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Fiction |
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horror humour romance science-fiction short stories spy suspense thriller war western |
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NEWS UPDATES |
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Or if you'd like to try our New Zealand Book Month Quiz, Click Here.
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NEW FICTION PICKS |
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Within the last month Wellington City Libraries has received 70 new fiction titles on Compact disc and MP3 disc format. These have been added to the Talking Books collection which holds over 2, 300 titles. We thought this would be an opportunity to highlight some of the recent additions to this collection. The Talking Book collection is located in front of the Fiction desk in Central, not in the A/V secure area. It is a popular collection that includes non-fiction, biography and all audio compact discs from mediation to poetry, plays to historical documentary. The new MP3 disc format part of the collection is constantly expanding also. Listening to a book is a great way for busy people to enjoy the written word while engaged in other tasks. It is a popular form of entertainment when travelling whether just commuting, or on longer holiday trips. The new titles of all talking books can be found on the Library's web site on the New Fiction on Cassette and CD page. Another way of listening to a book is by downloading a title from Overdrive Audio Books through the Library's web site on our Downloads Page. This database holds more than 1,000 titles of fiction and non-fiction books. The choice is almost limitless, with titles in business and management to foreign language study, self improvement to religion, classical fiction to science fiction and fantasy, horror to humour. The database also includes children and young adult fiction. Almost all titles are now available as MP3 downloads. There is no rental charge for this service. The following are recently received compact discs from our Talking Book collection. Some are must read classics and others new fiction, but all will give hours of listening pleasure. |
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London Fields by Martin Amis was originally published in 1989, is to date his longest work and is set in the pubs and clubs of London at the end of the millennium. It describers the encounters of three main characters, Nicola who has been cursed with premonitions since childhood, foresees her own murder. She sets out to make the two most likely suspects, Keith a lower class crook and Guy an upper middle class fool; pay in advance for what one of them is going to do to her. This is a gripping and at times funny novel. The book was reportedly omitted from the 1989 Booker Prize shortlist due to allegations of misogyny by a member of the judging panel. Martin Amis was born in 1949 and is the son of writer Sir Kingsley Amis. He was educated at Oxford, by 27 had become Literary Editor of the New Statesman. He has published 7 other novels and 14 collections of short stories and essays. His work has at times caused some controversy. Although Time's Arrow, published in 1991, drew much acclaim and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, an other novel such as Yellow Dog published in 2003 was much disliked by critics. |
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Natural History by Neil Cross was published as a novel in 2007and studies the differences between being human and having humanity. Patrick's wife is a zoologist and on field trip in Zaire, his son Charlie has left home in disgrace. His daughter Jo is engrossed in her studies, so Patrick is left alone to look after the ailing Devonshire monkey sanctuary that he and Jane took on in a bid to save their marriage. Patrick tries to uncover the truth behind the murder of their oldest female primate, but always lurking in the shadows is big, panther-like cat that preys around the park and evades capture. But then one night something happens that is so shocking, so deplorable, that it rips apart everything Patrick ever held to be true and unleashes a horror he could never have imagined. Neil Cross was born in 1969 in Bristol. He has worked in publishing and has written 6 other novels, the most recent being Burial published in 2008. He now spends much of his time in Wellington and is employed as a scriptwriter for the Television series Spooks. |
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Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher is the 6th novel by Philip Hensher and was short listed for the 2008 Man Booker Prize. It is an epic chronicle of twenty years of life in Britain, beginning in 1974 and ending with the fading of Thatcher's government in 1996. Set in Sheffield, it charts the relationship between two families: Malcolm and Katherine Glover and their three children; and their neighbours, the Sellers family, newly arrived from London so that Bernie can pursue his job with the Electricity Board. The day the Sellers move in there is a crisis across the road: Malcolm Glover has left home, convinced his wife is having an affair. The consequences of this rupture will spread throughout the lives of both couples and their children. England is changing: from a manufacturing- and industrial-based economy into a new world of shops, restaurants and service industries, a shift particularly marked in the North with the miners' strike of 1984, which has a dramatic impact on both families. This is an engaging wonderful novel. Philip Hensher was born in 1965 in South London. He is a much respected critic and journalist and has also published a collection of short stories and edited numerous new editions of classical works of English literature. |
