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Reading, Wellington, and whatever else – teenblog@wcl.govt.nz

Month: September 2009 Page 1 of 2

Zines, Superpowers and Don from Madmen: an interview with a library buyer

So who buys the library books then? WCL has a team of eight people who are lucky enough to spend most of their time buying books, magazines, CDs and DVDs. This is a fairly ideal job if you really like spending money, and really like reading, listening to music and watching movies. Stephanie is one of the young adult selectors and we thought we’d ask her a few questions.

1) What’s the strangest book you’ve bought for the library and/or what’s the strangest suggestion to buy you’ve received from a customer?

Well, as well as books for children and teens I also buy zines for the Library. You know what they are right? For those that don’t basically they’re self published magazines and you can write them on just about any topic imaginable! So some of the strangest ones I’ve brought are: I was unaware they made black jeans that small; little dead riding hood; super pash action; why no one gets tight with the geek; I was a teenaged Mormon; I hate my mom’s cat and fish piss. Ok, so they ain’t that strange but they do have cool titles! They are also free to issue on the first floor of the Central Library. You should check them out sometime.

I can’t remember any really strange suggestion to buys, but Kathleen who works with me just showed me one for a book called “how to amputate a leg”, which is pretty weird.

2) When you were at school what did you want to be “when you grew up”?

I wanted to be a marine biologist when I was really young. I lived by the sea and my brother and I made friends with sea anemones. But really it wasn’t too serious. I just thought it sounded cool. I’m pretty happy doing what I do now though. Buying books is fun 🙂

3) What superpower would make your job easier?

Um, maybe the power to clone myself so one of me could sit outside and read in the sun and eat bread and cheese and the other could be inside doing work and getting paid!

4) What things did you read when you were at high school?

I feel really bad saying this but I didn’t read too much at high school, mostly just the prescribed texts. I was a big reader at primary and intermediate and then took a long break and only got back into reading for fun when I was at university.

5) What YA books have you read lately (that you’ve enjoyed)?

Right now I’m enjoying reading Catching Fire, which is the sequel to The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I also enjoyed the Twilight series (well mostly when it wasn’t making me cringe), How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, The 10pm Question by Kate De Goldi and Violence 101 by my friend Dennis Wright. I plan to read heaps more too, ‘cos as I’m buying them for you guys I’m thinking “that looks awesome” and so I have to reserve it for myself.

6) If you were marooned on a desert island with three people (of your choice), three items of food and three books, who and what would you choose?

Ok so this is a hard one! I would choose Don from Madmen (‘cos he’s nice to look at), my friend Carmel (‘cos we have fun together) and Katniss from Catching Fire (‘cos she looks like she could handle just about anything!). For food I would have breads, cheeses and cakes! And books I couldn’t decide. Because I work in a library I never really read anything twice so perhaps something new? I’ve recently reserved Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (because Grimm said it’s like The Time Traveler’s Wife, which is one of my favourite books) and The Great Death by John Smelcer (it’s gotten good reviews) and The Key to the Golden Firebird by Maureen Johnson (recommended by my co-selector Tom).

Worst. Movies. Ever.

As the decade draws to a close more and more websites will start posting top 100 lists looking back on the 2000s, or the noughties, or whatever it was we decided to call it. Other websites will do the opposite and post bottom 100 lists, like Rotten Tomatoes has with this, its worst movies of the decade list. Simon and I noticed we had a fair few of these in the catalogue, so if you’d like to watch something terrible for laughs …

82. Supercross: The Movie
81. Extreme Ops
60. The Perfect Man
46. Material Girls
38. Happily N’Ever After
26. Kickin’ It Old Skool
21. Epic Movie
And worst of them all…. 1. Ballistic: Ecks vs Sever

Enjoy, I suppose.

Gamers rejoice

The 2009 Tokyo Game Show is under way, and a massive trailer for Final Fantasy XIII (that’s 13 in Roman numerals) has been released. It’s in Japanese! So probably difficult to follow, unless you’re able to understand Japanese. Either way it sure looks good. It won’t be available outside Japan until about the middle of 2010.

Update! There’s a subtitled version. Enjoy.

The trailer is available below –

Read More

Shivers it’s cold

Twilight fans, read this book:

Shiver, by Maggie Stiefvater

When she was eleven, Grace was attacked by a pack of wolves but, in an unexpected turn of events, was rescued by one of them. Rather than feeling phobic, Grace feels drawn to and protective of the wolves, especially her rescuer, the one with the yellow eyes. She admits to being obsessed, and she’s a bit lost in summer, when the wolves are notably absent.

