Teaser Tuesday (21st of May, 2013)

"These days I make art on the run, under pressure, as a reflex to the itinerant life I lead between Canberra and the Kimberly . . . Part of this process involves being in the thick of it, which has its moments of epiphany but is also a test of physical and psychological resilience."

- "Art on the Run" by Kim Mahood in Kimberley Stories, edited by Sandy Toussaint

About the book:

There are a thousand ways to connect to country. Kimberley Stories is one of them. Once known, never forgotten, the Kimberley gets under your skin. Kimberley Stories tunes readers into one of Australia’s most intriguing and exotic regions via the work of talented authors and artists.
Interweaving fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, lyrics and artworks, the book is a must-have for anyone travelling north in mind, body or spirit.

Contributors include Kate Auty, Jimmy Chi (Bran Nue Dae), Lesley Corbett, Steve Hawke (Jandamarra), Pat Lowe, Kim Mahood, Donna Bing-Ying Mak, Marminjiya Joy Nuggett and Stephen Scourfield along with newcomers Jacqueline Wright (T.A.G. Hungerford award winner for Red Dirt Talking) and 13-year-old Luisa Mitchell who lives and writes in Broome. —From the Publisher.

About the editor:



Sandy Toussaint has worked extensively as an applied anthropologist, including as senior researcher for the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.

She lectures in legal and applied anthropology at The University of Western Australia. — From UWA Publishing.

Find a copy:

• Kimberley Stories can be found in our Australian Culture Collection on level four of the city campus, at 823.4 TOUS.

About Teaser Tuesdays:

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly book meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading! Everyone is welcome to play!

How it works:

1. Grab a book from your collection

2. Select 2 sentences that make an interesting teaser (avoid spoilers please! And yes, only one sentence this week. Only needed one!)

3. Post the sentences, along with author and book title in the comments of this post

This month's reading theme is INDIGIREAD, which comes from the Read Watch Play blog!

Teaser Tuesday (14th of May, 2013)

Welcome back to a new month and a new theme: Indigireads!

"Aboriginality and all its facets — identity, history, family, culture — are all a basis for Aboriginal women's writing. Whether it takes a political form like the poetry of Kerry Reed-Gilbert, or the life experiences of autobiography in Ruby Langford's Don't Take Your Love to Town, , or the political song words of Toni Janke's Get Outta My Car, intentional or not, the experience of being Aboriginal comes across in Aboriginal women's writing."

- "Why Does a Black Woman Write?" by Anita Heiss in The Strength of Us as Women, compiled by Kerry Reed-Gilbert

About the book:

Dedicated to "[The editor's] mother, my aunties, my daughters, my sisters, my tiddas, my family and all the Aboriginal women of this country," The Strength of Us as Women is an exploration of Aboriginality and feminism through a mix of poetry and non-fiction prose. Much of it is personal and autobiographical rather than political, and seeks to express those themes not explicitly but as the underlying motivation behind the work itself.

Find a copy:

• The Strength of Us as Women can be found in our Australian Culture Collection on level four of the city campus, at 820.808915 REED.

About Teaser Tuesdays:

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly book meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading! Everyone is welcome to play!

How it works:

1. Grab a book from your collection

2. Select 2 sentences that make an interesting teaser (avoid spoilers please! And yes, only one sentence this week. Only needed one!)

3. Post the sentences, along with author and book title in the comments of this post

This month's reading theme is INDIGIREAD, which comes from the Read Watch Play blog!

Teaser Tuesday (7th of May, 2013)

Welcome back to a new month and a new theme: Indigireads!

"The buildings, like stern priests, gaze down. The moon runs in naked freedom across the her field, while the stars, clustered like daisies, wait to be put in a chain around her head."

- "One Hot Night" by Archie Weller in Indigenous Australian Voices: A Reader edited by Jennifer Sabbioni, Kay Schaffer and Sidonie Smith.

About the book:

A collection of works from over twenty-three indigenous contributors, this book mixes poetry, non-fiction, book excerpts and short fiction along the themes of "Politics and Land Rights", "The Dreaming and Connection", "Family Dialogues", "Station Life", "Urban Life and Dislocation", "Communities", "Encounters with the Law" and "Hidden Histories".