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Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak is a great Russian classic. Published in Italian in1957 after being smuggled out of Russian where it was banned, it went on to be translated into English and republished spending 26 weeks at the top of the New York Times bestseller list in 1958. David Lean produced the 1965 film adaptation, but another 2006 version for Russian Television directed by Alexander Proshkin is said to be more faithful to the book. Set during the Russian revolution it tells of Yuri Zhivago, physician and poet, who wrestles with the new order and confronts the changes cruel experience has made in him and the anguish of being torn between the two women he loves. For this semi autobiographical novel, Pasternak was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958, which after much political pressure he refused to accept. The award was still made, without the ceremony. The medal was finally awarded to his son in 1989. Boris Pasternak was born in 1890 and was best know in Russia as a poet, although a considerable amount of his work was originally banned. He died in Peredelkino, out of Moscow in 1960, and his funeral was attended by thousands. |
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A Confederacy of dunces by John Kennedy Toole is a modern comedy classic. The hero of the novel, Ignatius J. Reilly, is a very large 30-year-old who is selfish, domineering, deluded, and comic, but also much larger than life. He lives at home with his mother in New Orleans. He rages against the "dunces" of his world on writing pads he keeps hidden under his bed, and relays to anyone who will listen, the traumatic experience he once had on a Greyhound Scenicruiser bound for Baton Rouge. But Ignatius's quiet life of tyrannizing his mother and endless writing comes to a halt when he is almost arrested by the overeager Patrolman Mancuso, who mistakes him for a vagrant. One thing leads to another, and before he knows it, Ignatius is out pounding the pavement in search of a job. This leads to one comic situation after another, and through a world filled with marvellous secondary characters. There are many subplots woven through this novel that are all tied brilliantly together at the end. John Kennedy Tool was born in 1937 in New Orleans. He wrote only two novels, the other being The Neon Bible. Both were unpublished in his lifetime. After the rejection of The confederacy of dunces, he committed suicide in 1969. In 1980 this novel was finally published and he was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Price for Fiction in 1981. |
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Brother of the more famous Jack by Barbara Trapido was her first novel. It was published in 1982 and redefines the coming-of-age genre being told with much humour, passion and a fast moving plot. Katherine is a stylish suburbanite who moves into her Professor, Jacob Goldman's home and into the heart of his eccentric family. As his wife Jan gives birth to her sixth child Katherine meets the beautiful, sulky Roger and his volatile younger brother Jonathan. Inevitable she falls in love, but heartbreak sends her fleeing to Rome. Ten years on, older and wiser, she returns to find the Goldman family again and to face her future. Barbara Trapido was born in South Africa in 1941. She studied at The University of Natal were she gained her B.A. in 1963 before moving to London. In 1970 she became a full time writer, ending her teaching career. She has written 5 other novels, the most recent Frankie & Stankie, a semi autobiographical novel which deals with growing up under apartheid, was long listed for the Man Booker Prize. This novel is also available on compact disc. |
Click here for previous new fiction picks |
NEW BOOKS |
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Recent additions to the Fiction collection | Booklists | MyLibrary Booklists MyLibrary |
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BOOK AWARDS |
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Adult Book Awards The Crime Writer's Association IMPAC Dublin Award. The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes LAMBDA Literary Awards Man Booker Prize "Everything about the Booker Prize" site New Zealand Awards, Grants and Competitions Montana New Zealand Book Awards Nobel Prize for Literature The Orange Prize for Fiction Pulitzer Prize Whitbread Book Awards |
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BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS |
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Librarian's Choice | New York Times Best Sellers | Publishers Weekly Best Sellers Librarian's Choice |
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The year of pleasures : a novel / Elizabeth Berg (2005) When Betta Nolan's husband dies, she honours a promise she made to him to move to a small town and start a new life. Without minimizing her great sorrow, she nevertheless attempts to find pleasure on a daily basis. The Year of Pleasures is about deliberately acknowledging the solace found in ordinary things: a warm bath, good food, the beauty of nature, music, and art found in museums and in gardens. Above all, it is about the various kindnesses people can and do offer one another. (Amazon) |
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Keeper and kid/ Edward Hardy. (2008, c2007) Jimmy Keeper is divorced from Cynthia, a pastry chef with a penchant for secrecy; he runs an antiques salvage business in Providence, R.I., and lives in a tiny house with girlfriend Leah, a self-assured architect. But after Cynthia falls gravely ill and summons him to the hospital, Keeper's carefully constructed, somewhat man-boyish life is destined for disruption. It turns out that he and Cynthia have a three-year-old son, Leo, the secret product of a final pre-Leah fling. (Amazon) |
