News Blog @ Wellington City Libraries

We’ve got some great reads for people who enjoy books in foreign languages and wish to keep language skills up over the holidays! Choose from a selection of new fiction and non fiction books in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Korean, Russian and Spanish. Love mysteries? Enjoy thrillers? Or are romance and historical novels more your cup of tea? You’ll find a wonderful selection of new foreign language fiction at the library, as well as non-fiction – with latest arrivals exploring issues such as dealing with depression and using medicinal plants for health and beauty. An exiting variety of summer reads for fun and relaxation!

Chinese Books

Over 100 Chinese books of different genres have been added to our collection this month.  Add these to your reading list!

Zou chu you yu / (Mei) Andelu Suoluomen zhu ; Li Fengxiang yi = The noonday demon / by Andrew Solomon.
“In addition to the self-help and parental advice genres is the literary and philosophical study of depression that harks back to Richard Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy. The Noonday Demon, based on an article that Solomon wrote for The New Yorker in 1998, is such a book. The backbone of this superb work is the author’s narrative of his own struggles with severe depression & his musings on its multifarious causes and on the role that his privileged socioeconomic status has played in its successful management.” (Library Journal)

Hua yang nü ren xing fu yi sheng / Wu Dazhen zhu.
“This book offers a collection of anecdotes about medicinal plants. It describes herbal medicine and various traditional methods that can be just as effective – Honeysuckle, Lotus leaf and Cassia pillow being a few plants that can be used with water and have amazing effects on the human body. Explore these ideas and have fun” (Drawn from Publisher’s description)

Kong bu wu ju li : chuan da shi de bao an / Yinhe zhu.
“A classic suspense horror story compiled of two parts titled ‘The security guard on duty’ and ‘I called Zhang Hongshan’. It’s the story of a girl, who disappeared in a remote district of Beijing. After the day she disappeared, people in the nearby houses kept hearing the rain crying and her pale face remains constantly in people’s sight. And that’s the beginning of the horror tale” (Drawn from Publisher’s description)

Spanish Books

La estrella más brillante / Marian Keyes ; traducción de Matuca Fernández de Villavicencio.
“Fate is on its way to the tenants of 66 Star Street, bringing with it love and tragedy, friendship and heartbreak, and the power to change lives … One of them is falling in love; another is torn between two lovers. For some, secrets they want to stay buried will come to light and for others the unveiling of those secrets will have tragic consequences”. (Drawn from Publisher’s description)

Corsarios de levante / Arturo Pérez-Reverte.
“This 6th installment in the series following the escapades of Captain Diego Alatriste, is a story of skirmishes, boarded ships, killings and sackings in a time where Spain was revered, feared and hated in the Easterly seas; where the devil had no colour, no name and no flag, and where the only thing needed to summon hell on was a Spaniard and his sword; where men went about their tasks without meddling in government, philosophical or theological affairs-a time where men were soldiers”. (Drawn from Publisher’s description)

French Books

Comment j’ai liquidé le siècle : roman / Flore Vasseur.
“A gifted disillusioned woman and the hypocrisy and selfishness of the banking world are at the heart of this thriller. Flore Vasseur, having lived in New York in the early days of the New Economy, decodes the folly of the financiers to make the plot of this novel more interesting and intriguing.” (Drawn from Publisher’s description)

Purge : roman / Sofi Oksanen ; traduit du finnois par Sébastien Cagnoli.
“In Oksanen’s first novel translated into French, mystery surrounds a girl who Aliide finds lying outside her house in the Estonian countryside. The girl, Zara, speaks in archaic, provincial Estonian, which leads Aliide to suspect she’s connected with thieves, possibly those plundering the woods for lumber to sell to the West. In 1992’s Estonia, anything is possible, and though Aliide wants to distance herself from Zara’s repulsive, familiar smell of fear, she opens her door to the bedraggled girl, despite her better judgment. And the wounds from the decades of Estonia’s post-WWII Soviet occupation reopen.” (Drawn from Publisher’s description)

Russian Books

Stepnye bogi / Andreĭ Gelasimov.
“Baikal, a small village on the eastern frontier of Russia, suffers a ten-year famine. Japanese prisoners of war and miners are dying for no apparent reason and Nahalyata and Voynushka play and dream of becoming heroes. Physician Hirotaro day after day watches the mutated steppe grass. He alone knows the secret of the mines but no one will believe him. It is time to call the gods of steppes, who see the ancient wars and everything else…” (Drawn from Publisher’s description)