"North Child"- book review by a teen reader

“North Child” by Edith Pattou follows the life of an ordinary girl call Rose, who was born into a family with a superstitious mother, thus being called Ebba Rose after the East point of the compass. The story recounts Rose’s life growing up, with Rose being an adventurous child who only sat still to do weaving and sewing. As time goes on, her family becomes poorer and one of Rose’s sisters falls ill. So when an enormous white bear shows up on their doorstep promising an improvement in the family’s fortune and her sister’s health, Rose agrees to go with the bear, who takes her to a castle buried in the side of a mountain. Life is good for Rose, who except for suffering from home sickness, is well looked after. Like most other fairy tales, this one also contains a curse to overcome, so when Rose makes a mistake, will she be able to break the curse and win her prince? Based on the Norwegian tale “East of the Sun and West of the Moon” this tales also loosely relates to the story of “Beauty and the Beast”, and will leave you wanting more.

Two kinds of crimes

This week, the Library received the latest Patricia Cornwell novel “Scarpetta”. Leaving behind her forensic pathology practice in South Carolina, Kay Scarpetta takes up an assignment in New York City, where the NYPD has asked her to examine an injured patient in a psychiatric ward. The handcuffed and chained patient, Oscar Bane, has specifically asked for her, and when she literally has her gloved hands on him, he begins to talk- and the story he has to tell turns out to be one of the most bizarre she has ever heard.

Patricia Cornwell’s first published novel was Post Mortem, which also featured Dr Kay Scarpetta, and appeared in 1991. Over the years, some elements of the style of the Scarpetta novels have changed; from past to present tense and from first to third person. The character has changed too.

It is believed that these novels, which include a lot of forensic detail, influenced the development of a “forensic” genre of novels and television series, which has been very popular over the last ten years. In the USA, “Scarpetta” has been promoted as a “celebration of the entire series”. It will be interesting to hear what Gilgandra readers think of this book.

Another new arrival is “Portobello” by Ruth Rendell. Set in the area of West London of that name, this is the story of Eugene Wren. On a shopping trip one day, Eugene came across an envelope containing money. He picked it up. Rather than report the matter to the police, he wrote a note and stuck it up on a lamp post near his house.

“Found in Chepstow Villas, a sum of money between eighty and a hundred and sixty pounds. Anyone who has lost such a sum should apply to the phone number below.”

The note links the lives of a number of very different people. Around them all, the hectic life of Portobello bustles on, and the different characters lives are eventually found to be linked in other ways.
In a review for the London Sunday Times, Lucy Atkins said “The suspicion that these ways will be sinister (this is after all a novel by Ruth Rendell) is what hooks the reader. Far more than any extraordinary events, it is this narrative tension that keeps you turning the pages. Setting out her cast with absolute conviction, Rendell unrolls their lives at a stately, ominous pace.”

Both Cornwell and Rendell have been popular authors in Gilgandra for many years. Both have inevitably changed and developed different interests and styles. I wonder whether these latest novels will be enjoyed by readers who loved their earlier work.

A big read for tiny people

Here is a great book review by a work experience student who has been working at the Library this week- she has done a fantastic job here, and we're going to miss her.

'Arthur and the Invisibles' by Luc Besson

Arthur and the Invisibles features a child called Arthur who lives with his Grandma. His Grandpa has gone missing. Arthur thinks he’s with a race of people called the Minimoys, but there is no proof that they even exist. When his Grandma suffers from financial trouble he finds a secret message and a map to find the Minimoy treasure. Along the way he must also rescue his grandfather and save the Minimoy kingdom from the bad guys. Can he do it before the kingdom is destroyed, the banker turns up and his world comes crashing down?

Wikipedia page about Arthur and the invisibles Movie information

Children's internet use at the Library

The Library welcomes people of all ages to use the internet at the Library. At present, we have only one public access computer, but this will increase as time goes on. The first half hour of internet use is free, after that the cost is $1.50 per half hour.

Many children visit the Library to use the internet to research school assignments, send email or talk to friends on social networking sites such as Bebo. The public access computer is located close to the front desk of the Library, where staff are usually serving customers. However, the Library cannot provide supervision of children of any age. Parents and guardians are always entirely responsible for the behaviour and safety of their children in any public library.

