Landscape Photographer of the Year Collection

What a beautiful book! There are a lot of really gorgeous photography books around at the moment and this is a splendid example.

The pictures are lovely. Some of them are really surprising: they are straightforward shots of landscapes or features within landscapes but the angle of the camera or the light or the way the colours interact make them impossible to identify at first sight. All those "ordinary" things I'd just walk past and ignore if I were there, suddenly made wonderful. Others are just wonderful landscapes taken well. The colours are marvellous and some of the skies!

— Susan

We have one copy of this book, at the Wheatsheaf Library.

Literary awards

This is a bit of mischief on my part but I couldn't resist it: I've added the shortlist for the Literary Review's Bad Sex In Fiction award to the Reading Links pages of our Web Catalogue.

I'm not sure how much should be read into the fact that we've got all the titles on the shortlist and the previous five winners. Probably best not to think about it!

Web Catalogue: Winning Reads

Beowulf

With all the recent publicity and hooplah for the premiere of the film version of "Beowulf" it's worth our pointing out that we have a few different editions of the poem in our libraries, along with some scholarly commentaries on the poem.

As well as classic editions we have:

• Copies of Seamus Heaney's much-acclaimed retelling both in book and audio format;


• Michael Morpugo's version for children, with dramatic illustrations by Michael Foreman; and


• Caitlin Kiernan's novelisation of the film.

Early Chesterton Crime

"The Club of Queer Trades" is a classic treat: G.K. Chesterton's first foray into detective stories, before his 'Father Brown' stories. Private detective Rupert Grant and his unbalanced brother investigate a series of cases all of which seem to be linked to the club of the title.

There are elements of stylistic satire and outlandish characterisation to the stories which prefigure, and often surpass, later parodies of the detective genre, and which provide a bit of icing on the cake. A lot of fun!

-- Steven

We have two copies of "The Club of Queer Trades" in our libraries.

The Enemy by Lee Child

More comments and reviews from the Home Library Reading Circle

"THis could have been any Jack Reacher novel. They are all superb. Lee Child brings the 'all action hero' to life with his human flaws and his knack fro seeing off the bad guys. I love the way trouble seems to follow him."

— Sharon

"It is good but long-winded. Most of all, though, I guessed most of it at least a quarter of the way through. Although it did have a couple of twists to keep me reading."

— M. Jelbert

"He can be a little too descriptive at times, but the excellence of his story is so good it does not spoil the real enjoyment he gives his readers."

— E. Kenny

"A very well written story. Very enjoyable to read except for the military jargon which I found difficult to follow and understand. Jack Reacher is a great character, though."

— I. James

The Home Library Reading Circle were reading the large print edition of this book. We also have copies available in Crime Collections around the Borough and also as an audio book.

Shrek Cookbook

Isn't this great? Lots of nice, easy-to-follow recipes — without hundreds and hundreds of different ingredients for each one — nicely laid out with Shrek and Princess Fiona and the others. There's some wonderful stuff in here.

I like the way the book opens flat so that you're not having to keep on finding your place while you're following the recipes.

And there are some good ideas for uses for ear wax!

— Sue

We've copies of Shrek Cookbook in the Children's Non-Fiction collections in all our libraries.

Readers Recommend

I've just updated the "Readers Recommend" page of our Web Catalogue to include a few titles that were nominated in some informal feedback sessions a couple of months ago, plus a couple of recent entries in this blog.

There are a few lists on this page:

• The "Readers Recommend" list is pretty much what it says on the tin.
• "Readers' Group Choice" are titles nominated by reading groups in our libraries. We're about due another canvass to update these. The Home Library Readers' Circle is a group of customers of our Doorstep Library Service which delivers books to housebound people; Sharon encourages them to share opinions and suggestions (you'll see a few of them in this blog).
• "A change of format" is just a selection of alternative format versions of "Readers Recommend" titles. Some are in large print, some are in audio versions of one sort or another. the original aim of this was to make sure that we had something listed for people who can't use — or don't want — the "normal book" version of a title. I'm havering a bit on this and wonder if it might not be better to just incorporate them in the main list, same as I have with the Richard & Judy Summer Reads. I'm open to feedback on this.
• "Readers' Polls" is made up of the results of various national polls I've bumped into at one time or another. I thought it might be interesting to see how similar or different these may be to local results.

I hope this is useful. If you have any ideas/comments I'd be pleased to hear them!

— Steven

Authors of the Month

We've just updated the "Authors of the Month" feature on our Web Catalogue. This is a list of the authors featured in some of our libraries, click on any entry in the list and you'll see which of their books with got in our libraries. If you then click on any particular title you'll see which libraries have copies and whether or not any are available.

