Author Of The week: February 8 – February 14

February 8, 2010

Deepak Chopra

Deepak Chopra (Hindi: दीपक चोपड़ा; ) is an author and lecturer on Ayurveda, spirituality and mind-body medicine. Chopra began his career as an endocrinologist and later shifted his focus to alternative medicine. Chopra is a former leader of the Transcendental Meditation movement and in the late 1980s, began publishing self-help books on New Age spirituality and alternative medicine.

Chopra was born in New Delhi, India. His father, Krishan Chopra, was a cardiologist who served as the dean of a local hospital and a lieutenant in the British army and his grandfather was an Ayurvedic physician.

Chopra’s younger brother, Sanjiv, is a Professor of Medicine and Faculty Dean for Continuing Medical Education at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.


Diagram Prize for the Oddest Book Title of the Year

February 5, 2010

Record number of submissions for the 2009 odd title prize

03.02.10 | Catherine Neilan reporting in The Bookseller

The Bookseller’s annual Diagram Prize for the Oddest Book Title of the Year award has drawn a record number of submissions, prompting custodian and publishing bon viveur Horace Bent to create a “Very Longlist” for the very first time.

Bent, who blamed social networking site Twitter for the rise in suggestions, received a total of 90 submissions—almost three times as many a last year (32).

Although Bent received a record number of submissions, he expressed frustration at the reciprocal rise in the number of ineligible submissions. He told The Bookseller: “The adage that everyone has a book in them may well be true, but that doesn’t mean every Tom, Dick and Harry out there can bash a few words out on a keyboard and then upload it to Scribd with a humorous title like: The Historic Adventures of the Purple Waffle Iron on His Horse Made of Asparagus, and then think they have a chance at winning my prestigious award. I refuse to ackowledge such submissions”.

Among those he has rejected from appearing on the “Very Longlist” include: The Sacrosanct Foreskin of Christ in the Cult and Theology of the Papish Church of Berlin (1907) for being too old, and The Religious Psycho Killer’s Shit List — cut for falling foul of Bent’s “properly published” criteria.

Bent has now whittled the competing titles down to a “Very Longlist” of 49 titles, with The Origin of Faeces, Collectible Spoons of the Third Reich and The Master Cheesemakers of Wisconsin just three of the titles vying for the most coveted award in the publishing industry.

Mickey Mouse, Hitler and Nazi Germany, Is the Rectum a Grave? and Peek-a-poo: What’s in Your Diaper? also stand a chance of making the shortlist.

A panel of judges, with Bent as chair, will announce the shortlist on 19th February, at which point the public will be invited to vote on their favourite. The title with the most votes by the closing date (21st March) will be crowned the winner—to be officially revealed on Friday 26th March.

The “Very Longlist” in full:

  • 100 Girls on Cheap Paper
  • A Tortilla is Like Life
  • Advances in Potato Chemistry and Technology
  • Afterthoughts of a Worm Hunter
  • An Intellectual History of Cannibalism
  • Bacon: A Love Story
  • Baptist Autographs in the John Rylands University Library of Manchester 1741-1845
  • Bondage for Beginners
  • Briefs for the Reading Room
  • Budgeting for Infertility
  • Collectible Spoons of the Third Reich
  • Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes
  • Curbside Consultation in Cornea and External Disease
  • Cute Yummy Time
  • Dental Management of Sleep Disorders
  • Father Christmas Needs a Wee
  • Fluffy Little Kitten in Fluffy’s Brother
  • Food Digestion and Thermal Preference of Toad
  • Governing Lethal Behavior in Autonomous Robots
  • How YOU Are Like Shampoo: For Job Seekers
  • I Stopped Sucking My Thumb…Why Can’t You Stop Drinking?
  • I’m Not Hanging Noodles on Your Ears
  • Is the Rectum a Grave?
  • Jokes by the Not So Famous Redneck
  • Map-based Comparative Genomics in Legumes
  • Mickey Mouse, Hitler and Nazi Germany
  • My Hare Line Meets the Brown Rabbit
  • Obama Guilty of Being President While Black
  • Peek-a-poo: What’s in Your Diaper?
  • Planet Asthma: Art and Acitivty Book
  • Plough Music
  • Plug-in Electric Vehicles: What Role for Washington?
  • Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
  • Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Bean Conference
  • Schoolgirl Milky Crisis
  • Soft Drink & Fruit Juice Problems Solved
  • Ten Stupid Things That Keep Churches from Growing
  • The Changing World of Inflammatory Bowel Disease
  • The First Home-Built Aeroplanes
  • The Great Dog Bottom Swap
  • The Master Cheesemakers of Wisconsin
  • The Origin of Faeces
  • The Quotable Douchebag
  • The True History of Tea
  • The Wild World of Girly Men and Masculine Women – And Why Americans Suffer from So Many Other Idiotic Syndromes!
  • Venus Does Adonis While Apollo Shags a Tree
  • What Horses Do For Us
  • What Kind of Bean is this Chihuahua?

