How's your mental health?
October is Mental Health Month and this year's theme is Learn and Grow. Becoming engaged in an activity, hobby or learning a new skill can help one switch focus and grow in mental strength. Your library has various tools which can support your journey.
Next Wednesday Kim Hodges will be in the library talking about her own experience of living with severe depression and her continuing journey to wellness. Hearing others talk about their struggles with mental illness can make one feel less isolated and provide clues as to how it's possible to proceed towards relieving ones own situation. Kim will be selling her book "Girl on the edge". Book here.
Hobbies & Craft Reference Center has hundreds of ideas, patterns, videos, recipes and guides on all manner of recreational activities. Dive in and search for anything you've ever wanted to try out but had no idea where to start! Browsing through the Publications list, or the Categories can supply inspiration if you are not sure where to start.
Australasian Video Online has some excellent shows which inform about Mental Illness and how those affected perceive the world around them. Learning about illnesses such as schizophrenia helps us work better with and respond to affected individuals around us.
Computer Online Training - Learn some new computer skills with this interactive self paced training course. You control what you learn and how much each session. Keep coming back to where you left off. Learn how to connect with people via Facebook, Twitter and Blogging, improve your sense of well being. Find sessions on Windows 10, Introduction to Computer Technology, and Microsoft Office 2010.
Music has been shown to affect mood. Try live streaming or download your favourite 'feel good' songs from Freegal. Get three free (legal) downloads per week to add to your personal collection, and give yourself a boost whenever you need it. Or try the video clips and learn the dance moves for fun and exercise.
Finding accurate, authoritative health information on the web can be a challenge. So use Consumer Health Complete a database dedicated to medical conditions and medications. It has videos, pamphlets, a dictionary, encyclopedia entries as well as in depth articles and news.
Sutherland libraries, of course, have many books, CD's, DVD's and magazines on more topics than you could imagine. So if you want to learn and grow through self awareness or maybe learn to grow your own garden, come in and talk to a staff member or give us a call.
Computer Online Training - Learn some new computer skills with this interactive self paced training course. You control what you learn and how much each session. Keep coming back to where you left off. Learn how to connect with people via Facebook, Twitter and Blogging, improve your sense of well being. Find sessions on Windows 10, Introduction to Computer Technology, and Microsoft Office 2010.
Sutherland libraries, of course, have many books, CD's, DVD's and magazines on more topics than you could imagine. So if you want to learn and grow through self awareness or maybe learn to grow your own garden, come in and talk to a staff member or give us a call.
For more information about mental health and well being visit the Way Ahead website.
Local Author Showcase - Meet the local authors! Allan Kashmer.
Don't miss the Sutherland Shire Libraries local author showcase, featuring six local authors sharing their very different books.
Local Author Showcase
Sutherland Library
Saturday 19 November
1.00pm-3.30pm.
Bookings essential, book online: bit.ly/2dH2mkQ
Allan Kashmer was born in Australia and lived a number of years overseas, including in the former communist countries of Poland and East Germany. While studying at the University of New England in the 1970s, he majored in History and English literature. After university Allan was employed in a number of senior positions in NSW Government agencies, where he closely worked with several NSW Premiers' on policy matters. He also worked New South Wales Police-as the Manager at Surry Hills Local Area Command, and was in the Australian Army Reserve.
In the novel RED NORFOLK, a small group of communists seek to overthrow the democratically-elected government by a carefully-planned coup against the government. The group is aware of historical precedents, most notably the Russian revolution of 1917 which, far from being a mass uprising against the government, was actually a coup led by dedicated militants.
The novel proposes that the Australian government decides to abolish cash. This assists the revolutionaries in achieving their goals. Nilson publisher David Robertson has already concluded that “the technology now exists for a paperless (without cash) society”.
Five questions...
What is your favourite book and why?
Doctor Zhivago is my favourite novel. It is a historical story that focused on the particularly violent episode of Russia and includes human passions and weaknesses. The book earned the Nobel Prize. I found it to be a fascinating novel, as it is very character-centered but is absolutely not character-driven.
What book(s) are you currently reading?
The Dismissal by Paul Kelly and Catherine the Great and Potemkin by Simon Montefiore
What is one book you haven’t read but want to read before you die?
Probably The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Everyone was reading it when I was at university which is why I did not read it then.
What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your book/s?
How hard it was to get published.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Don't plan to make much money from your writing.
How can readers discover more about you and you work?
Goodreads
Local Author Showcase
Sutherland Library
Saturday 19 November
1.00pm-3.30pm.
