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Showing posts from December, 2015

What is Mrs Featonby reading these holidays?

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Happy holidays everyone! I thought I would try to post a picture of all the books I read these school holidays. I will also say if they are from the school library, town library, or my own bookshelf. From the school library FIC SUG. A good light read- girl meets boys and voila! From the school library FIC TRE. Novel about family, a mystery when one of the twins dies, and living on a secluded island. Not a young adult, so good for more mature readers. From the school library FIC VAN A great little dystopian novel- every one is dying from a terrible disease, but Joy appears to be immune! This one is from the town library. Basically there is a virus so the fancy pants people by a condo/apartment in a silo underground to wait it out. People get killed, relationships are strained... what's going on?! This one is also from the town library. A nice little piece of fiction about Kevin who is socially awkward and attends trivia quiz ni

Signing out for the year

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Well that was 2015 and for six weeks this blog will remain silent as I sit on the beach and read books, enjoy family and soak up some sun. It has been a grand year with a record number of books issued out from our school, with a 41% increase in fiction. Who said paper books are obsolete.. not here they arent! Our top reads in the school for this year The Maze Runner Looking for Alaska Divergent Gone All the bright places Slated Divine Madness Class A The recruit The Secret Crusade Our top reader issued 197 books!  This blog has been hit now 92000 times, not bad for a little New Zealand School. Have a great holidays, be back in February with reviews on my summer reads! Miss Featonby may post in the holidays- she is good like that! Here is my favourites for 2015!

Jungle Book

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  Oh this is going to be so good.. Jungle Book that is not cartooned but the real deal. Perhaps over the holidays I actually need to read the original story by Rudyard Kipling, never done that and a classic is always good to chuck in the mix.

A Snow Garden

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By: Rachel Joyce Location: FIC JOY Genre: Short Stories of Christmas "Joyce has an unerring ability to convey profound emotions" GUARDIAN “We are at the centre of our own stories. And sometimes it is hard to believe that we are not at the centre of other people’s.”  This will be my first holiday read, because of Harold Fry and his pilgrimage and I loved Miss Hennessys garden. This book will be a great starter for the holidays, 7 short stores all based around Christmas, I can lay back before Christmas and warm my reading taste buds up with a short read that makes my mind meander into Christmas cheer with some depth and meaning! Ananada from Goodreads.com says  this about this collection: ‘A Snow Garden and Short Stories’ is definitely a festive must read. It’s so unlike any other Christmas books I’ve ever read. There are seven stories included and each and one of them is so special and magical and nothing like the festive stories I’ve read so far. Unlike most Ch

Dan Carter: My Story

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By: Dan and Duncan Grieve Location: NF 796.333CAR Genre: The Best First Five- ever! The next few days I am going to blog my summer reading list. First of the rank is Dan Carters story. Dan and I have a few things in common- how can that be you ask- I am a female aging( Na kidding about that bit...) librarian from Cambridge. What could possibly have in common- 5 things! First he is a Cantabrian who grew up on a farm like I did. There are so many cultural attachments to being a farmers kid, I bet he went out in the snow and rescued lambs in September! Second- he knows about hockey Third- He thinks Red and Black is a stunning colour combination Fourth- he is loyal to his province, I so respect that!  and Fifth- he celebrated like a maniac when we defended the Rugby World Cup. I cant wait to read this book and learn more about  this humble , modest and understated man  who is not only a legendary rugby player but a darn good man. This book is a personal account of a New Zealan

Assassin's Creed - Underworld

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By: Oliver Bowden Location: FIC OLI Genre:  Fantasy Historic with intrigue, twisted plots that transfer into the Syndicate game!  Series: Assassin's Creed #8 A disgraced Assassin. A deep-cover agent. A quest for redemption.   This week in the library we have had two days for the staff only. They come and eat amazing food, lounge on the beanbags, drink good coffee and select books to read for summer. Our long suffering students have to watch from the outside desperate to get there hands on the mellow-puffs and strawberries! What did the staff go for and demand! Assassin's Creed books- and when they saw this new one, we nearly had an assassination in the library!!! In fact I cant remember who dibs it first, let me know if you read this! So what is it all about..  1862, and with London in the grip of the Industrial Revolution, the world's first underground railway is under construction. When a body is discovered at the dig, it sparks the beginning of the latest dea

Spill, Simmer, Falter, Wither

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By: Sara Baume Location: FIC BAU Genre: Road trip and pilgrimage with a man and his dog! “Life never misses an opportunity to upscuttle us, I think. Life likes to tell us it told us so.” I am excited by this book, a journey about a man and his dog, both broken, both needing redemption and hope.  Dogs have a power, the power to draw out of a man or woman depth of being, whether it be love or anger, joy or sorrow. Our dog Rex did this for most of our family members and this story eloquently written in stunning prose retells another version of a man and his dog set  in the dales of Ireland. A moving tale of a misfit man who adopts a misfit dog, and how despite what society thinks, for them two wrongs make a right. Narrated by our unnamed misfit man, we piece together the past as we roll through the seasons of the present. The man has always been an outcast, with developmental disabilities, raised by his father after his mother died when he was baby. When he cries, his father aban

The 5th Wave

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Yep another great book is being morphed into a movie. It better be good. Its coming very soon in early 2016.  As always read the books first! Four waves of increasingly deadly alien attacks have left most of Earth decimated. Cassie is on the run, desperately trying to save her younger brother. Director:   J Blakeson Writers:   Susannah Grant  (screenplay),  Akiva Goldsman (screenplay),  2 more credits  » Stars:   Chloë Grace Moretz ,  Nick Robinson , Liev Schreibe

The Rest Of Us Just Live Here

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By: Patrick Ness Location: FIC NES Genre: Urban fantasy, paranormal, LGBT,  satirical contemporary- everything Patrick Ness I suppose "They'll never know how tough it is, Dawnie, to be the one who isn't chosen. To live so near to the spotlight and never step in it." There's a lot of fiction out there these days about extraordinary situations that threaten the world—usually it's an attack by aliens, monsters, or vampires, or otherwise the country is in danger because of war, dystopia, or political manipulation. It usually falls to one person, or a group of people, to save the world and solve the problems facing it. Patrick Ness' terrific  The Rest of Us Just Live Here  turns that concept on its head according to Larry from goodreads.com "The Rest of Us Just Live Here" is a bold and irreverent novel that powerfully reminds us that there are many different types of remarkable. What if you aren t the Chosen One? The one who s supposed to fig