Vale Mirka Mora

We were  saddened to hear of the passing of Melbourne artist Mirka Mora. Lucky for us she has left a vibrant trail of her work in galleries, in cafes, on murals and other public spaces across Melbourne

We have her autobiography in audio and Braille in our Library…

‘Wicked but Virtuous’ by Mirka Mora

This article from ‘The Age’ newspaper paid tribute to Mirka today…

Melbourne artist Mirka Mora dies aged 90

If you would like to borrow this book or any other of our over 40,000 titles, give the Vision Australia Library a call on 1300 654 656 or email us at library@visionaustralia.org

We would love to hear from you

First Australian Radio Broadcast…

Hear This! The Vision Australia Information Library Service Radio Show

  Happy Birthday to Australian Radio Broadcasting!

On 23rd November 1923,  Sydney’s 2SB  was the first radio station to hit the Australian airwaves thus changing forever how we would hear about the world and also  changing furniture arrangments in lounge rooms across the developed world!

On Hear This we mention a couple of books in the collection which may be of interest….

Don’t Touch That Dial: hits ‘n’ memories of Australian Radio by Wayne Mac available to download

From the synopsis: Don’t Touch That Dial chronicles Australian radio from the days when teenagers were first seduced by the new sounds of Top 40 pop and DJs in the late 1950s. It takes you on a journey where radio went from strength to strength on AM, then FM, introducing music, news, personalities, commentators and colourful characters several of whom became household names

Spoolin’ Through: an irreverant memoir by Tim Bowden available to download

From the Synopsis:

View original post 344 more words

Happy New Year …..

Well here we are in 2013! We hope you had a lovely Christmas and New Year and that our Library books carried you happily through the season.

If you are one of the lucky ones to have been given an ipad, ipod, a smart phone, a kindle, a kobo or any of the current gadgets on the market, exploring  accessiblity may be foremost on your mind.

If you have an apple device such as an iphone, ipad or ipod you can’t go past David Woodbridge for great advice. David is Vision Australia’s Senior Adaptive Technology Consultant and we have a link  to a podcast of  ‘Talking Vision’ in which he discusses using Apple devices with our Library material.

Also on the Programme, our very own Jamie Kelly. Jamie is the Library’s Online Training Officer and is a font of wisdom in matters of technology.

Accessing Vision Australia Library with David and Jamie

Vision Australia’s new website also had an accessible and assistive technology Blog which you will find very informative…

Vision Australia – tech blog

Another blog you may enjoy is from Robert Carter in the USA who has some great information,  reviews and interviews

The Tech Doctor Blog and Podcast

Also from the USA we Sero Talk, a podcast and interactive blog on the accessible digital lifestyle, produced by Serotek, the Accessibility Anywhere people…

Sero Talk

Technology can move fast and new products, Apps and gadgetry are constantly being released on to the market. The above Blogs are a great way of keeping up to date with what’s happening out there and to offer the opportunity to ask questions and provide your own feeback. Don’t be shy – experts love to talk about their specialities!

If you would like to contact the Library our phone number is 1300 654 656 or you can email us at library@visionaustralia.org.

Happy Teching!

Topical Hit: in the wake of Newtown…

Hi this is Sally taking a look at the vexed problem of gun control in America

 An article posted in the New Yorker called “Making Gun Control Happen” asserts that America is now drowning in some three hundred million guns. The writer is pessimistic saying that it is almost too late now to effectively control gun ownership. You can read his article through this link:

http://visionaustralia.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=45b6f58e7fce459b2157b4261&id=168c4ece0f&e=3e70bad2e2

 For an Australian perspective there are several articles on The Conversation website. Try this link to read one: http://visionaustralia.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=45b6f58e7fce459b2157b4261&id=4bb5d76833&e=3e70bad2e2

The Radio National program Law Report looks at the possibility that US law may prevent efforts to introduce greater gun control. You can listen to this or read the transcript by clicking on this link: http://visionaustralia.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=45b6f58e7fce459b2157b4261&id=e076d57111&e=3e70bad2e2

 A criminologist writing on The Drum website takes a different perspective. He suggests that aside from gun control, we need to examine how our social world encounters and engages with troubled young people. You can read his comments and the comments of others in response at http://visionaustralia.us2.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=45b6f58e7fce459b2157b4261&id=53dc865add&e=3e70bad2e2

Is it that time of year already?…

Yes indeed Christmas and the New Year are almost upon us!

As 2012  draws to  a close, we take a look at some of the Books and Authors that have received some good feedback from our clients over the last 12 months

If you like a good family story with a dash of romance you may enjoy some Elizabeth Elgin.

One of our clients Joan,  had this to say:  “Thank you for sending Elizabeth Elgins ‘All the Sweet Promises’. It was one of the best stories I’ve ever heard and the story teller Jacqueline King did a wonderful job with the accents. I highly recommend this book”

From the Harpers Collins Website:

All The Sweet Promises was a book written from the heart. Like her three heroines, Elizabeth Elgin was a Wren during the Second World War and saw active service throughout the United Kingdom. The story she told captured the unrepeatable spirit of Britain during those dark years and captured the hearts and minds of myriad readers – both young and old alike.

You may like to search through all 12 books we have by Elizabeth Elgin to download or to have sent out on disc 

Its been a while now since Alexander McCall Smith hit the bestseller lists with his No 1 Ladies Detective Agency, however the series seems set to become an enduring classic

We have all of this marvellous series available to borrow and we have set them out below in order:

No 1 Ladies Detective Agency available to Download or on disc

Tears of the Giraffe available to Download or on disc

Morality for Beautiful Girls available to Download or on disc

The Kalahari Typing School for Men available to Download or on Disc

The Full Cupboard of Life available to Download or on disc

In the Company of Cheerful Ladies available to Download or on disc

In the Company of Cheerful Ladies available to Download or on disc

Blue Shoes and Happiness available to Download or on disc

The Good Husband of Zebra Drive available to Download or on disc

The Miracle at Speedy Motors available to Download or on disc

Tea Time for the Traditionally Built available to Download or on disc

The Double Comfort Safari Club available to Download or on disc

The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Paper available to Download or on disc

The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection available to Download or on disc

One of our borrowers Joan writes; “Dear Librarian, Blue Shoes and Happiness is delightful! My blood Pressure is in good hands while reading Alexander McCall Smith”

The Next Book to mention is The Shifting Fog by Kate Morton.