Bookings essential, book online: bit.ly/2dH2mkQ
About the author
He is married with two children and lives in Sydney.
About his novel, Red Norfolk
About his novel, Red Norfolk
The novel proposes that the Australian government decides to abolish cash. This assists the revolutionaries in achieving their goals. Nilson publisher David Robertson has already concluded that “the technology now exists for a paperless (without cash) society”.
Five questions...
What is your favourite book and why?
Doctor Zhivago is my favourite novel. It is a historical story that focused on the particularly violent episode of Russia and includes human passions and weaknesses. The book earned the Nobel Prize. I found it to be a fascinating novel, as it is very character-centered but is absolutely not character-driven.
What book(s) are you currently reading?
The Dismissal by Paul Kelly and Catherine the Great and Potemkin by Simon Montefiore
What is one book you haven’t read but want to read before you die?
Probably The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Everyone was reading it when I was at university which is why I did not read it then.
What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your book/s?
How hard it was to get published.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Don't plan to make much money from your writing.
How can readers discover more about you and you work?
Goodreads
Local Author Showcase - Meet the local authors! Patricia Leslie.
Don't miss the Sutherland Shire Libraries local author showcase, featuring six local authors sharing their very different books.
Local Author Showcase
Sutherland Library
Saturday 20 November
1.00pm-3.30pm.
Bookings essential, book online: bit.ly/2dH2mkQ
Local Author Showcase
Sutherland Library
Saturday 20 November
1.00pm-3.30pm.
Bookings essential, book online: bit.ly/2dH2mkQ
About the author
Patricia Leslie is a fantasy author from Sydney whose writing explores a life-long obsession with history and mythology. She weaves stories that bring to life forgotten people and connects them in a visceral way with our contemporary world.
Patricia’s first novel, The Ouroboros Key, published in 2014, is a modern quest through the Rocky Mountains of Colorado to fulfil an ancient prophecy. A Single Light, published this year, dabbles in horror when a pair of ghouls starts to haunt her local stomping grounds: The Royal National Park where the mild seeming landscape becomes the setting for a potential world-altering event. Walks through the bush will never be the same again! Both novels are published by Odyssey Books, an independent publisher in Canberra.
When Rick Hendry is contacted by a federal agent to help investigate a growing number of mysterious vanishings across Australia, he finds himself immersed in a world where normal is a very narrow view of reality.
The two men are joined by a doctor, an archeologist, a journalist, and an Afflür Hunter. They soon discover that in the bush, south of Sydney, among the beach goers, walkers and picnickers, a menace grows.
The mysterious Bledray monsters are preparing for a Gathering; a feast of epic proportions. Only the Afflür Hunter and Guardians can stop them, but their strength is failing and humans are needed to help prevent a second devastation.
A Single Light is an urban fantasy tale of ghoulish monsters and non-human protectors battling to save humanity amid the spectacular and rugged landscapes of the Royal National Park south of Sydney.
Five questions...
What is your favourite book and why?
This is a difficult question. I have many favourite books. They’re usually speculative fiction genre (Stephen Donaldson, Stephen King, Marion Sommers, Tolkien etc), murder mysteries (Peter May, Camilla Lackberg) or period (Jane Austen, ) but also often non-fiction (Claire Wright)
What book(s) are you currently reading?
1. Asena Blessed by Tracy M. Joyce
2. Skin Deep by Liz Conor
3. Music and Freedom by Zoe Morrison
What is one book you haven’t read but want to read before you die?
This is an even harder question than the first one! I would just like to get through my reading pile
What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your book/s?
Sometimes stories flow out of me without any encouragement and sometimes I need to work a little harder
What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Never give up and always be prepared to improve, but mostly just never give up
How can readers discover more about you and you work?
Website: www.patricialeslie.net
Facebook: patricialesleauthor
Twitter:@patricialesliea
Goodreads: Patricia Leslie
Instagram: @patricieleslee
Patricia’s first novel, The Ouroboros Key, published in 2014, is a modern quest through the Rocky Mountains of Colorado to fulfil an ancient prophecy. A Single Light, published this year, dabbles in horror when a pair of ghouls starts to haunt her local stomping grounds: The Royal National Park where the mild seeming landscape becomes the setting for a potential world-altering event. Walks through the bush will never be the same again! Both novels are published by Odyssey Books, an independent publisher in Canberra.
 |
| Request your copy of A Single Light |
When Rick Hendry is contacted by a federal agent to help investigate a growing number of mysterious vanishings across Australia, he finds himself immersed in a world where normal is a very narrow view of reality.
