Little stranger, by Annah Mac
“We saw Annah in Taupo opening for The Little River Band and The Doobie Brothers. She and her band were great and really got people in the mood for the rest of the day. I particularly like ‘Girl in stilettos (Pohutukawa trees)’. This has a fun beat and when you see the guy live, playing it on the keyboard, he is really funny. They are all so young and he looks about 15!”
~ Raewyn
Annah Mac’s Facebook page is here.
Seth Haapu by Seth Haapu
Seth didn’t get a lot of fanfare when his self-named title was released in 2011 and it’s kind of a shame because he’s very talented.
Natural voice, melody to spare, multi-instrumentalist – don’t take my word for it though – watch keyboard and vocal skills here:
~ Monty
The writer of the enormously popular Inheritance books is going to be in town on Thursday June the 28th!
Tickets for the event will cost $5.00 (bargain!) and will be sold through the Children’s Bookshop in Kilbirnie, but you can register your interest now if you’re keen: just email them – you can find their contact details and more information on their website right here.
Also, if you haven’t yet read Inheritance (the final book in the series) and you’ve been waiting for the reserve queue at the library to calm down, now’s your chance!
Mr Paolini is also tweeting about his book touring adventures, and other interesting stuff.
Last year – in June, in fact! – it was announced that Pottermore was, well, something, but we weren’t sure what. Then special people got to play while they were beta testing. Now everyone can! You can sign up to enjoy Pottermore: a unique online Harry Potter experience from J K Rowling. Here’s a sneak peek:
Are you running out of ideas for things to read? We’ve got lots of suggestions in the form of book lists. These are organised by genre/theme, from romantic fiction through thrillers and mysteries to fantasy. There are also some lists that may be useful for school reading (classic novels, Māori writers of fiction, for example).
To find the book lists in future (when you can’t find this post) have a look under “Inside” (like on the right here).
Note that these lists are selections and suggestions: if you don’t find your favourite book in them you can tell us about it (email teenblog@wcl.govt.nz – you could also write us a review).
If you’re a Harry Potter fan and you’ve got an e-book reader, then you’ll be pleased to know that we’ve recently added the entire series to the library e-book collection! Here are the links:
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
If you’re learning to drive at the moment you’ll know all about giving way to your left, and sitting and thinking about whether you’re the top of the T.
The New Zealand Road Code, in print form, has not caught up with these rule changes yet, but the online version has.
If you want to try out your intersection skills, here’s a cool interactive test: watch out for cyclists.
If you’d love to relive the romance, passion, suspence and drama of Breaking Dawn Part 1, now is your chance! For only 80 cents (if you have a young adult library card)! Which is quite a bargain, really. Reserve your copy now.
Also: have a great weekend!
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, by Michelle Hodkin
How is it that Mara escaped the totally destroyed building with a sore head and all her friends died? Who bashed in the head of that dog-beating hulk of a man near her school? What strange things are happening to the wildlife in their new home town? So many alligators dead all at once! Could these incidents be related? And why does she have to be attracted to the best looking guy at school who can only mean trouble!
A strange and haunting tale of life with amnesia and self discovery.
~ Raewyn
The 74th Hunger Games are nearly upon us (attendance is mandatory). In the intervening two (!) weeks, you can familiarise yourself with the politics of Panem: visit the official government webpage. It has really cool landscape navigation (fancy scrolling right instead of down!). You can become a citizen (District 4’s population could do with a boost). Or find out if the trackerjackers are particularly bad this season, or keep up to date with Capitol news. Plus more.
(You can also pre-purchase tickets to the film – the first showing as at one minute past midnight on Thursday the 22nd of March.)
If you shoot a satellite into space, give it a camera and nothing better to do, it takes really great photos of earth.
Some highlights: Ireland, complete with aqua-coloured plankton blooms, the Hawaiian Islands, and the Great Barrier Reef.
(Found via metafilter)
A couple of trilogies added this week:
The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins. Read it on your e-book reader before the movie comes out! Also, there’s Catching Fire and Mockingjay. Like print books, library e-books are reservable – you will be notified by email when they’re ready for you to collect (you have a couple of days to do so).
Shiver, Linger and Forever by Maggie Stiefvater, which form the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy, about a pack of wolves who are in reality humans infected with a virus.
If you want to find out more about library e-books, there’s more information in this post right here.
Here are some interesting titles we’ve ordered recently.
