High Browse Online

 
*Image courtesy of nypost.com

Known best for her debut chart-topper, The Devil Wears Prada, Lauren Weisberger has had her fair share of an un-glam lifestyle before she landed a fashionista’s jackpot job at Vogue – her time there being the fodder for her worldwide bestseller.

Lauren let out her first cry in Scranton (the Pennsylvanian town now made chic by The Office) and after completing her time at the local high school, went on to be an English major in Cornell University. There, she was also inducted into the Alpha Epsilon Phi sorority and is listed as one of the famous Phis on the official website!
(Aside: Apparently, this is like some huge elite sorority. I kid you not, go check their homepage: http://www.aephi.org)

After graduating from Cornell, she spent her gap years fulfilling her wanderlust in exotic places like Egypt, Thailand, India, Nepal, Israel, Jordan and many parts of Europe. Yes, travelling during the Gap is common, but did you know that she practically lived on Nutella and Coke Light and rested in ‘odd’ places?

When Lauren finally decided to return to being an urbanite, her first job saw her as an assistant to the Editor-in-Chief of Vogue and subsequently, moving on to being Assistant Editor for Departures, a travel magazine. Her full-length stories all swirl around the freaks and fallacies of the city/fashion elite, while her only short story pretty much talks about how (I think) her gap-year experiences have influenced her perception of, and connection to, her motherland. She has written four novels and one short story so far.

Pssst… Did you know that H.G. Wells (The War of the Worlds) also published works as Sosthenes Smith, Walker Glockenhammer, and Reginald Bliss.
Credited as “The Father of Science Fiction”, one of the craters on the Moon has been named after him. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._G._Wells_(crater))

Wai Ling’s Recommended Read:

 
*Image courtesy of scifimafia.com

I picked up this book because the blurb read like that of a Mystery/Thriller novel. But it is, in fact, categorized as a Sci-Fi work.

Pegged to match the Harry Potter / Twilight series’ phenomena, I Am Number Four is about three types of non-humans assuming human forms and living amongst humans – the good (hunted), the bad (hunters), the careful (protectors). In short: Aliens from another planet have extended their domestic affairs unto Earth. In shorter short: Loriens, whose guardians are Cepans, are chased by Mogadorians.

As a time-starved adult, I’d have gotten really bored mid-way for the book can come across as plain, flat and predictable. Yet somehow, the simple writing style (and large font) appealed to my reluctant-reader side and I happily continued reading, despite knowing the end at the back of my mind. Odd, but true: I was decently entertained.

Be it strategic marketing mirroring Lemony Snicket’s or an “out-there” author’s true beliefs, the mystery surrounding the true identity of the writer added to the enigma. I mean, who would seriously believe that “Pittacus Lore” is not a pseudonym?! “Pittacus” macam a quirky name one would dream up for their pet dog / cat / hamster / turtle / platypus!
Some claim it’s the nom de plume of the-fakist-known-as-James Frey (A Million Little Pieces) and/or other writers, but no one is certain. Regardless, the first page already got me wondering although some experienced readers would cynically dismiss it as a cheap ploy.

Already snapped up by the charming Bay-Spielberg partnership, I Am Number Four will soon be a major motion picture, so says the golden sticker on the cover. For that alone, Superficial Me will continue reading the rest of the series as they are released.

One post-read thought I had – If it’s about aliens with magical powers, should it still be classed as Sci-Fi? Whoever said novels of aliens with no-tech powers cannot be Fantasy? Heh.

Readability: For the…
· Voracious “cheem” Adult – Don’t bother. Seriously.
· Omnivorous “easy-going” Adult – Can consider. Really.
· Gregarious “reluctant” Adult / YP – Can read. Readily.

