Desert Island Books

Desert Island Books  

Our castaways for this issue are the fabulous staff from our bindery.

While not often seen in the wilds of the library, they play an integral role making sure our collections stay in great condition.

The bindery team not only cover and protect our new books and magazines; they bind and repair damaged material for our lending collections. They also work hard to ensure the preservation of our Heritage collections.

Next time you visit the Reed Gallery on the Third Floor of the City library, take some time to admire the stands they make for each individual item in the display cases.

As you can imagine choosing just 5 books to take to their desert island can be pretty overwhelming (particularly for the one who confesses to having over 4,000 books in their collection) but here are their choices.

Kathleen, Bindery & Preservation Services Team Leader

The Concise Oxford Dictionary

Every time I look something up in there I get side-tracked and 10 minutes later I’ve been all over the place and can’t remember what I went to look up.

It occurs to me that this sort of distraction would be a Good Thing on a desert Island.

The Talisman Ring. Georgette Heyer

For escapism… and great characters… and intelligent prose…and Fun. (It was really, really hard to get the Heyer’s down to one).

Dinner at Rose’s. Danielle Hawkins

Escapism again, and because I’d want something to remind me of home - and this is so very, very New Zealand

How to Cook Little Fish. David Tossman

A compilation of cryptic crossword puzzles– to keep my mind working

Letters by Sylvia Townsend Warner. Edited by William Maxwell

She wrote to so many interesting people, and about so many different things.

The letters range through everything from potted bay trees to the Spanish Civil War.

Her novels are interesting, her short stories are marvellous (especially the autobiographical ones), but the letters are what I would want with me if I were marooned.

Jasmin, Bindery & Preservation Services Assistant

Lord of the Rings. JRR Tolkien (an edition containing the complete trilogy and appendices)

I can reread this and learn a bit of the languages and more of the history of Middle Earth.

The Complete Works of Shakespeare.

So far, I’ve only read a few and such is the pervasion of Shakespeare throughout our language and culture, it’s handy to know the different plays.

The Complete Works of Robert Burns

My Scottish ancestry calling.

The Wake. Paul Kingsnorth

I just want to be able to read them out loud! (take a look at The Wake – you’ll see what I mean. It looks like a good challenge – familiar yet strange!

Māori Made Easy. Scotty Morrison

Because I want to learn a bit of te reo.

Suzanne, Bindery & Preservation Services Assistant

The Hitch-Hiker’s guide to the Galaxy. Douglas Adams

This is one of the first Science Fiction books I read. Originally a radio comedy and later made into a movie. Arthur Dent’s travel through the galaxy - a funny, witty book.

Chocolate cake for breakfast. Danielle Hawkins

I had to include a romance. A country vet in a small rural town in New Zealand meets a national rugby sporting hero that turns into a whirlwind romance, a heart-warming story.

The Louvre: All the Paintings. Erich Lessing (author) and Vincent Pomarede (photographer)

Something to keep me inspired. This is a large coffee table book which contains nearly every painting in the permanent collection and currently on display in the Louvre, 3,022 works in all.

The Holiday Goddess’ Handbag Guide to Paris, London, New York, Rome. Jessica Adams

For those who want to travel or just dream about it. This chick book covers the best markets, cheeses to buy, places to picnic, and walks you can do (like following Audrey Hepburn’s footsteps in Rome), and lots more.

The complete tales of Winnie the Pooh. A. A. Milne

All I need to say about this book is that Winnie the Pooh and his friends were loved by myself and my children. And now I love reading these to my Granddaughter.

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