Hattip Beattie’s Book Blog


Stocktaking and Painting

February 4, 2010

You may have noticed a hive of activity around the libraries this week. We are stocktaking at the moment, and that coupled with the painting of the Dannevirke Library, will mean that I might not manage to post to the blog as regularly as I usually do… Apologies in advance to our regular readers.    


The viper’s nest / Peter Lerangis Book Seven Of The 39 Clues

February 3, 2010

The viper’s nest , book seven of the 39 Clues has come into the library./  Peter Lerangis

Shaken by a shocking loss, Amy and Dan flee to an exotic land and trace the footsteps of their most formidable ancestor yet: a military leader of mythic proportions. But just as the siblings begin to master the art of ancient warfare, they confront a dangerous enemy – the truth.


Cooking Books: Risotto and Saha

February 2, 2010

One of the most well read sections of the non-fiction collection is the cooking section. We have usually have a good supply of new titles coming in, like this new one Risotto and Classic Rice Cooking.

One of the things I love about cook books is not only the recipes, but often the illustrations that come with them. Though to my mind the best ones also combine some sort of narrative about the cooking, or even a travel description, like this one called Saha : a chef’s journey through Lebanon and Syria.


Dannevirke Community Library Closed for Repainting

February 2, 2010

The Dannevirke Community Library will be closed for repainting

Friday 5th February from 1pm until Monday 8th February 1pm.

To renew your items, please phone 374 4255 during business hours.

We apologise for the short notice, and any inconvenience caused.


Author of The Week: February 1 –February 7

February 1, 2010

Robert Muchamore

Robert Kilgore Muchamore (born 26 December 1972) is an English author, most notable for writing the CHERUB and Henderson’s Boys series.

Robert Muchamore started writing the CHERUB books because his nephew couldn’t find any books that he liked reading. He tried to write books that he would have enjoyed reading when he was 12 or 13, a time when he remembers being too old for children’s books but not old enough to read adult novels

The CHERUB series follows the life of a character named James Adams (formerly James Choke), a member of CHERUB, a top-secret branch of the British Secret Service. The organisation recruits orphan children and trains them as intelligence officers. Once qualified, they are used to investigate targets ranging from international terrorists to gang leaders. As children, they are considered innocent by their targets

So far Muchamore has written and published eleven CHERUB novels, with another one in production. In 2008 he also released Dark Sun as a World Book Day novella.

The CHERUB series has been sold in more than 20 different countries and has won various awards. Most notably, The Recruit has won 8 literature awards.


New Title: U is for Undertow / Sue Grafton

January 29, 2010

A new book that will be popular has come across my desk: U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton has come in.

From the publisher’s site:

In 1960s Santa Teresa, California, a child is kidnapped and never returned

When the case is reopened after 20 years, a man – Michael Sutton – contacts private detective Kinsey Millhone for help. He claims to have recalled a strange and disturbing memory which just might provide the key to the mystery. He may have stumbled across the kidnappers burying Mary Claire Fitzhugh’s body…

But Michael’s account is indistinct – he was only six years old at the time of the kidnapping; and even members of his family try to discredit his evidence. But Kinsey is certain there is something vital within Michael’s recollections. And even when what is eventually unearthed isn’t what anyone expected, she can’t quite let go of the case.

As Kinsey gradually brings to light the stories of the protagonists involved in the tragedy, from Country Club parents to their free-living, hippy children, the truth finally begins to emerge. And while stepping back into the past, Kinsey discovers more about her own history too…


Dannevirke A&P Centennial Show 6th February

January 29, 2010

Dannevirke A&P C1909/10

Next weekend is the Dannevirke A&P show, which this year celebrates its centennial.

For our out-of-Dannevirke readers, how about having a lovely day riding behind a steam train through the Manawatu Gorge, and then a pleasant day at the show! Or if your really train mad a trip out to Takapau before heading back.

