Tag: ebook club

Birnam Wood: Our September eBook Club pick!

Neil

eBook Club pick: Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

Read the book that everyone wants to read.

For free and without any waiting.

Welcome to the WCL eBook Club, where each month we highlight a popular eBook in our digital collection and give access to an unlimited number of downloads on Libby. That means no waiting in long reserves queues- you’ll get instant access to our monthly popular pick!

From September 1st till September 14th, our eBook Club title is the international bestselling sensation everyone is talking about Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton.

Birnam Wood was one of the most hotly anticipated novels of 2023, both here and overseas. It was released to rave reviews; the Guardian described it as “a dark and brilliant novel about the violence and tawdriness of late capitalism”. Inspired in part by Birnam Wood in Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, one of the key subjects in the book is the battle to save a guerrilla community garden project in Christchurch called Birnam Wood.

This stunning novel was only released a few months ago and has dominated the fiction best-seller lists ever since. Birnam Wood has already featured heavily on many of the hot, must-read lists for the year.

We decided that the demand for Birnam Wood was such that we had to make it our September eBook club title pick.

Continue reading “Birnam Wood: Our September eBook Club pick!” →

Did I Ever Tell You This?: Our June eBook Club pick!

Tess

Welcome to the WCL eBook Club, where each month we highlight a popular eBook or eAudiobook in our digital collection and give access to an unlimited number of downloads. That means no waiting in long reserves queues- you’ll get instant access to our monthly popular pick!

Join us between 19th June – 2nd July as we let our ears devour Sam Neill’s new eAudioBook Did I Ever Tell You This?, an unexpected memoir by one of New Zealand’s finest and most beloved acting exports. Narrated by the legend himself, Did I ever tell you this? recounts the varied tales of Neill’s fascinating life; from his humble beginnings as a Northern Irish immigrant boy growing up between Dunedin and Christchurch, to his highly successful Hollywood acting career, and his homecoming to establish a successful Central Otago vineyard. Did I ever tell you this? will take you on a journey that will leave you crying, laughing and everything in between. Borrow your copy via the link below:

Overdrive cover Did I Ever Tell You This?, Sam Neill (Audiobook)

In this unexpected memoir, written in a creative burst of just a few months in 2022, Sam Neill tells the story of how he became one of the world’s most celebrated actors, working with everyone from Meryl Streep to Isabel Adjani, from Jeff Goldblum to Sean Connery, from Steven Spielberg to Jane Campion. By his own account, his career has been a series of unpredictable turns of fortune. Born in 1947 in Northern Ireland, he emigrated to New Zealand at the age of seven. His family settled in Dunedin on the South Island, but young Sam was sent away to boarding school in Christchurch, where he was hopeless at sports and discovered he enjoyed acting.
Did I Ever Tell You This? is a joy to read, a marvellous and often very funny book. This is the work of a natural storyteller who is a superb observer of other people, and who writes with love and warmth about his family. It is also his account of his life outside film, especially in Central Otago, where he established Two Paddocks, his vineyard famous for its pinot noir. (Overdrive description)

Did I Ever Tell You This? is full of warm, funny, and sometimes heartbreaking stories. It will make you feel like you have just sat down under a tree to chat with a dear friend.’

– Jimmy Barnes, Musician

Did I ever tell you this? is tender, funny and emotional, modest and generous, both unbearably sad and deliciously companionable..

– Jane Campion, Director

Join us again next month for another new eBook Club pick! And if you’re a voracious reader don’t forget that we have an amazing selection of eBooks that are always available to read. 

Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts: Our May eBook Club pick!

Neil

Big Library Read: Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts, by Josie Shapiro

Welcome to the WCL eBook Club, where each month we highlight a popular eBook in our digital collection and give access to an unlimited number of downloads on Libby. That means no waiting in long reserves queues- you’ll get instant access to our monthly popular pick!

From May 20 – June 2, our eBook Club title is the stunning, unforgettable debut novel from Josie Shapiro — Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts.

