Banned Books Week 2015

Banned Books Week 2015

27 September - 3 October

Here are just a few of our best loved books which may have been lost to us forever if someone somewhere hadn’t stood up for our right to read. Makes you think doesn’t it!

Banned & Challenged Classics:

A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding

Catch-22, by Joseph Heller

For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway

Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

Ulysses, by James Joyce

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey


Women in Love, by D.H. Lawrence

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

The Call of the Wild, by Jack London

Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell


Lolita, by Vladmir Nabokov

Animal Farm, by George Orwell

The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger

The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck


Sophie's Choice, by William Styron

The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Color Purple, by Alice Walker

Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh



More information on banned books week is available here:
www.bannedbooksweek.org

Blaenavon World Heritage Centre and Library

The library is now fully open in the Blaenavon World Heritage Centre and looking good. There's so much to see and do.

Take time out for a story in the children's library.

Get to grips with the new self service machine.

Keep up with the daily news.

Check out the teenagers' space.

Take it easy on the comfy chairs and dip into a good book.

Round it off with a visit to the cafe to enjoy some delicious refreshments and take in the gorgeous view.

Blaenavon Library Has Moved

Blaenavon Library has moved to the Blaenavon World Heritage Centre. It will be fully open from Tuesday 18 August 2015, though it has been operating a select service since 11 August.

Here's a sneak preview of the main Adult and Children's Library which will be unveiled next week.

Books Aloud! Shared Reading Groups

At one of my recent “Books Aloud!” shared reading groups we read Joanne Harris’ short story “Fule’s Gold” which appears in her anthology “Jigs and Reels”. 

This is a tale of a disillusioned teacher who believes that there are no original stories left in the world, that everything that is written is a rehash of something that has gone before. While marking a pupil’s work he realises that he may just have found the last completely new story and decides to steal it, make it his own and fulfill his lifelong ambition to be a writer. However, fate has other ideas. 

The story led to a lot of discussion among the group and reminiscence of their own school days. One lady, who has dementia, told us of her first boyfriend whom she started dating when she was just thirteen. She went out with him for years and everyone, family, friends and neighbours were convinced they would marry. As in the story, fate intervened. She went on an all girls holiday to Weymouth, met and fell in love with a sailor, and after a whirlwind romance married him much to the consternation of all those friends and neighbours who turned against her taking the side of the disappointed boyfriend. Thankfully her story has a happy ending, the sailor turned out to be her one true love and they were very happy together. 

It amazes me sometimes, the paths that sharing stories and poetry can take us down.

Library Full Of Kids

Cwmbran Library was full of kids on Saturday 25 July. Around 200 children took part in the free “Library Full of Kids” fun day.
With lots going on including circus skills, balloon modelling, story times, craft making, face painting and a treasure hunt, it certainly was a great day out! 



Holly aged 10 said “The day was amazing! I loved the treasure hunt the most. Please do it again next year.” And Kayla (9) said “I had the best time ever!”

Parents enjoyed it too, “Lots of fun for my children and a good way to get them to read more books over the summer when they are not in school”. 

Hundreds of children have signed up for the Summer Reading Challenge in Torfaen Libraries and are eagerly reading their six books and collecting their stickers and other goodies. If yours haven’t started the challenge yet, it’s not too late they still have plenty of time to complete the challenge.

Blaenavon Library is moving

Blaenavon Library is on the move again. After 13 years in the former council offices on Lion Street, we will close the doors for the last time at 1.00pm on Saturday 25 July 2015 and plan to reopen in the Blaenavon World Heritage Centre at 10.00am on Tuesday 11 August 2015.

It's always hard work moving a library, but it will be worth it. The new library will have increased opening hours, it will be co-located with other council services offering Blaenavon residents a one stop shop and there's also a very good cafe on the site to add to the visitor experience.

Before we leave our current location we are carrying out a customer survey to find out what you use Blaenavon Library for and to get your thoughts on the service and suggestions for improvements. The survey is confidential and if you take part you can be entered into a free prize draw for a £50 high street voucher.

To have your say drop into Blaenavon Library this week and complete the questionnaire or do it online https://www.snapsurveys.com/wh/s.asp?k=143696910521

or if you prefer to complete the survey online in Welsh
https://www.snapsurveys.com/wh/s.asp?k=143697023343

Record Breakers

This year's Record Breakers, Summer Reading Challenge 2015 officially launches in Wales today, 10 July and is produced by the Reading Agency in association with Guinness World Records and delivered by libraries.

In Torfaen Libraries we're hoping for a record breaking number of participants. As usual kids just need to read any 6 books they like throughout the summer to collect smelly stickers, zip tags and wrist bands. When they complete the challenge they get a medal, a certificate and a voucher for a free DVD loan. They also go into a prize draw for a chance to win a fantastic Samsung Galaxy Tablet. 

So parents, get your kids to the library, get them joined up for the Summer Reading Challenge and get them reading!

Residents of Blaenavon are cordially invited to the World Heritage Centre on Wednesday 15 July 5.30-7.00pm to view the plans for the relocation of Blaenavon Library into the World Heritage Centre. Library and World Heritage Centre staff will be on hand to answer questions.

Reading Matters 

I've just finished reading Rachel Joyce's "The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy". It's not really a sequel to "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry", more of a companion book. 

In the first book Harold Fry receives a letter from his old friend Queenie, whom he hasn't seen for twenty years, telling him that she has terminal cancer. He sets out for the postbox to send her a reply. However Harold passes postbox after postbox and just keeps on walking deciding instead that he will walk the length of England to visit Queenie, on the condition that she waits for him.

"The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy" tells the story from Queenie's point of view while she waits in the hospice for Harold to complete his pilgrimage.

I highly recommend both books.