May 2018

From the CommitteeAnnual General Meeting This meeting will be held on Monday July 9th in the library at 10.30am.

Membership of FOAL The Committee has decided that if we have not received any membership dues from members for the last three years, then that membership will cease and therefore, those members will no longer receive the newsletter.

Writers FestivalEveryone who attended this excellent weekend live-streamed from Sydney thoroughly enjoyed it and said how worthwhile it had been. The FOAL committee provided tea, coffee and finger food for only a gold coin donation. We have some excellent cooks on our Committee! I hope you put a reminder in your diaries for next year’s event.

Library’s First Birthday Children's MorningThis event was a credit to the Children's Librarian, Jennifer Watson. The children made great party hats after their story then a morning tea was provided by the Council. Some of the FOAL Committee ladies helped with serving morning tea to parents and children. It was such a worthwhile activity with such polite children. The parents tidied up afterwards. A great way to encourage families to use our excellent library!

The Committee would like to thank the CouncilCouncil have now converted the car spaces in front of the library door into one for the disabled and one for pedestrian access.

French Film Festival

FRIENDS OF ARMIDALE LIBRARYNEWSLETTER

This will be held during the first weekend in June (the 1st, 2nd and 3rd) .The movies this year sound interesting and varied.

Book review

Glass HousesLouise Penny

This is the 13th book in the Inspector Armand Gamache series of crime novels set in the small village of Three Pines in Quebec.

Gamache is now the Superintendent of the entire Quebec Surete, and the story opens in a courtroom in Montreal with Gamache on the stand. The trial is dealing with a murder committed in Three Pines some months earlier, and the identity of the defendant is not revealed. The reader is then taken back to the time when a mysterious robed and masked figure appears on the village green, and the author slowly connects this happening to the Montreal trial. There is a strong theme of fantasy running throughout the book with the dark hooded figure resembling a Cobrador, an olden times debt collector. In this case the collector is thought to be there to collect a moral debt.

A major secondary theme is Gamache’s high risk strategy to defeat the drug cartels who are running drugs across the border into America. He enlists the help of a select few of his colleagues, and has a complicated plan to mislead the cartels into thinking the Surete is powerless to stop the drug traffic.

The story moves back and forth in time and is entertaining, but I did think that it was very drawn out in the middle. It was a relief when the end approached and both the murder trial and the drug cartel story came to fruition. I found the rather saintly and all wise Gamache a bit irritating. Despite this, the book is a good read, and can be recommended for a train journey or a holiday.

Marnie French.

New in the LibraryBefore we outline some new stock on the shelves, it’s worth taking a moment to thank Council’s gardening staff for the great job they are doing with new plantings around the property boundaries, our contract cleaners for sweeping out the front of the building, Council’s building maintenance staff for arranging the long-awaited baby change table now in the disabled toilet space, and the Library staff for keeping all our indoor plants green and healthy. We are particularly happy to see the African violet in flower, marking a healthy transition for this more than twenty-year-old plant.

Meanwhile, in other parts of the Library, take a moment to examine works as various as Hokusai: beyond the great wave (concerning his late works), an 89 minute DVD supporting the idea of independent journalism - All Governments lie: truth, deception, and the legacy of I.F. Stone, the dulcet tones of Angus and Julia Stone on their latest CD out of Byron Bay – Snow – and a 20th anniversary reissue of Sarah Waters’ Victorian-era novel Tipping the velvet.

Adding to our local knowledge, we have at last received print copies of Bullcorronda: (Mount Yarrowyck) Aboriginal cultural association with Mount Yarrowyck Nature Reserve, written by Kate Waters and published by the Office of the Registrar Aboriginal Land Rights Act. Aljos Farjon also examines nature of a more recent type in Ancient oaks in the English landscape. Nicola Pugliese’s 1977 novel, Malacqua is subtitled four days of rain in the city of Naples, waiting for the occurrence of an extraordinary event; only recently translated from an Italy in the grip of terrorism, it uses, as the National’s Abu Dhabi reviewer observed, “pathetic fallacy to great effect, transforming political unrest into meteorological tumult”. Jeff Lowenfels digs deep into nature to explore Teaming with fungi: the organic grower's guide to mycorrhizae. And David Mabberley, pre-eminent English-Australian plant writer, brings us a study of perhaps the greatest

natural history painter of all time in Painting by numbers: the life and art of Ferdinand Bauer.

In the realm of practice for a better world, we offer Collyn Rivers’ Solar that really works, written in NSW and written “for people looking to use solar power as the main source of power - this handy book demonstrates how to set up a successful solar power system to power fridges, TVs, lights, and more”. Jonathan Rose gives us a different practical imprint with The foot book: a complete guide to healthy feet. Shannon Gilmartin brings us alternative bodywork with The guide to modern cupping therapy: your step-by-step source for vacuum therapy which “helps with pain, inflammation and blood flow, and can provide relief for sciatica and sinus congestion”. If your pain is more existential, Terry Eagleton may offer a simple solution: his The meaning of life in the Oxford very short introductions series, is only 109 pages long. If the solace you seek is prepared to take time, try instead The Norton anthology of world religions, two beautifully-produced volumes totalling 4,448 pages.