 Contributed by Wai Ling, Manager, Library@ Esplanade

The Idea of LoveLouise DeanLondon : Penguin Books, c2008.Call No.: English DEAAvailable at NLB libraries “What is love?”That is the eternal question that has haunted humanity for all time. This fleeting emotion defies definition and concept, and has been known to drive men (and women) to drink. So how can this tale by Louise Dean shed any further light on this complex human notion? With a decidedly bleak setting and dysfunctional characters, of course.Provence, France, usually brings to mind the image of rural contentment and pastoral life. However, Richard and Valerie see this place as a cage for their unfulfilled love (not for each other, though). This married couple struggles with their family life set in an unfamiliar environment and bringing up their weird son, Maxence. Being expatriates, they mingle with other foreign couples such as Jeffrey and Rachel. Added in the final mix: Richard’s constant overseas traveling to Africa for work. Obviously, you have a formula bound for marital disaster.The fabric of all the characters’ lives is torn to shreds when Valerie and Jeffrey strike up an affair. The inevitable happens: Richard spirals downward into despair and madness, Rachel moves back to London and Max starts seeing a shrink, at the persistence of Valerie. Slowly, you begin to get the idea of love as a mad infection with no cure in sight. Perhaps that is the true face of love Dean is trying to put across to her readers.Using heavy prose in numerous chapters, this book is not an easy read. But, it would be rewarding for those who like to discover characters slowly and plod along with their struggles. While I felt that the story was tedious in some parts, I was compelled to continue and find out how the characters fare in the end. At turns, I experienced even disgust at the lack of morals of the characters. However, this disgust is overwhelmed by my perverse curiosity to uncover the various layers to each character. Strange and forceful is such of Dean’s writing style.Will the reader get a better idea of love after the last chapter? Hopefully, you will, even with its ugly warts and all.~ By Elizabeth Lee San Bao, Librarian, National Library BoardYou can check the availability of these titles via our online catalogue at http://www.pl.sg/

Dear friends,

You have made the difference with your tremendous support! Heartlands Book Club is Five this August! We have been faithfully discussing books since our inception in August 2005. Some 60 books were discussed since and many local and some international authors have visited our bookclub and discussed their books with us. For this celebration, we have the following programmes:

3.00 – 4.00pm: Meet our friendly club members. Watch a Youtube video and powerpoint slides on the Heartlands Book Club.

4.00 – 5.00pm: Discuss a poem “The Road Less Travelled” by Robert Frost. Ms Kenny Nathan will facilitate and introduce to you what a book discussion is about.

5.00 – 6.00pm: Meet Author Daren Shiau and discuss his book “The Heartland – A Novel” which inspired the name of our bookclub. 6.00pm: Cutting of our Birthday Cake!

Literary Highlights

The Man Booker Prize longlist of titles has been released. Amongst the nominees, Australian author Peter Carey is the only one who has previously won the prize, twice.
You know that this award is a big deal when punters in England bet on the eventual winner of the prize! Either that, or the Brits just love to gamble. Go figure!
The former winners of the Man Booker Prize have been well-received by our readers (think: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, Life of Pi by Yann Martel), so we await eagerly to see who will eventually clinch the prestigious award.

The shortlist will be announced on 7 September, and the winner on 12 October 2010.
To read a summary of the different novels, go to the Man Booker page.
Sigh, unfortunately I’ve not read any of the books that are listed.

To the readers out there who has read any of the books in the longlist, feel free to email us with your review, and you stand a chance to win a $20 voucher from us!

The Longlist:
Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey

Room by Emma Donoghue

The Betrayal by Helen Dunmore

In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut

The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson

The Long Song by Andrea Levy

C by Tom McCarthy

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell

February by Lisa Moore

Skippy Dies by Paul Murray

Trespass by Rose Tremain

The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas

The Stars in the Bright Sky by Alan Warner

psst… Did you know that Stieg Larsson is the first author to sell one million copies in Amazon’s Kindle store?

Yen’s Recommended Read:

 Image courtesy of Eurocrime.co.uk

“When a skeleton is found half buried in a dried out lake, weighed down by an old radio transmitter, detectives Erlendur, Elinborg and Sigurdur Oli are called in to investigate. They soon realize that this is no ordinary case as ties to the Cold War and Communist East Germany send them delving into Europe’s murky past. Slowly, a trail begins to emerge, from the hopes of youth to international espionage and murder in Iceland.”

*Summary of book extracted from book jacket
**Arnaldur Indridason won the 2005 Gold Dagger award for the best crime novel of the year, though it wasnt for this title. The Gold Dagger award is given out by the British Crime Writers’ Association annually to the best crime writing in both fiction and non-fiction.

For locations and availabilities of The Draining Lake, please click here.

