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Our collection is growing all the time. Some recently acquired titles include:

Death by Water by Kenzaburo Oe

Kenzaburo Oe was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for creating "an imagined world, where life and myth condense to form a disconcerting picture of the human predicament today." In Death by Water , his recurring protagonist and literary alter-ego returns to his hometown village in search of a red suitcase fabled to hold documents revealing the details of his father's death during WWII: details that will serve as the foundation for his new, and final, novel. Since his youth, renowned novelist Kogito Choko planned to fictionalize his father's fatal drowning in order to fully process the loss. Stricken with guilt and regret over his failure to rescue his father, Choko has long been driven to discover why his father was boating on the river in a torrential storm. Though he remembers overhearing his father and a group of soldiers discussing an insurgent scheme to stage a suicide attack on Emperor Mikado, Choko cannot separate his memories fromimagination and his family is hesitant to reveal the entire story. When the contents of the trunk turn out to offer little clarity, Choko abandons the novel in creative despair. Floundering as an artist, he's haunted by fear that he may never write his tour de force. But when he collaborates with an avant-garde theater troupe dramatizing his early novels, Kogito is revitalized by revisiting his formative work and he finds the will to continue investigating his father's demise. Diving into the turbulent depths of legacy and mortality, Death by Water is an exquisite examination of resurfacing national and personal trauma, and the ways that storytelling can mend political, social, and familial rifts.

Boiling Bill's Camping Guide to Australia by Cathy Savage & Craig Lewis

Newly updated, this second edition of the bestselling Boiling Billy’s Camping Guide to Australia is the complete guide to over 3,000 bush camping areas, over half of them free. This is your ideal guide to Australia’s national parks, state forests, conservation parks, the outback and more. Each campsite entry includes detailed information on facilities and activities, along with accurate access details and location descriptions. The guide includes 52 regional maps, over 180 detailed maps of national parks and reserves plus a 120-page Australia-wide road atlas. Boiling Billy’s is Australia’s most popular and trusted camping guide series, and you can be sure of practical, reliable and up-to-date information to help you get the best out of your travels and outdoor pursuits.

The Prince and the Porker by Peter Bently and David Roberts

Pignatius was passing the palace one day, when he saw ten fresh buns left to cool on a tray! Sneaking into the palace, looking for more treats, Pignatius tries on a wig and some clothes and the servants mistake him for the real prince! Of course the rein of this porky impostor can't last long, but when the actual prince returns, he saves Pignatius's bacon.

Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley

Aza Ray is drowning in thin air. Since she was a baby, Aza has suffered from a mysterious lung disease that makes it ever harder for her to live. All the doctors can do is give her drugs and hope they keep her alive. So when Aza catches a glimpse of a ship in the sky, her family chalks it up to a cruel side effect of the medication. But Aza doesn't think this is a hallucination. She can hear someone on the ship calling her name. Only her best friend, Jason, listens. Brilliant, devoted, strange Jason, for whom she might have more-than-friendly feelings. But before Aza can consider that thrilling idea, something goes terribly wrong. The sickness catches up with her. Aza is lost to our world. And found, by another. Magonia. Above the clouds, in a land of trading ships, Aza is not the weak and dying thing she was. In Magonia, she can breathe for the first time. Better, she has immense power. And she can use it to change the world. As she navigates her new life, Aza discovers that war is coming. Magonia and Earth are on the cusp of a reckoning. In Aza's hands lies the whole of humanity -- including the boy who loves her. Where do her loyalties lie?

For more information on new titles or to browse the collection Visit Newcastle Region Library's Catalogue and Website.