UNBOUND

First the good news – as part of the Glen Eira Storytelling festival, the opening night of the new film version of this classic novel featured cocktails and choc tops. This in no way influenced my opinion of the quality of the film.

The film started about three quarters of the way through the book, on the wild moors of Emily’s Wuthering Heights rather than the more sheltered world of Charlotte’s Jane Eyre.  In this case the film went north, following the book. Elemental and swirling, with heightened emotions and high drama which contrasted with the slow build up of the relationship between Rochester and the Governess. The scenery and settings were beautifully cinematic; the wild outdoors and the civilized drawing rooms, passion versus convention. I didn’t fall in love with Rochester but I did understand him and Jane was a suitably old soul in a young body. The film left out some of my favourite lines from the book but preserved enough of the original dialogue to make it a good echo. There were a couple of invented scenes but they were in the spirit of the novel and underlined the themes without being heavy handed.

Everything had to be compressed to fit into the two hour format, but I thought it was a happy abbreviation with loaded looks instead of long speeches, and subtle hints about how much time had passed. I was busy reading between the visual lines.

I wonder if you would understand what was happening if you hadn’t read the book?

These strange visions of the future are also wonders of compression, squeezing vast imaginary vistas into slender volumes. Perfect for those with a long to-read list!

Cordwainer Smith’s The Rediscovery of Man is a collection of short stories that, iceberg-like, suggest a far larger universe beneath their surface. The creation of an East Asia scholar and pioneer of psychological warfare, these weird gems describe the universe ruled by the Instrumentality. The Lords of the Instrumentality prolong their lives with the drug stroon from the planet Old North Australia. Liberation theology underpins the struggle for freedom of the animal-derived Underpeople. And the playful, sing-song style gives these works the feeling of folk-tales filled with nostalgia for the future. Read this future classic before the critics discover it!

Dante’s Inferno with giant meerkats? That’s as good a description as any of Jeff Vandermeer’s Veniss Underground. In a walled city of the far future, an oasis on a human-ravaged planet, an aspiring genetic engineer ventures below in search of the legendary creator Quin. The terrible wonders he encounters are at once surreal and grandly mythic, recalling the underground realms of John Milton’s Paradise Lost and Greek and Roman myth. Like all SF Veniss Underground reflects issues in our own world – on the way people use animals and each other for their own ends, on genetic manipulation and even the insecurity and ambition of freelance work. There is much humour and wonder here but the dominant note is horror. This is one journey in the dark you won’t forget.

 A journey in the Underworld of the unconscious mind, J.G. Ballard’s The Drowned World describes a warming earth, where human fertility is declining, the survivors cluster at the poles and the reptiles are once more ascendant. Ballard’s preoccupation with societal collapse, born of his childhood in Japanese-occupied Shanghai, conjures forth drowned cities and the lost souls who can’t bear to leave them. But as a doctor, what he’s most interested in is psychological regression, the retreat to reptilian consciousness under the pulse of a sky-filling sun.

For SF that’s well-written, thought-provoking and wild, why not give one of these books a try.

What is your favourite strange future? Is SF really about the future or does it have more to say about the present?

I love books by Shaun Tan, the award winning WA author and illustrator now based in Melbourne. I like the way he can tell a story and have been a fan for some time. One of my favourite characters is Eric, the tiny exchange student whose real name is very difficult to pronounce. 

I was very happy that Shaun Tan was presented with the 2011 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, which is considered the Nobel Prize of children’s literature.

 Tan also won the Oscar in 2011 for Best Animated Short Film based on his picture book The Lost Thing, a story about a strange creature on a beach and a little boy who feels sorry for it.  The illustrations are an unusual combination of old textbooks, postcards and road signs.

 His books such as  The Red Tree, Tales from Outer Suburbia and the wordless novel The Arrival  have been widely translated and enjoyed by readers of all ages.

 It is The Arrival that has had the biggest impact on me. This book is about a refugee in an unknown world, lost in a foreign culture, trying to survive – it is a story is about belonging.  

 I decided to write about Shaun Tan when I discovered that The Arrival is a keynote event for the Melbourne Writers Festival, to be held tonight at the Melbourne Recital Centre. The book has been brought to life in music by Sydney composer Ben Walsh. This live ‘Sonic-scape piece’ will be accompanied by projections of Tan’s illustrations. I hope that this event will be a huge success and create a lot more interest in this amazing illustrator and his work. 

 You can find out more about Shaun Tan at http://www.shauntan.net

Last week, the library Reading Circle had the pleasure of hosting renowned Melbourne author, storyteller and human rights advocate, Arnold Zable.

The Reading Circle theme was “Memories” and what stories he told!