Sam, a part-time yellow-eyed eighteen year old boy, feels a similar connection to Grace, and when the wolves are hunted by men baying for blood, he finds himself wounded on Grace’s porch in his human form. Just as well, then, that she takes this discovery in her stride and copes admirably, getting him to hospital and then smuggling him out again when he heals super-quickly. Then there’s the difficulty of keeping Sam warm, as it’s the cold that transforms him into a wolf, and his human stretches are getting shorter and shorter. Sam knows this is his “last year”, which makes his connection with Grace a tenuous thing.

You should read this book: it will make you go “ah”. It’s a thoughtfully put-together story (right down to the helpful temperature indicators at the beginning of each chapter), kind of like a Time-Traveler’s Wife for young adults with a tear jerker ending. A very good supernatural romance.

Maggie Stiefvater’s website states there’s a sequel, Linger, due out towards the end of next year too.

Two Men And Their Lion-y Pal

Have you seen this video? Go on, give it a watch.

If that made you smile, and really how could it not, we have the full story of Christian the Lion on DVD. It’s called A Lion Called Christian and it tells the true story of two men who bought a lion in a London department store, it’s release into the wild and their subsequent reunions. All very sweet and tearjerking.

And if you want some more things to watch we have these two; 17 Again starring the dreamy Zac Efron and Primeval series two which has giant Mastodons in it.

Stargate Fan?

Here’s the official trailer for Stargate Universe, prepared, it says, for the San Diego Comic Con, so it’s had the geek stamp of approval. This is a spin off, of course, from the very popular Stargate TV world.

Documentary Madness

Well, as long as five new DVDs is considered mad it’s madness. All kinds of bases are covered by this selection, and here they are…

brady barrBest of Dangerous Encounters with Brady Barr follows a reptile expert as he does all sorts of silly things in the name of science.  My favourite bit is when he wears a 200 pound kevlar suit covered in hippo dung to extract sweat from a hippo.

The Most Extreme is a series that follows all sorts of extreme behaviour in the animal kingdom. Fighters, Stinkers, Gluttons and many more are looked at in these fantastically shot episodes originally made for Animal Planet.

Sticking with the extreme, Gravity Games H2O is a four disc box set filled with wakeboarding, tow-in surfing, motorcross, kite surfing and other assorted watery hijinks. Except for the motorcross, I can’t explain it’s inclusion unless they somehow ride on water. Now that’d be extreme.

Ultimate Factories is a National Geographic series that goes to, well, ultimate factories. In this one they go see how Ferraris and M1 Tanks are produced. So if you’ve ever wondered how they put them together, now you can find out.

Naked Science: Surviving nature’s fury is a three disc set in the excellent National Geographic Naked Science series. These episodes look at asteroids, the Bermuda Triangle, alien contact and other popular and controversial scientific topics.

This week in new CDs

doomDoom is a masked rapper famous for being mysterious prolific and really, really good. He used to be known as MF Doom (and various other aliases), but dropped the MF, much like Diddy dropped the P from P. Diddy. Anyway, Born Like This is his latest. If you enjoy your hip hop old school and clever give this a listen, then delve deeper into his catalogue.

ginGin Wigmore is a local singer in the Amy Winehouse / Macy Gray mold of funny voiced songstresses. Her EP Gin: Extended Play went gold here this June and now arrives on our shelves. You’ve probably seen her videos and heard her on the radio, but if not pick this up if you like folksy pop.

ulcerateSticking with the local content, Ulcerate are New Zealand’s premier death metal oufit and they bring Everything is Fire to the table. It’s been lauded in the international growly vocals and pounding double kick pedalled drums community for being cerebral and forward thinking, though fans of loud noises will enjoy also.

liam finnLiam Finn pops back with Champagne in seashells, a wee five tracker recorded with Eliza Jane. It’s a nice follow up to I’ll be lightning and makes me look forward to his next full-length. More tasty pop-rock treats from our beardy pal.

tokio hotelGerman emo kids Tokio Hotel’s English language debut Scream serves up the sort of melodramatic rock now expected by the genre, the twist being that they (at the time of recording anyway) were all eligible for YA library cards. If your boat is floated by MCR etc. pick this up, as you’ll likely enjoy greatly.

New Moon Soundtrack Tracklisting!

Yes, it’s been announced, these are the sounds of New Moon.

