The Best of 2011 #2

The next Best of 2011 comes courtesy of Helensville Children's and Teens Librarian Rachel.

Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis - This book is a biography of Katie Davis who moved to Uganda when she was 19 to spread love to it's citizens. She adopted 14 Orphans at age 21 and continues to be a mother to them. She is an inspiration and a demonstration of love in action.

Bow-wow bugs a bug by Mark Newgarden & Megan Montague Cash - It's a children's picture book and you may be thinking what the?!? This is a sophisticated picture book with no words. It's illustrations are cute and all the adults (and children) that I have shown it to have had a good chuckle.

Book of spies by Gayle Lynds - "The library can be a dangerous place..." Any book that starts like that grabs my attention very quickly. I enjoyed it so much that most of my branch has read it as a result! It's a thriller about a secret library. I don't want to say anymore in case I spoil it for you hehe.

Save me from myself by Brian "Head" Welch - This book is another biography but from a famous guy who used to belong to the death metal band Korn. This guy was on drugs and living a lifestyle that wasn't exactly conducive to living a long life. This book details that life and how he managed to change it around. It gave me a better perspective on what life is like for those people who end up in a bad place due to drugs and alcohol.

The Brick Bible by Brendan Powell Smith - A visual version of the Bible done in Lego. It's very cool!

Utterly Charming by Kristine Grayson - This book is a fairytale with a difference. This is told from the point of view of the evil stepmother Mellie. She is sick to death of her story being told wrong and aims to change it. Because it's a romance, the love interest is none other than Prince Charming! Yes, it's light, fluffy and a title page that would make me be embarrassed to read it in public but rest assured, it is a good read and the cover doesn't really match the story.

Exploring the Auckland region

Having recently moved back to Auckland, I'm still getting to grips with how much there is to do across the region.

Exploring the regional parks is high on my to-do list, and trips to Tiritirimatangi and Rangitoto Island have been suggested by several people.

I'm keen to explore the Waitakere Ranges so I've put a hold on Walking the Waitakere Ranges by Alison Dench & Lee-Anne Parore.

I'm also interested in Te Araroa (a walking trail that runs the length of New Zealand), which snakes down the coast from Waiwera via Torbay and Devonport, and then it actually passes right through urban Auckland. I'm sure I'll need the accompanying book to point me in the right direction.

Any secret gems you want to recommend?

My first 5 books for 2012

List by Tosca

"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free."
- Frederick Douglass

I wanted to write my 2011 top 5 lists for graphic novels, fiction, nonfiction, dvds and cds that I'd taken out this year. I thought it'd be a nice way to wave goodbye to 2011 and see in 2012. Two things stopped me: I'd deleted my reading history of everything I'd taken out from January 2011 - November 2011, and had read/watched/listened to 299 items from October 2011 - December 2011. The thought of trying to go through 299 titles and choose my best of the best was somewhat daunting, to say the least. It left me feeling a bit deflated. And then I thought why don't I make this post a simple list of my first 5 books for 2012, instead. Which, I think, works quite well with a couple of book goals I have: 1) get back into young adult fiction and 2) read widely. As beginnings go, it's not too bad!

What book did you kickstart the new year with? What book goals do you have in mind?

What will I do this year?

I know, I know, New Year's resolutions are so cliched. But maybe by putting it out there in public view, then I might actually stick to them! And since there's plenty of resources at the library, it *should* make things a little easier. Check back next year to see how I did.

So here goes ... in 2012, I plan to :

• learn to cook a proper curry from scratch (I'm using Curry Easy as a starting point)



• consolidate my HTML knowledge (I've started out with Build your own website the right way using HTML & CSS)



• improve my te reo Māori (I'm going back to basics with Reo Maori o naianei. Book 1, Pukapuka 1 = Modern maori : a beginner's course by P M Ryan)

So while there's nothing *too* bold on the list, I have kept it short to help me achieve these goals!

The Best of 2011 # 1

In the time honoured tradition for this time of year, it is time for the Best of 2011 lists. I have asked a randomly chosen group of people for their input and will be posting these throughout January.

First up is Vicki Clarke. She is Service Delivery Manager for the six Kowhai Coast Libraries in the North and West of Auckland, but may also be known to a lot of you as Library Manager at Kumeu Library or as Acting Library Manager for Rodney Libraries. As I discovered when looking at most of the lists, there is something in here that I will be putting on my request list.

Skippy dies / Paul Murray. A sad and memorable 'tragic comedy', this is a story of a group of teenage boys in a boarding school. The story is about their teenage angst (why on earth I read it I don't know!), their obsessions, relationships, and part of their journey in finding out who they are in the world. I'm glad I'm all grown up.

Open : an autobiography / Andre Agassi. I know, this has been out for a while, but finally I found it on the shelf! I really enjoyed this as a very honest expose of his life from being drilled for hours by his father, through his tennis career and marriages to Brooke Shields and the now Mrs Agassi, that other very famous tennis player.

The garden in the clouds : from derelict smallholding to mountain paradise / Antony Woodward. This memoir is set in Wales, about the author dragging his somewhat reluctant family to live on a hilltop farm, and their struggles to develop and present their garden for public tours in the presitigious 'Yellow Book'. No I had never heard of it before either.

The tent, the bucket and me : my family's disastrous attempts to go camping in the 70s / Emma Kennedy. This had me in stitches. The title is self-explanatory - if you're going camping this summer, this could be a really helpful guide of how not to do it.

A world history of art / Hugh Honour & John Fleming. Wow, a big book that gave me a short walk through art from prehistory through to the contemporary. I found the older history more interesting, so stopped reading once it got to the 1960's.....

Euan Macleod : the painter in the painting / Gregory O'Brien ; with a foreword by John McDonald. I would like to own one of this New Zealand artist's works. (My birthday is in March.)