February 2017From the CommitteeNew LibraryWe are reliably informed that the new library is coming in on time and under budget...long may this last. The official opening is to be held on Friday, 24th April, 2017.

Staff Christmas PresentThe Committee, in consultation with the staff, purchased a sandwich toaster for their staff room, as a thank you for all their hard work and for giving their time whenever we asked for help or information. We hear that they are saving it for their new staff room!

Baby BagsWe continue to provide this excellent service to new mothers and babies. We packaged up another 55 bags last week which we have delivered to the hospital. We still finance this worthwhile community project.

Membership Is Now Due!Included with this newsletter is a membership form to make payment easier for you and it can be posted to the library or handed into the staff at the library, whichever is the most convenient for you. Your membership dues are a great help in the day to day running of the committee. We thank you in advance.

Belgrave Cinema Club: Tickets are available at the Belgrave Cinema for this year’s Cinema Club. A fee of $90 includes 11 movies, one per month. There are two showings, one on a Monday at approximately 5.30pm and a week later on a Wednesday night that caters for people who work. For the last three years, we

FRIENDS OF ARMIDALE DUMARESQ LIBRARY

NEWSLETTER

have seen some excellent movies and documentaries. Money well spent.

DVD Review

London Road

It is difficult to describe the 2015 film London Road without running the risk of making it sound rather daunting and possibly not “your cup of tea”.After all a film which is about a series of murders of prostitutes and the effect on the surrounding community, with a script taken from the verbatim reports of local people, and then set to music does sound peculiar, macabre and depressing.London Road is all those things, but if you avoid borrowing it, you chance missing a beautifully made, haunting and ultimately positive film. It is certainly one of the most potent affirmations of the power of community that you are ever likely to see.It is indeed an unusual film. At times devastatingly sad and at times disquieting, it is also exhilarating and uplifting. Originally it was a play, which originated in a British National Theatre project where successful playwright Alecky Wright was teamed with composer/musician Adam Cork. The play was hugely successful and was then made into a film, directed by its stage director, Rufus Norris.Wright is a stalwart of the verbatim theatre movement, which uses the real words of people to develop scripts. She interviewed the inhabitants of London Road in Ipswich about their reactions to the murders in their street and developed their words into a script. Cork used the same concept by composing music, which echoes their vocal patterns and cadences.The resulting film combines some elements of a murder mystery, of traditional British social realism, magic realism and comedy. The quality of the cinematography, the direction and the sound are uniformly excellent. Likewise the ensemble cast, which contains a wonderful line up of British actors including Olivia Coleman and Tom Hardy. It is also well worth taking the time to view the extremely

interesting extras about the making of the film which are available on the DVD.I borrowed London Road because I had read and heard wonderful reviews from a wide range of critics and I certainly was not disappointed. It did not come to our Cinema and had it not been for the quality of our Library collection I would have missed out on a powerful and transformational film. It is a film well worth borrowing next time you visit the Library.

Bronwyn Meredith

DVD Review

The Winter’s TaleShakespeare

The story of this Shakespeare play opens with Polixenes, the King of Bohemia, visiting his childhood friend, Leontes, now King of Sicilia. Leontes’ wife, Hermione, persuades Polixenes to extend his stay in Sicilia, and the acceptance of this invitation, sets off Leontes’ suspicion that his wife is guilty of adultery with Polixenes.

Thus, the stage is set for tragic happenings and Leontes endures a sixteen year long penance as a result of his jealousy and accusation. However, the play does have an element of happiness and redemption at its conclusion, making it more comedy than tragedy.

This play was first performed more than 500 years ago, and its themes, human responses and relationships are as relevant today as they were in Shakespeare’s time. It has a wonderful cast of characters and a rich use of language. I greatly enjoyed reading the text, and the pleasure was amplified by watching the 1981 BBC production of the play, which is available in the Library. It was a case of revelling in the greatness of Shakespeare, and I can highly recommend borrowing the DVD, and seeing the play.

Marnie French.

