News Blog @ Wellington City Libraries

The new rules of marriage: what you need to know to make love work looks at 21st century marriage. Modern expectations may have lead to marriage breakdown and the increase in divorce rates. Therapist Terry Real identifies five situations to avoid and shares practical strategies to work towards a happy marriage.

It is not always easy to forgive. The power of forgiveness: why it’s good to forgive your friend, your boss, your family and everyone who hurts and betrays by Janise Beaumont discusses the barriers to forgiving. She shares experiences and stories which are honest, at times funny and sometimes touching.

Cleo: how an uppity cat helped heal a family by Helen Brown is a moving story. With the death of her son, taking the kitten that was due to be part of the family seemed to be the wrong time for the family but slowly the cat made her way into their hearts and helped the family through the tragedy.

Read these books and look at others including subjects such as infertility, happy children and popular psychology in this month’s Personal Development Recent Picks.

Listening to depression: how understanding your pain can heal your life by Lara Honos-Webb is a new way of thinking about depression. She sees it as an opportunity to review, change and let go of what is actually causing the depression leading to greater understanding of the illness. The book concludes with a section on when to seek professional advice.

As many as one in eight women have a thyroid condition but diagnosis can be difficult as symptoms can mimic other illnesses. Mary J. Shomon is a health writer as well as a thyroid patient and discusses both aspects in Living well with hypothyroidism: what your doctor doesn’t tell you that you need to know. Both conventional and alternative treatments are included.

Living with gluten intolerance gives clear information on both Celiac disease and gluten-intolerance and how they differ from other digestive disorders. Information is given on treatments and self-help measures.

Get advice on these topics as well as ADD, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, Manic Depression and children’s allergies in the month’s Recent Health Picks.

In two years twelve thousand children went through the Theresienstadt internment camp on the way to Auschwitz and few survived. In Girls of Room 28: friendship, hope and survival in Theresienstadt by Hannelore Brenner, ten of these children, now mothers and grandmothers give personal insight through letters, photos, diaries and remembrances on how they survived.

Sport has always produced personal rivalries – Ali-Frazier, Palmer-Nicklaus and McEnroe-Borg to name a few. In today’s era of tennis the rivalry is between Federer and Nadal with totally different personalities. Stroke of genius: Federer v Nadel: rivals in greatness by L. John Wertheim looks at the aspects of psychology, technology, strategy and personality needed to become a winner.

Seeing Central Park: the official guide to the world’s greatest urban park by Sara Cedar Miller takes readers through America’s most popular and well-known park. 25 million people visit annually and this book will guide them through the well and little known features.

Enjoy these books and others covering Evelyn Waugh, rock and roll photographs and how to write histories in this month’s Recent Picks Buyer’s Choice.

Journalist Lorna Martin had always thought that therapy was for people to whine about their myriad of problems and that people should just deal with it. But after yet another bad relationship, problems at work and a feeling of despair she found herself in a therapist’s office. Surprisingly her year of therapy was very positive. Her book Girl on the couch: life, love and confessions of a normal neurotic is her personal dairy outlining what she calls the strangest journey of her life.

Does today’s youth warrant the being called the me generation? They can appear self-centred but author Michael Ungar feels that they need the same things as previous generations including close family relationships, acknowledgement of achievements and encouragement. Turning the me generation into the we generation: raising kids that care combines professional expertise and international research to assist parents to help children to achieve their full potential.

Growing great marriages by New Zealand couple Ian & Mary Grant is a guide for anyone who is married or about to be. It contains advice on how to build intimacy, increase communication and enjoy a fun-loving marriage. The Grants have been married for over 40 years – they’ve been there and done that and written the book to help others.

Read these and other books on play, courage and the self intelligence experience in this month’s Personal Development Recent Picks.

It’s weird, wacky… and utterly addictive. This is how Wholly irresponsible science: 120 daring experiments to do in your home and garden by Sean Connolly is described. It is an introduction to the hands-on principles and includes quirky experiments, eye catching design and witty and informative text. Light the touch-paper and stand back.

Taking a different and insightful look at the world of numbers As easy as Pi: stuff about numbers that isn’t (just) maths by Jamie Buchan is an entertaining and accessible guide. Numbers affect commerce, money and even what we say. 3rd degree, 3 sheets to the wind, at sixes and sevens, cloud nine, dressed up to the nines – the list goes on.

The joy of X: how algebra shapes your daily life by Michael Willers explains how algebra influences many things, for example calculating mortgage interest or planning a journey. Covering the basic elements of algebra, complex theoretical puzzles and the discoveries of key mathematicians this book will appeal to all levels.

Read these and others on evolution, early modern science and shooting stars in this month’s Science Recent Picks.

