New Outreach Blog

Morning All,
Just letting you know that we are merging all of the blogs into one (easy) location.

http://mrclOutreach.wordpress.com

 

Who Writes Like...

Whether you like or hate the book, here’s some other recommended titles for you to read if you want to try out more titles in this genre.

An Illuminating Child

Last Thursday we put The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton to bed. After much discussion the Cityside Book Club have decided to give the book a 3.5/5 Star rating. Some of the feedback about the book included:

 

“if given the time, I would like to finish the book. It’s very deep and complex and something you really have to focus on, but very interesting and seemingly enjoyable. ”

“... liked how the author tied everything together nicely, didn’t leave any loose ends.”

“It’s not a light and easy read, it’s one you need to focus on, otherwise you might get lost and have to go back a few pages to re-read something from the past character you might have missed”

And so we bid farewell to The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton and say hello to The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

 

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey is about:

"Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart--he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm, she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning, the snow child is gone--but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees. This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them." - Good Reads

 

I hope you all enjoy this read,
Jamie

 

Staff Read (they really do)

Morning All,

Who would’ve thought that staff in the library actually read? This week instead of focusing on the monthly book I want to focus on our staff and what they are reading.

“Yes!! Finally the continuation of the Jack West series. A little confusing to start with but once he starts the pace is nonstop. Devoured it in 12 hrs.” -Jamie

(Four Legendary Kingdoms by Matthew Reilly)

“Loving it!!! I'm taking my time because I don't want it to finish” - Kathryn

(The Blood Mirror by Brent Weeks)

“Took a bit to get used to but by book three I was totally hooked ” - Laura

(The Captive Prince Trilogy by C.S. Pacat)

Feel free to add your own quick review in the comments below. We’re always looking for a new book to read.

See you all next time

Jamie

New Beginings

Afternoon All,

Welcome to a new year of reading, and a new face to the Community Outreach team (me).

 

The Cityside Book Club is meeting this Thursday. Haven’t read the book? Come along anyway, tell us why you didn’t read it and see what everyone else thought of The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton.

With the official opening happening at the Dudley Denny City Library this week, we’ll all meet up at the Gordon White Library at 6pm instead and sit around have a chat about the book. Bring your book back and pick up next month’s book Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Sarah will be there this Thursday to have a chat, but I hope to catch up with you all at the next meeting (when I've had a chance to read the next book).

 

 

Happy Reading,

Jamie

Eleanor Catton astonishing with the Luminaries?

 Our next novel is The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton.

This month's read takes us back through time to 1866 in Victorian era New Zealand during the times of the gold rush. The 2013 Man Booker Prize winner is Catton's second novel, and an exciting one at that. You can read Kirsty Gunn's review from The Guardian here.

Our next meeting will be held on the 2nd of February 2017 at the Dudley Denny City Library.

A huge thank you to the lovely Cityside book clubbers for a wonderful 2016. Have a very safe and happy holidays, and we'll see you again in the New Year.

Until then, happy reading!

Coffee shops are the place

Return to the little Coffee Shop of Kabul is the long-awaited sequel, by Deborah Rodriguez.

Citywide book clubbers are excited to be reunited with many of the beloved characters, especially six women on opposite sides of the word forever connected through a special little coffee shop.

Sunny, its former proprietor and the new owner of the Screaming Peacock Vineyard in the Pacific Northwest. But can she handle the challenges of life on her own?

Yazmina, the young mother who now runs the cafe, until a terrifying event strikes at the heart of her family, and business . . .

Layla and Kat, two Afghan teenagers in America, both at war with the cultures that shaped them . . .

Zara, a young woman about to be forced into a marriage with a man she despises, with devastating consequences for all . . .

These five women are about to learn what Halajan, Yazmina’s rebellious mother-in-law, has known all along: that when the world as you know it disappears, you find a new way to survive . . .