Monday, June 29, 2015

Good Reading Magazine - Latest issue!


The July issue of Good Reading magazine is ready for you to read!

Follow the link from the Library website in our e-Magazines resources and it will take you straight to the entire issue for you to read on your computer or tablet. 



In the latest issue of Good Readingread about a young German scientist who is revolutionising the way we think about our health with Gut: The inside story of our body's most under-rated organ. Also check out the profile of prolific children's author and Senior Australian of the Year, Jackie French. You'll read about Michael Leunig's favourite books, and Anne Gracie's valiant defence of the reputation of romance books might have you reaching for one. As always, there's a stack of reviews for recent fiction, non-fiction and children's books to help you find your next good read for all the family.

Visit Newcastle Region Library's Catalogue and Website.

Friday, June 26, 2015

Library Press Display



Library folk, check out PressReader! PressReader delivers the most authentic newspaper and magazine reading experience on tablets and smartphones running iOS, Android, Windows 8 and BlackBerry 10 operating systems. With PressReader, you can hold an enhanced digital replica of your favourite publication in your hands and read it from cover to cover, just the way the title was printed - with no compromises in quality, fidelity or content. 



Enjoy unlimited access to local and international publications! Just connect your tablet or smartphone to the libraries wifi, download the latest PressReader App, pick your title and read away.  Download publications to My Library and enjoy them anytime, anywhere. You can also listen to articles with On-Demand Audio and translate in up to 14 languages.


Visit Newcastle Region Library's Catalogue and Website.

The Book of Madness and Cures / Regina O'Melveny

Gabriella Mondini lives in 16th Century Venice, a Dottoressa by trade, thanks to the support and tutelage of her father. Together they are writing The Book of Diseases, an encyclopaedia of all known diseases, cures, and uses for medicinals. Dr Mondini leaves Venice to research further diseases and cures, leaving only a trail of letters that become erratic, enigmatic, and troubling, before they dry up completely.

His letters lead Gabriella to suspect her father may suffer some illness, or some form of madness. She sets out to find him, against her mother's wishes, taking her old nursemaid Olmina, and Olmina's husband Lorenzo, as her companions.

It is an arduous journey, with prejudices against women, witches, and Catholics evident along the way. Gabriella has her hope, her stubborn determination, the good nature of Lorenzo, the unfailing support of Olmina (even if she does complain), and her continued work on The Book of Diseases to sustain her.

This book is Regina O'Melveny's first novel, beautiful and lyrical, as you would expect from an award winning poet. Please do go to her website and read her Author's Note, even if you don't read the book. It may convince you, where I fail.

Category: Fiction, Historical Fiction

Who'll want to read it? People who love travel, history, an interest in illnesses of the body and the mind.

Point of no return: page 5
I didn't know then that during those fugitive hours beneath the influence of the damp moon, I was already plotting my future in pursuit of the past. ... It was then I knew I must set my life in motion or I would disappear.

Classic entry:
Page 59
MELANCHOLIA:
When One Is Weighed by a Leaden Sadness
Melancholia seeps into one's life like the metallic sand of an hourglass. Despondency accrues. One suffers from inertia and wan complexion. My friend Messalina grew so disconsolate that no one could find a cure, not even my father. The use of plants with a moist nature, such as watercress, lovage, and water parsley, could not counter her dry, cold humor. It is said that the black bile of melancholia devours even stone with its terrible acid.

Publisher: John Murray

name, date Visit Newcastle Region Library's Catalogue and Website.

Sunday, June 21, 2015

Tree Palace by Craig Sherborne



Shane, Moira and Midge, along with young Zara and Rory, are ‘trants’—itinerants roaming the plains north-west of Melbourne in search of disused houses to sleep in, or to strip of heritage fittings when funds are low. When they find their Tree Palace outside Barleyville, things are looking up. At last, a place in which to settle down.

But Zara, fifteen, is pregnant and doesn’t want a child. She’d rather a normal life with town boys, not trant life with a baby. Moira decides to step in: she’ll look after her grandchild. Then Shane finds himself in trouble with the local cop. Warmly told and witty, Craig Sherborne’s second novel is a revelation—an affecting story of family and rural life. 

Category: Fiction

Praise: ‘[Tree Palace is] moving, terrifying and wonderfully well observed and, as with all the strange books Sherborne writes, a triumph…The main character [is] one of the great portraits of up-against-it Australian womanhood in our literature, a figure to put with Lawson’s Drover’s Wife and Barbara Baynton’s women.’  Peter Craven, Sydney Morning Herald

Publisher: Text Publishing


Visit Newcastle Region Library's Catalogue and Website.