 From the Synopsis: Summer 1924: on the eve of a glittering Society party, by the lake of a grand English country house, a young poet takes his life. The only witnesses, sisters Hannah and Emmeline Hartford, will never speak to each other again.

Winter 1999: Grace Bradley, 98, one-time house-maid of Riverton Manor, is visited by a young director making a film about the poet’s suicide. Ghosts awaken and memories, long consigned to the dark reaches of Grace’s mind, begin to sneak back through the cracks. A shocking secret threatens to emerge; something history has forgotten but Grace never could.

Set as the war-shattered Edwardian summer surrenders to the decadent twenties, The Shifting Fog is a thrilling mystery and a compelling love story.

One of borrowers wrote; “I think this is the most exciting, intriguing and sad of the 3 Kate Morton books. I enjoy them so much. The Narrator was superb – really made the people come alive.”

The Shifting Fog is available to Download or on disc and also in downloadable Braille

Our next book to mention is  Blue Yonder by Alan Savage available to Download or on disc

From the Synopsis: A family drama encompassing both world wars. Two boys, as sons of an airman, are destined for the RAF, but while John, the son of the English mother, passes into the service, Karolina’s son, Max, allows himself to be seduced, by a German cousin, into returning to the Fatherland, where he renounces his British citizenship and joins the Luftwaffe.

Alan Savage is one of the many pseudonyms of Christopher Robin Nicole who has penned over 200 books.

For those who like high adventure with a dash of romance and good historical background, this book may be for you!

Finally The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow by A.J McKinnon, available to Download or on disc, also available in 5 vols of Braille

From the Synopsis: Join A.J. Mackinnon, your charming and eccentric guide, on an amazing voyage in a boat called Jack de Crow. Equipped with his cheerful optimism and a pith helmet, this Australian Odysseus in a dinghy travels from the borders of North Wales to the Black Sea 4,900 kilometres over salt and fresh water, under sail, at the oars, or at the end of a tow-rope through twelve countries, 282 locks and numerous trials and adventures, including an encounter with Balkan pirates. Along the way he experiences the kindness of strangers, gets very lost, and perfects the art of slow travel

You can read a transcript of an interview conducted by the ABC here: A. J McKinnon on The Book Show

Well, that about wraps it up for this post, apart from a  quick reminder:  Our Library will be closed from the 24th of December to reopen on the 2nd of January 2013.  We hope you all have a happy and safe Christmas and thank you once again for all you feedback over 2012

10 Aussie Books to Read Before You Die

 Good news for our Library members with all of the 10 of the  Australian books to read before you die available in various  formats…

 Lets start the countdown from number 10…

 Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay, available as a  Daisy download or to reserve on on disc 
Hear an interview with the author – Joan Lindsay

on to number 9…

The Secret River by Kate Grenville, available as a Daisy download, on disc or on downloadable Braille
We have a transcript of an interview with the author from the Radio National Bookshshow – Ramona Koval talks to kate Grenville

Number 8…

The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas, available as a
Daisy download, on disc, in 7 vols of Braille or on downloadable Braille
you can find an audio interview with the author here – Christos Tsiolkas on Hear This

A return to childhood with number 7…

The Magic Pudding by Norman Lindsay, available as a Daisy download, on disc, in 2 vols of Braille
Read a transcript of an archived interview with this often controversial author which was aired on the George Negus Tonight show – Norman Lindsay talks to Helen Glad

Number 6…
Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey, available as a Daisy download, on disc, or in 4 vols of Braille
From the Allen and Unwin website the author talks about his novel – Craig Silvey on Jasper Jones

Number 5…

The Harp in the South by Ruth Park, available as a Daisy download or on disc
Read an article by the author here – Becoming an author by Ruth Park

Number 4…

The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay, available on disc or in 7 vols of Braille
With the author having passed away so recently we thought we would put in this link to the very short, last message from Bryce Courtenay to public – Gaurdian Obituary for Bryce Courtenay

Number 3

A Fortunate Life by A. B Facey, available as a Daisy download, on disc, in 5 vols of Braille or as downloadable Braille 
For a look at the life of this modest author here is a link to Wikipedia – A. B Facey

Number 2The Book Thief by Marcus Zusack, available on disc and on Downloadable Braille
Hear an interview with the author here – Interview with Marcus Zusak

And finally the winner of the 10 Australian Books to Read Before You Die….
Ta Da!
Cloudstreet by Tim Winton, available on disc, in 14 vols of Braille or on downloadable Braille
From the ABC’s First Tuesday Bookclub you can hear the panel discuss the novel back in 2010 – Jennifer Byrne and guest discuss Cloudstreet.
You may also find the following link interesting as it has interviews with the Author as well as being a tribute to getting this magical book into a miniseries
Behind the scenes of Cloudstreet, lastly an interview conducted by Andrew Denton with Tim Winton in 2004 – Enough Rope

The following links may also be helpful in offering a range of information on the top 10 and if you are really keen the top 50.
Booktopia

First Tuesday Book Club

We are very happy and proud to have these books in our collection and we hope you will enjoy all or some of them. If you need any help in reserving the books or have any questions please call us on 1300 654 656 or email us at library@visionaustralia.org, and of course we always welcome you to comment on the blog and Hear This.

First Australian Radio Broadcast…

  Happy Birthday to Australian Radio Broadcasting!

On 23rd November 1923,  Sydney’s 2SB  was the first radio station to hit the Australian airwaves thus changing forever how we would hear about the world and also  changing furniture arrangments in lounge rooms across the developed world!

On Hear This we mention a couple of books in the collection which may be of interest….