It’s a heart-warming coming-of-age story about overcoming adversity. At its centre is Mickey Bloom who is bullied at school and dyslexic who doesn’t think of herself as special, until she discovers her talent for running. Initially she becomes a star, but eventually the pressure to succeed becomes too much and her dreams collapse in tatters. The plot then skips forward a few years — Mickey is now in a dead-end job with a drop-kick boyfriend and a seriously ill mother. After nursing her mother she begins to realise that the only way to find herself again is to run.

The novel is about the glory and pain of putting everything you have on the line to find yourself. An uplifting and inspiring story about a young woman overcoming some big hurdles, it also plunges the reader into the gruelling world of the long-distance runner.

Josie states that the initial idea for the novel came from the idea of “a woman, about to embark on something immensely difficult”. The book was inspired by events from Josie’s own life, and from other athletes she’d heard about.

About Josie Shapiro

Josie Shapiro, larger imageJosie Shapiro has a master’s in creative writing from the University of Auckland, where she was awarded a Wallace Arts Scholarship for her work. Her short stories have been published online and in literary journals and her work is included on the anthology Ko Aotearoa Tatou: We are New Zealand. In February, Josie was awarded a Michael King Writers Centre residency.

Her stunning debut novel won the Allen & Unwin Commercial Fiction Prize, and although the book has only just been released it has already featured heavily on many hot, must-read lists. We loved the book so much we decided to make it our eBook club title pick. You can read for free about what all the excitement is about yourself by joining us on our Libby app as we offer unlimited downloads in May of this fabulous newly released title, Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts by Josie Shapiro.

Watch our interview with Josie:

Unlimited downloads will be available through Libby from May 20th!

Reviews

Josie Shapiro’s accomplished debut novel has the compulsive forward motion of a world-class race. You don’t have to be a runner to get the high, just read this book!’

-Kirsten McDougall, author of She’s a Killer

The stunning debut novel by the winner of the Allen & Unwin Commercial Fiction Prize. If you loved Lessons in Chemistry and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, you will adore Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts.

-OverDrive Description

The Drinking Game: Our April eBook Club pick!

Tess

Welcome to the WCL eBook Club, where each month we highlight a popular eBook in our digital collection and give access to an unlimited number of downloads on Libby. That means no waiting in long reserves queues- you’ll get instant access to our monthly popular pick!

Join us between April 10 – 23 as we offer unlimited downloads of the newly released non-fiction eBook The Drinking Game by RNZ investigative journalist Guyon Espiner. Espiner takes a multifaceted deep dive into why and how we drink, exposing in the process a deeply intimate self portrayal alongside a global view of the blurry lines between alcohol enjoyment and dependence. Get your copy of this fascinating read that explores Aotearoa’s intertwined and tricky relationship with alcohol, and the big business, money and power at the root of it all.

Overdrive cover The Drinking Game, Guyon Espiner (eBook)

An incisive analysis of how our drinking culture is influenced by the government, media and big business, by investigative journalist Guyon Espiner.

‘This is real, it is raw, and it lays out the truth about booze.’ – Patrick Gower
‘Thought-provoking but never preachy, Espiner blends personal experience with his formidable journalism talents as he dissects the role of booze in our lives.’ – Jack Tame

Ever wondered why it always seems like a good time for a drink? Four years ago, investigative journalist Guyon Espiner gave up drinking alcohol. He had been a heavy yet controlled drinker since his teens – abstaining three nights a week but making up for it the other four. One morning he woke up after a big night and decided he’d had enough and he quit – no AA, no support groups. Not drinking has given Guyon a new perspective on our relationship with alcohol in Aotearoa, and a lot of it is disturbing.

The Drinking Game investigates the alcohol industry: the power, politics and lobbying behind our most harmful drug. Weaving together personal experience, hard research and interviews, it examines why New Zealand has such a heavy drinking culture, the harm it causes and how our attitudes to alcohol are changing. This is a sobering look into how the way you drink is shaped not only by your individual choice, but also by government, media and big business. (Overdrive description)

Join us again next month for our new eBook Club pick! And if you’re a voracious reader don’t forget that we have an amazing selection of eBooks that are always available to read.