If you're a member of our libraries and have your barcode and PIN to hand you can reserve a copy to be picked up at your nearest convenient library. This is a free service to our customers. If you don't have a PIN, next time you call into the library please ask for one to be set up for you.

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Not all of our libraries run "Author of the Month" features. Some prefer to run features celebrating particular genres or subject areas. Others prefer to run features that cut across genres and collections, including both fiction and non-fiction. These last can be particularly difficult to turn into searches that can be build into the Catalogue, the Love Stories list in "Themed Reads" being one of the few examples we've done so far. (As its name suggests, it's also the easiest!) Every so often we'll include one of these wider-ranging features in this blog.

Comic strips from the sixties

Great to see that you've got the reprints of the old comic strips from the sixties. The Steel Claw and the Spider are a real nostalgia rush.

Have you seen that they've collected together the recent "Albion" comic series that gives an update to those stories? There's also "Albion Origins" which includes reprints of Kelly's Eye and The House of Dollmann. And an eye-wateringly beautiful Brian Bolland cover. Check it out!

Micki

Thanks Micki. Yes that's definitely a very beautiful Brian Bolland cover! I'll pass on your suggestion. For those of you wondering what we're talking about I've added the links to our Web Catalogue to your post.
Cheers,
Steven

The Truth About Teachers

"The Truth About Teachers" is an really very funny collection of rhymes and poems about teachers.

It dishes the dirt on their secret lives: that competetive streak on the football field; translations of common "teacher's phrases" used in the classroom; and the truth about tea and cakes in the staff room. Great stuff!

James

"The Truth About Teachers" is written by Paul Cookson, Davide Harmer, Brian Moses and Roger Stevens and generously illustrated by David Perkins. We've just bought seven copies for children's collections in libraries around the Borough.

Mummy? by Maurice Sendak

This is a wonderful book! The pop-up characters are really clever and the detail's amazing. I really loved all the monsters.

And don't forget to open the flaps at the sides of the page. I did first time and missed some of the best surprises!

Sue

All our copies of Mummy are in the Storytime Collections at Heywood, Middleton and the Wheatsheaf, being used for Under-fives' story times.

The Children's Hour by Marcia Willett:

The story centres around two elderly sisters living in a large house on the Cornwall coast. They have four siblings, three sisters and a brother. One of the sisters, who is going senile, comes to stay. She has secrets she is dying to reveal about the family. The author uses flashbacks, written in the present tense, to gradually reveal these secrets and leads the reader down a few garden paths in the process. The secret is not what you think! There is a strong sub-plot about the younger generation but it's easy to guess what's going on. I would strongly recommend this book.

Brenda Hance

Acid Row by Minette Walters

Acid Row is a I thriller I just couldn't put down. A child and doctor go missing during riots in a local community and the circumstances bring out the best in those you would least expect. I borrowed this from the Wheatsheaf Library.

Janice

Island Race by John McCarthy and Sandy Toksvig

John and Sandy set off sailing round the coast of Britain They stopped at various places on route including Rick Stein's restaurant in Padstow very mouth watering.There are some lovely pictures in the book which makes it more interesting. I borrowed this from Spotland Library.

Margaret Taylor

Don't Drop the Coffin by Barry Albin-Dyer

I borrowed this from Darnhill Library. It's not quite what you think it's going to be. Don't be put off by the title, a really good dry read!

k

The Good Women of China

Xinran was a presenter of a radio program in China in which she invited women to call in and write about themselves. This collection of their stories is deeply moving, an unforgettable insight into the lives of Chinese women. I borrowed this from Wardle Library.

Janice

Children's book choices

Our old library web site included an online form that let borrowers send us book reviews. We got quite a lot of response from children, here are some of them:

Matilda by Roald Dahl
Yes I loved it it was so amazing I could not take my eyes away from it.
Rebecca Heapy

Double Act by Jacqueline Wilson
I think it is really funny and Jacqueline uses very descriptive words.
Abbi Woods

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
I liked it because it is funny and I liked all the actors in the choclate factory and I loved the Oompa Loompas
Aimee Louise Ball

The Illustrated Mum by Jacqueline Wilson
It was upsetting at times and then when one of the characters was happy you feel happy too. You can feel what the book feels.
Lois Brady

Roald Dahl's Revolting Recipes
I liked the book very much. It was very good and disgusting and I made the wormy spaghetti and the illustrator was good. It is one of the best books I have ever had.
Jamie Paul Radcliffe

Bumface by Morris Gleitzman is good because it is very, very funny and humourous.
Elizabeth Gough

The Girlfriend By R.L.Stine

It was about a 17 year old boy called Scotty and he has been going out with the same girl, Lora, for 7 years. But one week she goes away on holiday. He meets a girl called Shannon and goes out with her twice. When his girlfriend returns home he wants to carry on as normal. Shannon doesn't. She wants him all to herself. Scotty tells her it's over but she doesn't take any notice. She loves him and she follows him everywhere. Everytime he says no she hurts him. But the more times he says no the worse it gets. He finally has enough. He gets angry and annoyed and shakes her and hits her. Does he get away with murder? Literally. You didn't know what was going to happen next!


