10 best book websites

On 12th July, The Sunday Times Ingear section listed 10 best book websites.  I recommend that you look at Free Book Spot where you can down load ebooks for free.

Best book websites:

DailyLit – http://dailylit.com/

Shelfari – www.shelfari.com

Rare Book Room – http://rarebookroom.org

FreeBookSpot  – http://www.freebookspot.in

Authonomy – http://authonomy.com

Google Books – http://books.google.com

Blurb – www.blurb.com

BookCrossing – http://bookcrossing.com

LibriVox – http://librivox.org

Goodreads – www.goodreads.com

Read the reviews of the ten sites above, at the Times Online.

State-of-the-art new mobile library launched in Market Harborough!

Photo opportunity: A special viewing with chance to meet the library staff and a special cake will set off the celebrations as Leicestershire County Council launches its latest new mobile library in Market Harborough. Roger Wilson, the Chairman of the County Council, will declare the new mobile officially open at a special event taking place at The Square in Market Harborough on Saturday 12th September 2009 at 10.30am.

Vehicle design has changed over the years and the Leicestershire Library Service is pleased to be unveiling its’ new mobile model as it is unique and is the latest revolutionary design built in partnership with Leicester Carriage Builders. This latest vehicle design combines the low floor access of a bus with the carrying capacity of a conventional lorry based mobile. No longer restricted on the carrying capacity and both weight and space have been improved

It meets our user’s needs and is a fine example of technology at its best. Features include:
• Improved access to make it easier for everyone to get onboard.
• A vehicle that is 40ft long and approx. 8.6 ft wide.
• Full air suspension.
• Book capacity of 2800, which gives customers far more books to choose from than the old mobile.
• Categories of stock including:
• Adult fiction
• Hardbacks and paperbacks
• Fiction and non-fiction books for children of all ages.
• Large print books
• Talking books
• State of the art graphics.
• The mobile will continue to visit rural communities on a fortnightly basis
• Plus there is information on a Home Library service
• Leicestershire Library book requests that are free for children and senior citizens

The afternoon sees story telling sessions by local author Andy Cope, who wrote the children’s story books ‘Spy Dog’ series. He will be on the mobile library at 1.00 –1.30 pm and 2.00 – 2.30 pm in The Square, Market Harborough.

The mobile library service in Market Harborough visits communities that do not have a static library within easy reach, helping libraries become accessible to all. The new mobile contains a wide variety of stock including fiction and non-fiction and talking and large print books.

Roger Wilson, the Chairman of the County Council, said:
“This new ’state-of-the-art’ mobile is not only easily accessible, due to the low chassis design, the area it covers and the places it visits in Market Harborough will help library services become available to everyone.”

For more information about the event or to find out when the mobile library will be visiting your area please call Jackie Knight, District Community Manager at Market Harborough Library, Adam & Eve Street, Market Harborough, Leicestershire LE16 7LT Telephone: 0116 305 3627 Email. jackie.knight@leics.gov.uk or marketharboroughlibrary@leics.gov.uk Alternatively look on the County Council website: www.leics.gov.uk/libraries

What’s your favourite holiday read?

Holiday Reading

For me, there is nothing better than reading a good book on the beach.  Ahhh, the sound of the waves lapping on the shore and the feeling of the warm breeze that rustles the palm trees overhead…

I try not to read my holiday book too quickly, or else I won’t be able to read more the next day. I remember one holiday when my book of choice was The Da Vinci Code. I parked myself on a sun lounger by the pool and read it in one great gulp over the first two days.  I regretted it later, because I didn’t have anything to take down to the beach with me!

Please share with us:
a)what you are reading this summer, and
b) the best book you ever read on holiday.

Sheri Riddlesworth, Website Development Officer – Libraries
a)The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
b)The Pirate’s Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson

Carnegie & Kate Greenaway Medals 2009

Congratulations to the winners of this year’s  Carnegie & Kate Greenaway Medals 2009!

The CILIP Carnegie Medal 2009 was posthumously awarded to Siobhan Dowd for ‘Bog Child’.

The CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal 2009 was awarded to Catherine Rayner for ‘Harris finds his Feet’.

Both titles were nominated by staff from Leicestershire and Leicester City libraries

Find out more about the titles and the awards on the Libraries website

Now That’s What I Call Reading

Time To Read wants people to try making a reading choice in the same way they choose what music to listen to. So, working on the theory that people who generally like cheery pop music such as Girls Aloud, Take That, and Sugababes, might be people who are interested in fashion, fun, romance and keeping fit. This might lead them naturally to enjoying books such as Chick Lit, celebrity biographies, romance titles and cheerful bestsellers.

Similarly people who like more moody music such as Radiohead, Coldplay , The Smiths or Elbow might be people who like books which express a dark, sexy, cinematic or bleak mood. We think books such as Love on the Dole by Walter Greenwood or The Road by Cormac McCarthy might suit them, along with titles by writers such as Raymond Chandler, Walter Mosley, Haruki Murakami or Neil Gaiman

Obviously people like different music and different reading experiences at different times, sometimes even on the same day. We really don’t want to categorise people or limit choices in anyway. We just think its interesting to think about the tone that many books have and try to match that to music, which people often seem to find easier to be decided about.

