Bookish Betsy devours NZ books

It’s official. Books are delicious!! Thank you NZ Book Month for saying it loud and clear in this year’s campaign…a good book is almost edible!

I have a hearty appetite for books at any time, but I especially love celebrating NZ Book Month each September. Like you, I have a passion for New Zealand books and writing.

However, I must make a confession; I haven’t always had a taste for New Zealand literature. When I studied it at university, the classic works we looked at were so dark and grim that they sent me into a veritable fit of depression. But now that I am quite grown up I can appreciate the NZ classics. Through their pages we can piece together a picture of our country’s history and of ourselves; the struggles and hardships of the country’s past that make us who we are today; especially our stoic strength and determination, and our deep-seated love of nature.

Looking at NZ Book Month’s top 75 books for 2008, we can see books that reflect those same characteristics. The essence of strength, determination and a love of nature are evident throughout the stunning collection, but the flavour of NZ writing has clearly changed along the way. As a culture we have extended our taste buds, we have travelled the world, climbed mountains in countries other than our own, and have created a new recipe for a literature that is still however so utterly our own.

The NZ Book Month posters and brochures are a smorgasbord of colour and texture, with works as diverse, cheerful and moving as you could hope for. The books showcased are just a taste of what this country has to offer…..and they are truly almost edible!!

Do join us at Hastings District Libraries as we raise our (figurative) glasses and make a toast to our country, our books and ourselves – a nation of readers.

The events still to come are:
Kids Preschool story time (Hastings Library) every Wednesday 10.30am – free entry

Kids NZ story time (Hastings Library) every Sunday for the month of September 2.30pm – free entry

Poetry Writers and Readers Group (Hastings Library) Tuesday 23rd September 5.30pm

Book Sculpture competition (Flaxmere Library) entries close Wednesday 24th September

Book Sculpture Exhibition and winner announced (Flaxmere Library) Friday 26th September 6.30pm-7.30pm

Publishers Book Expo (Havelock North Library) Tuesday 30th September 7.00pm with special guest speaker local author Michael Fowler