Dannevirke A&P Centennial Show, Steam Train Excursion

Contact: Tararua i-SITE Woodville or Dannevirke Information Centre

Phone: I-SITE 06 3761023 Dannevirke info 06 3744167

Hours: Train departing Woodville 9.35am

Tickets available at Tararua i-SITE, Vogel Street Woodville or Dannievirke information Centre. Dannevirke.Ticket Prices are as follows: Palmerston North or Woodville to Dannevirke $45.00, Dannevirke to Ormondville $40.00 (including alfresco lunch at Ormondville) Ormondville to Takapau- round trip $25.00. Ticket price includes, Steam train ride, Return trip. Bus and show entry.


J.D. Salinger Author of ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ Dies

January 29, 2010

 J. D. Salinger, the author of The Catcher in the Rye has died. See our holdings here.

Jerome David “J. D.” Salinger (January 1, 1919 – January 27, 2010) was an American author, best known for his 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye, as well as his reclusive nature. His last original published work was in 1965; he gave his last interview in 1980.

Raised in Manhattan, Salinger began writing short stories while in secondary school, and published several stories in the early 1940s before serving in World War II. In 1948 he published the critically acclaimed story A Perfect Day for Bananafish in The New Yorker magazine, which became home to much of his subsequent work. In 1951 Salinger released his novel The Catcher in the Rye, an immediate popular success. His depiction of adolescent alienation and loss of innocence in the protagonist Holden Caulfield was influential, especially among adolescent readers. The novel remains widely read and controversial, selling around 250,000 copies a year.

The success of The Catcher in the Rye led to public attention and scrutiny: Salinger became reclusive, publishing new work less frequently. He followed Catcher with a short story collection, Nine Stories (1953), a collection of a novella and a short story, Franny and Zooey (1961), and a collection of two novellas, Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (1963). His last published work, a novella entitled “Hapworth 16, 1924,” appeared in The New Yorker on June 19, 1965.

Afterward, Salinger struggled with unwanted attention, including a legal battle in the 1980s with biographer Ian Hamilton and the release in the late 1990s of memoirs written by two people close to him: Joyce Maynard, an ex-lover; and Margaret Salinger, his daughter. In 1996, a small publisher announced a deal with Salinger to publish “Hapworth 16, 1924” in book form, but amid the ensuing publicity, the release was indefinitely delayed. He made headlines around the globe in June 2009, after filing a lawsuit against another writer for copyright infringement resulting from that writer’s use of one of Salinger’s characters from Catcher in the Rye.

Salinger died of natural causes on January 27, 2010 at his home in Cornish, New Hampshire.

‘The Catcher in the Rye’ author dies, aged 91 [From The New Zealand Herald]

J.D. Salinger, the legendary author, youth hero and fugitive from fame whose “The Catcher in the Rye” shocked and inspired a world he increasingly shunned, has died. He was 91.

Salinger died of natural causes at his home on Wednesday, the author’s son said in a statement from Salinger’s literary representative. He had lived for decades in self-imposed isolation in the small, remote house in Cornish, New Hampshire.

“The Catcher in the Rye,” with its immortal teenage protagonist, the twisted, rebellious Holden Caulfield, came out in 1951, a time of anxious, Cold War conformity and the dawn of modern adolescence. The Book-of-the-Month Club, which made “Catcher” a featured selection, advised that for “anyone who has ever brought up a son” the novel will be “a source of wonder and delight – and concern.”

Enraged by all the “phonies” who make “me so depressed I go crazy,” Holden soon became soon became American literature’s most famous anti-hero since Huckleberry Finn.

The novel’s sales are astonishing – more than 60 million copies worldwide – and its impact incalculable. Decades after publication, the book remains a defining expression of that most American of dreams – to never grow up.

Salinger was writing for adults, but teenagers from all over identified with the novel’s themes of alienation, innocence and fantasy, not to mention the luck of having the last word. “Catcher” presents the world as an ever-so-unfair struggle between the goodness of young people and the corruption of elders, a message that only intensified with the oncoming generation gap.

Novels from Evan Hunter’s “The Blackboard Jungle” to Curtis Sittenfeld’s “Prep,” movies from “Rebel Without a Cause” to “The Breakfast Club,” and countless rock `n’ roll songs echoed Salinger’s message of kids under siege. One of the great anti-heroes of the 1960s, Benjamin Braddock of “The Graduate,” was but a blander version of Salinger’s narrator.

The cult of “Catcher” turned tragic in 1980 when crazed Beatles fan Mark David Chapman shot and killed John Lennon, citing Salinger’s novel as an inspiration and stating that “this extraordinary book holds many answers.”

By the 21st century, Holden himself seemed relatively mild, but Salinger’s book remained a standard in school curriculums and was discussed on countless websites and a fan page on Facebook.