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A killer's kiss/ William Lashner. (2007) Two police detectives pay DA Victor Carl a late-night call to inform him that Dr. Wren Denniston, the husband of Carl's former fiancee, Julia, was found shot to death in his Chestnut Hill mansion earlier that evening. Since Carl, known for his malleable ethics, had been entertaining Julia at his apartment shortly before the detectives' arrival in an effort to revive their relationship, he becomes a prime suspect in the doctor's murder.(Amazon) |
 | Tokyo fiancee / Amelie Nothomb ; translated from the French by Alison Anderson. (2009) A complex story of first love set in late 1980s and early 90s Tokyo. Amelie is a 21-year-old Belgian student studying Japanese in Tokyo when she begins tutoring Rinri, a sweet, shy and wealthy 20-year-old, in French. The relationship quickly evolves into a friendship and, soon after that, into romance. Rinri is a young soul who is easily swept up in his love for Amelie, and his charm is undeniable as he courts her, but Amelie wrestles with the classic situation: she loves spending time with Rinri, but she doesn't love him, and she cannot deny her need for independence. (Amazon) |
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Mister Roberts / Alexei Sayle. (2008) Above a small village in Spain, an English costume designer sees a bright shining star lurch abruptly across the sky. On Christmas Day a strong, silent man with blank eyes enters Bar Noche Azul. Only a thirteen year old boy could have guessed that there was any connection between the two. (Amazon) |
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Vodka / Boris Starling. (2004) Moscow, December 1991 and the city is in chaos, full of gang violence and hyperinflation, its population in terror of a killer preying on children. Into this anarchy comes Alice Liddell, an American banker charged with starting the privatisation process crucial to Russia's hopes of reform. But reform means hardship, and survival is hard enough as it is; Alice has only a short period to succeed before the people lose patience with the progressive government. Her target is the Red October distillery, Russia's most famous vodka producer, but Alice discovers that lack of time is the least of her problems. Red October is the centrepiece of a savage mafia war between its charismatic boss Lev and his Chechen nemesis Karkadann. (Amazon) |
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New York Times Best Seller Publishers Weekly Best Sellers Radio New Zealand Books Page Top 100 Novels The BBC Big Read Top 100 The Modern Library 100 Best Novels Radcliffe Publishing Course: the century's top 100 novels Guardian Unlimited top 100 books of all time Time Magazine-All time 100 Novels Whitcoulls List - Top 100 books in New Zealand We are always interested in the opinions of our readers, and so provide opinion forms with new debut novels, and new fiction as they are received. We also have these forms available on the Reader's Choice display, along with forms for favourite novels. Readers can also submit reviews online or email us with any questions. The response to Reader's Choice had been amazing, and each novel that receives good readers reviews is displayed with a light blue Reader's Choice sticker. All completed opinion forms, with either good or bad comments are displayed in a folder, on the display stand. This display has proved extremely popular, as a guaranteed good read can be found there. We also have a new webpage devoted to archived customer reviews. Here are a few recent ones: |
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Security / Stephen Amidon. (2009) Reader's comment: "I thought this book was the best excuse I have had for years to lie back and read all day, totally satisfying." |
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Earth Inc. / Michael Bollen. (2008) Reader's comment: "This was fantastic, a really good read. A light-hearted look at an alternative future where the world is owned by a corporation, and living is determined by having shares in "life itself", similar to Douglas Adam's work in regard to style. Humorous with a quick pace, easily absorbing and keeps the pages turning." |
 | The winner stands alone / by Paulo Coelho (2009) Reader's comment: "An excellent "holiday" read that begins slowly but eventually becomes quite gripping. A nice style of writing." |
 | American adulterer / Jed Mercurio. (2009) Reader's comment: "I thought this book was interesting, different and very well written. I enjoyed it very much." |
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Miles from nowhere / by Nami Mun. (2009) Reader's comment: "This was a very moving and real story about life on the streets." |
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Stone's fall / Iain Pears. (2009) Reader's comment: "I thought this book was an interesting exciting journey. Well written to the last page. I highly recommend this book. Good insights into how finance and business work." |
BOOK REVIEWS | |
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Allreaders. com Book Browser Complete Review Guardian Books Unlimited What do I read next? and Literature Resource Centre | |
BOOK CLUBS | |
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Book Clubs or Reading groups have become a popular way to read more, understand and discuss what you have read, make new friends and socialise.They can be small and informal, with a different work read each month from a list decided on by the group, or they can be formally structured, with a memberproviding author profiles each month and discussion taking more academic forms. They can also now be joined through the Internet, with several reading group sites available. At Wellington City Libraries we endeavour to assist and encourage Book Club /Reading groups where we can, providing author information, reviews etc. Informal book groups also meet once a month at Cummings Park (Ngaio), Island Bay, Karori, and Miramar libraries. Come along, they are open to all! If you were thinking of setting up a reading group, the information given by Penguin Books Australia, on their web site would be invaluable. They cover all aspects, from starting out, membership, meetings, and points for discussion.
