Sutherland Shire Libraries News

The National Year of Reading's January theme "Amazing Reads" is nearly over, but this doesn't mean you have to stop reading amazing books! Next time you are in the library looking for an Amazing Read, what could be more amazing than a book that has made it into the "1001 books you must read before you die" collection?


The 1001 books collection includes many well known titles, some being those books that you may feel you really should read...one day. These are classic books that transcend time, each with something to offer the reader-they are all definitely worth reading!
With so many amazing books to choose from in this great collection , how do you decide what to read? Here are some suggestions:
You can google it, or ask a well read friend.
Some people use the alphabetical system, starting at A and working through the collection to Z, or vice-versa.
Others browse the shelves of this collection, serendipitously encountering titles that look vaguely familiar, books they have always planned to read.
Still others do judge a book by its cover, or by the number of pages. (Are you up to the challenge of an epic saga)?
A really great way to read this collection is one used by library staff. As you know, library professionals celebrate everything and anything. So we suggest you try reading a book (or two) each month, in the month of an authors birthday.

To get you started, here’s a list of authors birthdays for every month of the year. Reading one or two books a month will provide you with between 50-100 years of reading celebration!

January: J.R.R Tolkien (3rd), E L. Doctorow, (6th) Edgar Allan Poe (9th), Nevil Shute (17th)
February: James Joyce(2nd), Jules Verne (8th), John Steinbeck (27th), Charles Dickens (7th) (its also Dickens 200th Anniversary this year, so read, or re-read, two of his works and make it a double celebration).
March: Gabriel Garcia Marquez ( 6th) Douglas Adams(11th)
April: Charlotte Bronte (21st), William Shakespeare (23rd).
May: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (22nd), Patrick White(28th).
June: Thomas Hardy (2nd), George Orwell (25th), Salman Rushdie (19th), A.S Byatt (24th).
July: Rohinton Mistry (3rd), Marcel Proust (10th), Aldous Huxley (26th)
August: Sir Walter Scott(15th), Mary Shelley (30th).
September: Leo Tolstoy (9th?), H.G Wells(21st) Truman Capote (30th)
October: Thomas Keneally (7th) Oscar Wilde(16th)
November: Bram Stoker (6th)Kazuo Ishiguro (8th), Robert Louis Stevenson (13th), Voltaire (21st), C.S Lewis(29th), Jonathan Swift (30th), Mark Twain (30th).
December: Joseph Conrad (3rd), Jane Austen (16th), Rudyard Kipling (30th).
photo credit:Flickr user- ailatan

More Amazing Monday Reads! Martin, our E-services Librarian shares his list of Amazing Reads.

Into thin air / Jon Krakauer A bank of clouds was assembling on the not-so-distant horizon, but journalist-mountaineer Jon Krakauer, standing on the summit of Mt. Everest, saw nothing that "suggested that a murderous storm was bearing down." He was wrong. The storm claimed five lives and left countless more--including Krakauer's--in guilt-ridden disarray.

Breath / Tim Winton Breath is an extraordinary evocation of an adolescence spent resisting complacency, testing one’s limits against nature, finding like-minded souls, and discovering just how far one breath will take you. It’s a story of extremes—extreme sports and extreme emotions.

Foucault’s Pendulum / Umberto Eco One for the conspiracy theorists, a literary Da Vinci Code...Bored with their work, three Milanese editors cook up "the Plan," a hoax that connects the medieval Knights Templar with other occult groups from ancient to modern times. This produces a map indicating the geographical point from which all the powers of the earth can be controlled—a point located in Paris, France, at Foucault’s Pendulum. But in a fateful turn the joke becomes all too real, and when occult groups, including Satanists, get wind of the Plan, they go so far as to kill one of the editors in their quest to gain control of the earth.

Everything is Miscellaneous / David WeinbergerMy favourite book on the impact that new technology is having on our lives. In this book David Weinberger charts the new principles of digital order that are remaking business, education, politics, science, and culture. In his rollicking tour of the rise of the miscellaneous, he examines why the Dewey decimal system is stretched to the breaking point, how Rand McNally decides what information not to include in a physical map (and why Google Earth is winning that battle), how Staples stores emulate online shopping to increase sales, why your children's teachers will stop having them memorize facts, and how the shift to digital music stands as the model for the future in virtually every industry. Finally, he shows how by "going miscellaneous," anyone can reap rewards from the deluge of information in modern work and life.

Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance This book has little to do with eastern philosophy or motorcycle repair. In essence it is an essay on quality. Maybe its resonance had something to do with the time of life that I read it - as a young adult, but it remains for me a though provoking book. Some may find it too pretentious and for that reason I’m too scared to read it again. I do think that everyone should read it at least once.

Bustin’ Down the Door / Wayne ‘Rabbit’ Bartholomew Most sporting biographies I’ve read are dryer than a Sao biscuit. Rabbit’s story is a rollicking ride that tells the history of professional surfing through the eyes of someone who lived it. He’s a natural raconteur with a thirst for adventure. A must read for any surfers.

