"Book lovers never go to bed alone"

All Blog Posts (246)

Sophie Hannah

Just finishing Sophie Hannah The Other Half Lives and looking forward to Little Face. Easy reading but good!

Added by Sally on March 25, 2009 at 12:07 — 1 Comment

Libraries are a hot bed of socialism

Continue

Added by Amy B on March 3, 2009 at 11:09 — No Comments

What we desire we shall never have

On these nights of low moon, people of a more unstable temperament began to do weird things. There was always a sleepwalker edging along the parapet of a skyscraper with his arms reaching toward the moon, or a werewolf starting to howl in the middle of Times Square, or a pyromaniac setting fire to the dock warehouses. By now these were common occurrences that no longer attracted the usual crowd of rubberneckers. But when I saw a girl sitting, completely naked, on a bench in Central… Continue

Added by Bern on February 27, 2009 at 20:00 — No Comments

London by the book

The Books in London map locates more than 400 books either set in, or about, the capital.

You'll find Absolute Beginners in Ladbroke Grove, Nick Hornby around Highbury and Brick Lane in Shoreditch.

The website also offers The Rough… Continue

Added by Bern on February 24, 2009 at 13:00 — 3 Comments

Library Value Calculator

An interesting library value calculator created by Denver Public Library.
I'm sure it's not exactly the same as it would be here in Australia, but it does make you think....
My value was $31.26.

Added by Amy B on February 23, 2009 at 10:26 — 1 Comment

Put warning labels on books

...before I started reading, I was a rather subservient, slow little boy who never really did anything wrong, but never did much right either. Books inspired me to be very naughty indeed...

Alastair Harper is bemused at the prevailing attitude to reading - that it's a wholesome, anodyne activity that will uplift young illiterates who spend all day at myspace and… Continue

Added by Bern on February 18, 2009 at 16:17 — 1 Comment

"Found Jewish princess. Good-bye succulent pork."

The title of this post is one of Smith magazine's Six-Word Memoirs on Love & Heartbreak. You can submit your own, or email someone else's as a Valentine's card.

The link came from NPR's Valentine's Day special that offers A Poetry Slam For Valentine's Day and… Continue

Added by Bern on February 13, 2009 at 8:45 — No Comments

Librarians may find the following blog post distressing

Brian Dettmer is an American artist who carves artworks out of books. He seals, then cuts into older dictionaries, encyclopedias, textbooks, science and engineering books, art books, medical guides, history books, atlases, comic books, wallpaper sample books, and others, exposing select images and text to create intricate three-dimensional derivative works that reveal new or alternative… Continue

Added by Bern on February 5, 2009 at 10:30 — 2 Comments

John Updike 1932 - 2009

Acclaimed American author John Updike passed away on Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at the age of 76. John Updike won many awards for his works including Pulitzer Prizes for his novels Rabbit is Rich (1991) and Rabbit at Rest (1982). In 2008 he was awarded the Literary Review Lifetime Achievement Award for Bad Sex in Fiction for his fourth consecutive nominationThe Widows of… Continue

Added by Jane B on January 30, 2009 at 14:46 — No Comments

Top 5 books in USA Today

Who says teens don't read?
The top 5 books this week in USA Today are all young adult novels.
Boy, Stephenie Meyer must be making mint!

Added by Amy B on January 28, 2009 at 13:30 — No Comments

Bad Sex in Fiction Awards

The Literary Review in Britain started the Bad Sex Awards in 1993 to "draw attention to, and hopefully discourage, poorly written, redundant or crude passages of a sexual nature in fiction". Here you can read the shortlisted passages from the 2008 Award.

Added by Jane B on January 23, 2009 at 14:09 — No Comments

Writers go tweet

- cartoon by gapingvoid.com

You probably already know that John Cleese and Stephen Fry are on Twitter. But there are real live authors too. Like Warren Ellis and Neil Gaiman.…

Continue

Added by Bern on January 21, 2009 at 15:38 — 2 Comments

Top 100 Books of All Time

Take a look at the Angus and Robertson Top 100 Books of All Time and check out how many you've read!
More than 26,000 votes from the public were received for the poll - the fifth such poll - which features a diverse list of books, including 22 Australian titles.

Added by Jane B on January 14, 2009 at 15:55 — 1 Comment

opac on iphone

District of Columbia Public Library has created an iphone application that allows borrowers to access the library catalogue from their iphone. It allows them to search, see the item cover and place holds. One borrower who downloaded the application from itunes said, 'I think this works better than the web catalog interface! Well done.' Read on

...and if you think that's good check… Continue

Added by Tim on January 14, 2009 at 14:00 — No Comments

What should I read next?

NextReads has the answer... but try also this magic 8 ball application for impatient types...

I typed in Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence... and got back with a list that included a personal favourite, Midnight in Sicily: On Art, Food, History, Travel, and La Cosa Nostra, a book by Australian author Peter Robb (Carravaggio) that… Continue

Added by Bern on January 2, 2009 at 22:00 — No Comments

Books about business

The Independent a UK newspaper has released a short list of the best business books of all time!
It includes such titles as The Great Crash by J.K Galbraith, Capitalism Unleashed by Andrew Glyn and When markets collide by Mohamed El-Erian.

Added by Tim on December 18, 2008 at 15:00 — No Comments

Aurealis Awards - Discover the best Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror of 2008

Aurealis Awards 2008 finalists

Added by Jane B on December 12, 2008 at 11:34 — No Comments

Good Reading Online

If you have a Mosman Library card, you can access Good Reading Online a fantastic resource if you love books and reading.
Take a look - it is an exact digital copy of the print magazine with the benefits of access to the archive of past issues plus links to interesting websites and more. You'll also be able to browse and keyword search through all issues.

Added by Jane B on December 10, 2008 at 15:11 — 1 Comment

New York Times 100 Most Noteable Books of 2008

Here is the list of what the New York Times considers to be the 100 Most Noteable Books of 2008.

100 Most Notable Books of 2008

What do you think? Have you read any? Are there titles that you think should be added?

Added by Jane B on December 4, 2008 at 15:54 — No Comments

European Digital Library Launches and Promptly Crashes

I saw this article in Library Journal about a new digital library called Europeana. It got 10 million hits per hour and shut up shop. It's going to try and relaunch in mid December.

Added by Tim on December 3, 2008 at 13:00 — No Comments