Love to read!

This is the last month of the National Year of Reading, so we are celebrating what you love to read.

Is it

• devouring a book cover to cover, and then starting at the beginning again
• poring through each recipe, and the stories in between
• exploring the repair manual so you can fix your car
• discovering the story in the game so you understand the game
• watching the episodic movie breaks between one game level and the next to experience the story
• tweets
• blogs
• signs
• information to get stuff done
• information for fun
• in any format any time
• facts and figures
• lifesaving or death defying
• therapeutic
• relaxing
• searching flickr images
• flicking through pages, just reading a few words
• watching the faces in the crowd as an author/storyteller engages the audience in their story
• reading in games

Is it

• fun, sad, traumatic, confusing, fast, slow, episodic, continual
• collaborative
• participatory
• exclusive
• inclusive

I’m reading when I check my email, I’m reading while I download songs, I’m reading when I sort my bills from the ones I must pay now to the ones that can wait a little longer. The act of reading is an everyday activity. The act of taking time out to read the story behind the recipe, the description of the engine space, the context of the game.

I read while I’m driving, not just street signs and maps but also the behaviour of the cars/drivers around me – are they going to pass or not? I’m also reading fuel gauges and speedos to provide added context to my driving.

Is it reading on paper, on a screen, on t-shirts, signs, or buildings.

What do you love2read? Where do you love2read?

So while the  National Year of Reading 2012  will finish at the end of December,  the Readers Advisory blog will return in 2013 at this address http://readwatchplay.wordpress.com. More great monthly themes, more great suggestions. The monthly Twitter Reading Group will continue to meet on the last Tuesday of the month 8pm AEST. The library website remains at www.library.wsc.nsw.gov.au

Merry Christmas from the library, may your stocking be filled with Good Reads.

Crying in November

Boo hoo, the National Year of Reading is nearly over. There’s no need to cry over this though … This year is the beginning of a big adventure with life long reading!

Back to November though, and crying...  Books make us cry for lots of different reasons. It's not always the fault of the onions you are chopping up as you prepare that great new recipe you have just read (try wearing goggles next time, it’s guaranteed to make the rest of your family cry with laughter!).

If you want to be miserable tough,  well, there’s nothing like a good cry, you always feel better afterwards…

So, tissues at the ready, here’s a list of books that made us cry:

Believe: a horseman’s journey by Buck Brannaman

Call the midwife: a true story of the East End in the 1950s by Jennifer Worth

The colour purple by Alice Walker

Finding Jack by Garth Crocker

The horse whisperer by Nicholas Evans

Jessica by Bryce Courtenay

Light between oceans by M L Stedman

Me before you by Jojo Moyes

The mother’s group by Fiona Higgins

My sister’s keeper by Jodi Picoult

PS I love you by Cecelia Ahern
 

Sowing the seeds of love by Tara Heavey

The time traveller’s wife by Audrey Niffeneger

A woman of substance: the life and works of Barbara Taylor Bradford
 

So, tissues at the ready let’s cry our way through November...sob...

 

Exploring October

       

·       Explore the past, and read about ancient, modern or own your family history  -who knows what skeletons you may find rattling around in the closet!
·       Explore the present. The here and now, fact and fiction. You might like to explore a genre you haven’t read before. If you usually read romance, try reading adventure, or about pirates! Why not read more about Australian explorers.
·       Explore the endless possibilities of the future. Now’s the time to read some science fiction, with its fantastic yet possible and plausible worlds and futures.
·       Explore new technologies to find new ways to read. Download a book and read it on an ereader, follow your favourite authors on twitter, find some facts in databases, or in an e-textbook on your tablet. Use your smartphone to read about the latest breaking news as it happens.
·       Explore new countries and cultures by reading a travel guide, or try learning a new language-oui?
·        Explore what’s out there, whether it’s the outback of Australia or outer space.
·       Explore everything and anything. If it’s out there, you can read about it.
At you library too...

Grow in September

How has your reading changed as you grow? Does your reading help you to grow? It can, if you grow your reading habit and read at least 15 minutes a day this month. Go on a reading journey of personal growth, self help, or even just read bigger books: those with more pages, not necessarily bigger print!

Interested in family growth? Read all about pregnancy, parenting and dealing with puberty.

Have you grown tired of your current career? Read about careers in growth industries such as obstetrics, hairdressing, horticulture, or farming.

Have you been reading recipes and baking cakes, then found yourself growing bigger than you would like? Read about diets and exercise, or even weight lifting if you’d like to grow stronger.

This is also a great month to read about the environment, sustainability and gardening. You can read about growing a reading garden, and may be inspired to create a such a space to relax and read.