Don’t Touch That Dial: hits ‘n’ memories of Australian Radio by Wayne Mac available to download

From the synopsis: Don’t Touch That Dial chronicles Australian radio from the days when teenagers were first seduced by the new sounds of Top 40 pop and DJs in the late 1950s. It takes you on a journey where radio went from strength to strength on AM, then FM, introducing music, news, personalities, commentators and colourful characters several of whom became household names

Spoolin’ Through: an irreverant memoir by Tim Bowden available to download

From the Synopsis: Tim Bowden spins the yarn of his life. From playing tunes on his teeth live on national radio to his days on the ground-breaking This Day Tonight and his regular encounters with Mavis Frizzletit on the much-loved Backchat, he has lived by the golden rule of broadcasting – thou shalt not bore.

Out of the Bakelite Box: the heyday of Australian Radio by Jacqueline Kent available to download

From the synopsis: This celebration of the golden years of Australian radio from World War 1 to the introduction of television, discusses some of the best-loved programs and personalities on both ABC and commercial radio.

You may also find the following interesting…

There is an ongoing project with audio and visual records provided by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and hopefully more material will become available over time … The Open Archive

Here are a couple of audio files of major events as heard on Radio… Audio Highlights from the ABC

For Oral histories from women in Australian Radio The National Film and Sound Archive  has some great material

Also from The National Film and Sound Archive, a walk down memory lane with some excerpts from songs, serials and soap operas in the The National Registry of Recorded Sound

There are also some early American and British radio shows from   The Internet Archive  with performers including Milton Berle, Orson Welles and The Marx Brothers

We have provided some shorcuts here:

The New Advenutures of Sherlock Holmes

The Adventures of Phillp Marlowe

Jack Benny

Gunsmoke

Winston Churchill Speeches and Radio Broadcasts

And finally Britain…The BBC Archive with a fantastic collection of interviews from some Titans of Literature to Titanic surviors.

Also on Hear This we had Ted McCoskey with some simple down to earth advice on the iphone and it’s uses  for the blind and for people with a Vision Impairment. With the sometimes confusing array of adaptive technology out there we welcome Ted as a regular ‘techspert’ and encourage you to send in some questions for him to answer on the show. Have a listen to Ted here….

Ted Talks Tech

Another four years for Barak Obama

 With the election results from the USA just out,  a quick post for those interested in Barak Obama.

 We have 2 of his books available from the collection.

Dreams from my Father available as a download, on disc or in 5 vols of Braille

From the synopsis: Dreams from My Father is a refreshing, revealing portrait of a young man asking the big questions about identity and belonging. The son of a black African father and a white American mother, Obama describes his search for meaning in his life as a black American and recounts an emotional odyssey. First to a small town in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration of his mother’s family to Hawaii; then to his childhood home in Indonesia; finally to Kenya, where he confronts the bitter truth of his father’s life and at last reconciles his divided inheritance.

The Audacity of Hope: thoughts on reclaiming the American dream available to download, on disc or in 5 vols of Braille

From the synopsis: Religious or secular, black, white, or brown, we sense – correctly – that the nation’s most significant challenges are being ignored..Perhaps more than any other time in our recent history, we need a new kind of politics, one that can excavate and build upon those shared understandings that pull us together as Americans..” If Barack Obama is successful in his quest to become President of the United States he will dramatically change the face that his country presents to the world. In this book he describes the importance of empathy in politics, his hopes for a different America with different policies, and how the ideals of its democracy can be renewed

Lest We Forget…

A sombre mood today as we list some books from our collection on The Great War…

 Somme Mud by E. P. F Lynch is available to reserve on  disc

 This first hand account of WW1 was first published in 2006.

From the synopsis:  ‘Somme Mud’ vividly captures the magnitude of war through the day-to-day experiences of an ordinary infantryman. From his first day setting sail for France as the band played ‘Boys of the Dardanelles’ and the crowd proudly waved their fresh-faced boys off, to the harsh reality of the trenches of France and its pale-faced weary men, Lynch captures the essence and contradictions of war.

Legacy: the first fifty years by Mark Lyons is available to download or on disc

From the synopsis: The first Legacy club, formed in Melbourne in 1923 by a group of young men who served in WW1, grew to 47 clubs within Australia and one in London. This is the first detailed study (commissioned by Legacy) of this uniquely Australian organization.

The Personal Diary of Nurse de Trafford edited by Martin Kevill available to download or on disc

 From the synopsis: These recollections are an account of World War I through the eyes of a nurse in Britain. Nurse de Trafford played a vital part in the tragic aftermath of the fighting at Moor Park military hospital in Preston, Lancashire.

The Other ANZACS: Nurses at war by Peter Rees available to download as audio or in 5 vols of Braille

From the synopsis: They were there for the horrors of Gallipoli and they were there for the savagery the Western Front. Within twelve hours of the slaughter at Anzac Cove they had over 500 horrifically injured patients to tend on one crammed hospital ship, and scores of deaths on each of the harrowing days that followed. Every night was a nightmare. Their strength and humanity were remarkable. Using diaries and letters, Peter Rees takes us into the hospital camps, and the wards and the tent surgeries on the edge of some of the most horrific battlefronts of human history.

Pozieres: the Anzac Story by Mark Lyons available to download, on disc  or in 6 vols of Braille

From the synopsis: This account tells the stories of those men who fought at Pozières. Drawing on their letters and diaries, it reveals a battlefield drenched in chaos, suffering, and fear.

Beneath Hill 60 by Will Davies available to download, on disc or in 3 vols of Braille

From the synopsis:  Beneath the killing fields of the Western Front, another war was taking place, a deadly game 30 metres down, played between thousands of troops. These were not infantrymen – but miners. Their mutual goal was to tunnel beneath ‘no man’s land’, under the opposing lines and destroy the German enemy from below.

Voices from the Trenches: letters home by Noel Carthew available to download or on disc

From the synopsis: As 1914 drew to a close, young Australian men marched off to do their patriotic duty for King and Country. Among these men were the three Carthew brothers, Charles, Fred and James. This is their story.

