Long Weekend Entertainment

The long weekend is fast approaching, and if you find that you have no idea what you are going to do with it; well then, this is the blog for you!
It is now a well known fact that the Hurstville LMG will be (unfortunately) closed for this Easter's long weekend, and the staff will be given a chance to catch up with their reading/movies/music that they have been putting aside for this weekend.

You might be wondering just what it is that the Hurstville LMG staff read/listen to/watch in their free time, so I am about to tell you.
I went around and asked the staff what they would be reading/watching/listening to this long weekend, and I came away with a list about five pages long... and that was only HALF of the staff here! So I've shortened the list to some of the top suggestions (although if you want to hear more, just let me know!)

For those parents out thee looking for some good picture books for their children to read this long weekend, some great suggestions would be: It's a Book and The Big Elephant in the Room by Lane Smith; The Legend of the Golden Snail by Graeme Base and the Old Tom book series by Leigh Hobbs.

For the juniors starving for a new adventure, I've been told to recommend: Worldshaker by Richard Harland (also really good for teens!) and the Worst Band in the Universe by Graeme Base.

Teenagers who find themselves with free moments between hanging out with friends this weekend should take a good look at: Maus: a survivor's tale by Art Spiegelman (a moving graphic novel about the holocaust); The Abused Werewolf Rescue Group and The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks and Where the Mild Things Are: a very meek parody by Maurice Send-Up.

For those out there looking for a new author to sink their teeth into, take a good look at: James Patterson; Joyce Carol Oates; Lisa Kleypas; Michael Connelly and J.D Robb - for some wonderful books.

If all you want is a good novel to get you through the weekend, the staff at Hurstville LMG have recommended: Daughters-in-law by Joanna Trollope; Kill Your Friends by John Niven; The Road by Cormac McCarthy and The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.

The non-fiction lovers out there simply must read: The Ghost at the Wedding: a true story by Shirley Walker (to get you in the ANZAC spirit!); It's Not About the Bike: my journey back to life by Lance Armstrong; The Wolf at the Table: a memoir by Augusten Burroughs and one of the many Lonely Planet Guidebooks (taking you on a trip around the world, without ever leaving your chair!)

By way of magazines, among the most popular with the LMG staff are: Donna Hay; Australian Personal Computer (APC) and Practical Parenting.

And if all you REALLY want for this long weekend is a good movie to sit back and enjoy, take a good look at: The Sixth Sense; The Wedding Singer; The Karate Kid; Toy Story 3; The Social Network; A Fish Called Wanda; Long Way Round; the Story of India; The Darling Buds of May; Pride and Prejudice (the BBC version) and Dirty Dancing.

If, when you were reading this blog, you came across something that you really wanted to read/watch/listen to, and then began to worry because the LMG staff have said that they would have it out this weekend - don't fret! After many painstaking hours of bribery and blackmail (not seriously!); I managed to convince my fellow staff memebers to hold off borrowing their weekend entertainment until 8:59pm on Thursday (one minute before closing time) to give you a chance to get down here and grab a copy. But you'd better hurry!

Reader's Book Club - Forest Rd, Hurstville

The Reader's Book Club was a local service where residents paid a small fee to join. This allowed them to borrow books at threepence each.

Our local Reader's Book Club was located on Forest Rd, next to Barter's store. Barter's was located at the bottom of the Forest Rd entrance to Hurstville Station.

Were you a member of the Reader's Book Club?

Do you remember when this service ceased?

If so, please let us know by leaving a comment below or emailing museumgallery@hurstville.nsw.gov.au

The Know-It-All

The universe just loves dealing us a number of irritating conundrums. The aunt that insists on pinching your cheeks. The colleague that always calls you 'Bill' even though you've told them a thousand times that your name is 'William'. Perhaps one of the most annoying, the most painful, the most obnoxious would be the know-it-all. Ah yes that dreadful enigma that insists on correcting every grammatical error and delights in explaining to you the differences between African and Indian elephants.
It was a shock to discover that one man, A. J. Jacobs, actually WANTED to become one of these bothersome troves of information. A. J. Jacobs spent one year of his life reading, cover to cover, the 2002 Encyclopædia Britannica - all 32 volumes, all 33,000 pages, all 44 million words - and along the way recorded his journey.
'The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World'.
Another one to add to the LMG collection? Tell us what you think!

Mr. Bean in the Library

Oh bless the English, for not only have they brought us colonisation and Jordan, but they also offer up the quietly hilarious and entirely endearing Mr. Bean




Where would we be without his blundering antics to amuse and delight us?

Just make sure you treat Hurstville Library's books a bit better!

Leipzig Book Fair

The Leipzeig Book Fair is an annual book fair held in March every year in Germany. It attracts over 150,000 book lovers all scrambling for the latest literary delights displayed.

Check out these photos from the book display for Mitteldeutscher Verlag Publishers this year.

The booth was made up of perforated boards and the original writing tool, pencils! The pencils acted as nails to hold the boards of the display together and as shelves to hold up the books.
Visitors however were invited to take one of the non-essential pencils and keep it as a reminder of this brilliant display.
15,000 pencils were involved in this installation. That's enough to draw a line 840,000 kilometres long! Wow!

The Fry Chronicles

Actor, writer, journalist, comedian, television presenter. Stephen Fry has had a long and illustrious career spanning over 25 years. His second volume of autobiography, The Fry Chronicles, has recently been released, not only as a beautiful printed hardback, but also as an audiobook and an incredible and modern iPhone and iPad app! Now fancy that!

What do you think? Are iPhone apps the way of our literary future? Should the more traditional version of The Fry Chronicles be suggested for purchase for Hurstville Library?