Award winners - a useful tool for choosing what to read?

There's plenty awards around, at both national and international level, whether it's for movies, music or books. Does it influence what you watch, read, listen to?

For me, the longlist and the shortlist of various book awards means a lot. Someone else has gone to the trouble of pre-reading a book for me, and making a judgement call. It saves me the time of reading *everything* published in a given year, or genre, and let's me start with some of the best books.

So, a shortlist for an award either gives me a ready-made list of titles, authors and/or illustrators that I might be interested in (if I have enjoyed books that have won the award previously), or it gives me a list of books to avoid (if I haven't enjoyed previous award winning titles).

I've learnt that I generally don't enjoy books that have won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction, but I often enjoy books that have won the Commonwealth Book Prize. I have a friend who is the complete opposite to me - she actively seeks out anything on the Man Booker Prize shortlist.

Some 2011 book award winners include

Blue Smoke by Chris Bourke - New Zealand Post Book of the Year

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes - The Man Booker Prize for Fiction

Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis - The Hugo Award

The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna - Commonwealth Writers' Prize

So, does it make a difference for you when you see "award winner" on the front of a book cover?

Waiting in anticipation ...

Almost 25 years ago, Chris van Allsburg delighted us with The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, full of black and white pencil drawings of interesting and improbable scenarios. It's been an ongoing mystery, who is/was Harris Burdick, and what's the meaning behind the fourteen images and their crytic captions?

Although the mystery is unlikley be solved with the upcoming book, The Chronicles of Harris Burdick, I still can't wait to devour the short stories, which are based on the 14 original images, by outstanding authors such as Stephen King, Kate DiCamillo, Louis Sachar, Linda Sue Park, Alexie Sherman, Lois Lowry and M.T. Anderson.

If you've not yet discovered Chris van Allsburg, then head to your library to get your hands on a copy today.

Top 5 for Friday - 5 events you shouldn't miss in November

The What's On e-newsletter arrived in my Inbox this week and it has a number of events that shouldn't be missed. Here are a selection:

1. Deer, Pigs and a little bit of Bull. Whangaparaoa Library. Saturday 5 November @ 2.00pm. Come along and enjoy a warm beverage as local author Graeme Mackie discusses his latest book. "Tall tales of diggers, drivers, hunters and fishermen. Yarns about pigs, dogs and rifles, about horses and men. And after every adventure, there's plenty of cold beer to wet the whistle". The vast majority of the tales within are based on factual events.




2. A home-grown cook: the Dame Alison Holst Story. At Orewa, St Heliers and Auckland Central Libraries. Spend some time with Alison Holst, New Zealand's groundbreaker in the culinary world as she tours Auckland and talks about her new memoir. "Dame Alison Holst holds more titles than her damehood suggests: she's been invariably described as 'Mother of the Nation', 'Queen of the Kitchen' and 'a groundbreaker in the culinary world'. In the sixties, Dame Alison singlehandedly changed the way women prepared food for their families with her legendary television programme 'Here's How'. She went on to become a prodigious fund-raiser for Plunkett, the chocolate-coated voice of radio, author of a hundred bestselling cookbooks, a successful business brand, as well as our favourite promoter of New Zealand products overseas. In A Home-grown Cook, Alison Holst's fascinating memoir unfolds with the characteristic charm and calm spirit that is so familiar to us all. From a modest upbringing in Dunedin to becoming one of our most endearing Kiwi icons, A Home-gown Cook brilliantly captures Dame Alison's distinctive voice on every page."



3. Bargain Book Sale. Central City Library. 21 - 27 November. Get books, CDs, magazines and kids books at amazing prices at the biannual bargain book sale with many items at $1 each. It's on for a week unless stocks get depleted before then (unlikely as I have seen the number of boxes stored in the basement).



4. An hour with Erica James. Takapuna Library. Tuesday 8 November @ 6.00pm. Presented by the Library and Hachette New Zealand, you are invited to hear much-loved international writer Erica James talk about her latest book The Real Katie Lavender. "Katie Lavender has always thought she was pretty unshockable, until a year after her mother's death she receives a letter from a solicitor telling her that the man she thought was her father, in fact wasn't. Her real father, a man named Stirling Nightingale, has for years been building a trust fund for her. And now she's of an age to collect it."