Friday, June 19, 2015

The Boundary by Nicole Watson


Long ago, Meston Park in Brisbane's West End marked the city's boundary. A curfew kept its Aboriginal population outside the city limits after dark. A multi-million dollar development threatens the sacred site of one of Australia Aboriginal populations, the Corrowa people file a native claim over the site. Hours after Justice Brosnan rejects the claim, he is dead. Days later, the developer's lawyer is also killed. As the body count rises, it becomes clear that the key to unlocking the murderer's identity is the single red feather left behind at each crime scene. 

Filled with suspense and grisly detail, this book follows detectives Jason Matthews, a young Aboriginal policeman, and Andrew Higgins, a wizened cop possessed by his need for revenge, as they attempt to investigate the murders and stay impartial. A fast-paced crime novel as well as a cutting social commentary, this narrative puts native title and contemporary Australian issues under the microscope, exposing a nation still struggling to come to terms with its bleak past. 

Category: Adult Fiction

Who'll want to read it? Crime novel lovers - this is breaking new ground in Australian fiction.

Point of no return: It may have a body on the first page, but this is no ordinary crime novel. Nicole watson adds generous slices of Brisbane's Indigenous history, and a supernatural being called Red Feathers... you won't put it down.

Classic line: ‘...if you wanted to have a yarn with a blackfellas – you have to fill them up with tucker first.’

Publisher: Penguin Books Australia

Visit Newcastle Region Library's Catalogue and Website.

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Blackout by Connie Willis


Oxford in 2060 is a chaotic place, with scores of time-traveling historians being sent into the past. Michael Davies is prepping to go to Pearl Harbor. Merope Ward is coping with a bunch of bratty 1940 evacuees and trying to talk her thesis adviser into letting her go to VE-Day. 

Polly Churchill’s next assignment will be as a shopgirl in the middle of London’s Blitz. But now the time-travel lab is suddenly cancelling assignments and switching around everyone’s schedules. And when Michael, Merope, and Polly finally get to World War II, things just get worse. For there they face air raids, blackouts, and dive-bombing Stukas--to say nothing of a growing feeling that not only their assignments but the war and history itself are spiralling out of control. Because suddenly the once-reliable mechanisms of time travel are showing significant glitches, and our heroes are beginning to question their most firmly held belief: that no historian can possibly change the past. Look out for the next book 'All Clear' after you devour 'Blackout'!

Category: Science Fiction

Who'll want to read it?  Anyone delighted to see any new book by Connie Willis, but particularly one that returns to the time-travel premise she explored so deftly in classics such as Doomsday Book.

Classic line: “I’m not studying the heroes who lead navies—and armies—and win wars. I’m studying ordinary people who you wouldn’t expect to be heroic, but who, when there’s a crisis, show extraordinary bravery and self-sacrifice. Like Jenna Geidel, who gave her life vaccinating people during the Pandemic. And the fishermen and retired boat owners and weekend sailors who rescued the British Army from Dunkirk. And Wells Crowther, the twenty-four-year-old equities trader who worked in the World Trade Center. When it was hit by terrorists, he could have gotten out, but instead he went back and saved ten people, and died. I’m going to observe six different sets of heroes in six different situations to try to determine what qualities they have in common.” 

Publisher: Spectra

Visit Newcastle Region Library's Catalogue and Website.

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Busy Things



Newcastle Library takes great care to provide our littlest members with high quality eResources which are fun to play with clear educational objectives - we love our new quirky world of Busythings and we know you'll love it too! Busythings is a world of playful fun with out of the ordinary characters and settings for ages three to seven. Never dull, it is instantly appealing to children and able to hold their attention. 
With over 150 activities to discover in the areas of literacy, numeracy, creative development and general knowledge, learning has never been so silly! Watch Cat and Dog retell your favourite fairy tales or count out the number of treats to give to Monkey before he eats them all! New activities are added every month so there's always something new to discover and children love being able to move between free play and structured learning. Home users can log in on a desktop computer, laptop or tablet using their library card; up to five devices can be used simultaneously. We know you'll have fun!



name, date Visit Newcastle Region Library's Catalogue and Website.

Monday, June 15, 2015

Hades by Candice Fox

Homicide detective Frank Bennett has an intriguing new partner. Dark, beautiful, coldly efficient, Eden Archer is one of the most enigmatic colleagues Frank has ever worked with—that includes her brother Eric, who’s also on the Sydney Metro police force. All of them are tested to the core when a local man discovers a graveyard of large steel toolboxes lying at the bottom of the harbor. Each box contains a grisly trove of human body parts.For Frank, the madman’s clues are a tantalizing puzzle. For Eden and Eric, the case holds chilling links to a scarred childhood—and a murderous mentor named Hades. But the true evil goes beyond the bloody handiwork of a serial killer.







Category: Crime Fiction

Who'll want to read it? Readers of the dark and compelling. A original thriller that will have you spellbound from its atmospheric opening pages to its shocking climax.