Book Review

The DryJane Harper

The events in this book take place in rural Victoria in the country town of Kiewarra at a time of prolonged and severe drought.

Police Investigator Aaron Falk, who now lives in Melbourne, returns to Kiewarra, where he grew up, for the funerals of his childhood best friend Luke, his wife, Karen, and their son, Billy. The local police have concluded that Luke had shot his wife and son before shooting himself. Luke's parents do not believe that Luke could have carried out these crimes and they ask Aaron to investigate. Aaron's investigation brings back to the surface old wounds and long-buried secrets reaching back to the childhood and adolescence of Aaron and Luke.

This crime novel is well paced; the plot is complex and the characters solid and well-drawn. The effect of the drought and heat on the community as a whole is well portrayed.The opinions on the book in our Book Group were divided; some thoroughly enjoyed it, others found it depressing. I would recommend it as a really good read.

Jean Jackson

182 Rusden Street

The new library site, rising on the Phoenix Centre site from the ashes of our architect-designed dreams, is being transformed by the day. All building work, so far, points to an opening before Anzac Day this year. There will be two levels of public space: downstairs will provide a children’s area, a relaxing sunlit newspaper and magazine section,

ten internet computers, the circulation desk, public noticeboards and toilets, and shelving for most of the accessible book collections; a set of stairs and a lift will provide access to meeting rooms, study- and maker-spaces, and audiovisual collection items on the upper level. New in the Library

Welcome to a new year of new Library holdings. The Library adds its holdings to the National database of Library records, so that the wider Australian community has opportunity to share our collection through interlibrary loan. The public face of that National catalogue is called Trove (http://trove.nla.gov.au/). This month we’ll order our list for you so that the most popularly Library-selected items appear first and the rarer titles at the end.

So, Lisa Scottoline’s fourth Rosato and diNunzio detective novel, Damaged, is one of 56 copies in Australian libraries (we also have the first three titles in this series). Norman Ohler’s revelatory Blitzed: drugs in Nazi Germany is next: 46 copies held because of its claim that “the entire Third Reich was permeated with drugs: cocaine, heroin, morphine and, most of all, methamphetamines, or crystal meth, used by everyone from factory workers to housewives, and crucial to troops' resilience - even partly explaining German victory in 1940”. The letters of Patrick Leigh Fermor (Dashing for the post) owe their popularity to the author’s reputation as a man with a “dangerous mixture of sophistication and recklessness” and as an author with a “unique prose style”, particularly in A time of gifts which the same Guardian obituary writer recognised as “one of the wonders of modern literature”. Russell Ferrett buries into Australia’s volcanoes, excavating an extensive guide to Australia’s volcanic past.

Fifth in our list, with 28 copies, is George Haddad’s Populate and perish, a searching story from North Fitzroy to Lebanon is search of an estranged father. Compliments to Australia’s libraries for supporting a young author, an independent publisher (Xoum) and the Seizure group of volunteers who are working to improve literary culture in Australia (they created the Viva la Novella Prize which George won in 2016). From contemporary Australia to medieval Europeanism, Christopher de Hamel describes Meetings with remarkable manuscripts (including The book of kells and The gospels of Saint Augustine) in 632 abundantly illustrated pages. The most recent edition of The Auslan dictionary (for Australian sign language communication) is represented 24 times in Australian libraries, as are A history of pictures (a collaboration between David Hockney and Martin Gayford) and A little history of religion by Richard Holloway. The latter work is described, by the publisher, as written with “deepest respect” by someone who “encourages curiosity and tolerance, accentuates nuance and mystery, and calmly restores a sense of the value of faith”. Holloway was Bishop of Edinburgh between 1986 and 2000, and now describes himself as an “after-religionist”.

Meanwhile, back in Australia, CSIRO have published The red kangaroo in central Australia: an early account by AE Newsome, compiled from 1950s and 1960s notes by the author. In delightful fluid contrast, The pool looks at its role in Australian architecture, culture and identity as part of an exhibit at the Venice Biennale Architettura 2016: here are essays by Ian Thorpe, Tim Flannery, Shane Gould and Paul Kelly, and photos of everywhere from the

Pilliga artesian baths to Clovelly Bay, even including the Australian Women’s Weekly jelly pool birthday cake from the 1980s.