Not with Loud Grieving : women’s verse of the Great War : an anthology available to download

From the synopsis: The majority of the writings on the Great War have been from the voice of men. This anthology puts forward the voice of women, without whom there would be no men to fight. This looks at the views of women as wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters, and the emotions that women felt and experienced as a result of their men going to war.

From a different perspective we have:

German Anzacs and the First World War by John Frank Williams available to download or on disc

From the synopsis: By 1914, Australia’s German immigrants were well-regarded in their communities and made up (after Irish and Scots) the fourth-largest white ethnic community in Australia. This book traces the experiences of those young German Australian immigrants who enlisted for service in the First World War, and the many difficulties they faced.

Erich Maria Remarque : the last romantic by Hilton Tims available as a  download

From the synopsis: Few books have made so great an impact, political or literary, as Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front, the most famous of all anti-war novels. But who was Remarque? Born into poverty, he moulded himself into a connoisseur of art, an author and the lover of some of the world’s most famous women. But Remarque was forever haunted by the fallout from his famous book

Turn Right at Istanbul: a walk on the Gallipoli Peninsula by Tony Wright available as a download or on disc

From the synopsis: Tony Wright stuffs a copy of his great-uncle George’s Gallipoli diary into his backpack and sets out from Sydney to discover how and why thousands of young Australians and New Zealanders make the trek to the Gallipoli Peninsula every year. Armed with a pile of notebooks, he plans to travel alone. But he keeps meeting and befriending people – a young Turkish archaeologist who reveals the secrets of Istanbul and the Turkish heart, a Turkish boy in Cappadocia who speaks English with an Irish accent and an enterprising girl paying her way to Gallipoli by selling Anzac study holders. And then there’s Tom, a 21-year-old leprechaun with the soul of a poet, who teams up with the author to walk the battlefields of Old Anzac, sail the Aegean in a barely seaworthy ferry and mutter prayers to the souls that inhabit the ridges of Gallipoli

There are also some wonderful blogs out there lovingly maintained by family members to share the experiences of their forebears through war diaries and letters to the home front…

From England there is Arthurs Letters – which covers  the late 1800’s through to 1917

From Australia The Diary of E. W Manifold – WW1 

Again from England WW1: experiences of an English soldier

A lovely Blog post here tracing the life of a young Australian digger through historical records – From Brunswick to Bullecourt

For a broader continental view of WW1, this blog may be of interest: Europeana

Also some great websites for the Australian History researcher…

The Australian War Memorial

The Australian National Maritme Museum

Women in Wartime 

 On the theme of women in wartime the following website  from the Department of Veterans Affairs offers a lot of information including first hand accounts, war records and lots more…Links to many Anzac websites

We hope you find something amongst these books and sites to enjoy. If you would like to give some feedback or alert us to a website, blog or book you would recommend please feel free to do so.

Thrills, Chills and Blood Spills with the Undead…

Hallowe’en is upon us and as always it provides a great excuse to look at the spooky side of Literature and what we can offer from our Library. On Hear This our resident Zombie fiction fan Siobhan recommends some great books about the undead.  So without further ado let us begin…

First up World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks.

Published in 2006, this novel drags the Zombie stereotype out of the cobwebbed crypt and plunges it into the post apocalyptic world of international politics. Written as a series of oral accounts,  the ‘history’ of a 10 year World War with the undead unfolds for the reader. But theres more!…..

 The  film  is due for release in mid 2013,  so it looks like we will be hearing a lot more about World War Z

It is available to download as audio or to reserve on disc .

Wikipedia has a good entry on the book explaining  its origins  and development and you can read it here: Wikipedia – World War Z.  However please be aware that this comes with a spoiler alert!

You can hear an interview with the Author here :

Another novel of the undead to be unleashed on film in the future is The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell.  Siobhan describes this as a ‘beautifully written literary zombie novel’ Other reviewers describe Bell’s style as  echoing the dark Southern Gothic style of Cormac McCarthy and Flannery O’Connor.

You can taste a sample of this book from the Author’s website : Chapter 1 – The Reapers are the Angels and you can read an interview with the author here: Zombie Info.com

You can also download the audio or it  reserve on disc

The next recommendation will be partly familiar with most folk… Pride and Prejudice with Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Graeme-Smith. For fans of the Austen original, don’t worry;  it still has all the romance between Elizabeth Bennett and Mr Darcy but as well as wielding words at each other, they also wielding some hefty weaponry at the undead.

 This novel ‘mashup’ is about 85%  Austen and the rest is Seth Graeme- Smith who, with tongue in cheek, touted his idea for a while in the belief that he does not detract from the original but has added to it.  Some reviewers find it more mockery than intelligent parody, others have found that it adds a welcome tension (and bloodshed) to the genteel country rambles and drawing room formalities so beloved of the regency era.

You can download the audio or reserve the disc here.

Still a fair way to go along our grisly path of gory Literary recommendations…

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. This novel with the theme of ‘last man standing’ is set in  a world where humankind has fallen prey to a pandemic. The sufferers, like vampires can only come out after dark and they need to drink human blood to survive. The book was first published in 1954 and like World War Z it popularises the concept of the modern Zombie but in 50’s style. Matheson taps into the Cold War fear of contagion by nuclear means and communism as a virulent disease. Think the ‘undead under the bed’ or your undead next door neighbour – literally. Our main character Robert Neville is a man alone – immune to the contagion who experiences the pain of intense loneliness and, to use a cliche, we go on this journey with him. To deal with his despair he turns to science and philosophy to try make sense of it all.  In a world where everyone else is infected, who then is the monster?

You can download the audio or reserve it on disc

Next up…

We move to contemporary Sweden with Handling the Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist.  How would society cope if, due to some mysterious event, the recently dead rose from their graves? How would we incorporate them into our modern world?

From Wikipedia:

The plot focuses on the reactions of society and the many conflicts that arise between Swedish authorities and the relatives of the undead; the horror is less in the uncanny animation of corpses but in the realities of grief, loss and our own inevitable mortality. An important theme is the bond between parents and children.