Publisher: Random House Books Australia

 Visit Newcastle Region Library's Catalogue and Website.

Friday, June 12, 2015

Story Box Library

 At Newcastle Library, we love stories… we also love interactive resources for our members and Story Box Library is both! Your library card now gives you access to the wonderful world of Australian children's literature through film. Story Box Library provides a vibrant, interactive experience via a diverse range of everyday Australian storytellers - sportspeople, musicians, grandparents, teenagers, comedians, actors, with varying accents and from different cultures - each sharing past and present book titles. 


The result is meaningful, entertaining readings that focus on both teller and tale. Listen to Andy Griffith read you his 'The 39-Storey Treehouse' or Nick Cave lend his voice to spooky narration of 'The Ghost of Annabel Spoon'.  Updated regularly with wonderful new titles the website is user-friendly with hand held devices - perfect for families 'on the go'. You can always find Story Box Library through the Library's website under e-Collections > e-Kids. 

Whether it's a book read on a road trip with the family or a bedtime story under the covers, Story Box Library help children journey to that most uniquely precious place; the wilds of their own imagination.

Enjoy a little example of The Brothers Quibble read by author Aaron Blabey.



 Visit Newcastle Region Library's Catalogue and Website.

Zinio Magazine of the Month!

Australian Home Beautiful is every home decorator's best friend. With more pages dedicated to homes than any other Australian title, Australian Home Beautiful guides readers towards transforming their own homes into the kind of showplace they see within the magazine.  We demystify the rules of decorating and empower readers to become their own savvy decorators. Covering five main pillars - indoors, outdoors, renovate, decorate and food, Australian Home Beautiful is a magazine catered to those who love the home they’re in.

With the colder weather surrounding us, June’s edition of Australian Home Beautiful focuses on the interior of your home, particularly on using your furnishing to create a romantic and cosy luxury feel to your favourite spaces. Read the latest tips for design experts on the right lighting for the right mood and room, plus learn a few quick, cheap and easy tricks to update your bathroom in an instant. For all readers with packed-tight closets, this edition of Australian Home Beautiful will have you creating your dream closet wish list, with breath-taking ideas and designs. Read this all for yourself by logging in to Zinio and reading on your computer or mobile device, and don’t forget, it’s entirely free!

Download the magazine FREE from Zinio, simply visit Newcastle Region Library's Catalogue and Website to find out more. 

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill


The size of this slender book lures you in.. what possible impact could such a story have that can be read cover to cover on one Sunday afternoon. It's been months since I finished it and I still can't stop thinking about it. Extremely funny, often sad - Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill invites you in for a cup of tea and kicks you in the guts. From the point of view of a young writer referred to simply as 'the wife', we are shown short bursts of observation and memory—comic, startling, searing. Daily life, narrative of marriage, parenthood, ageing, introspective questions - how to be the artist. A book I couldn't put down and then forced into the hands of all my friends.





Category: Literary Fiction

Who'll want to read it? Lovers of intense and witty meditations on motherhood, infidelity, and identity.

Point of no return: “My plan was to never get married. I was going to be an art monster instead. Women almost never become art monsters because art monsters only concern themselves with art, never mundane things. Nabokov didn't even fold his own umbrella. Vera licked his stamps for him.” 

Classic line: So many...

“And that phrase - 'sleeping like a baby.' Some blonde said it blithely on the subway the other day. I wanted to lie down next to her and scream for five hours in her ear.” 

“I bought a warmer coat with many ingenious pockets. You put your hands in all of them.”

“Advice for wives circa 1896: The indiscriminate reading of novels is one of the most injurious habits to which a married woman can be subject. Besides the false views of human nature it will impart … it produces an indifference to the performance of domestic duties, and contempt for ordinary realities.” 

“Her neighbor’s husband fell in love with a girl who served coffee to him every morning. She was twenty-three and wanted to be a dancer or a poet or a physical therapist. When he left his family, his wife said, “Does it matter to you how foolish you look? That all our friends find you ridiculous?” He stood in the doorway, his coat in his hand. “No,” he said. The wife watched her neighbor get fat over the next year. The Germans have a word for that. Kummerspeck. Literally, grief bacon.” 

Publisher: Penguin Random House

 Visit Newcastle Region Library's Catalogue and Website.

Wednesday, June 03, 2015

PK e-Magazine


Newcastle Library wants to introduce you to another great online resource for students and teachers. PK Magazine is an Australian digital magazine for primary kids that publishes creative works in writing, video, music, art sent in by kids all over Australia. You can read it on your computer, iPad or tablet; flick through the pages just like a magazine.



Find the link in the libraries e-Magazines collection and start reading book reviews by kids  - for kids, meet talented authors and illustrators, discover fun facts, and enter into awesome competitions. It's educational and great fun!

name, date Visit Newcastle Region Library's Catalogue and Website.