Fatal Storm / Rob Mundle
This book is an account of the horrific 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht race in which several lives were lost. While Rob Mundle isn’t the most engaging writer ever to put pen to paper the tragic series of events during the race leave a lasting emotional impact on the reader.
Photo credit: "Bookman" from Flickr user Markhillary.

Each Monday in January between 10am and 12noon, Rosemary Dawson, a natural born medium, will be at Sutherland Library, providing short personal Psychic Readings. Be in the library on Monday morning to secure your 15 minute time slot.

Amazing Monday offers you the opportunity to learn about yourself, through a Palm or Numerology reading, as well as encountering new authors and genres.

Visit the Information Desk where staff will help you 'Seek An Amazing Read', using databases packed full of suggestions which can be tailored to your preferences.

So visit Sutherland Library on Amazing Monday, to find a 'read' tailored just to you!

Rosemary Dawson, comes from a large Irish family where ghostly encounters and paranormal activity were considered the norm. Rosemary decided to embrace her Psychic gifts through her studies and acquired a Post Grad degree as well as a Masters of Applied Science at University. She has taught English and Religious Studies in High School over a period of 25 years.
Rosemary gives Psychic Readings at the Mind, Body, Spirit Festival at Darling Harbour each year and runs the Red Dragon Coaching Service in Cronulla.

It's Amazing Monday! Here is a list of amazing reads created by Sutherland Library Service Outreach Team Leader, Jacinta Craine. Don't forget to fill in your Summer Reading Club entry form for each book you have borrowed and read from the library, for your chance to win some great prizes.

1. Weaveworld by Clive Barker. If you are after a truly amazing read then this is the novel for you. It revolves around the world of the Fugue, a magical world which lies woven within a rug. It is a mix of fantasy, horror, erotica, mythology and spirituality. One is thrown from the imaginary world to the real and back until the two are impossible to unweave.

2. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett Set in 12th century England it is a grand scale story of the building a of Cathedral. Based around three men and their family’s fortunes. It details the minutiae of daily life and the influence of the church over the general population. One gets caught up in the magnificence of the building and the methods employed to do it, which are truly amazing.

3. Mordants Need by Stephen Donaldson It tells the story of a woman named Terisa who travels from our modern world to a medieval setting where political and military struggles are entwined with the power of Imagery, a form of magic based on mirrors. The books deal with themes of reality, power, inaction and love in the context of a fantasy adventure.

4. The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood The image from this book which stays with me is the birthing of a child by the ‘handmaid’. I t typifies the extraordinary lengths to which the society has gone to try and normalise a very abnormal situation. It awakened me to the way those in power will rationalise what they do to others in order to save themselves.

5. Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card This is an alternative history/fantasy story set in the US where everyone has an ‘knack’, everyone is good at something, even if they don’t know it. Seventh sons have strong knacks, but Alvin is the seventh son of a seventh son and this means he is a Maker. There has only ever been one other and it’s a long time since He walked on water. This is the beginning of a great series, for those who like their stories to (almost) never end.

6. The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield The Celestine Prophecy is not a literary masterpiece by any measure, but it does offer a number of interesting (and sometimes common-sense) insights into how people think. A bestseller in the seventies it is an entertaining, easy read peppered with observations that caused me to pause and think about my actions toward others, and myself. As Redfield states, it's meant to be more of a parable, a thought-jogger for readers of all ilks to take in and use in their own lives.

7. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller This story is about an American pilot in WWII and his attempts to finish his service and get back home. It is not an easy read, but has some very funny moments and it gave me an insight into the arbitrariness of military life. It also very clearly explained the phrase, ‘it’s a Catch-22 “ used when an impossible situation reared it’s head, where no matter what you do, the outcome can’t be changed.


8. The Dark Tower (series of 7) by Stephen KingFans of Stephen King would know him as a horror writer and so may be caught by surprise with this one. It fits more into the fantasy genre than any of his others, but to fully appreciate it one should really have read most of his other works. It weaves a tale full of suspense which incorporates elements form his other stories and even features himself. This tale is his only series, which he wrote sporadically and so it was many long years before it came to a conclusion. But the ending was well worth the wait. It tells of the need to do the right thing at the right time.


9. The Lord of the Rings by JRR TolkeinI nearly wasn’t going to put this one in, as I thought everyone knows it from the movies, if they haven’t already read the book. Then I started to think about it and realised some of my favourite bits were left out of the movies as they were not central to the story. It is often the small inconsequential parts of a story that did not ‘need’ to be told that make the tale a truly amazing read. Therefore, if you enjoyed the movies and have not read the books, you really should take the time to do so.


10. The Circle and the Cross by Caiseal Mor I have read many fantasy stories loosely based on Celtic mythologies and practices. This is the best!! The author has extensively researched his base material, written histories and oral traditions to produce a story which feels like it accurately describes the peaceful coming of Christianity to Ireland and then the violent beginnings of ‘The Church’, leading to the demise of the druid culture. Much of what is described fits in with


11.The Life And Death Of A Druid Prince : The Story Of An Archaeological Sensation Anne Ross And Don Robins which is my bonus amazing read. What the forensic scientists were able to piece together about the person who’s body had been preserved in the bog and marry with the knowledge of the historians, was truly amazing!