Question in August

Why? Why? Why?This month, question everything: fact and fiction. What you read, where you read it, why you read it and how? Question all sides of the issue, your beliefs, formats and why you read the genres you do. Do you have a favourite?
Mysteries? Thrillers? Fantasy? Question the content, the media, controversial issues, ethics, philosophies and politics.
What are you reading? A book, newspaper, a recipe, or a blog? Why are you reading it? To relax, to become informed, be entertained, or for pure escapism from reality? Is it riveting, relaxing, or required reading? How are you reading it? As an ebook, on your ipad, iphone or ereader, or in a more traditional format (aka the print version)?
Try reading a questionable book, whether its been banned somewhere or because its biased. Question what you are reading by joining a book group, or read outside your comfort zone to answer the question of why people read cult fiction, pulp fiction, science fiction or romance.
You can find the answers to many questions, just by reading

Discover July

         

 Discover

a pot of gold
hidden treasure
a new you
another author
a mysterious past
a passion for fashion
another world
a faraway stay
yourself;
a hidden talent;
your past…
and all at your library www.wsc.nsw.gov.au

Dream reading

There is much discussion about your dream man, or woman, the qualities they should possess and the unmentionables that preclude them as suitable. But what about your dream read? Are you as fussy? Does your list mean you must live beyond 100 to achieve your dreams? Can you only read in your chair, in bed, under the trees? Or is a dream read for you just being able to... read, that is. Anything. Anywhere. As long as it's your time, your dream, in whatever time frame available.

June is the month for dream reading. You can find yours on one of our shelves. Visit the library to choose or make a request at www.library.wsc.nsw.gov.au

Building paradise by David MacFarlane

“Early one morning I set off to explore the island. I climb the steep hillside behind the cabins, which rises about 300metres above the bay and is scattered with deep gullies, rock pools, and wet-season waterfalls. There are dozens of different ferns, vines, and rainforest trees searching for daylight under a dense canopy of wild shapes.
It’s a tough climb, but the ground eventually levels off, so I must be near the top of the hill. I get only occasional glimpses of sea or sky through the cluttered forest.

I sit on a smooth rock-shelf for ages. I’m thinking it’s quite possible that I’ve just been walking on land that no human has ever touched….”

How, what, where, when or with whom will you Escape into May?
Visit your library for inspiration, temptation and exhilaration!

April is for #feeling. Join the twitter discussion tonight from 8pm AEST. Use tags #feel and #nyr12.

Feeling emotional

This month’s reading is all about emotions. What reading really makes you feel, or makes you think about your feelings and other people’s feeling. This could be the time to explore stories of romance and love, or read about exciting sporting moments You may read about how to improve your performance in sport (or about sports people) as you feel the changes you need to make to be fitter.
This can also be a time to explore horror titles which make you feel fear… or thrillers, to explore feelings of suspense.
Feel Reading might also be about your favourite crafts, hobbies and interests as you read about woodworking and think about the feeling of wood in your hands, or reading about wine beer tasting methods and the feeling as you drink (and you might even be drinking as you read to help with the feeling).

I think I can I think I can... we know you can!

Think:

To employ any of the intellectual powers except that of simple perception through the senses; to exercise the higher intellectual faculties.

"For that I am I know, because I think." Dryden

We all know the story of the little engine and what he was thinking about. Single minded and determined. Is that how you think?
What makes you think? When do you do your thinking?
What will you think and read about for the National Year of Reading in March?

In our libraries this month we have taken the hard work out of thinking for you. We have searched our collection and after much thinking, have created displays and wrapped some thinkable items for a borrowing surprise. Think also about checking out the Daily Quick Picks shelf but you'll need to be fast for these, they are walking out the door. So this month, even if you don't have time to think, you do, because  we've done a lot of the thinking for you. All you need to do is visit us, borrow from us and take a moment or two this month to really think.

Helen

Laugh

I’m sure you’ve all heard the saying that laughter is the best medicine, so to ensure we all stay in optimum health, enabling us to read more, this month’s theme is laugh. Did you know that laughter stimulates five different parts of the brain, so reading something humorous can actually help keep your brain from aging? (another good reason to read something fun!). We can be laughing with humour, joy, embarrassment, or even nervous laughter.

What kind of reading makes you laugh?
Do you like black humour, comedy, joke books, satire or parody?
Are you giggling, chuckling, snuffling a laugh or laughing out loud?
Whatever makes you laugh, we are sure we have plenty to tempt you on our shelves. When you find one, tell us about it so we can join you in laughing.

#nyr12

We spent last year thinking about it and planning for it and now it’s here. So Happy New Year to all our readers and welcome to the National Year of Reading 2012. Are you planning to challenge yourself this year? A new genre perhaps, or new authors? Maybe re-visiting favourite childrens’ reading with precious grandchildren? How about the e-reader you received for Christmas, have you worked out the downloads yet?
In the library and at the love2read2012 blog we are preparing for a sensational 12 months - and some serious reading. Books, in print or electronic, for reading and listening, games to play, research to be done and of course, plenty to tweet about.
If you haven’t tweeted before, don’t be shy this year. It’s really easy and we’d love your input. You can always follow us one month to see how it’s done. It’s a wonderful way to obtain new suggestions for reading (I know because I asked and now have so much on my TBR list).
Remember, reading means something different to everyone, but without it, we are without well, everything libraries, love2read2012.wordpress.com and the National Year of Reading hope to promote, month by month.
So here’s the start, January is the Amazing read – what’s yours?
Join us. Tell us your favourites. We all love2read, we like to know what’s out there so we don’t miss out – on anything.
Helen