Down to 14 copies, JD Vance’s Hillbilly elegy: a memoir of a family and culture in crisis probably owes its popularity to its insights into the changed landscape of Trump’s America. Stendahl’s Love has endured since written in 1822, and contains such honesty as “I am making all possible efforts to be dry. I want to impose silence on my heart, which thinks it has much to say. I constantly fear having written nothing but a sigh, when I believe I have set down a truth". Philip Armstrong adds to our truths about Sheep in an addition to Reaktion’s published Animal series (we have ten others, including Walrus and Giraffe). Mark Lynch tells of The new Arab wars: uprisings and anarchy in the Middle East, looks at the “dystopia of resurgent dictators, failed states, and civil wars”, “delivers a scathing analysis of Western misreadings of the conflict, and condemns international interference that has stoked the violence”.

Both Molly Aitken and Steve Burrows have 11-copy titles in this list: Molly explores five centuries in The intelligence of tradition in Rajput court painting; Steve brings us the second title in his Birder Murder mystery series – we have A siege of bitterns as well as the more recent A pitying of doves, and expect others to come to roost here in 2017. Further ornithological interest is provided by Nathan Emery’s Bird brain: an exploration of avian intelligence, and more mystery by Anne Martinetti in the graphic work Agatha: the real life of Agatha Christie.

Set in Galicia, Cristina Sanchez-Andrade’s novel The winterlings, is translated from the Spanish. The wicked go to hell is translated from the French of Frederic Dard’s 1956 original (“A cop receives a mission - to win the confidence of an enemy spy, currently in prison, and so to expose destroy his spy ring. What better way to allay his suspicions than for the policeman to enter the prison himself, posing as a criminal? So, Frank and Hal end up sharing a cell, but who is the spy and who is the cop? And who will win their claustrophobic game of cat and mouse?”). Ben Metcalf’s new novel is available in the original American English, and presents a case Against the country “overrun with failed parents, racist sex offenders, cast-off priests, and suicidal chickens”. Nor does Clancy Martin let other parts of the western hemisphere off the hook - Love in central America is not at all idyllic: “Her sobriety soon slips out of her grasp, and she finds herself on a downward spiral of sneaking off for weeks with her lover and blacking out in hotels”.

South America also has its problems: Idra Novey’s translator hero in Ways to disappear is trying to find her Brazilian novelist while fending off loan sharks. Megan Abbott finds menace, suspense and murder in the tight-knit world of teenage gymnastics, vowing You will know me. Perhaps a little read of Alexander Nehamas’ On friendship might help, with its insights into the value of living a good life. Sherman’s march, subtitled an improbable search for love, is a documentary made by Ross McElwee after he was dumped by his girlfriend; ostensibly about General Sherman’s Civil War march, it becomes a goofy exploration of romance and southern womanhood along the way.

Also on DVD, the History Channel complete collection of Life after people has only seven copies nationally. Charles Silver’s appreciation, An auteurist history of film, describes a five-year screening project at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, where there was a “particular focus on the role of the director as artistic author”. Other works with seven copies nationally include Xiao Bai’s French concession, set in the decadent world of Shanghai 1931; a more contemporary Chinese setting for Ge Fei’s Flock of brown birds; and Yasmine el Rashidi’s Chronicle of a last summer: a novel of Egypt set in the claustrophobic family and political milieu of Hosni Mubarak’s 1980s.

Therese Huston (How women decide: what’s true, what’s not, and what strategies spark the best choices) and Tom Vanderbilt (You may also like: taste in an age of endless choice) might both be your selected reading. Alternatively, Lia Leendertz makes it easy if your garden is limited in any way: 176 pages of beautifully illustrated Petal, leaf, seed: cooking with the treasures of the garden.