Other Scandinavian crime writers that you might wish to try out:
Karin Fossum
Henning Mankell
Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahloo (They are a husband & wife writing team)

Contributed by Yen Yen, Associate Librarian

 Born on a blue day: inside the extraordinary mind of an autistic savant: a  memoir

 Daniel Tammet
 Call no: 616.858 TAM – [HEA]
 Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, 2006

This memoir brings us deeply into the life of an autistic savant. If you have seen ‘Rainman’ starring Dustin Hoffman, the term autistic savant should not be unfamiliar. Even after having seen the film, there is still so much that is unexplained and misunderstood. (If you are unclear about the definition, Tammet described it as the presence of impairments affecting social interaction, communication and imagination).

Through “Born on a blue day”, 25-year old Tammet shares his experiences and life accounts since he was a baby. Tammet might possess incredible cerebral ability but human interaction is a difficult process. Some of his extraordinary capabilities include memorizing the numbers of ‘pi’ and learning a new language in a week. The social interaction impairment is evident when Tammet does not indulge in playtime with his younger brother even when they were toddlers. The extent of their sibling interaction is as such: “I had no strong feelings towards my brother and we lived parallel lives.”

The difficulties that Tammet faced as an autistic child were not huge, to us that is. Conversely, it was the little everyday things that bogged him. A seemingly simple task such as brushing his teeth brought Tammet much agony. For inexplicable reasons, the scratchy noise of teeth being brushed was physically painful to Tammet. For that, he refused to brush his teeth. Eventually he resorted to stuffing cotton wool into his ears just so that he could brush his teeth.

What impresses me most was not the extraordinary capabilities that Tammet possesses, but his tenacity to overcome his disability. He managed to form some close friendships, fall in love and travelled to Lithuania by himself and stayed there for a year. This is an enormous effort coming from a man who has trouble tying a knot in his tie. An extrovert he might never be, but at least Tammet is able to lead a fully independent life. A milestone for an autistic savant.

“Born on a blue day” is a moving and insightful story about the human mind. You have to read it.

Contributed by Yen Yen Toh,
Associate Librarian, Adult and Young People’s Services

Have you read these books? Do you have something else to recommend?
Post your comments, or send a longer book review to HBeditor@nlb.gov.sg

Immediate action
By Andy McNab
London : Corgi, [2005]
Call No.: 356.16092 MAC

There was a lovely phrase I came across recently when reading about career US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan: the “strange allure of a hard life”. Such a phrase, I think, perfectly describes the military career of Andy McNab and his former comrades-in-arms.

Andy McNab of course, is the best selling author of military biography “Bravo Two Zero” and one of Britain’s most successful popular novelists. His works are generally about covert operators in scenarios which take a lot of inspiration from current news headlines.

For those familiar with McNab’s work, it will be no surprise: his main claim to fame has always been his military service, specifically his years in that most elite of units, the Special Air Service (SAS).

McNab would end up as one of Britain’s most-decorated post-War soldiers, but his beginings were hardly auspicious. In Immediate Action, his recollections of his life in the SAS, he starts off with childhood. Abandoned as a baby on the doorsteps of a hospital, he has a hard-scrabble childhood, and does poorly in school. Before long, he finds himself hanging out with the local toughs, and a budding career as a petty thief. Eventually, he gets caught, pleads for one last chance, and promises to straighten out by joining the British Army.

He finds he has an aptitude for Army life, but has difficulty enduring the tedium, the routine and the strict hierarchy of an infantry unit. But he has fleeting encounters with men from the Regiment, as it is otherwise known, and he is intrigued by their laid-back but quiet, professional air.

He decides to join, but first he has to successfully pass the gruelling tests known as the Selection. Candidates are only allowed 2 tries, and can be “binned” or thrown out at any time. McNab passes on the second try. And the initial selection trials are only the begining of a thorough and demanding training regime before he finally receives his coverted sand-coloured beret. Even then, the ceremony is utterly prefunctory – their colonel casually tosses the beret to them, and grimly reminds them it will be harder to keep than to earn.

McNab’s recollections of life in the Regiment, long shrouded in mystery, myth and glamour, are quite eye-opening. He writes of the exacting standards, and the intense training, but also of the easy camaraderie among this close-knit brotherhood of men. Sadly enough, the high rate of deployment and training by the Regiment means he will also witness his fair share of death and injuries in his years of service. In a matter-of-fact tone, he relates how the number one cause of death in the SAS is by river crossing. So proasic, and yet the consquences are real enough. In his direct prose, he writes of life within, shorn of glamour and chest-thumping.