Philippa

Galapagos Diary by Hermann Heinzel

"An astonishingly nice book to look at and read. It's sort of two books in one: there's a nice travelogue with lots of splendid photographs that make the islands and their wildlife look interesting, intriguing and attractive. Then there's the author's sketches: quick, unfussy lines capturing the wildlife - especially the birds! - as lively, active creatures and not static or stuffed specimens.

"Wonderful."

Jim

The House on Lonely Street by Lyn Andrews

More reviews from the Home Library Reading Circle.

"This book is worth reading. Very sad but with a happy ending."
M.P.

"Very good insight into life before the First World War. Such poverty is unthinkable, but a good story. Well worth reading."
V.T.

"Enjoyed the story. A good tale."
D.H.

"A very good read. I enjoyed it immensely. So different to modern tales. The poverty made it seem more interesting, and the determination to get away from it played a part. I loved it."
I.J.

Popular poetry

For National Poetry Day we asked customers in all our libraries to vote for their favourite poem. The results were:

1. "Daffodils" by William Wordsworth
2. "The Owl and the Pussycat" by Edward Lear
3. "Cargoes" by John Masefield
4. "Macavity the Mystery Cat" by T.S.Eliot
5. "The Lake of Inisfree" by W.B.Yeats
6. "He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven" by W.B. Yeats
7. "Home Thoughts From Abroad" by Robert Browning
8. "Warning" by Jenny Joseph
9. "Please Mrs. Butler" by Allan Alberg
10. "If" by Rudyard Kipling

We'd be interested to know your favourites.

The Prayer of the Night Shepherd by Phil Rickman

More reviews from the Home Library Reading Circle.

"A mystery with intermingling stories and complex characters. Once you sort the characters out you really want to know what happens to them."
Mrs. T.

"After working through the religion and one country to another, I did stop to wonder how the author got away with so much coincidental claptrap. Merrily Watkins seems to have a smoking problem and has lost her sense of humour."
Mrs. J.

"Didn't hold my interest as there were too many complicated characters. Wasn't what I call a 'good read.'"
Mrs. F.

"Good yarn but long drawn out. Far too many characters so it was difficult to really make anyone the main one. You need half a page of new chapter before discovering whose mind you were supposed to understand."
Eileen

Sports reading

I can take or leave most sports, save cricket, but there are times when you're channel-hopping in the wee small hours when you just can't sleep and don't have the concentration to read a book and, faced with the bleak, hard choice of whatever's on the cheap sports channel or some expensive tat teleshopping you've just got to go with the former. Giles Smith's "Midnight in the Garden of Evel Knievel" is just the book to reflect this level of engagement. This is a collection of articles about sport written for the Daily Telegraph and the Times from the point of view of the bloke watching it on the telly. Knowledgeable, irreverent and very readable!

Steven


p.s. While I'm at it, I'd also like to put in a plug for "Extreme Ironing." Derring-do, breathtaking scenery and knife-sharp creases. What more could you hope for?

Views from the Home Library Reading Circle

Sharon, who runs the Doorstep Library Service (formerly the Housebound Library Service) has set up the Home Library Reading Circle as a way for her customers to give her feedback on the books, tapes and CDs they've been borrowing. It's also an opportunity for them to share opinions with each other. We'll be including some of their reviews every so often in this blog.

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The Road to Nab End by William Woodruff

"The story starts when the author was born in 1916 in Blackburn. It is about the cotton mills and is a very good read. As a local, you can relate to lots of the happenings. Very good."
Vera

"It was good to read a book about the North of England. It brought back a lot of happy memories. A good read."
Alan

"I agree with the other readers. 'Happy Memories' Easy to pick up and read."
B.

"A very interesting read. Difficult to put down. Full of memories, facts and family history. Well written, absorbing, easy to follow. A credit to the writer, truly gifted, who kept his eyes and ears open."
Sylvia

"Very realistic story of how things were. Reminded me of things my mother used to tell me when she was young."
Mrs. T.

Welcome!

For a long while we've wanted somewhere on the web for us to share reading ideas with our customers and for them to come back to us with ideas of their own. So we've started this Rochdale Library Blog o'Reading, which will include ideas from Library Service staff and our customers. We hope we'll be able to include links to local reading and writing groups' blogs as well as links to online resources from the wider world.