5. Unlock the Past - A tour of the Central City Family Research Centre. Two dates available. Don't miss this chance to listen to top family history speakers Chris Paton, Rosemary Kopittke, Shauna Hicks, Perry McIntyre and Richard Reid. Then our very own Seonaid Lewis will take you on a tour of the Research Centre which holds one of the most comprehensive family history collections in the Southern Hemisphere. Bookings essential.

Of course these aren't the only things happening in Libraries around Auckland in November. So either check out our Events Listing on the website or sign up for our What's On E-newsletter to stay up to date. There will be heaps happening in the libraries over summer, so now is a really good time subscribe.

Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA) longlist announced

While you might not remember the name of Swedish author Astrid Lindgren, you should recognise her well-known character, Pippi Longstocking, the feisty red-head with freckles, from your childhood.

Astrid Lindgren passed away in 2002, and since 2003, the world’s largest prize for children’s and young adult literature, the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA) has been awarded in her memory.

This annual award is presented to authors, illustrators, oral storytellers and those active in reading promotion work, and may be presented to a single recipient or to several, regardless of language or nationality, and recognises their lifelong body of work. Previous authors to win include Maurice Sendak, Katherine Paterson, Sonya Hartnett and Phillip Pullman. Previous organisations that have won include Venezuela's Banco del Libro and the Tamer Institute based in Ramallah.

The 2012 longlist of nominees was announced earlier this month, 184 names from 66 countries, and there are two New Zealanders on the list – Joy Cowley and Margaret Mahy. It’s fantastic to see these two New Zealanders recognised amongst the world’s best.




The 2011 recipient was Shaun Tan, an outstanding Australian author and illustrator, whose work includes The Arrival, The Lost Thing, The Red Tree, and Memorial.

I’ve used Shaun Tan’s work for group discussions with people from a range of ages, from primary school children to adults. There’s always plenty of intriguing and interesting discussion, because his images always draw you in, and often take you to places you might not have expected to go. If you haven't yet discovered the joy of Shaun Tan's work, then head down to your local library quicksmart!

I’m looking forward to seeing who the jury picks for the 2012 ALMA winner. Wouldn't it be great to see a New Zealander win this one?

5 Halloween books with recipe goodies that kids and adults may enjoy

List by Tosca

"The foulest stench is in the air
The funk of forty thousand years
And grizzly ghouls from every tomb
Are closing in to seal your doom

And though you fight to stay alive
Your body starts to shiver
For no mere mortal can resist
The evil of the thriller..."
- Michael Jackson 'Thriller,' with voiceover by Vincent Price

I enjoy Halloween! As celebrations go, it contains all of the elements I need for a good time: scary movies, costumes, decorations and, of course, lollies. This time of year is perfect for staging my annual horror movie marathon. On my own, of course, because my siblings are not horror movie watchers. In our old neighbourhood you would have found them knee deep in preparations for our annual Halloween street party for the local kids. A street party that came complete with games, crafts, prizes for the best (and scariest and most creative) costumes, scary decorations and ending with about 20-30 kids dancing around on our front lawn to a weird combination of horror movie sound effects and pop music. (Although to me, pop music *IS* a form of horror music). We've moved since then and two of the nephews are too old for games like that (or so they tell me but they're the first to eat the lollies I buy), which leaves Mr. 7 celebrating on his own this year. I thought I'd expand (lower?) my movie marathon standards to showcase kiddie-friendly (not *quite* the term I was looking for) scary movies, instead. Before his bedtime, anyway. And everyone knows kiddie-friendly scary movies needs kiddie-friendly scary food! So his mum (which would, I think, make her my sibling - or so my mum says but I've yet to see the birth certificate) and I have a deal: I supply the movies and watch them with him and she takes care of horror snacks. It's a sweet deal and I think I come off all the better for it. I've been scouring our catalogue for Halloween-appropriate, i.e. ghoulish sounding/looking, recipes. Here's a roundup of 5 Halloween themed books I'll be raiding for ideas! I would have loved for this to be a definitive 'Top 5' list but I'd only just remembered last night that Halloween was coming up (yes, I'm a failure as an aunt) and so won't have time to request them, read them and assess them. Instead, I've been terribly shallow and based them on a combination of two things: book cover appeal and summaries. I know. Tosca did a bad, bad thing. Enjoy!