National Year of Reading 2008

2008 is the national year of reading and Southwark libraries will be celebrating this throughout the year with a wide range of events and promotions. Keep checking this page to see what we've got on offer in our libraries.

Free DVD rentals for the whole of 2008?

Reading has never been so rewarding!

With the new Reader Reward Card borrow items on six different days and claim a free DVD rental! Use it throughout the National Year of Reading 2008. The card entitles the bearer to one free DVD rental or two free CD rentals after they have borrowed any item or items on six separate dates. The free rental can be claimed on the same day as the sixth loan takes place. Pop into your nearest Southwark library now to find out more and to pick up your card.

Tell us your favourite book and you could win an iPod Nano! 

Vote for your favourite book and you could win an iPod Nano. This competition is open to all ages, you just have to be a library member to take part. If you're not already a member we have now made it really easy to join. Just fill in our online membership form and you'll receive your library card in the post within a few days.

At the end of the year all of the votes will be counted up and Southwark's favourite book will be revealed. 

Southwark Book Award

Set up in 2007, the Southwark Book Award is a reading project for Year 6 and Year 7 pupils in Southwark. All primary and secondary schools in the area are entitled to participate, as are members of the popular Chatterbooks reading groups in libraries. 2008 saw even more schools taking part as pupils read their way through the shortlisted titles to vote for a winner. You can find out the winner and read hundreds of great book reviews at the Southwark Book Award website.

We love these books!

At Southwark libraries we are passionate about books and we wanted to share some of our all time favourites with you. When you visit any Southwark library you'll find a 'we love these books' collection which features a wonderfully diverse range of superb reads.

The collection was launched by children's laureate Michael Rosen at Dulwich Library and he spoke passionately about the joys of reading. Two of the titles he highlighted as great reads from fantastic authors were 'Things Fall Apart' by Chinua Achebe and 'Un Lun Dun' by China Mieville.

Throughout the national year of reading this page will feature library staff reviews of all of the titles that make up the 'We love these books' collection.

The Princess Bride
by William Goldman

Joakima at Blue Anchor library: "An irreverent romp that involves a Princess called Buttercup, an enemy with six fingers, Rodents Of Unusual Size (R.O.U.S) and a hero masquerading as the Dread Pirate Roberts. Wittily interspersed with asides from Goldman about how his father abridged the story, this is the ‘good parts’ version that later spawned an equally funny cult film."

Reserve a copy of The Princess Bride

Saturday
by Ian McEwan

Keith at Dulwich library: "It is about an extraordinary day in the life of a surgeon - the day of the big million strong march against the Iraq war. It is highly thought-provoking with complex characters and analyses some of the contradictions involved in being human in the 21st century. Many people don't like it, but I found that it addresses these contradictions sensitively, engagingly and movingly, in a manner infused with a profound sense of humanity."

Reserve a copy of Saturday

Middlesex
by Jeffery Eugenides

Lawrence at East Street Library: "The story of three generations of Greek immigrants to the United States, stretching from the start of the twentieth century to it's end, the momentous events that changed the society they lived in and the secrets that changed their family around them. It is the story of Calliope, different in a way no-one suspects and who must understand the family history in order to escape it."

Reserve a copy of Middlesex 

Sacred Country
by Rose Tremain

Fran at Bibliographic services: "I listened to this novel on cassette and at first I was taken aback because it was not what I expected from a Rose Tremain novel . However by the end of the first cassette I was captivated and had accepted the slow pace of the story. I had not come across these characters anywhere else and found the themes they explored groundbreaking. The story is one of transformations including Mary’s journey towards becoming Martin, Estelle’s journey into mental illness, and my favourite character Walter’s journey from the backwoods of Suffolk to the Nashville music scene of his dreams. I related to the characters starting life in a quite rural community and moving to the city. I found the characters, story, and historical setting, early 50s to 70s, of this creation very original as though the whole thing just materialised out of thin air then just vanished in a puff of air. I look forward to listening to more from Rose Tremain."