Everyone was mesmerised as Arnold shared many of his own, and others, memories. He shared a boyhood memory from Scraps of heaven about listening to the sound of the milk cart. A man in the group turned to his wife and quietly said, “Yes, I remember too!”

Arnold answered lots of questions about his memories of growing up in 50’s Melbourne as a child of refugee parents. He has also been entrusted with the precious memories of refugees and Holocaust survivors. The stories he told and the passages he read from his books were funny and often heartbreaking. Many in the Circle had similar memories and shared these with the group.

It was a wonderful afternoon – thank you Arnold!

Arnold’s new collection of short stories, Violin lessons is out now and available at the libraries.

What are your favourite memories? Have you ever written them down, or told them to someone – perhaps a family member?

There are some books that should never have been printed and sent out to the general public without this label being firmly applied. I’m sure every reader knows what I am talking about.  It is the universally shared story: The Book I Should Never Have Opened On That Peak Hour Train. (Popular variations include tram, bus, or waiting room). Reading is usually a private experience, but when it moves into the public arena it can make for one of the more entertaining (and somewhat alarming) spectator sports around.

Bertie and Jeeves were my downfall. I didn’t know what I was getting in for when I took them with me on the train ride to Geelong, and neither did the people around me. It started out as the occasional amused chuckle and quickly progressed in to that kind of uncontrollable, tear-inducing laughter that causes other passengers to shift very slightly away and carefully avoid making eye contact with you.

Maniacal giggling is only one example of the many hazards of The Book I Should Never Have Opened On That Peak Hour Train. Such books are also known for reducing people to tears, causing them to groan and pull faces, and even making them exclaim out loud. Many a reader has missed their stop and looked up to find themselves in a completely unfamiliar place. Although you wouldn’t suspect it, reading can be a perilous pastime.

But it’s always worth the risk.

What books have you read that have caused the surrounding public to eye you warily?

The winners of the 2011 Children’s Book Council of Australia awards have just been announced!

The winner of the Older Readers Book of the Year is Sonya Hartnett for The Midnight Zoo.

The Younger Readers Book of the Year is Isobelle Carmody’s The Red Wind.

 Maudie and Bear by Jan Ormerod and illustrated by Freya Blackwood won the Early Childhood Book of the Year.

The Picture Book of the Year joint winners are Jeannie Baker for Mirror and Nicki Greenberg for Hamlet.

To see the full list of winners and honour books go to http://cbca.org.au/winners2011.htm

Are you a home improvement addict? If so, you are by no means alone – the last weekend of July saw 30,000 people queue in Richmond to inspect the properties of Channel 9’s hit TV series, The Block. The show is one of several that have inspired Australians to pull on the overalls and head down to their local hardware store. But did you know that your library also has the tools to help you get started? For DIY project advice, inspiration and step-by step guides there is no better place to go!

The home improvement trend has seen many glossy new books on renovation and interior design enter in to the library’s collection. For those looking for inspiration we have lots of big, beautiful coffee-table books such as French Essence and Dream Rooms: Inspirational Interiors from 100 Homes. These are lovely books to browse – printed on thick, quality paper and full of photographs of trendy and stylish rooms that are sure to get you dreaming of your own home makeover.

We also have books that provide a more practical, step by step guide on how to get your DIY home improvement project done. Terence Conran’s Essential series is full of useful tips and advice for the novice renovator, and covers a variety of home improvement projects in clear and easy to follow steps. We also have lots of magazines with handy hints and information on home improvement projects: Ideal Home, Handyman, and Better Homes and Gardens to name a few.

For the environmentally aware there are a range of books dealing specifically with eco-friendly ways to improve your home. Try Remake it: Home, a short, squat book that is packed full of inventive ways of using recycled materials to create eye-catching décor and furnish your home. (Don’t miss page 121 – a lampshade made of hanging pens). See also The Eco Design Handbook: A Complete Sourcebook For the Home and Office for great storage solution ideas and more – all while helping you save money – and the planet.

What DIY projects has the library helped you with?

I don’t read science fiction very often and some people claim to not read it at all but it can sneak through disguised as literary fiction, popular fiction or in other nefarious ways.  The Time Traveller’s Wife snuck through the sci-fi shield and became a mainstream hit which went on to become a Hollywood film and inspire the River Song plotline of the re-vamped Dr Who television series.

Jasper Fforde has become known for his science fiction literary fantasy detective comic thrillers that defy 76 publisher rejections, logic, history and bookshop categorisation. Many of the literati accidentally read his first published book The Eyre Affair due to its name-checking a classic novel (a mistake probably not repeated with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies).