01 Death Cab for Cutie: “Meet Me on the Equinox”
02 Band of Skulls: “Friends”
03 Thom Yorke: “Hearing Damage”
04 Lykke Li: “Possibility”
05 The Killers: “A White Demon Love Song”
06 Anya Marina: “Satellite Heart”
07 Muse: “I Belong to You (New Moon Remix)”
08 Bon Iver and St. Vincent: “Rosyln”
09 Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: “Done All Wrong”
10 Hurricane Bells: “Monsters”
11 Sea Wolf: “The Violet Hour”
12 OK Go: “Shooting the Moon”
13 Grizzly Bear: “Slow Life”
14 Editors: “No Sound But the Wind”
15 Alexandre Desplat: “New Moon (The Meadow)”

Seeing as it won’t be out until October 20 I’ve provided some links to albums some of the artists have out at the library, should you need something to sink your fangs  into (sorry!) in the interim. If you want to hear the Death Cab For Cutie song you can here. All very exciting stuff.

A Bit More Information

book

Think you know this book?

Coming soon: your chance to pit your knowledge against others in a battle of wits, intellect and fandom. Registrations open soon (maximum four in a team), so corral your gifted Twilight fanatic friends* and we’ll see you at the Central Library.

The Twilight Trivia Night
Friday 30 October 2009

* although if you’re not a fanatic or even strictly a fan don’t fear: there may well be a strategic prize in the offing that might prove more challenging to win than first place.

Get Your Crocodile Tears Here!

Further to this post, you can now reserve the next Alex Rider epic adventure, or one or two other hot series:

Crocodile Tears, Anthony Horowitz

Splendor (the final Luxe novel), Anna Godbersen

Archenemy (The Looking Glass Wars), Frank Beddor

Be the first in the queue! Thanks Stephanie.

Wellington’s Cherry Blossom Festival

The Cherry Blossom Festival is on this Sunday, the 20th of September at the St James Theatre and Te Papa.

The Sakai Association (Sakai is Wellington’s Japanese Sister City) will be hosting a range of fun activities including: traditional kyudo (Japanese archery) demonstrations, shakuhachi (bamboo flute) and shamisen (three-stringed musical instrument) music, beautiful ikebana (flower arranging) and the peaceful tea ceremony.

Handle the kyudo bows/arrows and the Japanese musical instruments, create ikebana, make tea, play with traditional Japanese toys and learn origami.

Read more about it at this link, or download the .pdf brochure.

New anime

Yes! More new anime, and it’s on the catalogue so you can reserve it now. We have the first fourteen DVDs of Bleach : Agent of the Soul Reaper, which is pretty exciting (it’s very good) (website) and My-HiME : My Otome,  which can be read about on Wikipedia (or through the official website in Japanese).  Both series should be available from next week.

Some of the others we will be getting are mentioned in this previous post.

(All of the Samura Champloo series will soon become available through the library, although probably as an adult DVD only.)

New New Moon

A new New Moon trailer was revealed last night. You can watch it here. This film seems like it will cover all the bases – romance, unrequited love, lots of action, werewolves, Taylor Lautner often shirtless, ancient Italian vampires, and Michael Sheen (OBE).

lol wut?

apple

Think you know Twilight?
Friday 30 October 2009

New Books to be on the look out for

What do the next few months look like in YA literature? We’ll let you know when they arrive, but you can reserve some of them right now if they grab your fancy.

Witch & Wizard, James Patterson (December). A futuristic dystopian story about Wisty and her brother Whit, who are imprisoned seemingly without reason and then discover they have strange abilities and powers.

Leviathan, Scott Westerfeld (October). A steampunk effort from Scott Westerfeld, where World War I is fought with strange machines and futuristic biotechnology.

Once Was Lost, Sara Zarr (October). Sara Zarr’s previous novels, Story of a Girl and Sweethearts, are thoughtful, realistic insights into life. In Once Was Lost, she examines tragedy and the effect it has on hope.

Going Bovine, Libba Bray (September/October). This couldn’t really be more different from the Gemma Doyle books. Sixteen year old Cameron is in hospital with Mad Cow disease. Visited by Dulcie, a punky angel, he’s given hope when she tells him it’s possible to find a cure. So he sets out on a road trip to find it, with a little help from a gamer dwarf and a gnome. I’m not making this up. You can even watch Libba Bray being interviewed about it, dressed up as a cow.

 

Some others that we will be ordering soon:

Splendor, a Luxe novel, Anna Godbersen (November). Luxe fans: this is the fourth and final book. Dangerous secrets, difficult decisions and unexpected happinesses (but for how long?) all feature in a dramatic showdown.

