who wrote some of the most famous songs of the twentieth century, find out about him in John Lennon: the life. Other items deal with Deluxe interior decoration – especially bedrooms, plus parenting, how making business fun makes it successful, and the life of Cheeta, Tarzan’s sidekick. If you want to know how ancient world artefacts have made their way into Western museums, or if you are a seafood, Maori food (kai), or cheese lover, check out this month’s Buyer’s Choice.

Lonely hearts. ‘Lonely Hearts’ is the sort of solid Hollywood entertainment that slips under the radar. Set in the 1940s it tells the true story of the notorious ‘Lonely Hearts’ killers Martha Beck & Raymond Fernandez (played by Jared Leto & Selma Hayek) who preyed on single women, milking them of their savings & ultimately killing them. Tracking them are two blue collar cops Elmer ‘Buster’ Robinson (played by John Travolta) & his partner Charles Hilderbrandt (played by James Gandolfini). Scarred by the unexplained suicide of his wife, Travolta’s character becomes obsessed with linking the suicide of a beautiful young widow with a confidence scam preying on lonely people who place ads in the newspapers ‘Lonely Hearts’ columns; and together with his partner sets out to bring the confidence artists to justice, uncovering along the way a bloody trail of victims. Travolta is suitably anguished, and the 40’s milieu is convincingly recreated, but full credit goes to Leto & especially Hayek with her chilling portrait of the cold-blooded Martha. Written & directed by Todd Robinson, the grandson of the character played by John Travolta, and the accompanying feature has him recalling memories of his grandfather.”

See more library staff DVD reviews for December on the WCL Movies page.

Whoever said postcards were only for holiday greetings? Designers use them extensively for promotion and advertising, and you can see some of the best of this medium in Postcard. If you are interested in CD and vinyl covers art, check out 1,000 music graphics, or Foundations of Art & Design if you are a beginner in this field. Fashion is also covered in this month’s selection with a book devoted to the work of photographer Tim Walker, another on the history of street fashion pictures, and one about the common ground shared by Fashion and Architecture. And if you are into sneakers or trainers, don’t forget to check out Art and Sole in this month’s Design Recent Picks.

You are spoiled for choice in this month’s Management selection at Wellington City Libraries. Do you have a job interview lined up? Whether you are the interviewer or the one being interviewed, you can be at the top of your game with Acing the interview and Successful interviewing and recruitment. We also have a number of books dealing with successful leadership, innovation through collaboration and sharing, and the 80/20 principle (or how to achieve more with less). Finally, if you want to know how to best deal with redundancy, how to best prepare for an MBA, and how to best market for women, check out this month’s Management Recent Picks.

Borrow a free audio tour to help you find your way around the Central Library and our collection – it’s easy! The self-guided audio tours are available at the Information Desk on the Ground Floor. We have the tour on MP3 players you can borrow and it will soon be downloadable from our library website, for listening whenever you want.

James Crumley, the hard boiled American crime writer has died aged 68. He was a much acclaimed novelist, who published only seven private eye novels. His detectives were often drug-infused, alcohol-soaked, violent and enjoyed the use of profanities, but all were likeable, complex characters, that reflected some of their creator’s life experiences. His first published novel in 1969, was his only non-detective novel titled, One to Count Cadence. The Last Good Kiss published in 1988, was considered by most to be his best novel. The Right Madness was his last work published in 2005. He was divorced four times and is survived by his fifth wife.

Fiction writer and poet Emma Neale has been awarded the NZ Authors’ Janet Frame Memorial Award. This award is offered to a mid-career writer to assist in furthering their writing career. Emma is the daughter of well known fiction writers and editors Barbara Else and Chris Else and was born in Dunedin, where she still lives. She received her PhD from University College, London. Night Swimming, her first novel was published in 1998 and Sleeve-notes, her first collection of poetry was published in 1999. She has published three other novels, with Relative Strangers the most recent. Her most recent collection of poetry, Spark, was published early this year.

Get the next best thing to a Christmas cooked by Nigella by following her recipes in her latest book Nigella Christmas. We have plenty of books in this month’s selection dealing with the festive season and how to entertain your guests with stunning table decorations and delicious recipes. Our selection also includes items on catering, the best food in Melbourne, and Italian cooking, as well as books on chocolate, cheese and cooking with fat. Gordon Ramsay also contributes with hearty recipes, and you can find out a lot about New Zealand wine and food in this month’s Cooking Recent Picks.

Our non-fiction selection this month covers a wide range of subjects – and of course Christmas couldn’t be left out! In The curious world of Christmas, you’ll learn about the origins of this festive event and the recipes, songs and stories that turn this time into a special celebration. Also in our non-fiction selection this month: read all about how radioactivity helps scientists to measure the age of things; learn about controversies in anthropology; discover the new computer revolution, democracy in Northern Europe, the different faces of bravery, and how worldwide events affect us. And if you want to find out about NZ politics, maternity care, Trusts or the history of Maori and Croatian communities in the Far North, be sure to check out this months’ Popular Non Fiction!