He writes also of the price paid by loved ones – McNab will see three failed marriages during his time in service, and money seems to be a perennial concern. This last one leads to all sorts of stratagems to save money, such as collecting unused soap flakes and a stoic devotion to camp food.

The book ends on the eve of the first Gulf War, which is where Bravo Two Zero takes over. Overall, those looking for thrills and spills found in McNab’s novels maybe a little let down here. But for those looking for what it means, and what it takes, to serve in a front-line unit, this book cannot fail to leave you impressed with the level of courage, skill and dedication that this special breed of soldiers must possess.

~ Contributed by Nur Hakim Low, Librarian, National Library Board

Would you like to send us your contribution?
Post your comments, or email to HBeditor@nlb.gov.sg

Dear friends,

Have you ever did something out of ordinary in your life (which can be life-changing or even for little things)?  Share your experiences and thoughts in comparison to Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Less Travelled” which is reproduced below for your reference:

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference”

                                     -  Robert Frost (1874–1963)

(Source: www.bartleby.com/119/1.html. Last accessed on 26 July 2010)

The details of the discussion: 
Date/Time:  5.00pm, Friday 30 July 2010
Venue:  The Activity Room, Bukit Batok Public Library
Poem:  The Road Less Travelled by Robert Frost
Facilitator:  Ms Clara Chow, a retired teacher 

Just a small homework!  Choose another book, songs, quotations, poems or anything literary which resonate with the theme of taking the path less travelled and discuss them with us.  To confirm your participation, please email:  soon_huat_KWEH@nlb.gov.sg

Yours sincerely,
Kweh Soon Huat (Mr)
Librarian
Heartlands Book Club
Public Library Services

 
Image courtesy of bbc.co.uk

Dame Beryl Bainbridge died last week at the age of 77. During her time, she has written 18 novels, of which 5 were shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Unfortunately, she never landed the prestigious prize. She has also published several plays, essays, reviews and 2 collections of short stories.

Dark themes haunted her earlier books. Her first novel, Harriet Said, was about 2 teenage girls who murdered the wife of a man. The Dressmaker tells the tale of love and murder during World War II. The latter half of her writing career was dominated by historical novels such as The Birthday Boys and Every Man For Himself.

Bainbridge was in the final stages of completing her new novel, The Girl In the Polka Dot Dress, when she passed away. The novel is about the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. The people at Little, Brown will be publishing The Girl In the Polka Dot Dress next year.

You can find her novels in the libraries at this Call No.: BAI.
Certain titles are available in audio format.
Please use our online catalogue to check the availability and locations.

psst… Did you know that paranormal romance writer Sherrilyn Kenyon also writes as Kinley MacGregor?

Yen’s Recommended Read:

Image courtesy of Borders Australia

 “In 1960s Nigeria, a country blighted by civil war, three lives intersect. Ugwu, a boy from a poor village, works as a houseboy for a university lecturer. Olanna, a young woman, has abandoned her life of privilege in Lagos to live with her charismatic new lover, the professor. The third is Richard, a shy Englishman in thrall to Olanna’s enigmatic twin sister. When the shocking horror of the war engulfs them, their loyalties are severely tested as they are pulled apart and thrown together in ways that none of them imagined…”

*Summary extracted from book jacket
** Adichie has also published another novel, Purple Hibiscus, and a collection of short stories, The Thing Around Your Neck. Her books can be found at this Call No.: ADI
***Adichie won the Orange Prize for Fiction with this heartrending novel in 2007.
Catch Adichie’s engaging presentation “The Danger of a Single Story” hosted by TED.

Other stories based in Africa:
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Abe
Beethoven Was One-Sixteenth Black by Nadine Gordimer
Bitter Fruit by Achmat Dangor

I was rendered to tears at many points when I perused Half Of a Yellow Sun. Though Adichie never experienced the civil war in Nigeria personally, she weaved a highly believable tale of war, suffering, and loss. Speaking through her characters, Adichie reaches deep into your soul, as you put yourself into the shoes of Ugwu, Richard and Olanna. Do pick this book up the next time you visit the library.

 Contributed by Yen Yen, Associate Librarian

This summer, the world will celebrate the 50th publishing anniversary of this beloved classic. Estimated to have sold over 30 million copies since its first publication in 1960, it won the Pulitzer Prize that year. Apparently, in 1999, a Library Journal survey of my peers (fellow librarians in Amerian) found that they consider this to be the “greatest novel of the 2oth century”.

