Sutherland Shire Libraries News

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.

In the world of book lovers, there are two distinctive types of readers. There are the read-it-once kind of readers, who having read a book once, move on, following the adage “so many books, so little time”. A new reading experience takes precedence over re-reading any book, after all, you already know the ending!

Then there are the re-readers. These are the readers in agreement with the esteemed Oscar Wilde who was quoted as saying “If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all”. These readers re-read their favourite books for a variety of reasons. It may be that these books transcend time, resonating with the reader, sometimes providing a different perspective of the story when it is re-read at a different stage of life. Much loved characters have often become much loved friends and the experience of re- reading a particular book evokes feelings of warmth, familiarity and even comfort. The quality of prose may hold the appeal, or the fact that re reading a book captures details missed or not quite understood the first time around.

Obviously not all books make the grade as a re-read. There are particular books though, with the power to entice people to want to re -read them over and over again. These books would surely be considered amazing reads.
The list of books below is probably familiar, and may even include some books you have already read. Why don’t you try re-reading one or more of them, or maybe even read them for the first time, and discover why they have been deemed as not only amazing reads, but worthy of being re-read.

Great expectations by Charles Dickens
Pride and prejudice by Jane Austen
Emma by Jane Austen
The great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald
The Lord of the flies by William Golding
Brave new world by Aldous Huxley
The adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
To kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee
Anne of Green Gables by L.M Montgomery
Little women by Louisa May Alcott
1984 by George Orwell
The catcher in the rye by J.D Salinger
Lord of the rings by J.R.R Tolkien
Treasure island by Robert Louis Stevens
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
The Belgariad by David Eddings
The Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
Dracula by Bram Stoker

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.