The Cross Sports Book Awards 2016

This is a major annual promotion for Sports Writing & Publishing. 

The shortlist for the Cross Autobiography of the Year category has been revealed.

The other categories are
• International Autobiography of the Year
• Biography of the Year
• Cricket Book of the Year
• Football Book of the Year
• Rugby Book of the Year
• Cycling Book of the Year
• Illustrated Book of the Year
• Outstanding General Sports Writing Award
• New Writer of the Year
• Lifetime Achievement Award

The six nominees will hope to follow in the footsteps of Welsh rugby legend Gareth Thomas, whose winning autobiography went on to win the Cross Sports Book of the Year Award in 2015.

The winners of all the categories and the overall winner will be announced  at an awards ceremony to be held at Lord’s Cricket Ground on 1st June 2016.

World Book Night - 23 April 2016

23 April 2016 is World Book Night. It is also the day we remember William Shakespeare, our most famous poet and playwright, who died 23 April 1616 (400 years ago) aged 52. It’s widely believed that his birthday also fell on 23 April.



What better day then to encourage people of all ages to read and reach out to the 36% of the UK’s population who don’t regularly read for pleasure or own books. This is what World Book Night seeks to do. Volunteers are recruited who will give away free books from a collection of 15 titles, thereby getting books into people’s homes and lives. The titles chosen are enjoyable, compelling and very readable. They also include a variety of genres, fiction and non-fiction and books aimed at young adults.

World Book Night Titles 2016

It’s too late to apply to give away World Book Night titles this year but you can still be involved. Why not give out any book you choose on the night – one you already own, or one you buy specially. You can also choose who you want to give the book to – a friend, neighbour or complete stranger, anyone in fact. So follow the link below and register your intention to spread the word, literally, that reading for pleasure is just that, a pleasure.

Register to give your own books

Charlotte Bronte Bicentenary

Born 21 April 1816, next week marks the Bicentenary of Charlotte Bronte’s birth. Her life story is told in a new biography by Claire Harman which we expect to reach the library shelves very soon. 

Raised motherless on remote Yorkshire moors, watching five beloved siblings sicken and die, haunted by unrequited love: Charlotte Bronte’s life has all the drama and tragedy of the great Gothic novels it inspired.


Of course we can’t celebrate Charlotte Bronte’s birth without mentioning her best loved books.

Jane Eyre
A troubled childhood strengthens Jane Eyre's natural independence and spirit - which prove necessary when she becomes governess at Thornfield Hall. When she finds love with Rochester, the discovery of his terrible secret forces her to make a choice.


Villette
With neither friends nor family, Lucy Snowe sets sail from England to find employment in a girls' boarding school in the small town of Villette. There she struggles to retain her self-possession in the face of unruly pupils, an initially suspicious headmaster and her own complex feelings.

National Pet Month “Promoting Responsible Pet Ownership”

The R.S.P.C.A and Cats Protection are running a neutering campaign across Wales. Under the campaign you can get your pet cat neutered and microchipped for just £5.


You should qualify for help if:
• you receive a state benefit
• you’re on a low household income
• you’re a full time student or pensioner

For more information:
Tel. 03000 121212 
(Monday – Friday 9.30 am -1.00 pm)
www.RSPCA.cymru/neutering
www.cats.org.uk/walescampaign

Dog owners don’t get caught out! 
It's now a legal requirement to have any dog over the age of eight weeks microchipped in England and Wales.


Books in celebration of our wonderful four legged friends 

Vicki Myron – Dewey: the small-town library-cat who touched the world 

The story of how one adorable and lovably roguish library cat touched the lives of everyone he came into contact with. 

Judith Summers – The Badness of King George

Her five-year relationship has finally ended and her son is off to university - for the first time since her husband died, Judith Summers is living alone. Well, not entirely alone. She still has George, her King Charles spaniel. But when Judith becomes a canine foster carer, George has to adjust to sharing his owner with some new dogs.

James Bowen – A Street Cat Named Bob 

The moving, uplifting true story of an unlikely friendship between a man on the streets and the ginger cat who adopts him and helps him heal his life.

Sheila Hocken – Emma and I

As a girl, Sheila never let her gradual descent into blindness prevent her from trying to do everything a sighted person could do. Then, at 17, she found herself dreading her future in an 'ever darkening vacuum'. But then Emma - a chocolate Labrador - enters her life, and Sheila begins a journey of independence, love and happiness.

Rachel Wells - A Cat Called Alfie

Edgar Road used to be your typical London street; a road full of people who barely said a word to one another. Then Alfie came along - a big grey ball of fur who changed the lives of every family he met, and brought a community together. But now a new family have moved into Edgar Road and they, more than anyone else, need Alfie's help. Can he bring light to their darkest times? Or is it already too late to stop them from falling apart?

