Time for Books



It's the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness....and reading. As the nights draw in we begin to think of cosy nights by the fire with a good book.

Share with us your favourite books, especially any that you have read this year, as we will soon be looking for recommendations for our Book of the Year.

I really enjoyed a previous contender, The Crimson Rooms by Katherine McMahon. Like many of those who recommended it, I would have loved there to have been a sequel and the good news is that Katherine McMahon has begun working on one.

We wish you a happy autumn of reading and look forward to hearing from you about your favourite books.

A world of stories

With the school summer holidays comes the Summer Reading Challenge and  libraries all over the country are buzzing with children keen to read books to complete their storylab card and

gain a medal.

Read all about it on our front page!

These books are modern favourites and we thought it would be fun to talk about books which take us back to our childhood.

Share with us books you have loved - old or new. There are many excellent new books for children, many of which can be enjoyed by adults.

So remember the lazy hazy days of your youth, maybe try some new titles, and tell us what you would recommend to our young book lovers.

A Summer of Sports

The UEFA European Football Championship.....Wimbledon.......the Olympics.....Formula One................... 

there will be sports galore this summer.

There are many novels with sporting themes, as well as non-fiction titles, so we thought we'd look at books about any kind of sport.
Try our link to The British Sports Book Awards website on the Read and Relax page to find the best non-fiction sports books of 2012.

Nick Hornby's novel, High Fidelity, became a bestseller for its view of men and their interests, including football.

The Boys Rule! series are adventure books,  many of which have a sport theme.

The Complete Book of the Olympics covers it's history and quirky facts.

What is your favourite sport?

What will you be watching? and have you read any type of book with a sporting theme?

Join in and tell us of any that you can recommend.

A Right Royal Read

As we are approaching the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, our thoughts turned to royals in fiction.

 There are many historical novels which explore the lives of past kings and queens - do you enjoy reading these? Share your favourites with us.

The present Queen Elizabeth features in the books above.

She is 'the Uncommon Reader' in Alan Bennett's story.

In 'Springtime at Burracombe' it is 1953 and approaching the Queen's Coronation and in 'Remembering the Bones' there is to be an 80th birthday lunch at Buckingham Palace for ninety-nine Commonwealth subjects born on the same day as the Queen - but one of them has an accident on the way.

Have you read any other novels which include the Queen?

To be or not to be

This week includes William Shakespeare's birthday - 23rd April- and we thought we should give the bard a mention after so much publicity for Charles Dickens.

You may have noticed that Shakespeare is being featured in many ways by the BBC as part of the promotion of our cultural heritage as the Olympics draw closer. Have you watched or listened to any of the programmes?

Did you study Shakespeare at school? Have you tried any since? Does the presence of someone like Lenny Henry or David Tennant in the cast encourage you to watch one of his plays?

If reading the original plays seems off-putting, there are many other ways of trying Shakespeare - abridged versions of the story, visual and audio productions and even graphic novels.

Please Sir, can I have some more?

We return to our old friend Charles Dickens as this month there are many special events celebrating his work.

Many people will be joining in reading Oliver Twist during April and there are versions available in all our libraries for children and teens as well as the original full length novel.

To celebrate the great man’s 200th birthday, we’ve got some great talks lined up for you in April.

Novelist Ian Porter will be taking you on a “Walk through Dickens’ London”; a talk on Dickens’ life and times in London and Kent.
Erith Library Tuesday 24th April 2.30pm
Sidcup Library Wednesday 25th April at 2.30pm

 

Historian and author Adam Roberts will be giving a talk called “Dickens with a Twist”; a sideways look at the book, and the man
“Why has the novel proved so enduring?...How does it map London?...And why is Twist called Twist?”
Central Library, Wednesday 25th April 7.30 pm

 

Tickets for all the talks cost £2.50 and are available from the libraries concerned, or telephone 020 8303 7777

From Hobbits to Adrian Mole

Can it really be 30 years since Adrian Mole wrote his secret diary?

Indeed it is and his publishers are celebrating with a new anniversary edition which includes more details of his life and world.  

His creator, Sue Townsend, became one of the UK's most popular comic writers.

 Celebrating its 75th birthday this year is The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien - the prequel to the cult classic

Lord of the Rings.

Did you love or hate Lord of the Rings? and did you read The Hobbit ?

Tell us what you thought of these books - and have you read any other diaries or journeys through life which you have enjoyed?

What the Dickens?

2012 sees the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens' birth and the celebrations start with some TV adaptations this Christmas.

But how many of his books have you actually read? And do you have a favourite?

Would it be the ever popular Christmas Carol?

or Great Expectations with the unforgettable Miss Havisham?

Or the boy who wanted more - Oliver - which is next year's City Read.

City Read London is a campaign to spread a love of books and reading to the widest possible audience throughout our capital. By choosing one book - Oliver Twist - for the whole city to read, discuss and debate, it aims to bring Londoners together in a series of special events, across London and online.

City Read London will launch on 2 April 2012.