Cerebral and heart rending, Handling the Undead is available to Download or you can reserve the disc

You can see short interview with the Author here:

Let us now move into some lighter territory ….

The Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost is a well regarded Paranormal Romance series featuring half-vampire demon hunter Cat Crawford and her fully vampire sidekick and love object Bones.  Taking place in a gritty modern urban setting, you will find none of twilight’s adolescent yearnings in American backwaters here, its all martial arts training and mixing with low lifes, as Cat fights for Justice, her life and her heart.

A generous 20% of the first book in the series is available from publishers Harper Collins here: Halfway to the Grave

A short you tube interview with the Author:

If you get hooked you can download on audio or reserve the disc and in more good news for fans –  the first 6 books in the series are available from the library!

To finish off with we have David Wellington’s Laura Caxton series. These come with a ‘violence and gore’ alert so not for the squeamish. Laura is a State Trooper who is given the  mission to kill some vampires who, feasting on the living at night, have hidden themselves from society at large.

There is some good character development in this series as we follow a hesitant Laura and her induction into the vampire hunting world in the first book to her fully armed warrior status by the third.

The vampires? Well there are no human qualities to cling to in these blood suckers. They are truly disgusting creatures who turn back into slimy maggot ridden corpses at sunrise and revive virtually indestructible at night. They have super strength and self healing powers.  In fact so powerful are their recuperative powers that even a silver bullet in the heart may not be enough to finish them off and they can come back to life snarling, stinking and as yellow fanged as ever. However they do look after their own and a David Wellington vampire can oft times be found heaving and regurgitating blood to feed a weakened comrade.  Charming.

’13 Bullets’ is the first book in the series and you can  reserve it on disc  or reserve it in Braille

You can find out more about the author in this transcript:

Conversations with Writers

Well that’s about it for this week with our  Zombie and Vampire feature, however we have only scratched the surface with what we have in the collection at large.

If you would like to check out the full range of  horror and supernatural titles in our Library just go to our online catalogue at i-access online and type your area of interest in the search box, be it the broad category of  ‘supernatural’ or more specifically ‘ghosts’ or ‘werewolves’ (singular or plural) or any  other worldly terms you can think of.

Once again a big thank you for your feedback via notes, letters, phone calls and emails.

It’s Murder….Murder most Foul!

 Do you love a good mystery where the villian is not revealed until the last? Do serial killers make you squeamish and coroners leave you cold? … Then gentle reader – read on!

On Hear This  our Reader Services staff members Anne and Clare discuss the genteel side of Murder.  Take heart, there are many, many authors who eschew the modern trend and take the well trodden path of murder with less of the gory mayhem.

So…..for more more sleuthing and less slaying you may like to peruse the  following authors:

Simon Brett

We have about 40 books available as audio or Braille text download from our Online Catalogue by Simon Brett and also Braille and Daisy disc available from Visway

Visit Simon Brett’s Website to find out more aboout the author and his works.

Another author in the same vein is Peter Lovesey.

We have about 30 of his books to download or you can go to Visway to have Braille or Daisy discs sent

Visit the Peter Lovesey website for more information

Elizabeth Ferrars is another to try.  Although she passed away in 1995, her novels are still read widely and enthusiastically.

We have about 40 of her books available on Visway 

Another good one is M. C Beaton.  Download 8 of her Agatha Raisin books or again, go to Visway for about 40 titles by this author who is most known for her Hamish McBeth series.

Visit the M. C Beaton website

If you would like any advice or recommendations on what to listen to we would love to hear from you. You can email us at libary@visionaustralia.org or give us a call on 1300 654 656

Library events

Sally was on Hear This with some news from  Libraries around Australia.

To start with, last week was Mental Health Week, a great way to raise awareness and invite conversation that breaks down the stigma of mental illness.

Event: Susanne Hurst talks about Living with depression

Where: Ryde Library NSW

When: Monday 15 Oct

Time: 11-12pm

Booking on: 02 9952 8352

If you would like some material on coping with depression we have some books in the collection to Download and we have free Daisy copies of ‘Taking Care of Yourself and Your Family’ by John Ashfield which is supported by the National Depression Initiative, ‘Beyond Blue’.

Now onto Australian Politics (do we hear groans?) David Marr has penned ‘The Political Animal: The Making of Tony Abbott’ and is giving a talk at  Mosman Library

When: Wednesday October 17th at 7:00 pm

Although we don’t have this new book yet in our collection we do have other works by this author and investigative journalist, particularly in our collections of Australian Essays many available for Download or to reserve on Visway.

For those who  want to know more about our present pollies we have …

The Making of Julia Gillard by Jacqueline Kent available to Download or to reserve on disc

Battlelines by Tony Abbott to Download  or reserve on Disc.  Also in 4 vols of Braille

and just to throw another ingredient into this topical soup…

Jonestown: The Power and Myth of Alan Jones by Chris Masters to Download or reserve on Disc

Thank you for all for the lovely notes and phone calls. Back again soon!

Our new Online Catalogue launched at Texpo 12…

Tony and Jamie visited Vision Australia Radio to chat about Texpo

  Excitement was high at this years Texpo with our Nationial Library Manager, Tony Iezzi and Online Support Officer, Jamie Kelly presiding over the official launch of the new Online Catalogue.  

You can hear an interview with Tony and Jamie on Hear This and find out just what the Online Catalogue can offer … Hear This – Texpo12.

We eagerly invite you to visit our new Online Catalogue and  have a browse at the collection , then let us know if you would like to start downloading books, podcasts, newpapers and magazines by emailing us on library@visionaustralia.org or phoning us on 1800 005 965

We would love your feedback, suggestions and recommendations. A Library is created and shaped by the people who use it – let us know what you think!

Frank Moorhouse and ‘The Edith Books’…

A  big congratulations to Frank Moorhouse who is the winner of this year’s Queensland Literary Award for adult Fiction.

