News Blog @ Wellington City Libraries

Reduce the number of plastic bags by using reusable, hand-made alternatives. It’s easy to make your own bags for shopping and a number of other uses. Sew & stow: 31 fun sewing projects to carry, hold and organize your stuff, your home and yourself by Betty Oppenheimer shows how to make quick and simple projects with step-by-step instructions and illustrations.

Read the history of small homes and why they are popular. Small space living by Christine Brun is full of useful design ideas and creative products that enhance small living environments. 325 beautiful colour photos complement the text.

The simple home is about living in comfort in a carefully considered space. Simple home: calm spaces for comfortable living by Mark & Sally Bailey discusses how to make the right choices of colour and furniture. A combination of old, new and re-used items achieve the right character for any home.

Get a new look for the New Year using the guidance in these books and others including how to make perfect curtains, grow your own organic fruit and vegetables and make a deck. All found in this month’s DIY Recent Picks.

Want to know how to toss an opponent eight feet into the air? In Judo for mixed martial arts by UFC fighter Karyo Parisyan find out how it’s done. With 30 throws and 60 submissions to choose from this book will be a must-have for those who practice mixed martial arts.

Judo unleashed features 350 step-by-step colour photographs showing moves and techniques in detail. Author Ohlenkamp is a certified USJA master coach, the highest level of certification and this knowledge will assist beginners and experts alike.

A good book for after the Christmas excesses! Running getting started by Jeff Galloway aims at all levels of fitness. He has developed the Run-Walk method of training which reduces stress on the body. The step-by-step programme includes advice on nutrition, motivation, stretching and strengthening.

Relax or learn a new sport with these books and others featuring Jeet Kune Do, New Zealand champion motorcyclists and tennis in this month’s Sport Recent Picks.

Looking for a book in her collection, author Susan Hill discovered some old favourites, some she’d forgotten about and some that had never been opened. In Howard’s End on the landing: a year of reading from home she decides to re-visit her collection, resisting adding any more to her library for a year. Many memories came back during that time as often when a book is read again it links with times and places.

There are many songs about the moon but not as well known are the poems. To the moon: an anthology of lunar poems edited by Carol Ann Duffy spans continents and centuries. Choose a clear night, relax back, maybe with a glass of wine and look at and read about the moon.

The power of the dark side: creating great villains, dangerous situations and dramatic conflict by Pamela Jaye Smith will teach writers how to develop nasty, spiteful, mean, malicious, cruel, horrible, malevolent and wicked characters. Every-one secretly loves the baddies and conflict is what gives books, plays and films the tension. Move over Darth Vader, Voldemort, Dexter and Cruella de Vil there’s a new villain about to be unleashed.

This month’s Literature Recent Picks includes the International Who’s who, the Oxford Companion to English literature, the Believer book of writers talking to writers and how to write “in Twitter” as well as the above titles.

Space-1999. Year 1.
Where to start? Probably the greatest science fiction series ever to air. Too much? Maybe? Space 1999 was a revolutionary and terrifically exciting venture from Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson…. It’s a stand out cult classic series, if you’re a fan of science fiction at all, or for that matter nifty moustaches, cranking sideburns, zip up flared leisure suits or long meaning stares at the camera, then it is absolutely imperative you watch this, imperative!

Read the full review – plus other staff reviews for Let The Right One In, The Wrestler, Gommorrah, State of Play (UK & US) and more – on our Movies page

We got a number of super fancy zines at Wellington Zinefest. No staples or sticky tape lines for this trio of beautifully bound cuties. Best enjoyed next to a diamond shaped pool with a shatteringly dry martini in hand.

We’ve got Chew Gum Bitches aka the Zine of the Fest, each edition of which is completely unique (check out ours above). Nick Boyd of Cross St Studios has compiled a sequence of sweet and gruesome illustrations including a timely pencil drawing of an all-grown-up Max (from Where the Wild Things Are), and a warning on the perils of hopping freight trains.

The prolific and pseudonymic Sid Skull has created a zine no librarian could resist. Issues is a slyly humorous arrangement of  library cards. The one we bought spans Dewey numbers and years, and are all an attractive shade of apricot.

The Common Sense Nihilist Manifesto by David Cauchi is an elegant wee thing. Slender and minimal, it contains a meditation on the nature of existence (!) and a series of beautifully coloured, often macabre illustrations. Check it out!

Hello Library Customers,

Some Library notes to share with you.

I was delighted to be part of the launch recently for our Whispers in the Wind CD of Wellington authors reading their stories for children. At the launch of the CD, Wellington Councillor Ngaire Best commented that,

The title of the collection Whispers in the Wind! may evoke gentle images of stories and happenings, playfully swirling about the heads of people as they go about their business, waiting for a listening author to capture the idea and put it to paper. It’s a lovely image and while some great stories might actually happen that way, the creative process of story-telling is usually more involved.