Christian Siriano made headlines in 2008 when he became the youngest designer to win the hit series Project Runaway.  Having established himself as a name in fashion he is now sharing his expertise to others.  Fierce style: how to be your fabulous self  helps readers to discover how to look, feel and act “fierce “ – one of his now well known catch phrases!

Paris times eight: finding myself in the city of dreams by Deirdre Kelly is both a travel book and a reflection on her life and her favourite city. She first visited Paris as a 19-year-old and has returned many times – as a writer, fashion reporter, wife and mother. As her life changed she found that her expectations and experiences of Paris were different.

Georgian London evokes images of elegant buildings and fine art but for many it was a harsh environment with little money and food. They survived any way they could often depending in some way on the “wages of sin”. The sex industry was a powerful force and in The secret history of Georgian London by Dan Cruickshank he shows how it came to affect almost every aspect of life and culture in the capital.

Look at these new books and others including lesbian travel, life in New York in the 1960’s and Swedish country interiors in this month’s Buyer’s Choice Recent Picks – truly an eclectic mix.

Why not Catch-21?: the stories behind the titles is an expansion on Gary Dexter’s long-running Sunday Telegraph column. 50 bite-sized chapters focus on the origins and history of some of the great titles of world literature. The emphasis is on titles that are literally unfathomable without this background knowledge. Why – A Clockwork Orange, Moby Dick, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Postman Always Rings Twice and Waiting for Godot? All will be revealed.

Many of us know the first lines of poems but find it hard to remember the rest or who wrote it. I wandered lonely as a cloud–and other poems you half-remember from school edited by Ana Sampson is a collection of many of these. It includes mini-biographies, introductions to the poems and an index of famous lines

The Lord of the Flies is school curriculum staple. William Golding: the man who wrote Lord of the flies: a life by John Carey is the first authorized biography. Golding was born in 1911 and after publishing a volume of poems in 1934 his first novel was an immediate success. Other accolades were the Booker Prize and being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983. Surely one of the foremost novelists of the twentieth century?

Read these books and others in this month’s Literature Recent Picks including a guide to travel writing, vehicular hell-bending, quotations and lobsters!

Born Vera Welch in 1917 in the East End of London she began singing in Working Men’s Clubs from just seven years old. In World War II she became the iconic figure that captured the imagination of the public and soldiers alike and was known as the ‘Forces’ sweetheart’. Some sunny day: my autobiography is her story of her life and her war. On 13th September 2009, Dame Vera became the oldest living artist to make No. 1 in the UK album chart, at the age of 92. Her collection, ‘We’ll meet again: the very best of Vera Lynn’ overtook the re-mastered Beatles’ album of songs.

Halfway to Hollywood: diaries 1980-1988 by Michael Palin covers the 1980s, a time when the Pythons began their separate careers. Writing and acting in films and television then took much of his time and energy, culminating in the smash hit A Fish Called Wanda. His own role, the hapless, Ken won him a BAFTA. Moving into television journeys for the BBC was yet another success for him.

One of the first celebrity chefs, Keith Floyd communicated his love of food to millions of viewers. Making a wonderful dish and having a good time was his mission! Along the way he inspired a generation of men to get into the kitchen. His personal life was colourful, making and losing fortunes and marrying four times. His book Stirred but not shaken: the autobiography was completed just before he died.

Read the lives of these people and others including Somerset Maugham, Alan Clark, James Lees-Milne, Evelyn Waugh, Elsie Locke and C.K Stead in this month’s Recent Biography Picks.

A free talk by Frank Andrews from Wellington Astronomical Society

Is it possible to give a scientific explanation for the biblical account of the appearance of a bright star at the time of the birth of Jesus?  By studying the few fragments of information that are available and combining them with known historical material it is possible to exclude some theories that have been put forward over the last four centuries. In putting together this complex jigsaw puzzle over a period of nearly five decades, Frank Andrews suggests a possible new scenario which fits well with biblical accounts and known, independent historical records.

Come and join us to hear more in what promises to be an entertaining talk with Frank as we near Christmas and celebrate the last event in our International Year of Astronomy series with Wellington City Libraries and Wellington Astronomical Society.

 Tuesday 1 December, 7-8pm at Central Library

History is rather contemporary this month at Wellington City Libraries. We have a few of books that highlight the Middle-East and its neighbouring countries: what kind of people its inhabitants are like, how Saddam Hussein came to be captured, and what America’s involvement in Afghanistan has evolved into. Asia is featured with a book on Burma, as well as Africa with South Africa’s brave new world. Empires are not forgotten with books about the emperor Hadrian and the Mongol empire. The bonfire sounds especially interesting if you are into the American Civil war and the fall of Atlanta. And if you want to know what other books we have in store for you, check out this month’s History Recent Picks.