As you know, the internet is an incredible tool, and offers young library users many benefits, including independent learning and research skills and improved communication skills. However, children may unknowingly place themselves in risky situations, by giving out personal details to people or organisations they don’t know or accessing inappropriate material. Parents need to consider this and to discuss the risks of internet use with their children. If you would like more information, you can pick up a copy of booklet called “Cybersmart guide for Families” at the Library. This booklet is also available online at www.acma.gov.au/libraries.

With the potential risks of the internet in mind, the Library has changed its policy regarding the use of the public access computer by children. We want to be sure that parents are aware of their children’s use of the internet at the Library. These are the new rules about children’s internet use at the Library, which will apply from 1 December, 2008.

Before any children under the age of 18 years use the Library computer, we will require that a parent or guardian comes to the Library to sign a form. This form will state that they are giving permission for the children to use the internet, and if the children are not already library members, it will also be their application to join the Library. The children will then receive a library card and will be able to borrow from the Library, if this is what you wish. This form must be signed at the Library. If permission has not been received, from 1 December 2008, children will not be able to use the internet.

In addition, any child under the age of 12 years using the computer must be accompanied by a responsible person aged 18 years or over. This should ideally be the parent or legal guardian of the child. Children under the age of 12 will not be permitted to use the computer unless they are accompanied by a responsible adult.

Please do not hesitate to contact the Library if you have any questions. We hope that this new policy will help children in our town to use the internet safely, and make sure that all parents are aware of their children’s use of the internet.

Writerslink writer's workshop at Gilgandra Library: Retool Remix with David Reiter

Think outside the text box! This is a workshop that gives you the skills to compose books which include multimedia elements (audio, video, animation, interactivity) as well as words. Create works for podcasts, blogs or CD/DVD distribution. Experience a hands-on workshop with demos and exercises, brainstorm your own projects, remix them from straight text into multimedia presentations!
The workshop is aimed at artists, community members, historians, writers and anyone who is interested in integrating rich media into their work. The workshop facilitator is Dr David Reiter, an award-winning poet and writer of fiction, and Director of Interactive Publishing, a print and digital publisher based in Brisbane. This workshop follows from Selling that Book conducted at Macquarie Regional Library in 2007. Come and network with colleagues in a fun and comfortable workshop environment! Only $25 per person! This includes all refreshments. Places limited – book now!
Tel: 02 6817 8704 / 02 6817 8705
RSVP: Monday 1 December
Email: mspencer@gilgandra.nsw.gov.au or library@gilgandra.nsw.gov.au

Check out Dr Reiter's homepage, where you can see some of his publications or purchase them- http://members.ozemail.com.au/~reiterdr/

Or read a profile of Dr Reiter at http://www.artsconnect.com.au/artists/poets/davidreiter.htm

One of Gilgandra Shire Library's youthful customers told me that David Reiter's book "The Greenhouse Effect" was the best book she'd ever read. Recommendations don't come any higher than that. Dr Reiter says that digital media empowers creators to publish, using the internet as a channel for sales. Come along to the Library on Wednesday 3 December and learn how to make digital media work for you.

All the colours of darkness by Peter Robinson

This week the Library received the most recent Peter Robinson novel, “All the colours of darkness”. Barry Forshaw, from The Independant (UK) reviewed this novel on 13 August this year. He said “Peter Robinson has come up with the perfect solution to this irksome problem. He takes the clashing- male/female-copper motif and shoots it full of adrenalin, always finding some new wrinkle to convince us we are encountering this scenario for the very first time. All the Colours of Darkness, the latest in his sequence featuring DCI Alan Banks and his associate DI Annie Cabbot, is a salutary reminder why readers are so comfortable with the series. It's an old friend, but a friend that can still provoke and pique our attention…. Is it a compliment to say that reading a Peter Robinson novel is like slipping into a well-worn pair of slippers? Certainly, the reader can relax: all the buttons we expect to be pressed will be satisfyingly pushed, and the comforting rituals name-checked by a consummate professional. But Robinson also has a way of undercutting the genre's familiarity. With a deceptively unspectacular language, he sets about the process of unsettling the reader. Robinson also does plotting with unspectacular assurance – the kind of plotting, in fact, that exerts a considerable grip. Just try putting the book down after a chapter or so: you'll have a problem.” http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/all-the-colours-of-darkness-by-peter-robinson-892698.html

Do you have a favourite author; an author whose books are as satisfying for you to read as Peter Robinson clearly is for Barry Forshaw?