The two men are joined by a doctor, an archeologist, a journalist, and an Afflür Hunter. They soon discover that in the bush, south of Sydney, among the beach goers, walkers and picnickers, a menace grows.
The mysterious Bledray monsters are preparing for a Gathering; a feast of epic proportions. Only the Afflür Hunter and Guardians can stop them, but their strength is failing and humans are needed to help prevent a second devastation.
A Single Light is an urban fantasy tale of ghoulish monsters and non-human protectors battling to save humanity amid the spectacular and rugged landscapes of the Royal National Park south of Sydney.
Five questions...
 |
| Request a copy from the library Watch the book trailer |
This is a difficult question. I have many favourite books. They’re usually speculative fiction genre (Stephen Donaldson, Stephen King, Marion Sommers, Tolkien etc), murder mysteries (Peter May, Camilla Lackberg) or period (Jane Austen, ) but also often non-fiction (Claire Wright)
What book(s) are you currently reading?
1. Asena Blessed by Tracy M. Joyce
2. Skin Deep by Liz Conor
3. Music and Freedom by Zoe Morrison
What is one book you haven’t read but want to read before you die?
This is an even harder question than the first one! I would just like to get through my reading pile
What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your book/s?
Sometimes stories flow out of me without any encouragement and sometimes I need to work a little harder
What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Never give up and always be prepared to improve, but mostly just never give up
How can readers discover more about you and you work?
Website: www.patricialeslie.net
Facebook: patricialesleauthor
Twitter:@patricialesliea
Goodreads: Patricia Leslie
Instagram: @patricieleslee
Miss Peregrine's Home for peculiar Children...readalikes!
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children movie adaptation is out now! Have you read the book (and sequels)? What about some read-alikes?
Weird, wicked, spooky and delightful, Pretty Monsters is the companion volume to the surreal collection The Wrong Grave. Blending fairytale and fantasy with horror, myth and mischief, Kelly Link creates a world like no other. Combining imaginative brilliance with madcap escapades, and macabre humour, this is writing to come back from the dead for.
Long Lankin by Lindsey Barraclough
When Cora and her younger sister, Mimi, are sent to stay with their great Auntie Ida in an isolated village in 1958, they discover that they are in danger from a centuries-old evil and, along with village boys Roger and Peter, strive to uncover the horrifying truth before it is too late.
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| Miss Peregrine's home for peculiar children |
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| Hollow City, Book 2 |
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| Library of souls, Book 3 |
Readalikes
Asylum by Madeleine Roux
A monster calls by Patrick Ness
Pretty monsters by Kelly Link
Three teens at a summer
program for gifted students uncover shocking secrets in the
sanatorium-turned-dorm where they're staying--secrets that link them all to the
asylum's dark past. Featuring found photographs from real asylums and filled
with chilling mystery and page-turning suspense, Asylum is a horror story that
treads the line between genius and insanity.
A monster calls by Patrick Ness
Thirteen-year-old Conor
awakens one night to find a monster outside his bedroom window, but not the one
from the recurring nightmare that began when his mother became ill--an ancient,
wild creature that wants him to face truth and loss.
Pretty monsters by Kelly Link
Weird, wicked, spooky and delightful, Pretty Monsters is the companion volume to the surreal collection The Wrong Grave. Blending fairytale and fantasy with horror, myth and mischief, Kelly Link creates a world like no other. Combining imaginative brilliance with madcap escapades, and macabre humour, this is writing to come back from the dead for.
Long Lankin by Lindsey BarracloughWhen Cora and her younger sister, Mimi, are sent to stay with their great Auntie Ida in an isolated village in 1958, they discover that they are in danger from a centuries-old evil and, along with village boys Roger and Peter, strive to uncover the horrifying truth before it is too late.
In the shadow of blackbirds by Cat Winters
In 1918, the world seems on the verge of apocalypse. Americans roam the streets in gauze masks to ward off thedeadly Spanish influenza, and the government ships young men to the front lines of a brutal war, creating an atmosphere of fear and confusion. Sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches as desperate mourners flock to séances and spirit photographers for comfort, but she herself has never believed in ghosts. During her bleakest moment, however, she's forced to rethink her entire way of looking at life and death, for her first love—a boy who died in battle—returns in spirit form. But what does he want from her?Featuring haunting archival early-twentieth-century photographs, this is a tense, romantic story set in a past that is eerily like our own time.