Crocodile Tears (Alex Rider), Anthony Horowitz (November). Alex gets caught up in an epic plot that could destroy an entire East African country. Heavy.

The Looking Glass Wars, Archenemy, Frank Beddor (October/November). The conclusion to the Looking Glass Wars trilogy. Everyone in Wonderland is creatively depleted, including Queen Alyss who must join forces with the evil Redd to keep things from turning worse than pear shaped (as the caterpillar oracles predict). But is this a good idea?

The Vampire Diaries reviewed …

… not the books, but the new television programme (previously mentioned here). Read the review here, (via The New York Times). The reviewer liked what she saw, and compares it to Twilight. In fact, it might even be a little better. There. I said it.

There’s no information that I can find as to when and which channel The Vampire Diaries will screen in NZ. Here’s the official website, anyway! Yaar.

Some more music

There are five new CDs this week, and they are…

little bootsHands by Little Boots is a synth-pop album that has received it’s fair share of internet buzz via the blogosphere over past few blog years. Is the hype deserved? “Yes it is”, will say cats who dig on Ladyhawke, Hot Chip and their ilk. If this is you, you know what to do.

calvin harrisIf Little Boots (above) piqued your interest then allow Ready For The Weekend by Calvin Harris to do the same. More dancefloor ready numbers reside inside the jewel case patiently awaiting the weekend, which I suppose is why it’s named what it is.

17 againDid you go see the movie 17 Again and think that the music was fantastic? If you did you’re in luck because 17 again : music from the motion picture has just arrived. Includes tracks by Cat Power and The Kooks. Also pictures of Zac Efron on the cover, should that also entice.

florence and the machineFlorence Welch is an alt-friendly bluesy singer from South London who releases music as Florence and the Machine. The Machine must be a backing band, though I hope it’s an actual machine, like a robot. Anyway, her music on debut Lungs is similar to that of Cat Power and Amy WInehouse.

arctic monkeysThe Arctic Monkeys third full-length, Humbug, finds them working with Josh Homme, he of Queens of the Stone Age and Eagles of Death Metal fame, who encourages them into expanding their scope to embrace a bigger more darkly sweeping sound. A new direction, and an exciting one at that.

Top 10 (or so) search queries

One of the catalogues we (the library) have on our website is Easyfind (or AquaBrowser), which, as the name suggests, makes searching for material easy. It recommends similar items to whatever someone searches for. Handy for browsing! It also keeps track of the most popular searches over the last 30 days, which gives an idea of what’s popular with Wellington library users.

Here’s a list, in order of popularity.

1. twilight
2. harry potter
3. fiction
4. book
5. the wire
6. novel
7. jodi picoult
8. star wars
9. shantaram
10. true blood
11. naruto

Some other popular searches were ‘my sisters keeper‘, ‘the lovely bones‘, ‘depression‘, ‘author: stephenie meyer‘, ‘death‘, ‘lonely planet‘, ‘poop‘, and ‘road code.

 There were also some queries that had no suggestions. These included ‘hoagland and breisch‘, ‘narto‘, ‘facts on rarotonga in a book‘, ‘55566‘, ‘stomp the yarf‘, ‘fykfout/”//;‘, ‘mtrjteogfshse‘, and ‘james belch.

Help, I’m Doing Music

If you have the excellent fortune of studying music at school you might like to use MyGateway databases when you’re doing some research or analysing a piece of music in its historical context.

1) Oxford Music Online
This is a database bristling with the most well-respected music reference titles, including The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, The New Grove Dictionary of OperaThe New Grove Dictionary of JazzThe Oxford Companion to Music and The Oxford Dictionary of Music. Apart from a huge collection of articles and biographical entries, tools also include timelines,  topical guides and research resources. You need to enter your library card number and surname to access the database.

2) Naxos Music Library and Naxos Jazz Library
Wanting to listen to what you’re studying? Whether it’s the Brandenburg concerto in D Major, or Keith Jarrett, you should find what you’re looking for. Again, these databases require your library card number and surname.

3) Allmusic.com
Heaps of info on popular music, including bios, discographies, reviews, recommendations. Definitely more information than you could possibly want, organised in a very easy to use format.

Also have a look at the popular topics classical page; it’s got links to other websites, recommended journals and lots of advice on how to find classical stuff in the library (since it can be a bit of a mission).

ps: totally confused about the difference between an acciaccatura and an appoggiatura? Don’t laugh, these can be important little things. Music theory books are to be found here on the catalogue.

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