Time To Read has put together some shortlists of titles matched against groups of bands and musicians. These can be found on the Facebook page Now That’s What I Call Reading

New library reward scheme!

Free DVD hire is one of the great rewards available in libraries’ new money-saving loyalty scheme. Library members can join the free scheme and collect points each time they visit a County library or mobile and borrow six or more items.

Rewards Card

Library members will be issued with their own rewards card and can collect up to 12 stamps which can be cashed in for any of these fantastic library rewards:

• Set of headphones (12 stamps)
• Jute bag (12 stamps)
• Free week loan of DVD/CD or talking book (6 stamps)
• Children’s poster/activity book (6 stamps)
• Free book request (3 stamps)
• Free UK fax up to the value of £1.50 (3 stamps)
• 3 free print outs/photocopies (2 stamps).

The new scheme starts on 1^st June, is free to join and available to all ages.  More details about are available in libraries and online at www.leics.gov.uk/libraryrewards

Booksale at Loughborough Library

Loughborough Library is announcing a much awaited event.  Their Book Sale will be held on Saturday 2 May from 9.30 – 4.00 and on Sunday 3 May from 11.00 – 4.00.  Here’s your chance to pickup a bargain. There will be adult fiction and non-fiction titles, a variety of children’s books and a limited amount of local history books.

Take the opportunity whilst you are in the library to look at our Focus on Money display. You stand a chance of winning a £20 High Street shopping voucher by just looking at a particular website and filling in a form.

Find out more about Adult Learners’ Week at your local library or visit www.leics.gov.uk/libraries

The Man Booker International Prize 2009

14 authors have made it on to the Judges’ List of Contenders for the third Man Booker International Prize. The writers come from 12 countries and seven are writers in translation.

The Judges’ List was announced by the chair of judges, Jane Smiley, at a press conference held at The New York Public Library on Wednesday 18 March 2009.

The 14 authors on the list are:

• Peter Carey (Australia)
• Evan S. Connell (USA)
• Mahasweta Devi (India)
• E.L. Doctorow (USA)
• James Kelman (UK)
• Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru)
• Arnošt Lustig (Czechoslovakia)
• Alice Munro (Canada)
• V.S. Naipaul (Trinidad/India)
• Joyce Carol Oates (USA)
• Antonio Tabucchi (Italy)
• Ngugi Wa Thiong’O (Kenya)
• Dubravka Ugresic (Croatia)
• Ludmila Ulitskaya (Russia)

The judging panel for the Man Booker International Prize 2009 is: Jane Smiley, writer; Amit Chaudhuri, writer, academic and musician; and writer, film script writer and essayist, Andrey Kurkov.

In announcing their list, Jane Smiley comments:

“Judging the Man Booker International Prize has made us all aware of how unusual and astonishing the literary world really is.  We’ve all read books by authors we had never heard of before and they have turned out to be some of the best books we’ve ever read.  I am thrilled with the list we have come up with.  It makes me wonder who else is out there untranslated into English.

“Some of the best writers in the world have come together on this judges’ list regardless of celebrity or commercial success.  For us it’s been a rare combination of education and delight.”

Peter Clarke, Chairman, Man Group plc comments:

“We are delighted to announce the Judges’ List for the 2009 Man Booker International Prize from The New York Public Library. New York is one of the world’s most vibrant and cosmopolitan cities and is noted for its heritage of literary excellence, at the centre of which lies the magnificent New York Public Library. For a prize of such international standing it is therefore a wholly appropriate setting in which to announce what is a rich and diverse list and one which we hope will encourage lively debate. Man Group believes that the value of this unique prize, which recognises writers from all round the world, is in its contribution to encouraging more reading of contemporary fiction.”

For further information please visit www.themanbookerprize.com

Bumper year for county libraries

It’s been a record year for Leicestershire’s libraries, new figures revealed today. The County Council’s library service says that:

• The number of visitors in 2008/9 has risen by 13 per cent, to 3,853,867
• Issues of books, CDs and DVDs rose by four per cent over the last year, to 4,153,816
• Issues of children’s books rose by seven per cent in a year
• More than 88 per cent of comments received by the library service are positive
• More than 50% of the population used the service last year

Ernie White, Cabinet member for libraries, said: “I’m delighted that people are voting with their feet and making our libraries a great success. “They’re warm and welcoming and a great place to visit, whether you want to borrow a book, hire a CD or DVD, surf the internet, research your family tree, take part in a local group or get advice on benefits. “I’d encourage anyone who hasn’t been to a library for a while to check out their local branch.”

At a time when library services in some other parts of the country are cutting back, Leicestershire is revamping or rebuilding its libraries. The latest examples are Oadby library, which opened last month (February) and Newbold Verdon, where a new library and community facility opens in April.

Thurmaston Library book sale

Thurmaston Library is having a book sale. Old library books and DVDs will be sold to make way for the new stock. Anyone wishing to extend their own library and help make room for the new stock should go along to Thurmaston Library on Church Hill Road between Monday 20 and Saturday 25 April 2009.

Thurmaston Library on 0116 305 3513.

www.leics.gov.uk/thurmaston_library