Crafting a public display - yarn bombing

Recently I've noticed some very cool public artworks in Orewa, however they are not technically officially sanctioned artworks. They are instead knitted artworks, attached to fences, trees and lamp posts, created by artists unknown who definitely put a smile on my face.

The concept of displaying knitting and crocheting in public spaces is commonly referred to as yarn bombing, but has also been called guerrilla knitting, urban knitting and graffiti knitting.

Auckland Libraries has a copy of this book that introduces some of the overseas projects, as well as ideas for different projects to get you started, and there is also a regularly updated blog about different yarn bombing that has taken place all over the globe. You might also want to check out the book : Knit the City.

There were several guerilla knitting sites around Christchurch after the first quake back in September 2010, and you can view some of the photos here, here and here. I've also heard that there have been other sites in Auckland that have had the pleasure of being yarn bombed, but I haven't yet been able to confirm it with my own eyes!

Top 5 most requested crime/mystery titles

List by Tosca

A short post from me today that is all about the book and nothing but the book. Specifically, our top 5 most requested crime/mystery titles. Usually I'm heads down in young adult fiction, funny nonfiction, recommended general fiction and romance novels. More recently, though, I'm slowly getting back in to crime/mystery and thought that some of these could be a good place to start. (Although, honestly, I tried to start with Death comes to Pemberley by PD James and had to give up halfway through. It just wasn't for me). Enough about me. Bring on the books!

Believing the lie / Elizabeth George
After writing sixteen Inspector Lynley novels, New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth George has millions of fans waiting for the next one. As USA Today put it, "It's tough to resist George's storytelling, once hooked." With Believing the Lie, she's poised to hook countless more. Inspector Thomas Lynley is mystified when he's sent undercover to investigate the death of Ian Cresswell at the request of the man's uncle, the wealthy and influential Bernard Fairclough. The death has been ruled an accidental drowning, and nothing on the surface indicates otherwise. But when Lynley enlists the help of his friends Simon and Deborah St. James, the trio's digging soon reveals that the Fairclough clan is awash in secrets, lies, and motives. Deborah's investigation of the prime suspect-Bernard's prodigal son Nicholas, a recovering drug addict-leads her to Nicholas's wife, a woman with whom she feels a kinship, a woman as fiercely protective as she is beautiful. Lynley and Simon delve for information from the rest of the family, including the victim's bitter ex-wife and the man he left her for, and Bernard himself. As the investigation escalates, the Fairclough family's veneer cracks, with deception and self-delusion threatening to destroy everyone from the Fairclough patriarch to Tim, the troubled son Ian left behind.


Explosive eighteen / Janet Evanovich
Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is used to danger and adventure; they follow her at every turn. But when international murder hits dangerously close to home, this could be more explosive than exciting... O nce Stephanie steps on the plane fromHawaiitoNewark, she hopes to put her hellish holiday behind her. But when her seatmate mysteriously disappears during the stopover in LA - to be found later in a garbage can - things are only going to get worse. O nly one other person has seen the missing photograph the dead man was supposed to be carrying - and it just so happens to be Stephanie Plum. Now she's the target, and she doesn't want to end up in a garbage can... M ore to the point, she still has to deal with the fallout fromHawaii. Both the men in her life refuse to talk about it and all Stephanie will say is... It's complicated.

The drop : a novel / Michael Connelly
Harry Bosch has been given three years before he must retire from the LAPD, and he wants cases more fiercely than ever. In one morning, he gets two. DNA from a 1989 rape and murder matches a 29-year-old convicted rapist. Was he an eight-year-old killer or has something gone terribly wrong in the new Regional Crime Lab? The latter possibility could compromise all of the lab's DNA cases currently in court. Then Bosch and his partner are called to a death scene fraught with internal politics. Councilman Irvin Irving's son jumped or was pushed from a window at the Chateau Marmont. Irving, Bosch's longtime nemesis, has demanded that Harry handle the investigation. Relentlessly pursuing both cases, Bosch makes two chilling discoveries: a killer operating unknown in the city for as many as three decades, and a political conspiracy that goes back into the dark history of the police department.