How true! We would like to thank the authors for their stories and gift of time and Creative NZ for their grant to make it happen.

We have now received the results of our annual customer survey. Thank you to everyone who was asked to respond as we value your feedback. Some of the things we’ll be doing based on what you’ve told us are:

• improving the condition of our DVD collections by making more regular replacements
• putting time especially into updating our Health collection
• continuing to promote our online resources that we have available free
• doing some further investigation into which residents rely on the library to access the internet and what their needs are.

I’m looking forward to some time off over the Christmas break and catching up on some reading. I’m part of a group of Wellington Library managers who have pledged to read one New Zealand book a month for a year. For January I have chosen Lloyd Jones’ “The man in the shed”.

Seasons greetings to all our customers.

Regards
Jane Hill
Manager, Wellington City Libraries

There is no doubt that Agassi has been one of the personalities of the tennis world both on and off the court. His autobiography covers his difficult childhood, marriage to a movie star and his struggle with depression. A successful marriage and family life to Stefi Graff  lead to a resurgence in his game. Will Andre Agassi’s confession about his use of crystal meth colour how he is seen in the standings of the greats – read Open: an autobiography and decide.

Dame Edna Everage has come a long way. From suburban housewife to being welcome with open arms by the rich and the famous this is a story that had to be told. Handling Edna by Barry Humphries is an unauthorised biography and he feels she may not be happy about it – he knows all and will tell all. He is a brave man.

Andy Warhol redefined the boundaries of painting, sculpture and film, making his style uniquely his own. His subjects ranged from comic books, publicity shots through to supermarket aisles. Pop: the genius of Andy Warhol by Tony Scherman and David Dalton looks at the man behind the public persona using new interviews and insights from those closest to him. Even in death Andy Warhol will certainly continue to always have more than his “15 minutes of fame” – a phrase he coined.

Enjoy the holiday reading these books and others including the lives of Princess Margaret, Gyles Brandreth, Ayn Rand and Dorothea Lange in this month’s Biography Recent Picks.

Christmas is getting closer and closer – are you still wondering what to get for family or friends?  If so, don’t forget that we have a selection of CDs for sale that will please families with toddlers and young children.

Our newest CD, Whisper in the Wind, sells for $15 in libraries ($20 online) and features 10 Wellington children’s authors, some of whom have been recorded for the first time: Joy Cowley, Janice Marriott, Fleur Beale, and many more.

Alternatively, our Baby Rock & Rhyme CD is available at all our libraries for $15.  A quality production of 33 songs to share with babies and children under 5, it includes traditional songs, nursery rhymes and waiata – all your favourites!

Can’t decide between them? You can buy them both for $30 from your local library or $35 online.  Of course if you’d just like to have them available for Christmas Day to keep the little ones amused – you can borrow them from your local library.

If you were to write a letter to your 16-year-old self, what would it say? In Dear me by Joseph Galliano some of the world’s well known personalities have written just such a letter. Writers include knights, Oscar winners, pop stars, authors, actors and an explorer to name just a few.

Shaun Ellis is the Man who lives with wolves and writes about his unique and fascinating life. As a young boy he was more at home with animals than humans. His compulsion to live with and as a wolf was to learn about them, protect them and to offer an extraordinary look into the lives of these threatened and often misunderstood creatures.

Considered the decade that taste forgot, the 1970s are now popular for the trends they inspired from the fashion, music, and literature of the time. 70s style & design by Dominic Lutyens & Kirsty Hislop gives a fresh look on foil wallpaper, flares, platform shoes and shag rugs and much more. 400 colour illustrations add to the text.

This month’s Buyer’s Choice Recent Picks includes other subjects as varied as Macarons, Mr and Mrs Smith hotels, pattern making and soccernomics.

Baby boomers approach sex and relationships in a very different way than previous generations and being over 50 does not mean giving up sex and love. Keren Smedley, a life coach has been asked every question imaginable about relationships and her book Who’s that sleeping in my bed: the art of sex and successful relationships for baby boomers will give the answers.

Manners for men: what women really want by E. Jane Dickson updates the rules for male behaviour, providing an essential introduction to the world of dating, romance and commitment in the 21^st century. It may not come naturally but good manners can be learned and maybe it will “maketh the man”!

Do you ever hear a self-critical voice? If so The mindful path to self-compassion: freeing yourself from destructive thoughts and emotions by Christopher Germer will help. With decades of experience he offers strategies and practical techniques for living more fully in the present moment and for being kind to yourself especially when difficult situations and emotions arise.

Read these books and others including information about self-absorbed adults, the 21-day consciousness cleanse, nurture-shock and how to stop making excuses, in this month’s Personal Development Recent Picks.