There are our usual kitchen comforts: The little library cookbook: 100 recipes from your favourite stories (Kate Young); Bread is gold: extraordinary meals with ordinary ingredients (Massimo Bottura and friends); The Sportsman (in Whitstable, Kent, a standard English seaside pub with a restaurant run by Stephen Harris); Slow dough real bread: bakers' secrets for making amazing long-rise loaves at home (Chris Young and the bakers of the Real Bread Campaign); and Mincemeat: the education of an Italian chef (Leonardo Lucarelli).

We can also provide music to help with the cooking, dining or washing up. Many choices include The Nashville sound of Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit (country rock), Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm (soul), Life is fine by Paul Kelly (Australian) or Kanon pokajanen composed by Arvo Pa ̈rt and performed by unaccompanied mixed choral voices of the Eesti Filharmoonia Kammerkoor in a Finnish Church in 1997.

Further international relations are highlighted in books by Raja Shehadeh (Where the line is drawn: crossing boundaries in occupied Palestine), George Monbiot (Out of the wreckage: a new politics for an age of crisis), Rohini Mohan (The seasons of trouble: life amid the ruins of Sri Lanka's Civil War), Timothy Nunan (Humanitarian invasion: global development in Cold War Afghanistan) and – beyond internationalism - Aliens: the world's leading scientists on the search for extraterrestrial life.

Moving images can take you away, too. Choose from a range including Lady Macbeth, Neruda, The bird people in China or Pork Pie, a New Zealand adventure with the Blondini Gang – “a trio of misfits who become folk heroes when they go on the run in a stolen Mini - chasing lost love and doing their best to stay a step ahead of the ever-growing media frenzy and police operation that is hot on their tails”.

There is new fiction from Kate Zambreno (The book of mutter) and Ahmed Naji (Using life: a novel), a last work from actor/author Sam Shepard (Spy of the first person) and a valuable reprint from HG Wells (The first men in the moon). We also have many new verses of poetry to beguile the prosaic minute: The Homeric hymns translated by Peter McDonald, The map and the clock: a laureate's choice of the poetry of Britain and Ireland from Carol Ann Duffy, The fire horse: children's poems by Vladimir Mayakovsky, Osip Mandelstam and Daniil Kharms, Save twilight: selected poems from Julio Cortazar and The world saved by kids – written by Elsa Morante in 1968 to celebrate what she called "great youth movement exploding against the funereal machinations of the organized contemporary world" and now, fifty years later, newly translated into English.

We aslo have new biographies(Ali: a life by Jonathan Eig; The man who stole himself: the slave odyssey of Hans Jonathan; Between them: remembering my parents by Richard Ford), histories (Scythians: warriors of ancient Siberia; Belonging: the story of the Jews, 1492-1900 by Simon Schama; Stalin: waiting for Hitler, 1929-1941 by Stephen Kotkin), picture books (V&A pattern: Garden florals; Marching bands with photographs by Jules Allen; Luca Campigotto: iconic China), built environments (100 years, 100 landscape designs by John Hill; Chaos and culture: Renzo Piano Building Workshop and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center in Athens; Making house: designers at home by Dominic Bradbury), sociological reflections (Carnal knowledge: regulating sex in England, 1470-1600 by Martin Ingram; Humankind: solidarity with nonhuman people by Timothy Morton; Mindlessness: the corruption of mindfulness in a culture of narcissism by Thomas Joiner) and more music, music, music (Killer from Dan Sultan; The water / San Cisco; All possible futures / Miami Horror; Process / Sampha; These are the songs: a Mick Thomas

restrospective; Out of all this blue / The Waterboys; Together at last / Jeff Tweedy; Variationen & Fantasiestu ̈cke / Robert Schumann).

For full descriptions of each film, go to http://www.afarmidale.com.au/whats-happening/french-film-festival-2018

Dear MembersThe Committee has reluctantly decided to remove from our membership list all annual members who have not paid their subscriptions for 2 years or more.There has been a significant fall off in membership since the new Library was acquired, which may be a factor in members’ decisions not to renew.If this, or other factors, have affected your decision not to renew, we thank you for your past support.If, however, the lack of payment is due to an oversight, we would be delighted for you to continue your membership. This May newsletter will be the last to be received by members who have not renewed their membership.If you wish to continue as a member, you will find a membership form in the May newsletter to fill in and return to the Library. A copy of this notice will also be sent to all members who have not paid since 2016.Cost is $15. Life members are asked to make a donation if possible. Forms are available at the Library. A reminder and membership form is included in this newsletter.If you are unsure of your membership status, you are most welcome to contactJudy Wilford (67715517) or Bronwyn Meredith (67727065) ormeredithkeller@bigpond.com for an update.

Together with our regular and occasional major fund raising events (the trivia night, raffles, cinema nights, etc.), your subscription will help us to continue to provide:

core library resources/services such as books, CDs, DVDs, large print books, talking books, on line and other resources

the Baby Book Pack program for every baby born in Armidale. Each pack provides 2 board books, a CD and helpful literacy building ideas for parents

our monthly newsletter to members various events to raise the profile of books and the Library in the

community such as the children’s program, the 6 words competition, the Sydney Writers Festival live streaming, author talks and the Annual Remembrance Day talk

improving the Libraryʼs appearance and ambience.

We hope that members will consider renewing their subscriptions.The Committee

FRIENDS OF ARMIDALE LIBRARYMEMBERSHIP FORM 2018

NameAddressPhoneEmail

$15 Annual membership or a Life Member donationTick for a receiptTick for email Newsletter (preferable to postage)

Send to J Wilford, Treasurer, 18 Ash Tree Road Armidale 2350 OR at the Library front desk