The Eastern Regional Library Show

Library staff member Lesley Conway runs a radio show each Wednesday 12:05pm-12:45pm on Eastern FM 98.1 called The Eastern Regional Library Show. Tune in next Wednesday for a great show.

On Wednesday's show

Lazy summer reading time is just around the corner for some of us, and Lyn Baines has done some preliminary research during a short holiday. A common requirement is for a light read, entertaining and engrossing, not too demanding. Two books which satisfy the criteria are Losing ground by Catherine Aird and Name to a face by Robert Goddard. Goddard's books are full of twists and turns, and always a surprise ending, while Aird falls into the English village 'cosy crime' category.

For non-fiction readers, an interesting autobiography is Brenda Niall's Life Class. Niall has written two biographies on the artistic Boyd family, and the second half of this book is about the difficulties and pleasures of researching biography. There is also some background on how she got to know the Boyd family and gathered the resources to document a significant Australian artistic heritage. Other titles by Niall are The Boyds : a family biography, Martin Boyd: a life, Georgiana: a biography of Georgiana McCrae, Judy Cassab: a portrait, Seven little billabongs: the world of Ethel Turner.

And if you have not had enough biography after that, Lyn and I both recommend Inga Clendinnon's Tiger's eye, and an interesting article of hers about writing biography at http://tinyurl.com/36jjtd

Last but not least, Lyn urges everyone to make haste and whip up the Christmas cake and pudding if you have not already done so. Lyn swears by the recipes from Delia Smith's Delia Smith's Christmas, but there is a huge range on our shelves for both recipes and Christmas activities. Two I found at Lilydale this week which are excellent are Paul Levy's The feast of Christmas : origins, traditions and recipes, and Festive Graphics : the art and design of self promotion by Scott Witham, which has some very classy suggestions for greeting cards, packaging, labels and more.

---- Lesley