A girl's got to start somewhere

Seven years ago I discovered my dream job. It was always there in front of me, blaringly obvious actually...there is no doubt that I was born to live in a library (for the daylight weekday hours at least). After whiling away a few years doing things that weren't (by any stretch of an overactive imagination) my dream job, I finally put my glasses on, read the writing on the wall, and for the last five years I been happily ensconsed in a public library.
And boy oh boy, do I love it. All those book-lovin' customers, all those exciting events and activities, and cliched as it sounds, all those glorious books!

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A cup of tea and a bit of book chat - September with The Conductor and Yoghurt Banana Muffins

Every quite often it seems a New Zealand author writes a book that I love so much that I can't stop talking about it. In the last few years there was Let Me Sing You Gentle Songs, then Mr Pip , and this time it is..... The Conductor by Sarah Quigley. The Conductor by Sarah Quigley It's cold, it's spare and it's very stark, but Sarah Quigley has created something powerfully beautiful in this book that follows the story of the composition and first performance of Shostakovich's 7th symphony amidst the seige on Leningrad by the Nazi's in 1941. Based around the story of Shostakovich’s single-minded endeavour to write his 7 th Symphony, and see it performed, the book shows the lengths that an artist will go to to express himself. While most people are fleeing the city, and others starving and dying, Shostakovich determinedly writes his piece of music, and it falls upon conductor Karl Eliasberg to rise above his own starvation and grief to bring toget...

This month's music

I'm unashamedly soft when it comes to 'music moments'. Nothing gets me in the same way as the right song, in the right place, at the right moment. Nothing. I've got a stockpile of memories, magical spots of time, when music has got me. Those moments can't be manufactured - it's the show of human qualities that make the magic. I like that - a lot. So, I take my hat off to people who commit themselves to making music. Who work at their craft even when it's going badly, who commit themselves to daily practice, who turn up for the weekly band practice. I've never been one of those people - a proper musician - so I can only imagine that it's not always a picnic, but that perhaps the lure of being part of (or the cause of) one of those special moments can go a long way. Here's my pick for this month's top three hard working New Zealand bands, bringing the magic. (Click on their names to check out their video) 1. Nightchoir - who are a...

And then this one comes along ....Pia Jane Bijkerk

In my last post, I commented on the plethora of books about antipodean renovating adventures in France. I think, despite my never-ceasing love of all things french, my interest in books chronicling other people's experiences was starting to wane. And then this amazing book arrived at the library for me - My Heart Wanders by Pia Jane Bijkerk. It's soooo beautiful. I read it over a couple of nights, (despite its size and weight I couldn't put it down), and now I can't stop thinking about it. Pia, a successful interior stylist and blogger , takes a brave step into the unknown when she gives up her life in Australia to follow her heart to Paris, and then on to a houseboat in Amsterdam. It is such a tender, heartfelt memoir. It has the feel of a personal journal, enhanced by a wonderfully crafted dynamic: the reader joins her on her journey, and watches as her new love, new life, and career beautifully unfold. Not only is it an insp...

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