Newsletter no. 17

March 2010

A great idea for promoting your love of reading – and it’s easy!….

Using the signature function of Outlook is a great way of emphasising our role as librarians and our own love of reading, by passing on to other people the title of the book you are currently enjoying. A great way to spread the word not only amongst ourselves, but out into the world as well as we email colleagues, business contacts, friends and family. This can be done as text or as a hyperlink to a book record or web page. Your IS Librarian or Gemma will be able to show you how if you need help. Email Eileen to receive a reply with an example signature.

This month’s guest editorial is by Bernice Sell*……I have a fondness for novels that can be classified as magical realism, since those that I have read have managed to be literary but very readable.
Magical realism is a literary type or form rather than a specific genre. A magical realism novel requires the reader to assume an equal acceptance of both the ordinary and the extraordinary as the distinction between fantasy and reality is blurred. The stories often contain elements of myth, fable or folktale. It differs from fantasy writing though as events take place in the real world, not a fantasy setting.
Magical realism has its roots in South American literature and anyone wishing to sample it could try any of the short story collections of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, or his seminal magical realism work, One Hundred Years of Solitude.
A short list of the best known magical realist works can be found on the Book Lust website:
http://booklust.wetpaint.com/page/Magical+Realism

As usual, LibraryThing comes up trumps with a very comprehensive list found in its tag search:
http://www.librarything.com/tag/magical+realism,+novel

For a bite-sized overview try Oprah’s book Club:
http://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/Magical-Realism-In-a-Nutshell

Excellent magic realism novels for young adults include David Almond’s Secret Heart, and Isabel Allende’s City of the Beasts.
* Bernice is Specialist Librarian – Community Learning at Glenfield Library


Best Reads…..
This month’s Best Reads have been provided by Jan at Albany Village…….


Life according to Lubka by Laurie Graham


The women in black by Madeleine St John


The horse dancer by Jojo Moyes


Aphrodite's workshop for reluctant lovers by Marika Cobbold


The hours of the night by Sue Gee


All together now by Monica McInerney


All the nice girls by Joan Bakewell


Bad behaviour by Liz Byrski


The behaviour of moths by Poppy Adams


A seaside practice : tales of a Scottish country doctor by Tom Smith