‘Cold Light’ is the third in an epic trilogy spanning Australia and Europe over last century.

To start at the beginning you may like to borrow ‘Grand Days’ which is  available from our Library as a Daisy download, in 8 vols of Braille or on disc

Th second in this series is ‘Dark Palace’ available on Daisy disc and in 8 vols of Braille 

Lastly, the winner ‘Cold Light’ available on Daisy disc and in 9 vols of Braille. Although the trilogy is known officially as the ‘Palais de Nations’ series, it is  informally know as the ‘Edith Books’ for the main protagonist  Edith Berry. All reviewers seem to be in agreement that with Edith, Moorhouse has created a character of depth and credibility that most adult novelists strive for but seldom attain.

From the Website Berkelouw Books, reviewer Gillian Berkwlouw notes…

“I know of no other character in Australian fiction who has come so completely and plausibly into our lives as Edith Campbell Berry – the heroine of three Moorhouse novels written in the last 25 years.’

Gillian continues….

‘Journalist Annabel Crabb launched the third instalment in Edith’s story dressed as Berry. In his article about the book in The Monthly, David Marr writes, “That Edith Campbell Berry has no entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography seems a curious oversight.” At a recent talk Moorhouse gave I heard two women tell him that when they have a problem at work they ask “What would Edith do?”

You can find out more about Frank Moorhouse  in his wry and darkly amusing ‘Martini: a Memoir’ available on Daisy disc

You can also view a short You Tube interview with the Author…

We also have some wonderful Reader Recommendations that have been sent to us and we thought we would mention a few here:

‘Among the Islands: Adventures in the Pacific’ by Tim Flannery available as a Daisy download, in 3 vols of Braille and on Disc.

Synopsis: Enviromental champion and scientist  Tim Flannery takes us on an enthralling journey through some of the most diverse and spectacular environments on earth.

Next up …‘People of the Book’ by Geraldine Brooks available as a Daisy downoad and on Disc

 Synopsis:  In 1996, Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-book expert, is offered the job of a lifetime: analysis and conservation of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, which has been rescued from Serb shelling during the Bosnian war. Priceless and beautiful, the book is one of the earliest Jewish volumes ever to be illuminated with images. When Hanna, a caustic loner with a passion for her work, discovers a series of tiny artefacts in its ancient binding – an insect-wing fragment, wine stains, salt crystals, a white hair – she begins to unlock the book’s mysteries.

But If  you are a fan of hard boiled crime fiction, the next book will appeal…

‘Bad Debts’ by Peter Temple, is set in contemporary melbourne and available on Disc.  This series has enough low lifes, con artists and down-on- their- luckers to make you think every dark alleyway in Melbourne is a haven of criminals…

Synopsis:  Meet Jack Irish, criminal lawyer, football lover and cabinetmaker. When Jack receives a puzzling message from a jailed ex-client, he’s too deep in misery over Fitzroy’s latest loss to take much notice. Next thing Jack knows, the ex-client’s dead and he’s been drawn into an investigation involving high level corruption, dark sexual secrets, shonky property deals, and murder.

This is the first in the Jack Irish series and has been made for TV. It will be aired on the ABC later this year with Guy Pearce in the title role.

Another popular detective crime series is set in Sweden. Kurt Wallander is a Homicide cop with integrity and a serious problem managing his work/life balance. You can reserve the first book in this compelling series which deals with not only murder, but the social and political pressures  that underly Swedish life… ‘Faceless Killers’ by Henning Mankell available as a Daisy download or on Disc

Synopsis: One frozen January morning, Inspector Wallander responds to what he expects is a routine call out. When he reaches the isolated farmhouse he discovers a bloodbath. An old man has been tortured and beaten to death, his wife barely alive. The woman supplies Wallander with his only clue: the perpetrators may have been foreign.

So that’s all from us for now!  A huge thank you to all of our listeners/readers who make our job so enjoyable. Keep the feedback coming and remember you can always subscribe to be updated every time we add to this Blog.

Farewell to Robert Hughes and Gore Vidal…

We have been saying goodbye to a good many writers of late. Today we heard of the sad passing of Robert Hughes, the respected Australian art critic and Historian. Always outspoken, passionate and often controversial there is an interesting interview from The Monthly with Peter Craven : Interview with Robert Hughes

We have some of Robert Hughes works in our Library including his wonderful book on early Australia, The Fatal Shore on Daisy and in Braille

You can also watch an episode from his ground breaking television series on art The Shock of the New on the Open Culture Website

  We also farewelled American Author and Essayist  Gore Vidal who passed away last week. As famous for his feuds as for his works, Vidal was also outspoken and controversial

The Guardian has a great Obituary Vidal here: Gore Vidal Obit

We have a few book by this author on Visway

In this 2011 interview on You Tube Gore Vidal talks about his life: Gore Vidal

And we couldn’t resist this You Tube clip of Gore Vidal on the Dick Cavett show in the 1960’s sharing the stage and hostilities with Norman Mailer: The Dick Cavett Show: Dick Cavett Show

Farewell Maeve Binchy

Author Maeve Binchy

 Sad news today of the passing of well loved author  Maeve Binchy.

You can read an Obituary from the Guardian here: Maeve Binchy

Try some her books or revisit your favourites from our Library in Audio and Braille Books on Visway

 Thank you Maeve for the many happy hours reading you provided.

Fabulous BBC archives

A Neumann U87 Condenser Microphone with shock mount

We are always excited to find online treasures that celebrate books and authors of today and yesteryear. The BBC archives are an absolute joy to peruse. You may like to listen to some great author interviews with literary luminaries such as Virginia Woolf, John Wynham, Len Deighton and many more … BBC Archives – author interviews

Happy listening!!

Congratulations to Gillian Mears…

 This years winner of the Prime Minister’s Literary award goes to Gillian Mears for her novel Foal’s Bread.

You can hear an interview with the author from the Radio National Book Show here …Gillian Mears: Foal’s Bread 

You can borrow the book from our Library in Braille or Audio

Our sincere congratulations to the Author!