Reserve a copy of Sacred Country

The Road
by Cormac McCarthy

Stefan at Rotherhithe library: "This novel, the ultimate road-trip from hell follows a dying father and his son as they attempt to cross an America destroyed by some unnamed cataclysm. In this world ash covers a dead blighted world, obscures the sun and moon and forces the father and son to breathe through make-shift masks. To survive and reach the warmer West coast they must avoid groups of cannibalistic humans who prey on the few remaining survivors. The Road is and emotionally shattering heart-rending tale of a seemingly hopeless which is profoundly redeemed by the father and sons all-sustaining love." 

Reserve a copy of The Road

Thornyhold
by Mary Stewart

Wendy at Peckham library: "It is the story of a house and the part it plays in helping the woman who moves into it find peace and happiness. The house is more than a building; you really feel it is an active character in the story. When I had read it I wrote to the author to tell her what an enchanting book it was (Mary Stewart's books often have an element of magic in them). It is literally the only time I have written fan mail, so it must have made an impression." 

                     Reserve a copy of Thornyhold

The Big Sleep
by Raymond Chandler

Dave at Newington library: "Originally published in 1939 it created the blueprint and set the standard by which all private eyes are judged against. A former pupil of Dulwich College Chandler created the enduring character of Philip Marlowe and single-handedly raised the crime novel from the world of the pulps to that of literature."

Reserve a copy of The Big Sleep

One Hundred Years of Solitude
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Giorgio at Dulwich Library: "Marquez spins a wonderful, colourful and magical tale of the characters in a family whose various members appear to live on forever, despite the trials and tribulations they encounter along the way. A phantasmagorical story of life, love, death and the whole gamut of human emotions in a mythical South American land".

Reserve a copy of One Hundred Years of Solitude    

Un Lun Dun
by China Mieville

Lawrence at East Street library: "My favourite novel from the last few years is 'Un Lun Dun' by China Mieville. It's a madcap adventure story set in an alternative city beneath the pavements of London town, Alice in Wonderland crossed with the Hobbit. Exciting, thrilling and in places funny as an unforgettable assortment of characters come together to fight the evil and malevolent Smog".

Reserve a copy of Un Lun Dun

Last Exit to Brooklyn
by Hubert Selby

Mark at Peckham library: "A non stop car crash of prostitution, transvestites, late night bars, booze and concrete, this is the book that was banned in the sixties, and inspired the Velvet Underground to form, so you know it has to be brill. Delivered in Selby's breath taking machine gun like staccato, 'Last Exit to Brooklyn' is an anguished 500 page howl of sex, drugs and violence, railing against the smouldering remains of the American Dream." 

Reserve a copy of Last Exit to Brooklyn

                     

Things Fall Apart
by Chinua Achebe

Edward at Peckham library: "My favourite novel of all time is still the universally acclaimed 'Things Fall Apart' by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. It has stood the test of time considering that I studied the book in secondary school and it is still being read by many today." 

Reserve a copy of Things Fall Apart

The Memoirs of Cleopatra
by Margaret George

Karen at Camberwell Library: "This is quite a large book, just over a thousand pages but it is one of the best books I have ever read. It is about Cleopatra and narrated by her. In it she tells of her affairs with Caesar and Marc Antony, how she fought to regain entry, in a rolled up carpet, and control over Egypt, fighting for her children to be recognised as Egyptian, and the whole tension between the Romans and Egypt and the Romans and the rest of the world. Because it is narrated by Cleopatra you get emerged in what is an intense read. I was emotional when both Caesar and Marc Antony died, I promise I don't cry over every book I read, and the events that lead Cleopatra to kill herself makes me just want to go home now and read it again. It is a very long book but I read it every moment I could and finished it in a few days."

Reserve a copy of The Memoirs of Cleopatra

Contact us

To find out more about Southwark libraries please contact us.

Southwark libraries
Tel: 020 7525 2000
Fax: 020 7525 1568
southwark.libraries@southwark.gov.uk  
Culture, libraries learning and leisure
Chatelaine House
186 Walworth Road
SE17 1JJ