Book discussion, reviews, first chapters, author information and much more can be found on the Guardian Reading Group pages. It is a useful site for an individual or groups of readers. Also the New York Times provides assistance and information for Book Clubs, and also run their own reading group, or forum. Although similar to The Guardian site, this gives a more American approach and covers a large non-fiction subject range. Author profiles are provided each month and the book discussions can be quiet academic. They can also now be joined through the Internet, with several reading group sites available. Another interesting site is the Good Reads at Southern Adirondack Library System. This site mainly deals with readers advisory for Reading groups and Librarians, but has the main genres for example Mystery and Romance well covered and includes Award Winners, Online discussions, First chapters, and links to Authors websites. A new web site for book clubs with discussion, reviews, author information and interviews is Bibliofemme, an Irish Book Club. This site is continually up dated with the latest literary news, and provides an interesting forum for book discussion. | |
FINDING A PARTICULAR BOOK | |
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Finding fiction in our catalogue What's next (Books in Series) Which book | |
MYSTERY FICTION | |
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Mystery Fiction is another very popular genre with fiction readers. Our Mystery collection is the largest sub-genre within the Fiction collection and is distinguished for the readers by the use of red spine labels. Mystery readers are a diverse group from those who prefer classic English detective stories to the hard-boiled crime fans, so this selection of web sites will help to inform, entertain and lead readers to other great novels in their favourite genre. The Rap Sheet Mystery File January Magazine The Thrilling Detective |
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SHORT STORIES | |
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Wellington City Libraries has an extensive collection of short stories. At Branch libraries, short stories are interfiled with the general fiction collection; look out for 'short story' stickers on book spines. At Central Library they are found in two places in the Fiction collection. Books of short stories by multiple authors are kept in the main Short Story collection, on the ground floor between the adult video collection and the adult books on CD and Cassette, opposite the Issues desks. These are edited, collected stories by different authors. They are usually organised around a particular theme/subject, nationality, or era, and are shelved under the title of the volume. Books of short stories written by one author are held with the author's other works in the main Fiction Collection, under the author's surname. Short Story Indexes are held at the Fiction desk at Central and these can be used to find a short story on a particular theme or subject. This can also be done on the catalogue using a Keyword Search option and entering the theme/subject required with the word fiction. Finding a short story on a particular theme/subject can be difficult and staff are always available to assist. There are many short story web sites; unfortunately these do not always include theme/subject indexes, although many have full text short stories. Here are a few that may be of interest. Readbookonline.net has over 100 short story titles to choose from and all are full text. Although many American, all are classics and do include some Anthony Trollop, Rudyard Kipling and Leo Tolstoy. Classic Short Stories again contains full text classic short stories with a very international flavour. The most interesting aspect of this site is the related links pages. From here there are links to Mystery short stories, Jewish short stories, to name a few, also links to many author collections, such as Jack London and the complete works of William Shakespeare. East of the Web Short Stories provides a different short story experience. This site is interactive, and writers can post their own short stories and discuss others work. There are also short guides to other short stories, such as Katherine Mansfield, Fables, Vampires etc. | |
ROMANCE FICTION | |
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Romantic novels are a popular genre with fiction readers. These can vary from the simple romance, to the complicated suspense thriller type novel with romantic sub plots. Locating the different types of romantic novels on Wellington City Libraries catalogue is very easy. Try these searches for Romance, Romantic Suspense, or Historical Romance - you will get a list of the latest titles. There are also many web sites for Romance readers. Here are a few that are helpful and interesting. Top 100 romance novels All About Romance Dangerously Curvy Novels The Romance Reader | |
SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY FICTION | |
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Science Fiction and fantasy is another very popular genre with fiction readers. Although our collection is slightly smaller than the Murder mystery collection it is distinguished for the readers by the use of blue spine labels. Science Fiction and Fantasy readers are the most dedicated group of readers in our Library, so this selection of web sites and catalogue quicksearch will help to inform, entertain and lead the reader to other great reads in their favourite genre. Catalogue Quicksearch:Websites:Science Fiction and Fantasy Research Database Science Fiction Resource Guide The Best in Science Fiction and Fantasy
ASFA : Association of Science Fiction & Fantasy Artists | |
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Last updated 28 September 2009 | |
Reader's Choice
Extensive information is given on the 