In 1918, the world seems on the verge of apocalypse. Americans roam the streets in gauze masks to ward off thedeadly Spanish influenza, and the government ships young men to the front lines of a brutal war, creating an atmosphere of fear and confusion. Sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches as desperate mourners flock to séances and spirit photographers for comfort, but she herself has never believed in ghosts. During her bleakest moment, however, she's forced to rethink her entire way of looking at life and death, for her first love—a boy who died in battle—returns in spirit form. But what does he want from her?Featuring haunting archival early-twentieth-century photographs, this is a tense, romantic story set in a past that is eerily like our own time.Local History, Local stories...National Park
National Park
Today in Australia there are more than 500, but when the large tract of unspoilt bushland in the Port Hacking district was dedicated by Lord Loftus as a national park on 26 April 1879, it was the first of its kind in this country and the second in the world after Yellowstone in the United States.
The National Park (it gained its Royal title in 1954) largely owes its existence to the foresight of Sir John Robertson, a Premier of New South Wales, who comprehended the future health benefits of preserving parks and reserves as the ‘lungs’ of a city. Initially just over 7000 hectares of Crown land was proclaimed as national park but following the overwhelming endorsement of public opinion this area was soon extended to 16000 hectares.
In the early days the desire to ‘civilise’ the National Park led to ‘improvements’ including the clearing of under-scrub, the creation of English park-like ornamental gardens and the introduction of exotic flora and fauna including, in 1886, five Rusa deer whose descendants still roam the park today.
When Audley causeway (pictured) was constructed in 1883 it not only provided access to the eastern bank of the Hacking River, but created an ideal location for those wishing to enjoy a tranquil weekend of boating. Additionally, damming the river ensured that the upstream waters, now separate from the saltwater below, were suitable for the ‘acclimatisation’ of introduced freshwater fish like English perch and trout.
Concepts of conservation have indeed developed over the years, yet without the forethought and perseverance of those who created its foundations back in the 19th Century, we might not be able to enjoy the Royal National Park today.
The 1919 edition of The Official Guide to the National Park of New South Wales stated:
In a few years Sydney is expected to have a population of one million. A vast numerical increase in the number of the population is bound for the next half century at least to mark our domestic history, and amid all the multiplying changes in the passage of coming decades, the National Park will remain much in the same condition as it now stands, excepting, it may be hoped, that the barren heath, secluded dells, and sea beaches, now almost abandoned to the birds of the air, will resound on every holiday with the voices of jocund crowds of pleasure-seekers, freed from the rush and turmoil of everyday life. The primeval forests will remain untouched. No woodman’s axe is permitted to lay low the lordly forest trees, which are allowed to bring forth their springtime buds and shed their withered leaves so long as the trees stand and the roots hold fast. The national heritage is safe beyond the reach of plunder, safe from the machinations of ambitious schemers, and secured to the people of this country upon express terms fixed and made final by Act of Parliament. It is Time, and Time alone, that will prove the vast value of this magnificent dowry to the people of New South Wales.
Today in Australia there are more than 500, but when the large tract of unspoilt bushland in the Port Hacking district was dedicated by Lord Loftus as a national park on 26 April 1879, it was the first of its kind in this country and the second in the world after Yellowstone in the United States.
In the early days the desire to ‘civilise’ the National Park led to ‘improvements’ including the clearing of under-scrub, the creation of English park-like ornamental gardens and the introduction of exotic flora and fauna including, in 1886, five Rusa deer whose descendants still roam the park today.
Concepts of conservation have indeed developed over the years, yet without the forethought and perseverance of those who created its foundations back in the 19th Century, we might not be able to enjoy the Royal National Park today.
The 1919 edition of The Official Guide to the National Park of New South Wales stated:
In a few years Sydney is expected to have a population of one million. A vast numerical increase in the number of the population is bound for the next half century at least to mark our domestic history, and amid all the multiplying changes in the passage of coming decades, the National Park will remain much in the same condition as it now stands, excepting, it may be hoped, that the barren heath, secluded dells, and sea beaches, now almost abandoned to the birds of the air, will resound on every holiday with the voices of jocund crowds of pleasure-seekers, freed from the rush and turmoil of everyday life. The primeval forests will remain untouched. No woodman’s axe is permitted to lay low the lordly forest trees, which are allowed to bring forth their springtime buds and shed their withered leaves so long as the trees stand and the roots hold fast. The national heritage is safe beyond the reach of plunder, safe from the machinations of ambitious schemers, and secured to the people of this country upon express terms fixed and made final by Act of Parliament. It is Time, and Time alone, that will prove the vast value of this magnificent dowry to the people of New South Wales.
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