Armidale Film Club

The Armidale Film Club has opened subscriptions for its 2017 season.

The Film Club provides those who enjoy high quality films with the opportunity to attend films, which are otherwise NOT shown in Armidale, at a very generous discount. The Belgrave Cinema shows one well - reviewed film per month, which members can choose to see on either a Monday night (approximately 5.30pm) or a Wednesday night (approximately 7pm).

The films are usually in English, though some subtitled films are also shown.Art house and limited release films screened in 2016 included 99 Homes, Truth, I Daniel Blake and 45 Years. Films in 2017 include the warmly reviewed Toni Erdmann and Mahana from New Zealand.

Subscriptions• Annual membership costs $90 per year for eleven films and is available now.This works out at the bargain price of approx $8 per ticket.

• Full year members also receive 2 companion vouchers free so that friends can attend the film at a normal price including concessions.

• Mid-year subscriptions are also available at $60. Mid-year subscribers receive 1 companion voucher.

• Non members can attend film club screenings at a cost of $20

• Members' tickets for each session can be collected from the cinema 1 week prior to each monthly showing. • No refund is available for unused tickets.

For further information please contact the cinema or http://armidalefilmclub.blogspot.com.au/

Don’t miss the opportunity to be part of an event which has become a highlight of Armidale’s cultural and community calendar.

New England Conservatorium

Elena Kats-Chernin and Tamara-Anna CislowskaTwo of Australia’s best-loved musicians in exclusive Armidale concert

CONCERT: Thursday 2 March 2017, 7pm, Armidale Town Hall, 127 Rusden Street

Tickets: $45 adults, $35 pensioners, $25 full-time studentsProgram: Kats-Chernin Excerpts from Butterflying, Schubert March Militaire, Rachmaninov Prelude in C# minor, Rebikov Music BoxPre-concert Talk: NECOM director Susanne James and Elena Kats-Chernin

BookingsOnline: https://www.trybooking.com/OJVY In Person: from NECOM office (upstairs Old Teachers College, corner Mossman & Faulkner Streets Armidale)Phone: 6788 2137

On Thursday 2 March at 7pm, renowned composer-piano duo Elena Kats-Chernin and Tamara-Anna Cislowska share the stage at Armidale Town Hall in a thrilling performance that celebrates their recent album Butterflying, showcases the wonder of Kats-Chernin’s music and pays homage to well-loved favourites.

This is a program that is sure to delight audiences already familiar with the composer’s work, as well as being an irresistible introduction to those who have yet to discover the unique beauty and scope of Elena Kats-Chernin’s compositions.

Presented by the New England Conservatorium and Musica Viva Armidale

Dear Friend of the Library

The Committee would like to remind members that annual subscriptions for 2017 fall due in January.Cost is $15. Life members are asked to make a donation if possible. Forms are reproduced with this Newsletter, and are also available at the Library from January 2017 or from Judy Wilford [67715517].If you are unsure of your membership status, you are most welcome to contact Judy (above), or Bronwyn Meredith at 67727065 or meredithkeller@bigpond.com for an update.

 Membership is more important than ever.We know that many members have been appalled by the Library’s relocation to the Phoenix Building with no community consultation. Others may be looking forward to the move with interest and anticipation. Whatever your views, the Committee hopes you agree with us that it is crucial for the Library to have community support and help in facing the challenges that are sure to lie ahead. We believe that the borrowers, the visitors and the staff are the heart of the Library and will continue to do everything we can to try to make the new Library as important to the cultural, social, educational and emotional life of our community as was the old one.Your subscription will help us work to build up core library resources such as IT and on-line resources, books, CDs, DVDs, talking books, library furniture or other resources. We will also strive to preserve the integrity of the current outstanding collection.We will support Ian Greenhalgh and his staff as they make this difficult transition. It is crucial that their expertise be utilised, and not brushed aside in the haste to finish the renovation.By supporting FOADL you are helping to show the Administrator and a future Council that Armidale loves and will continue to support its Library. We hope that you will re-join and encourage others to do likewise.

The Committee 

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