New books by Peter Watt and Jeffery Deaver

The Library has received the latest book by Peter Watt; "The Frozen Circle". This novel begins in 1918, after the Great War, when two Australian soldiers join the British army to help fight the Bolshevik forces in northern Russia. Following the Armistice, Sergeant Joshua Larkin is sent on a special mission deep into enemy territory in Russia. But when he is ordered to do the unthinkable, he must flee across Europe in order to protect a young woman, Maria, whose family has been executed. With Maria’s life under threat from all sides due to her imperial connections, nowhere is safe.

Almost a century later, two bodies are unearthed in the small Australian country town of Valley View. The discovery of the two skeletons poses problems for local policeman Morgan McLean. Who are the victims and why were they killed? Could the rumours of an heir to the Russian throne be true? And what explosive secret is Britain’s MI6 desperate to keep hidden by any means necessary? (http://www.peterwatt.com/australia.htm)

Peter Watt is an Australian author who says that he writes the kinds of books he does, which he describes as historically based action adventure, because he is fascinated with the human face of history. His books have been popular at the Library, so we think that lots of Gilgandra people have an abiding interest in finding out what it was like to live in times before ours.

The Library has also received the latest novel by Jeffery Deaver; "The bodies left behind". The story runs like this: it is a spring night in a small town in Wisconsin. . . . A call to police emergency from a distant lake house is cut short. . . . A phone glitch or an aborted report of a crime? Off-duty deputy Brynn leaves her family's dinner table and drives up to deserted Lake Mondac to find out. She stumbles onto the scene of a murder. . . . Before she can call for backup, though, she finds herself the next potential victim. Deprived of her phone, weapon and car, Brynn and an unlikely ally – a survivor of the carnage – can survive only by fleeing into the dense, deserted woods, on a trek to safety and ultimately to the choice to fight back. The professional criminals, also strangers to this hostile setting, must forge a tense alliance too, in order to find and kill the two witnesses to the crime...
On his website, Jeffery Deaver says "Bodies" is filled with typical Deaver twists and turns, and takes place over a short period of time, but it also has one of the more shocking endings of any book I've ever written. Not gory or macabre, but I've been told it takes the breath away. I'm calling the novel "Thelma and Louise" meets "Deliverance." (http://www.jefferydeaver.com/)

We hope you enjoy whatever you are reading this week. And remember; Gilgandra Library wants to know who your favourite authors are! Over the month of November we are collecting the names of Gilgandra's favourite authors. To tell us who you like, either write the names on a slip of paper and drop it in the Box at the Library (picture below) or through the after hours book chute. Or you might like to make a comment on this blog, telling us the names of your favourite authors.

The Box at the Library

Who are your favourite authors?

We’re celebrating the joy of reading this month at Gilgandra Shire Library. To start the ball rolling, here is a question for you- who are your favourite authors? We hope to gather a list of Gilgandra’s favourite authors over the next month, and print it in the Gilgandra Weekly early in December. We think it should make interesting reading, and it might prompt us to try a different author or two..

To nominate your favourite authors, simply write their names on a slip of paper and drop it in to the box at the Library, or through the book return chute after hours. Alternatively, you can post your author’s name as a comment on this; our brand new blog. We hope to use this blog to share book reviews and information for book lovers of all ages in Gilgandra.

Speaking of favourite books, one of mine is “The Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency” by Alexander McCall Smith. While fiddling on the internet this week, I noticed that McCall Smith is publishing his newest book “Corduroy Mansions” in daily bites on the Telegraph UK website. I’m a bit late joining the party, because he is already up to Chapter 35. You can read all of the chapters to date, or listen to Andrew Sachs, best known as Manuel in Fawlty Towers, reading the latest chapter of Corduroy Mansions each weekday, or all the chapters so far. You can even make plot suggestions to McCall Smith, and he has responded to many suggestions on the website. One of the people who posted a plot suggestion calls this “Dickens for the digital age”. The link for this website is in our "Book info" links list on the right hand side of this page.