Douglas Adams re-vitalised the number 42, revealed the importance of towels and snuck into popular culture via his books, television series, film and computer games.  Connie Willis has similar cross genre appeal.  To Say nothing of the Dog is humorous time travel similar to Douglas Adams or Neil Gaiman. Blackout and All Clear are set mainly during the London Blitz and are detailed studies of what life was like for contemporary Londoners (not just time travelling late 21^st Century Oxford academics). The babel fish has given way to automatic language implanted uploads but it still isn’t that far from H. G. Well’s Time Machine.

 Science fiction is not just a niche market celebrated by dressing up at conventions and learning strange hand gestures and made up languages. To explore the science fiction ‘genre’ further or find similar authors try Who Else Writes Like  (login to access from home).

Phryne Fisher creator and iconic Melbourne writer Kerry Greenwood has worked as a folk singer, factory hand, director, costume-maker, cook and is currently a solicitor.  She has also written over twenty novels and plays, is an award-winning children’s writer and has contributed to several anthologies.

Her Phryne Fisher series (pronounced Fry-knee, to rhyme with briny) features a lady sleuth who sashays through the back lanes and jazz clubs of late 1920’sMelbourne, fighting injustice with her pearl handled pistol and her dagger sharp wit.

The series began in 1989 with Cocaine Blues and was immediately a hit with readers.  The latest in the series is Dead Man’s Chest where the unflappable Phryne is off on a quiet seaside holiday with Dot, Jane and Ruth – surely they won’t be disturbed by a murder…

Phryne is now also headed for the small screen! Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries is currently in production and will be screened for ABC1 in 2012 as 13 one-hour episodes.

You can meet the fascinating Kerry Greenwood at a literary lunch on August 15 as part of the Glen Eira Storytelling Festival.  For more details visit http://www.gleneira.vic.gov.au/Page/page.asp?Page_Id=1837&h=0

Making health inspiring, entertaining and accessible to everyone is the goal of Lola Berry, nutritionist and author of Inspiring ingredients. The key ingredient that separates Lola from all other health experts is her ability to make health fun and easy to implement in day-to-day life.

Lola inspired local foodies looking for healthy eating tips at the latest library event on 27 July. Lola said “Thanks again for putting on such a great event!  Here are my answers to common questions about coffee and caffeine for your readers.”

1. What are the health benefits of caffeine?

 The great thing about caffeine is that it stimulates you - gives you a quick “pep-up” – people find it also helps to stimulate their metabolism!

 2. So in moderation, caffeine can be used as a health tool? What are the benefits?

- In moderation things naturally high in caffeine like coffee are great stimulants. 

- It’s a stimulant so it will quickly promote blood flow around the body as well as giving your metabolism a quick boost!

- It’s said to help endurance with athletes.

- Coffee has also recently been linked to preventing type 2 diabetes.

- There’s even a link to preventing gallstones!

- It’s said that the caffeine in coffee is a preventative when it comes to Parkinson’s disease.

- It improves cognitive function too.

 3. How much is too much?

- I would not recommend coffee be consumed more than once a day.  It has addictive qualities and we can become reliant on it.

- Try having a morning coffee then swapping the afternoon coffee for a green tea which still has a nice hit of caffeine but not as much as coffee.

- If it’s the “earthy” flavor you crave then try something like dandelion tea, it as a similar flavor – and it actually stimulates the liver!

 4. Risks of having too much caffeine?

- Caffeine taxes our adrenal glands - these guys release stress hormones like “cortisol”. When we over-stimulate our adrenal glands we will eventually burn out! An excess of cortisol in the body can lead to holding weight around your tummy area.

-Caffeine also increases your blood pressure. In fact, it increases our blood pressure more than any other food humans consume!

-Things like coffee, coke, energy drinks which are all high sources of caffeine are extremely acid forming in the body. We want our bodies to be slightly alkaline at all times to be in a state of optimal health.

- Coffee is a diuretic, which means it makes you urinate more often than you normally would, so it has the potential to dehydrate you.

- Coffee’s main ingredient is caffeine and it’s addictive, so once you start, there’s no stopping!

- It’s also said to have a negative effect on osteoporosis, as it leeches calcium from our bones and we need calcium for bone strength and density. Osteoporosis occurs when our bones becomes too brittle and thin. So calcium is something we need to prevent this condition!

  5. Best sources of caffeine?

- Green tea, has about half the amount of caffeine that coffee has.

- Chocolate, the darker the chocolate the more antioxidants and the more caffeine.

 6. Difference between brewed and instant?

- Brewed is made from freshly ground and roasted coffee beans which have been picked from a coffee tree. They are the actual seeds of coffee trees.

- Instant was invented in 1901 so people could make a coffee in seconds rather than have to go through the whole brewing process.

- Instant is made from coffee product and it’s then dehydrated and rehydrated again

For more helpful and inspitrational tips, take a look at Lola’s book “Inspiring ingredients” and visit www.lolaberry.com

Margaret @ Glen Eira Libraries