Wednesday, February 04, 2009

The Eastern Regional Library Show 4th February 2009

Library staff members Lesley Conway and Pia Butcher run 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

It doesn't take a lot of energy to turn the pages of a book, and even less to press the DVD play button. If you're tired of the tennis, worn out by world affairs, visit the library and pick up something fresh to watch or read or listen to. You can even save time and energy by placing holds on items via the website and just ducking into the library to collect your treasures when they turn up. Mind you, quite a few people have discovered that our cool libraries with their comfortable armchairs are very pleasant places to while away a few hours on the hottest day.

If you have been a keen reader of Marcia Muller's detective series featuring PI Sharon McCone, then you probably have already placed a hold for her latest, Burn Out. Lyn has been reading about McCone since the series began, set in San Francisco of the 'flower power' era, and says it has been consistently engrossing. The heroine has aged with the series and the stories are now dealing with the modern world of constantly changing technology and Internet crime. In the latest, Sharon is literally 'burnt out' and retreats to her husbands ranch to recuperate. Mystery and death however seem to follow her, and before long she is involved in investigating the disappearance of the overseer's niece.

Now if a novel can't hold your attention, a good short story will, and Lyn is recommending a collection of Peter Lovesey's crime short stories, Murder on the short list. Lovesey has also been writing crime for many years, and has several central characters who feature in these short stories. If you have been a fan of his characters Peter Diamond, Cribb and Thackerey of Scotland Yard, Edward Prince of Wales (the wayward son of Queen Victoria) or the latest heroine, Hen Mallin, then these stories are for you.

Alternatively, if you became fascinated by the story of Georgianna, Duchess of Devonshire in the late 1700's, and the colourful, complex and restrictive world of the English aristocracy as shown in the recent film Duchess, then you will enjoy Lady Worsley's Whim by Hallie Rubenhold. In a life with many parallels to Georgianna's, Dorothy Seymour married Sir Richard Worsley at the age of seventeen, and found that once she had produced the necessary heir, was of little interest to her husband. After a series of affairs to which her husband turned a blind eye to, she fell in love with George Bisset and eloped with him. Sir Richard proceeded to take his wife and her lover to court for having a 'criminal conversation' which would have ended in a legal separation, but was defended by George and Dorothy. It is a fascinating insight into a major scandal of the time, and also to the constraints on women which meant that they were either the property of their parents, or their husbands.

Music today was from Classic Marches performed by the Royal Australian Navy Band, which will be added to our collection in the coming weeks, along with A Flagship Recital Mark II.

---- Lesley

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