A Wall Street Journal article remarks that the novel continues to be required reading in three-quarters of America’s high schools (1988 report). Its lead character, the principled and heroric Atticus Finch, continues to be a popular character. The 1962 film of the novel, starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch, is also a perennial movie classic, effortlessly capturing the spirit of the novel – a decent, generous man from a small-town, an Everyman, who also displays the magnanimous courage and wisdom of an Abraham Lincoln. Atticus Finch has come to embody the concepts of moral courage and conscience.

Set in the 1930s in the racially-charged Deep South (Alabama, Haper Lee’s home state), “To Kill A Mockingbird” is the story of a white small-town lawyer who defends a black man accused of rape (of a white woman), thus incurring the vehement racial objections of his community. The story is told through the eyes of his children, Scout and Jem Finch, an approach that blends and contrasts the innocence and precocity of childhood against the perjudices, complexity and cruelties of adulthood.

Despite its enduring popularity and many accolades, the book has not been without its detractors. Flannery O’Connor, a contemporary of Harper Lee’s, once observed that, “It’s interesting that all the folks that are buying it don’t know they are reading a children’s book.” He was referring to the lack of moral ambiguities in the work, and how impossibly righteous and benevolent Atticus Finch was, compared to the rest of the townsfolk. The lack of moral complexity and confusion, critics asserted, meant that this could not be treated as a great work of literature. But the enduring success of the film and the book suggests that for the public, there are aspects of the story that continue to exert a deep hold on the imagination, and that its gentle tone on morality and principled actions have struck a deep chord.

The author, Harper Lee, has famously lived a reclusive life, despite the success of her work. “To kill a mockingbird” remains her only published novel. Now 84, and still living in her childhood home of Monroeville, Alabama, she rarely speaks to the media, or makes appearances at many of the events dedicated to her or her novel. But that is not to say she has not lived an interesting life: her childhood friend was Truman Capote, and her relationship with him was a prominent part of the 2005 film, Capote, a role which garnered Philip Seymour Hoffman an Oscar for Best Actor.

To kill a mockingbird / by Harper Lee.
New York : Warner Books, 1982, c1960.
Call No.: LEE

Mockingbird : a portrait of Harper Lee / Charles J. Shields.
New York, N.Y. : Henry Holt, 2007.
Call No.: 813.54 SHI

I am Scout : the biography of Harper Lee / Charles J. Shields.
New York : Henry Holt and Company, 2008.
Call No.: Y 813.54 SHI

Portraits and observations : the essays of Truman Capote.
New York : Random House, c2007
Call No.: 814.54 CAP

In cold blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences / Truman Capote.
London : Penguin, 1966, c1965.
Call No.: 364.1523 CAP

In search of Mockingbird / Loretta Ellsworth.
New York : Henry Holt, c2007.
Call No.: ELL

The story behind Harper Lee’s To kill a mockingbird / Bryon Giddens-White
Oxford : Heinemann Library, 2007.
Call No.: Y 813.54 GID

To kill a mockingbird [videorecording] / a Pakula-Mulligan, Brentwood Productions picture ; directed by Robert Mulligan ; produced by Alan J. Pakula ; screenplay, Horton Foote
Universal City, CA : Universal, c1998.
Call No.: 791.4372 TO -[ART]

(cited sources: What ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ Isn’t, by Allen Barra, Wall Street Journal, JUNE 24, 2010)

~ by Nur Hakim Low, Librarian, Adult and Young People’s Services

Would you like to send us your contribution?
Post your comments, or email to HBeditor@nlb.gov.sg

Library Book Sale 2010
Date: Saturday, 10 July 2010 – Sunday, 11 July 2010
Time: 9.30am – 8.00pm
Venue: Singapore Expo Hall 6A
Free Admission

Select from a large collection of used library books at bargain prices at the Library Book Sale 2010!Books and magazines in all the four official languages will be on sale. Prices range from $1-$5. Each customer can buy up to a maximum of 60 items. Payment can be made by NETS, CashCard or cash only.

For more information or enquiries on the Library Book Sale 2010, please visit http://www.nlb.gov.sg/ or contact us via:
Tel: +65 6332 3255
Email: helpdesk@nlb.gov.sg