The Sea, The Sea, The Glorious Sea….

 As we hit the heat of midsummer, are you yearning  for a  cooling yarn?

 On ‘Hear This’, we highlighted  Sea Stories, and in particular, the work of Joan Druett.

Druett is a maritime historian from New Zealand. Among her achievments, are a Fulbright Award, a PEN Award as well as the Joan Lyman award for the Best Book of American Maritime History in 1992.

Her character of Wiki Coffin was partly inspired by a real life Maori Chief who sailed on an American exploring ship in the 1830’s, but  for a fuller explanation of the character, click onto Druetts website Here

The first book in the Wiki Coffin series is …

A Watery Grave on Daisy and also in 3 vols of Braille

Shark Island on Daisy and also in 3 vols of Braille

Run Afoul on Daisy and also in 4 vols of Braille

Deadly Shoals on Daisy and also in 4 vols of Braille

In  Joan Druett’s Website,  she outlines the historical time and place in which the first Wiki Coffin book, A Watery Grave, is set and you can sample the first chapter as well

Another great sea story author of the swashbuckling school is Rafael Sabatini. Born in Italy in 1875 to an English mother and Italian father, he had an international upbringing travelling with his opera singing parents, finally settling permanently in England when he was seventeen. Rafael had an eventful life with a fair share of heartache; his two sons died in tragic seperate accidents. Sabatini died in 1950 aged 74, and  On his headstone his wife had written, “He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad”, the first line of Scaramouche.

we have 4 of his books in the collection…

Captain Blood in Daisy

The Fortunes of Casanova, and Other Stories. on Daisy

Scaramouche on Daisy

The Sea- Hawk on Daisy

We also have a link to some Seafaring terms and their meanings – Nautical Terms and another interesting book in our Library is …

Scurvy: How a Surgeon, a Mariner and a Gentleman Solved the Greatest Medical Mystery of the Age of Sail by Stephen A Browne on Daisy and also in 4 vols of Braille. If you would like more Non fiction stories about sea travel we recommend you ask us to add Maritme Non Fiction to your favourite books genres.

Happy Birthday to Charles Dickens…

Yes indeed it is the 200th anniversary of the Birthdayof this tremendous Author. Sally Polack from the  Library has compiled a very nice newsletter with some excellent links in her Topical Hit

Some Reader recommended…

Untold Stories by Alan Bennett available on Daisy

Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is a British playwright, screenwriter, actor and author. in 1960 he became one of the Beyond the Fringe team along with Dudley Moore and Peter Cook and has been a writer  of   Radio plays, TV, Stage plays and Screenplays  ever since. The quality of his work can be seen in such works as The Madness of King George and the quirky Talking Heads soliloquys which aired the ABC. Ten years ago, Bennett was diagnosed with cancer and told he did not have long to live – he is still with us today and this book has been given a great review by The Guardian Newspaper

We also have a youtube clip of an Alan Bennett monologue – “On Mixing”

The Tea Planter’s Lass by Janet MacLeod Trotter on Daisy

This is part  of  The Tyneside Trilogy and begins in India during the  Tea Trading times of Edwardian England. Janet was born to Scottish parents, but her mother grew up in India, where according to Trotter’s website.,“My mum had tales of pacing the length of a man-eating tiger’s entrails and watching soup being sieved through a turban.  The head of said tiger greeted us in the entrance of my grandparents’ home in Edinburgh.” Thus her imagination was fired and as soon as she was 18 she travelled across India extensively.

You can see an interview on Youtube where Janet MacLeod Trotter talks about her work and her family history – ““The Suffragette”

Under the Chlorform Tree by Rowand Jameson

Born in 1901, this book covers the authors 60 years of working as a jackaroo and sheep station manager in the Riverina district.

If you would like to drop us a line – please do!  have a great week!

From family stories to Feng Shui…

Helen Forrester

English Family Stories are ever popular, and authors such as Catherine Cookson are still among the most requested of authors in libraries. Sadly in 2011 two best selling authors in this genre passed away and we have some of their timeless works in our collection…

First up we have Helen Forrester. Helen was born 1919 in Cheshire to an upper middle class family, however during  the depression her family lost their wealth and were plunged into poverty. They moved to Liverpool in the hope of finding work, but economically things were just as bad there. As the eldest child, Helen took care of her six younger siblings and due to her family duties, she stopped attending school from the age of 11, but at the age of 14 she forced her parents to allow her to attend night school.

Her first autobiographical work was written in response to a critic of her fiction who claimed she would have little real understanding of poverty. ”Twopence to Cross the Mersey’ was published in 1974 and is considered to have been the first of it’s kind in depicting the harsh lives of families during the 30’s depression.

Twopence to Cross the Mersey – deals with Helens childhood in Liverpool 

By The Waters Of Liverpool – about her adolescence and struggle for independence.

Lime Street at Two – about her life during the war years in Liverpool

Her family fiction includes such titles as …

Liverpool Basque

Mourning Doves

Iain Blair whose pen name was Emma Blair

The second author is Iain Blair who wrote under the pseudonym Emma Blair. Iain was born in Glasgow in 1942, and before he became and author he was a journalist and actor. He ended his acting career after waiting to audition for a role in Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark. After being kept waiting by the great director for hours, he was finally asked by Spielberg if he could  come back the next day to audition. Blair shot back at him, “No I F*****g Can’t!

After penning some unsuccessful thrillers, he started writing romance fiction, and his publishers thought it best that he adopt a female name to increase sales. Most of his books were set in Scotland and dealt not only with romance, but with the social and economic conditions of the times in which they were set.

Under the pen name Emma Blair he became one of britains most popular authors, writing about 30 novels over 30 years. His true identity remained a secret until 1998, when his novel The Flower of Scotland was nominated for the Romantic Novel of the Year Award.

We have The Flower of Scotland in the library as well as others by this author…

Jessie Gray

Twilight Time also in 7 vols of Braille

This Side of heaven also in 7 vols of Braille

Also on Hear This, Gavin Butler called in to talk about some  books in the collection.

