Mosman Readers

"Book lovers never go to bed alone"

August 2009 Blog Posts (7)

The Final Draft

Food for your brain - a weekly half-hour of browsing and grazing in the world of books and writing from Radio 2SER FM, Sydney. Listen to a show or subscribe to the podcast at finaldraft.podomatic.com

One of the longest-running books shows on Australian radio, Final Draft is a space on the air where big names of arts and culture sit cheek-by-jowl… Continue

Added by Mosman Library on August 27, 2009 at 16:30 — No Comments

Children's Book of the Year Winners Announced

The winners of the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards were announced at midday today.

The full list can be seen at http://cbca.org.au/winners2009.htm

Older Readers Book of the Year 2009

WINNER Tan, Shaun Tales from Outer Suburbia

HONOUR Eaton, Anthony Into White Silence

HONOUR French, Jackie A Rose… Continue

Added by Kate on August 21, 2009 at 15:24 — No Comments

The Reader's Bill of Rights

Here's The Reader's Bill of Rights to help you make the most of that right:

Readers have:

The right to not read.
The right to skip pages.
The right to not finish.
The right to reread.
The right to read anything.
The right to escapism.
The right to read anywhere.
The right to browse.
The right to read out loud.
The right not to defend your tastes.

—Pennac, Daniel, Better Than Life, Coach House Press, 1996

Added by Amy B on August 14, 2009 at 12:31 — No Comments

Full of FAIL

Via Meanjin here's a blog called Literary Rejections on Display - a vast public collection of real-life rejection.

Reading it will only make your day better.

Added by Mosman Library on August 13, 2009 at 18:11 — No Comments

The Unofficial Thomas Pynchon Guide to Los Angeles and vice versa

Little known fact: Thomas Pynchon, the paranoid poet of the information age, is LA's greatest writer. To be sure, Los Angeles—whose aerial view he likened to a printed circuit board—has always been central to the elusive writer's weird weltanschauung, his hallucinogenic stir-fry of Cold War hysteria, high tech anxiety, and low-brow pop-culture references. But did you know he actually lived there in the '60s and early '70s, while writing Gravity's Rainbow, the Moby-Dick of…

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Added by Bern on August 10, 2009 at 16:00 — No Comments

Boy on a Wire

Jon Doust, the author, lives in Western Australia and is staying with me next week (Auguist 9-15). His book is THE Australian boarding school story, tightly written, makes you laugh and cry.

The blurb:

"In the boarding house it doesn’t matter who hit you first, or if they miss-hit, you have to get them back. It’s kid against kid, dog against dog. We all have rabies. We all have pinks disease. We’re all foaming at the mouth. Tit for tat, the strong rule the weak, the weak cry.… Continue

Added by chris pash on August 7, 2009 at 11:34 — No Comments

BBC Big Book List

The list below of taken from the BBC Big Book List (as voted on by the British public)

How many have you read? Post your tally below.

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien

2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman

4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams

5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling

6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper… Continue

Added by Amy B on August 5, 2009 at 15:30 — 1 Comment