Will Barrow – Buster: the dog who saved a thousand lives

This book tells the story of Buster and Will describing how each came to save the other's life. It is a relationship that produced some heroic feats in the dust and desert heat of Afghanistan - and the most decorated dog in military history.

Search the Library catalogue and reserve a copy.

Reading Well Mood Boosting Books 2016

Feeling a bit low? For a guilt free pick me up why not try a mood boosting book. There are no calories or side effects and no hangover in the morning. However, addiction may become a problem.

The list contains 25 titles including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, short stories and children’s books.

Here are my favourites. 

Ross Poldark by Winston Graham
I know you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but this one certainly boosts my mood! 

Mort by Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett’s quirky, satirical take on the world as demonstrated in his Discworld novels, always makes me smile.

The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson
Twenty years after “Notes From a Small Island” was published, Bill Bryson takes another trip around this green and pleasant land to see what has changed and once again gives us his perceptive and hilarious insight into all that is best and worst about Britain today.



The Emergency Poet edited by 
Deborah Alma
If you’re having one of those days when the world is just too much for you, dip into this anti-stress poetry anthology and try reading “Inessential Things” by Brian Patten and “Leisure” by W H Davies.

The Penguin lessons by Tom Michell
A heart warming tale of Juan Salvador, the penguin rescued from an oil slick in Uruguay by a young British teacher, Tom Michell. “I was hoping against hope that the penguin would survive because, as of that instant, he had a name, and with his name came the beginning of a bond that would last a lifetime.”

View the full list here Mood Boosting Books 2016

Happy Easter

As a precursor to National Poetry Month (USA) which takes place in April 2016, I thought I’d share with you some of my favourite seasonal poems to get you in the mood.

Loveliest of Trees, the Cherry Now 
Loveliest of trees, the cherry now 
Is hung with bloom along the bough, 
And stands about the woodland ride 
Wearing white for Eastertide. 

Now, of my threescore years and ten, 
Twenty will not come again, 
And take from seventy springs a score, 
It only leaves me fifty more. 

And since to look at things in bloom 
Fifty springs are little room, 
About the woodlands I will go 
To see the cherry hung with snow. 
A.E. Housman

Spring Rain
I thought I had forgotten, 
But it all came back again 
To-night with the first spring thunder 
In a rush of rain.

I remembered a darkened doorway 
Where we stood while the storm swept by, 
Thunder gripping the earth 
And lightning scrawled on the sky.

The passing motor busses swayed, 
For the street was a river of rain, 
Lashed into little golden waves 
In the lamp light's stain.

With the wild spring rain and thunder 
My heart was wild and gay; 
Your eyes said more to me that night 
Than your lips would ever say. . . .
I thought I had forgotten, 

But it all came back again 
To-night with the first spring thunder 
In a rush of rain. 
Sara Teasdale


And of course

Daffodils
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils. 

William Wordsworth

Fancy a Quick Read?

With 1 in 6 adults in the UK struggling with reading and 1 in 3 not reading for pleasure 'Quick Reads' breaks down barriers to reading by offering bite-sized, accessible fiction and non fiction.

6 great new titles by bestselling authors have been added to the collection for 2016.


A perfect introduction to Agatha Christie - four of the best Hercule Poirot stories. A man is found shot through the head in a locked room; a wealthy banker disappears while posting a letter; a thief vanishes with a haul of rubies and emeralds and in the golden sands of Egypt, the men who discovered an ancient tomb are dying one by one.


When young teacher Anna Blackwell is found dead in her home, the police think her death was suicide or a tragic accident. After all, Stonebridge is a quiet country village in the Scottish Borders where murders just don't happen, or do they?




Evie loves running her beach cafe in Cornwall but with a baby on the way, she's been told to put her feet up. Let someone else take over? Not likely. 
Helen's come to Cornwall to escape the stress of city living. She hopes a seaside life will be the answer to all her dreams. When she sees a job advertised at the cafe it sounds perfect.
 But the two women clash and sparks fly, and then events take a dramatic turn. Can the pair of them put aside their differences in a crisis?


From family secrets to unlikely romance, from wartime tragedy to ghostly messages, 'The Anniversary' is a wonderful collection of original short stories from some of the best writers around to celebrate 10 years of 'Quick Reads'.



This is the call he is always ready for. They've had word of a planned attack. That's why he's back here, opposite some suit who's trying to tell him what he needs to do. But he knows exactly what's required.
Gibraltar isn't an ideal location. Too many people. Too many blind alleys. But then again, he's not the terrorist. Who knows what goes through their minds? Well, he will soon. If everything goes to plan.

'I am Malala' tells the inspiring story of a schoolgirl who was determined not to be intimidated by extremists, and faced the Taliban with immense courage. Malala speaks of her continuing campaign for every girl's right to an education, shining a light into the lives of those children who cannot attend school. 
An abridged edition.


These titles are available to borrow or reserve from Torfaen Libraries. Search the catalogue