Summer starts this week and that means time off work, and long, lazy nights reading as the twilight dwindles in the west. Whether you’ll bereading while sipping iced tea in the hammock, lying on the beach with an ice-cream or chilling out in the shade, now is the time to make your summer reading list.
You also have the chance to make someone's Christmas - with our edition competition. We’ve got $300 of supermarket vouchers to give away to six deserving local people. We want you to nominate someone and tell us why you want to help them. A $50 Pak'NSave voucher could be on its way to them with a thank you message from you! Enter now.
Tell us your best read of 2007
Man Booker Prize nominated Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones? Play Dirty by Sandra Brown? What's your favourite book of 2007? Since 2000, we have been collecting information on what were the most popular reads for the year. We'd love to hear your recommendations to add to the 2007 list. See also our list of 2007's top books from Amazon, Publishers Weekly and other sources.
If you think you’ve missed something, have a gander at previous lists.
Easy-to-find, award-winning titles
Christchurch City Libraries maintains an extensive list of literary prize winning books and authors. Titles range from fiction and non-fiction novels to short stories, poetry and many, many more. The lists includes New Zealand prizes, such as this year’s Sir Julius Vogel award winner The Assassin of Gleam, by Canterbury writer James Norcliffe. International awards, such as the Man Booker and the Nobel Prize for Literature as well as genre-specific awards are also listed. Children’s writing also has a dedicated section.
Feed your need to read on our blog
The CCL blog is a hotbed of book news, reviews and discussion. It’s a place where librarians post about material they are reading, or topics they are interested in. If you haven’t been there, you should. Recent posts include news about the fundraising literary bears, a perspective on the joy of the unexpected cover and the fine art of re-reading. With everything from alternate history to writing competitions rating a mention, there’s room for you to have your say too. And if you are one of those who “don’t have time for blogs” you can use our news feeds to get the headlines delivered direct to you so you can pick and choose what appeals. Nice huh?
A popular tool for recommending titles that might be beyond your normal choices.
What Do I Read Next? includes over 100,000 recommended titles, more than 60,000 plot summaries, and awards information from 562 awards, all to help uncover new reading adventures, find long-remembered favourites, and discover award-winning titles.
Access this with your library card number and PIN, or at your libraries.
Now's the time to be whipping up those fancy treats that family and friends love for all those end of year celebrations. Next week we'll be profiling baking and summer cooking so you can whip up some stunning recipes.