 For rock music lovers ….

 Real Wild Child: An Insiders Tales from the Rage Couch by   Narelle Gee, also in 4 vols of Braille

 Thirteen Tonne Theory: Life Inside Hunters and Collectors by Mark Seymour

Sideshow: The Dumbing Down of Democracy by Lindsay Tanner.

In Gael’s Library News…

Out of the Vaults: Henry Lawson – The Man and the Legend

Where: State Library of NSW

When: 19 Jan 2012, 5:30PM – 7:30PM

Cost: $25 drinks and canapes provided

Email: bookings@sl.nsw.gov.au

Telephone:  2 9273 1770

Books by Henry Lawson in the Library…

A Camp-fire Yarn: Complete Works 1887-1891

A Camp-fire Yarn 2: Complete Works 1892-1893

A Campfire Yarn 4: Complete Works 1899-1900. In these volumes, the works are arranged chronologically and thematically, showing Lawson’s progression of ideas, themes and influences on his work. His poetry and prose blend together giving an insight into Henry Lawson’s world and mind.

You can read a short biography of Lawson from the The Australian Dictionary of Biography

The next Library event is a good one for those wanting to start the new year with a clean sweep of the broom….

Feng Shiu and Chinese Astrology

Where: Narre Warren Library

Overland Drive, Fountain Park

When: January 24th 7pm-8pm

Bookings: event is free buy bookings are essential on 03 9704 7696

For more than 10 years, Edgar (Lok Tin) Yung, a Feng Shui and Chinese astrology consultant, has been using his knowledge learned from Hong Kong masters to assist Melbourne’s Chinese community.

Feng Shui is about changing your environment to your advantage and, by learning techniques, you can enhance your life. Edgar will help to provide insights into understanding your personality, potential, wealth, health, career path, relationship and luck cycles.

Some books in the Library on the topic…

Feng Shui by Stephen Skinner

Feng Shui for Australians by Gerry Heaton

We also have an entertaining Mystery series featuring a Feng Shui consultant by Nury Vittachi.

From the Synopsis of the first book The Feng Shui Detective ( also in 4 vols of Braille) –  Mr Wong is a feng shui consultant, but his cases tend to involve a lot more than just interior decoration. You see, Wong specialises in a certain type of problem premises: crime scenes. His latest case involves a mysterious young woman who, according to a psychic reading, is doomed to die. Wong and his brash teenaged Aussie-American intern make a strange pair indeed as they travel around Singapore solving crimes while trying to decipher each other’s language and behaviour.

Further titles in this light and entertaining series are …

The Shanghai Union of Industrial Mystics also in 4 vols of

The Feng Shui Detective’s Casebook. also in 4 vols of Braille

Mr Wong Goes West also in 3 vols of Braille

Thats all for this week and we hope you find some books of interest!!

Happy Birthday Louis Braille

USA postal stamp issued for World Braille Day

 Hello and welcome to our first post for 2012.

 January 4th marks the anniversary of the   birth of Louis Braille and has been declared World Braille  Day. On Hear This, in honour of the occasion, we replayed an interview with Rebecca Maxwell the author and editor of ‘Blind and Busy: Life Stories of People who use Braille’

The book is available from Palmer Higgs Publishers  to buy as an e-text for  $34.95  or Paperback for $24.95; or you can borrow a copy from our Library in Braille

You can hear the interview with Rebecca Maxwell here

Also on Hear This, we cast our minds back to the cinema of 2011 and came up with 3 great books adapted for the Big Screen

The first one is …

We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver. This is a compelling psychological drama about a woman coming to terms with the impact of her son’s murderous rampage at his high school. The novel won the Orange Prize for Literature in 2005. The film version stars Tilda Swinton and John C. Riley and you can find out what David Stretton and Margaret Pomeranz thought of it from the ABC programme At The Movies. You can listen to the author, Lionel Shriver speaking with Richard Fidler on ABC Radio here

The second book is …

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Set in the 1960’s in the rural southern states of the USA, the novel has 3 ‘voices’ Minny and Abilene both black housemaids for white families and  Skeeter a white college student who has been away for a while and returns to her home town. Skeeter embarks on a novel and interviews Minny and Abilene about their experiences thus setting a cat amongst the pigeons in this racist pre civil rights town.

This is the authors first book and it took her 5 years to write. Rejected  by 60 literary agents before it was finally accepted, it was  published in 2009. Since then it has sold 5 million copies and continues to remain in the USA best seller lists this day.

You can read some reviews of the book from the author’s website Here and it seems ‘The Help’ is destined to become an enduring American classic

The third book  has only only come to be regarded as a classic of American literature in recent times…

 True Grit by Charles Portis

This is the most famous of Portis’s novels. Published in 1968 it was  originally filmed with John Wayne, Kim Dalby and Glen Campbell in 1969. The latest film version has the Coen brothers directing with Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon.

The novel is told through the eyes of  fourteen year old Mattie Ross, determined to bring her father’s killer to justice.  When she meets  Rooster Cogburn, an aging and irascible U.S Marshall, she decides she has found a man with the ‘true grit’ to do the job. From the opening lines of the book…

 “People do not give it credence that a young girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenge her father’s blood, but it did happen. I was just fourteen years of age when a coward by the name of Tom Chaney shot my father down, and robbed him of his life and his horse and two California gold pieces that he carried in his trouser band”

Reviewers have called it a ‘classic coming of age’ novel and the first  ‘Noir Western’ written years before it could be fully appreciated. It now sits  alongside the darkly poetic works of Cormac McCarthy; though, as most critics point out, with a good dash of humour thrown in.

 To find out more about the book there is a great interview with American crime writer George Pelecanos from the NPR Books website.

To find out more about this author (who famously declines interviews) we found a good article from the Wall Street Journal

Remember to keep your feedback and reviews about books and authors coming in by mail, email or in the box below. If you prefer to use the phone, call us on 1300 654 656 or you can Facebook us as well.  Happy listening or reading for 2012!