15 Days Without a Head, Dave Cousins. Laurence lives with his six year old brother Jay, and his alcoholic mother. One day his mother doesn’t come home from work, and Laurence is left to care for himself and his brother, fearing that their predicament will be discovered, and they will be separated. Happily, Laurence discovers a friend in Mina, who is keen to help him track down his mum. The author’s blog is here.
Starters, Lissa Price. Years ago (although still in the future) a killer bug (deliberately spread) wiped out anyone who was not vaccinated against it. Those who were were the very old and the very young. Callie and her younger brother have no grandparents to look after them, so they live life by their wits, on the run. Things seem to be looking up when they come across Prime Destinations, a group run by The Old Man: a potential income source. Prime Destinations organises for teenagers rent their bodies out to the older people who’d like to be young again (yes, we know, yuck, can you imagine?), using neurochip technology. When it’s Callie’s turn her neurochip malfunctions and she wakes up in her wealthy renter’s life.
Department 19: The Rising, Will Hill. The sequel to Department 19, which people said some touchingly lovely things about (such as “…plenty of high-octane action, groovy specialized vampire-fighting equipment, buckets of gore, intriguing historical side trips and even a little romance…” (from Amazon) which, let’s face it, if you were an author you’d be happy with).
There is an active Facebook page (Department 19 exists!) with interactive elements. And a book trailer:
Huzzah. Here’s a selection of e-book additions to the library collection:
Drink, Slay, Love, Sarah Beth Durst
Guardian of the Dead, Karen Healey
Crossed, Ally Condie
Clockwork Prince, Cassandra Clare
The Red Shoe, Ursula Dubosarsky
Wintergirls, Laurie Halse Anderson
Note that the library e-books are available to borrow for two weeks, and you don’t have to worry about overdues (or losing them, obvs.). If you’re unsure what you need to do to start using the library’s e-book collection, then have a look at this step-by-step help guide (it should have all the answers).
Additionally, we have some new downloadable audiobooks, for example:
The Scorpio Races, Maggie Stiefvater
Twisted, Laurie Halse Anderson
Dead End in Norvelt, Jack Gantos
Beads, Boys and Bangles, Sophia Bennett
I Was Jane Austen’s Best Friend, Cora Harrison
If you’re not sure you want to commit to an audiobook, you can test-drive it by listening to a sample, and if the title you want is not available, you can reserve it – you’ll get a notification by email when it’s ready to collect (note that you only have a couple of days to pick up your reserves).
Here’s a Top 10 list of the most popular searches on the library’s Easyfind catalogue in January 2012, followed by some examples of “when good searches go wrong” (don’t try those at home).
Top 10 Easyfind Searches
the hunger gamesOther interesting popular searches include: Eragon, Glee, Robert Muchamore, Cassandra Clare, Naruto, and building android apps.
Strays, Orphans and Waifs 🙁
<3 typos
If you’re looking for readalike suggestions (or a way to waste much time), then try this. It’s a very cool home-made (by someone very clever) visual book-recommender thingy, based on Amazon’s large database of items. It uses the information Amazon gathers about customer purchases to create links (myriads of links!) between your favourite titles, and other similar ones.
For example, here’s The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan using the gizmo. If you are using a mouse with a scroll button, scrolling will zoom in and out, revealing a really large web of possibilities. Another example: Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green.
Very cool.
(found via mediabistro.com)
We all know the feeling of having very high expectations for something, and then being disappointed with an unfavourable outcome. It seemed quite likely that this would happen with The Fault in Our Stars. I’m a big fan of John Green (whether it be his books, video blogs, or general being), I’d had this book pre-ordered for six months, and I’d listened to the pre-released first and second chapters many times. But, even with my sky-high expectations, this novel exceeded them beyond what I could have imagined.
The Fault in Our Stars is amazing. The blurbs from authors on the back and reviews from critics say much the same thing: That TFiOS is both extremely funny, extremely sad, and extremely thought-provoking. This is so true. The transition between quotes and scenes that have you in stitches, tears, or pondering the meaning of life seem so unexpected, yet never misplaced, and keep the wonderful pacing I’ve always found Green’s books to have.