Death comes to Pemberley / P.D. James
The year is 1803, and Darcy and Elizabeth have been married for six years. There are now two handsome and healthy sons in the nursery, Elizabeth's beloved sister Jane and her husband Bingley live nearby and the orderly world of Pemberley seems unassailable. But all this is threatened when, on the eve of the annual autumn ball, the guests are preparing to retire for the night when a chaise appears, rocking down the path from Pemberley's wild woodland. As it pulls up, Lydia Wickham - Elizabeth's younger, unreliable sister - stumbles out screaming that her husband has been murdered. Inspired by a lifelong passion for the work of Jane Austen, PD James masterfully recreates the world of Pride and Prejudice, and combines it with the excitement and suspense of a brilliantly-crafted crime story.Death Comes to Pemberley is a distinguished work of fiction, from one of the best-loved, most- read writers of our time.

The affair / Lee Child
March 1997. A woman has her throat cut behind a bar in Carter Crossing, Mississippi. Just down the road is a big army base.Is the murderer a local guy - or is he a soldier? Jack Reacher, still a major in the military police, is sent in undercover. The county sheriff is a former U.S. Marine - and a stunningly beautiful woman. Her investigation is going nowhere. Is the Pentagon stonewalling her? Or doesn't she really want to find the killer? The adrenaline-pumping, high-voltage action in The Affair is set just six months before the opening of Killing Floor, and it marks a turning point in Reacher's career. If he does what the army wants, will he be able to live with himself? And if he doesn't, will the army be able to live with him? Is this his last case in uniform?

The Pacific Islands celebrate..

...throughout March across the Auckland region with Pasifika. And we are joining in.

Join us to celebrate all things Pasifika at Auckland Libraries, where the Islands come alive. With activities for young and old, highlights on Auckland Libraries' Pacific Island treasures, specialised learning sessions and Storytimes with a Pacific flavour, there will be something for everyone.

Auckland Libraries offers you Pacific stories and legends, bilingual books, CDs and DVDs in various Pacific languages, plus language learning tools and travel guides.

Our Sir George Grey Special Collections holds internationally renowned Pacific taonga that you will not find anywhere else.

Come and travel the Islands at your local library. To find out what's happening near you go to the special Pasifika page on our website. Or pick up a brochure at your local library. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our monthly Pasefika newsletter, with updates about the latest Pacific resources we offer.

Pasifika isn't the only thing happening at Auckland Libraries in March. It's also NZ Book Month, the storytimes in the parks in the South are wrapping up this month and the Family Research lunchtime series is well underway for the year with several offerings. Check out the Events page on our website.

Browsing the shelves

Guilty confession : when I visit someone's house, when I watch a movie, or when I read a magzine, and there is a bookshelf somewhere, I will browse the shelves to see what is on display.

I'm intrigued to see what books other people willlingly put on display. It answers brings up sorts of questions - which genres do they read most, which authors are their favourites, do they collect cookbooks, do they have beautiful coffee table books, are they fans of pulp fiction?

So it was with great pleasure that I recently got to "browse"the personal book shelves of well-known writers, such as Alison Bechdel, Steven Pinker, Lev Grossman, Junot Diaz, and Philip Pullman, in Unpacking My Library : Writers and Their Books.

The authors willingly talked about what is on their bookshelves, how they organise their personal libraries (answers ranged from "by topic", "by age", "wherever they fit"), as well as nominating their personal Top 10 books from their collections.

There's also a companion volume - Unpacking My Library : Architects and Their Books.

So am I the only one who "browses" other people's bookshelves? Surely not.

Does fiction have the power to change attitudes?

I have recently been recommended to read Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron. A simple plot sysnopsis might be : a coming-of-age story of a young boy hoping to become the first medal winner for his country in a track event.

However, the story takes on a different hue when you find out that Jean is a young Tutsi boy, living & training amidst mounting tensions between the Hutu and Tutsi in Rwanda, trying to make sense of the world around him.

My friend knew that I had read We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed without families : stories from Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch, and we'd talked at length about the genocide in Rwanda, so she thought that I might interested in this fictional story set in Rwanda as well.

As I placed my hold for Running the Rift, I noticed the words "Winner, Bellwether Prize for Fiction, 2010". I was intrigued, what is the Bellwether Prize for Fiction?

Turns out this prize was set up by author Barbara Kingsolver, in support of Literature for Social Change. I'm looking forward to this book arriving on my holds shelf, to see what it means to be the winner of an award for "social change".