Find a copy:

• Indigenous Australian Voices: A Reader can be found at our city and Kuring-gai campuses at 820.809915 SABB.

About Teaser Tuesdays:

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly book meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading! Everyone is welcome to play!

How it works:

1. Grab a book from your collection

2. Select 2 sentences that make an interesting teaser (avoid spoilers please! And yes, only one sentence this week. Only needed one!)

3. Post the sentences, along with author and book title in the comments of this post

This month's reading theme is INDIGIREAD, which comes from the Read Watch Play blog!

Teaser Tuesday (30th of April, 2013)

And finally, to end Crime Reads month, a book about ... well, the sensationalist side of the genre. Frankly, the trashy side.

"Catherine Deshayes Monvoison is known by several names and a nickname, but there is no mistaking who she was or her deadly deeds... She was the most prominent poisoner convicted by the Chambre Ardent."

- Legends, monsters, or serial murderers? The real story behind an ancient crime by Dirk C. Gibson

About the book:

The majority of serial murder studies support the consensus that serial murder is essentially an American crime--a flawed assumption, as the United States has existed for less than 250 years. What is far more likely is that the perverse urge to repeatedly and intentionally kill has existed throughout human history, and that a substantial percentage of serial murders throughout ancient times, the middle ages, and the pre-modern era were attributed to imaginative surrogate explanations: dragons, demons, vampires, werewolves, and witches. — From the publisher.

About the author:

Dirk C. Gibson is associate professor of communication and journalism at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM. His published works include Praeger's Serial Killing for Profit: Multiple Murder for Money; Serial Murder and Media Circuses; and Clues from Killers: Serial Murder and Crime Scene Messages. — From the publisher.

Find a copy:

• Legends, monsters or serial murderers? can be found at our city campus at 364.152 GIBS.

About Teaser Tuesdays:

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly book meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading! Everyone is welcome to play!

How it works:

1. Grab a book from your collection

2. Select 2 sentences that make an interesting teaser (avoid spoilers please! And yes, only one sentence this week. Only needed one!)

3. Post the sentences, along with author and book title in the comments of this post

This month's reading theme is CRIMEREAD, which comes from the Read Watch Play blog!

Teaser Tuesday (23rd of April, 2013)

Sometimes crime reads are very, very serious indeed. (Personal note: One of my top three non-fiction books ever.)

"'Don't know 'bout no gun.' It is a God-given truth: Everyone lies."

- Homicide by David Simon.

About the book:

The scene is Baltimore. Twice every three days another citizen is shot, stabbed or bludgeoned to death. At the centre of the hurricane of crime is the city's homicide unit, a small brotherhood of hard men who fight for whatever justice is possible in a deadly world.  — From the publisher.

In 1988, journalist David Simon spent one year with the Baltimore City Police Department's homicide unit, tailing the detectives with the "improbable rank of police intern" and looking at both the crimes they solved and the lives they lead. The end result was an amazing character study of very flawed but nonetheless essential men, and the dirty, fascinating reality of solving murders.

About the author:

David Simon (born 1960) is an American author, journalist, and a writer/producer of television series. He worked for the Baltimore Sun City Desk for twelve years. He wrote Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets and co-wrote The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood with Ed Burns. The former book was the basis for the NBC series Homicide: Life on the Street, on which Simon served as a writer and producer. Simon adapted the latter book into the HBO mini-series The Corner.

He is the creator of the HBO television series The Wire, for which he served as executive producer, head writer, and show runner for all five seasons. He adapted the non-fiction book Generation Kill into an HBO mini-series and served as the show runner for the project. He was selected as one of the 2010 MacArthur Fellows[3] and named an Utne Reader visionary in 2011. Simon also co-created the HBO series Treme with Eric Overmyer, which began its third season in 2012. — From Wikipedia.

Find a copy:

• Homicide will be available soon at the library! I will update this later!

About Teaser Tuesdays:

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly book meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading! Everyone is welcome to play!

How it works:

1. Grab a book from your collection

2. Select 2 sentences that make an interesting teaser (avoid spoilers please! And yes, only one sentence this week. Only needed one!)

3. Post the sentences, along with author and book title in the comments of this post

This month's reading theme is CRIMEREAD, which comes from the Read Watch Play blog!