The two main characters, Hazel and Augustus, are both very witty and very intelligent cancer survivors. Even though their conversations are deliciously interesting and entertaining, it is continually stressed that suffering from cancer does not make them hold all knowledge and the secrets of the universe, a cliche that is far too embraced in the world of ‘cancer stories’. But even with the too-good-to-be-true aspects of their personalities many fictional characters possess, these characters also have flaws and shortcomings that make them real. I felt myself relating to them, even though the only thing I really have in common with Hazel is being a teenage girl.
A great way to sum up my thoughts and feelings on this book is said by Hazel herself:
“Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all humans read the book.”
In short, I love this book insane amounts and everyone– teens and adults– should read it.
~ Lucy
[If you’ve read something good lately, then tell us about it! It’s easy! Plus we like hearing from you. Ed.]
So much stuff to anticipate. This week: a couple of film companions:
The Hunger Games: Official Illustrated Movie Companion, Kate Egan. Find out all about the movie! Here’s what to expect: “The New York Times bestseller by Suzanne Collins is now a major motion picture – and this is your guide to all of the movie’s excitement, both in front of the camera and behind it. Go behind the scenes of the making of The Hunger Games with exclusive images and interviews. From the screenwriting process to the casting decisions to the elaborate sets and costumes to the actors’ performances and directors’ vision, this is the definitive companion to the breathtaking film.” (Amazon.com)
The Hunger Games Tribute Guide, Emily Seife. “Here is the ultimate guide to the twenty-four Tributes participating in Panem’s 74th annual Hunger Games. Follow the Tributes’ journey from the Reaping to the Games, with a look at all the highlights along the way–the Tribute Parade, the stations of the Training Center, the interviews, and more. Get exclusive information about the Tributes’ strengths and weaknesses, their weapons of choice, and their experience in the Capitol before entering the arena.” (Amazon.com)
And a couple of quirky love stories:
The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, Jennifer E Smith. Hadley is waiting to catch a plane from New York to London, to attend her father’s wedding to a woman she’s never met. Fortunately, and improbably, there’s actually someone interesting in the airport departure lounge: Oliver. Even more fortunately and improbably, it turns out they’re pretty much seated next to each other on the plane. Set over a breathless 24 hours. Jolly good.
The Fault in our Stars, John Green. Hazel has cancer, and she’s receiving treatment that is working, in that her tumour is shrinking but not disappearing. She’s lived a long time with the “terminal” tag, but when she meets Augustus at a cancer support group, her life takes a turn for the more interesting. “Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind” (Goodreads.com).
Here’s John Green reading the first chapter (there is also chapter two available for viewing here).
A little birdie told me that he signed the first 150,000 copies of the book: here’s one of his vlogs about this (thanks, birdie):
It’s 2012! No, truly!
Here’s a couple of things we’re looking forward to getting.
Variant, Robison Wells. The author describes this as dystopian-ish. Other people have suggested that if you enjoyed Divergent by Veronica Roth and the Gone series by Michael Grant then this should be right up your alley. From Amazon.com:
“Benson Fisher thought that a scholarship to Maxfield Academy would be the ticket out of his dead-end life. He was wrong. Now he’s trapped in a school that’s surrounded by a razor-wire fence. A school where video cameras monitor his every move. Where there are no adults. Where the kids have split into groups in order to survive. Where breaking the rules equals death. But when Benson stumbles upon the school’s real secret, he realizes that playing by the rules could spell a fate worse than death, and that escape—his only real hope for survival—may be impossible.”
Fallen in Love, Lauren Kate (February). For lovers of the Fallen series, here’s a collection of four (longish) short stories set in the Middle Ages. They feature Luce and Daniel, but also fill you in on how other characters like Roland and Arriane got to be who they are.
Thanks Stephanie for the tips.
Incidentally also, Rapture, the final novel in the Fallen series, will be released in about June/July this year. We will let you know when it’s available for reserving.
Other things in the long range forecast for 2012 include (for example):
Plus some that will sneak up and surprise you. Must start a to-read list.
The Name of the Star, Maureen Johnson
Rory (short for Aurora) moves to London from Louisiana to go to boarding school when her parents get jobs nearby in Bristol. On her arrival, Rory finds out there’s a murderer on the loose who is mimicking the murders of Jack the Ripper from over a hundred years ago. Shortly after she arrives, Rory comes into contact with the killer, but it seems as though she’s the only one who can see him…
There are a number of times when Rory is confused by British-isms somewhat endearingly, and while suspenseful the novel is also humorous. The first in a trilogy with the next one expected in late 2012!
~ Rachel