 Follow the link from the front page of Bex-L to read 'A daily dose of Dickens' online.

All I want for Christmas is .............

All I want for Christmas is...........a book - or should I say, several books!

What's on your wanted list this Christmas?

Is it the latest TV blockbuster?

 A new crime novel like the new Sherlock Holmes by Anthony Horowitz?

A true tale of heroism such as Ian Fleming's Commandos?

Or a book about your favourite hobby. Maybe baking? Football? Ballroom Dancing?

Let us know what is on your wish list this Christmas.

   

Is one enough ? - singles and sequels

This month we're wondering whether you can have too much of a good thing?

Was Doctor Zhivago enough as a stand alone novel?

Do the various spins off from Gone with the Wind by other authors match up to the original?

Was the 9 year wait worth it for the last in Jean Auel's The Earth's Children series?

 Let us have your views on singles and sequels.

 

The books that got away...

                     

We really enjoyed chatting about our favourite children’s books with you last month – lots of happy memories, most of them involving exotic adventures far removed from our everyday lives.

This month we’re chatting about the ones that got away – the books you started and couldn’t finish or the books you keep meaning to read but something else always gets in the way (usually another book you know you’ll enjoy more).

One of the authors who visited Bexley Libraries was asked if he always read to the end of a book. He told us he'd worked out how many books he was likely to be able to read in his lifetime:

"The resultant total was so pitifully small that, with an exultant cry of ‘Life’s too short for Midnight’s Children!’, I hurled the book across the room."

I can certainly relate to that, having only managed to get through the first few pages. More books that got away from me (these are my personal opinions only – if you enjoyed them, we'd love to hear from you):

The Night Watch: Poorly written with wooden characters and awful dialogue.

Suite Francaise: A lot of hype attached to this one but I found the characters unappealing and didn't care enough about them to finish the book. 

Scoop: In my early 20s, I read all the Evelyn Waugh books I could get my hands on and loved them. When I tried this recently, I found it tedious and unfunny.

So, some questions:

• Do particular books appeal at different times of our lives?
• Does it depend on the mood we’re in? 
• Which books just don't live up to the hype surrounding them? 
• And which ones have you hurled across the room or simply avoided?

This month's moderator: Sharon 

Childhood Classics

                       

The summer holidays are almost here so it's the perfect time to reflect on those books which meant so much to you in your childhood.

Which books speak to you of those long summer holidays? Maybe you even have treasured, if somewhat battered copies, still on your bookshelf at home somewhere?

What would you choose :

·         Tom's Midnight Garden or Mary Poppins?

·         Treasure Island or The Famous Five?

·         Anne of Green Gables or Winnie the Pooh?

·         The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe or the BFG?

Join us in a nostalgic look back at those timeless treasures from the days of our youth.

This month's moderator: Val

Books we'll never forget...

This month we thought we’d tell you about our favourite books, so here are three of mine:

The Re-invention of Ivy Brown is like a jigsaw – set in the past and the present, with the hint of a mysterious happening which is not fully revealed until the end.  

Carry on Jeeves – any Jeeves title takes the reader into a world of country houses, landed gentry and Bertie Wooster, well-meaning gentleman about town who regularly needs rescuing by his manservant, Jeeves.

Oliver Twist – have you seen 'Oliver!' but never read the book? You’d be surprised how much more happens to Oliver. I was also surprised how much humour there is in it, despite it being the story of a mistreated workhouse boy.

Share your favourites with us and introduce others to books they’ll never forget by clicking on 'comments' below. 

For more reading choices try the Read and Relax pages on Bex-L. 

Next month, in time for the summer holidays, we'll be chatting about books we loved as children.

This month's moderator: Jill

Top of the Cops

                          

Top of the Cops
or the Body in the Library...

Who would win the vote for your favourite fictional detective?

We've put on our thinking caps  (or deerstalkers) and come up with our Top Ten fictional detectives (click on the names for details of the books) :

• Jackson Brodie
• Inspector Brunetti
• Sherlock Holmes
• Miss Marple
• Inspector Morse
• Hercule Poirot
• Madame Ramotswe
• Lisbet Salander
• Matthew Shardlake
• Wallander

But we’ve had to leave out lots of other Top Cops too, including :

• Dalziel & Pascoe
• Stephanie Plum
• Falco
• Rebus
• Frost
• Kay Scarpetta
• Simon Serrailler
• Rumpole

So when you find a Body in the Library – who you gonna call?

We’d love to hear what you think - join in the debate by clicking on 'comments'  below. Let us know who's your favourite. It's elementary my dear Watson!

Bexley Book of the Year 2011 - part two

               

Thank you to everyone who joined us last month to chat about the first four books on our Bexley Book of the Year shortlist. We really enjoyed chatting with you.
 
This month, we're talking about the other four and we think you'll find them just as interesting. If you've read any of them, let us know what you think. If you haven't had time to read them yet, which one appeals most to you? Have you decided yet which one you'll vote for?

You can find out more about the books and the reactions of our shortlisted authors on Bex-L.

This month's moderator: Sharon