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"If you didn't want them to think, you shouldn't have given them library cards."

Robert Kaufman

 [More on Libraries]


Indian in the Cupboard Study Guide

 

Omri receives several conventional gifts for his ninth birthday. However, two gifts you would expect to be of least interest to a young boy prove to be magical and exciting. Suitable for primary aged students this study guide has learning outcomes in key learning
areas such as English, Art and Society and Environment.

Books for you to Read Right Now

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The Time We Have Taken                                                       Miles Franklin Award Winner 2008

~Steven Carroll                                                                                  $26.99 $11.99      

 

That exotic tribe was us. And the time we have taken, our moment.  The straight line of history has led, and was always leading, to this day and they have all been lucky enough to be alive, right now, to greet the moment.  THE TIME WE HAVE TAKEN is both a meditation on the rhythms of suburban life and a luminous exploration of public and private reckoning during a time of radical change. 'a writer worth cherishing. His prose is unfailingly assured, lyrical, poised' - The Australian. 'moving and indelible in its evocation of the extraordinary in ordinary lives' - Miles Franklin Literary Award Judges.

   

Fishing for Stars                                                                Download Bookclub Notes
~ Bryce Courtenay                                                          
                         $49.95  $23.95

 

Fishing for Stars has, at its heart, two passionate, unforgettable – but very different – women. One is exotic, damaged, and shrewd; the other beautiful, determined and zealous. Both are bitter rivals for the love of the same man.

The story is set in Australia, the Pacific Islands, Japan and Indonesia during the latter half of the twentieth century. Nick Duncan is an ingenuous male with a great deal more female on his hands than he can possibly hope to understand.

It is a story of ambition, destruction, love, tears and laughter, with a soupçon of hope thrown in.

   

House Rules: A Novel                                                                                                 "Just released"

~ Jodi Picoult                                                                                     $28.00  $13.98

The prolific Picoult crafts a cunning whodunit that explores what it’s like to be not only a teenager with Asperger’s syndrome but also an AS kid accused of murder.  Told from multiple viewpoints, including those of an empathetic detective and an eager but wet-behind-the-ears attorney, the mystery unfolds at a spellbinding pace. But Picoult also does an exceptional job communicating the complexities of Asperger’s syndrome and the challenges confronting AS families. Faithful Picoult fans will whisk this off the shelves, but devoted readers of savvy courtroom dramas should also give it a try.

   

The Pacific                                                                                                This week's 'Movie Book'

~ Hugh Ambrose                                                                               $26.95  $17.79

In The Pacific, Hugh Ambrose focuses on the real-life stories of the five men who put their lives on the line for our country. To deepen the story revealed in the miniseries and go beyond it, the book dares to chart a great ocean of enmity known as The Pacific and the brave men who fought. Some considered war a profession, others enlisted as citizen soldiers. Each man served in a different part of the war, but their respective duties required every ounce of their courage and their strength to defeat an enemy who preferred suicide to surrender. The medals for valor which were pinned on three of them came at a shocking price-a price paid in full by all. 

   

The House at Riverton: A Novel                                                                      This week's Bargain

~Kate Morton                                                                                     $15.00   $6.00

This debut page-turner from Australian Morton recounts the crumbling of a prominent British family as seen through the eyes of one of its servants. At 14, Grace Reeves leaves home to work for her mother's former employers at Riverton House. She is the same age as Hannah, the headstrong middle child who visits her uncle, Lord Ashbury, at Riverton House with her siblings Emmeline and David. Fascinated, Grace observes their comings and goings and, as an invisible maid, is privy to the secrets she will spend a lifetime pretending to forget. But when a filmmaker working on a movie about the family contacts a 98-year-old Grace to fact-check particulars, the memories come swirling back. The plot largely revolves around sisters Hannah and Emmeline, who were present when a family friend, the young poet R.S. Hunter, allegedly committed suicide at Riverton. Grace hints throughout the narrative that no one knows the real story, and as she chronicles Hannah's schemes to have her own life and the curdling of younger Emmeline's jealousy, the truth about the poet's death is revealed. Morton triumphs with a riveting plot, a touching but tense love story and a haunting ending.

   

Union Atlantic  

~ Adam Haslett

In Haslett's excellent first novel (following Pulitzer and National Book Award finalist short story collection You Are Not a Stranger Here), a titan of the banking industry does battle with a surprisingly formidable opponent: a retired history teacher. Doug Fanning has built Union Atlantic from a mid-size Boston bank to an international powerhouse and rewards himself by building a rural palace in Finden, Mass. The land his house is built on, however, had been donated to Finden for preservation by Charlotte Graves's grandfather, and Charlotte believes she now has a claim on the lot. This book should be of interest to readers fascinated but perplexed by the current financial crisis, as it is able to navigate the oubliette of Wall Street trading to create searing and intimate drama. 

$26.00 $18.60

   
 

"As charming and coquettish as Paris itself, Lunch in Paris reawakens our tired hearts and palates with a deliciously passionate journey through the city of lights. Be prepared to be seduced by french kisses, the richest chocolate, and the sweet charm of Bard's prose."

   

The Silent Sea (The Oregon Files)

Clive Cussler, Jack Du Brul 

The thrilling new adventure from the #1 New York Times- bestselling author. 

Clive Cussler's tales of the Oregon and its crew-"the clever, indefatigable Juan Cabrillo and his merry band of tough, tech-savvy fighting men and women" (Publishers Weekly)-have made fans of hundreds of thousands of readers. But the Oregon's sixth adventure is its most remarkable one yet.

   

Comeback 2.0: Up Close and Personal

by Lance Armstrong

 

Reading this book feels like you've spent a year being a fly on the wall as Lance goes about his life. It's a fascinating glimpse into his world, from the high glamour (flying in private jets and hanging out with world leaders) to the mundane (running his kids to school and playing in the backyard with them - nice backyard by the way Lance).

   

She's Leaving Home 
Author:  
Monica Trapaga

Beautifully illustrated with drawings from artist MEREDITH GASTON and Monica's own collages, this precious manual of culinary inspiration and sound practical advice is a must-have for any girl about to embark on her own life journey.

 

Read an extract

Watch the author, Monica Trapaga as she talks about "She's Leaving Home

   
   
   
   
   
 

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