Books with a sense of place – Podcast 14

Hello and welcome to the Falkirk Libraries podcast. Today Vikki and Margo were discussing our take on all things travel but, in particular, books with a sense of place. All of the books and dvds referred to in this blog can be found at https://fct.ent.sirsidynix.net.uk/client/en_GB/libraries/

What we have been reading and listening to:
Vikki has been reading:
• Danya Kukafka – Girl in Snow
• Shane Spall – The voyages of the Princess Matilda
Margo has been reading:
• Gail Honeyman – Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine
• Philip Pullman – The Book of Dust

New and forthcoming adult books:
• Louise Candlish – Our House
• John Connolly – The Woman in the Woods (A Charlie Parker thriller 16th in the series)
• Kirsty Logan – The Gloaming
• Walter Lucius – Angel in the Shadows
• Raymond E Feist – Kings of Ashes

New and forthcoming children’s books:
• Lemony Snicket/Matthew Forsythe – The bad mood and the stick (0-5)
• Nigel Auchterlounie – Dennis and the Chamber of Mischief (9-11)
• Linda Newbery – Polly’s march (9-11)
• Sue Wallman – Your turn to die (Teen)
• Yuval Zommer – The big book of the blue (Non Fiction)

DVD recommendations
• The Snowman (15)
• Happy Death Day (15)
• Paddington 2 (PG)

Our Reading Agony this week: “I’m pregnant and I’m wondering what the library can offer parents and new-borns”
We had a general discussion about all the different books and activities there are on offer for parents to be at the library, covering areas such as:
• baby names
• pregnancy
• life with a baby lots of different parenting styles and theories
• general parenting
• weaning, sleep, potty training
• relationships with siblings,
• baby massage
• starting school and nursery.
• Some factual some quite humorous…
• We also have activities – Bookbug Rhymetime,
• books for babies
• My First Library Card scheme: when you register you’ll receive: An exclusive, specially-designed, library card; a lovely cotton tote bag featuring our library bear; vouchers for free activities across Falkirk Community Trust.

Staff quote of the day: “We’ve got loads of tubes and we never do anything with them”( To clarify that would be map tubes not people, any suggestions please get in touch!)

Our discussion was all about books we have liked with a sense of place. Below are some of the titles we have enjoyed past and present. We agreed that in lots of the books we both read the setting and landscape is like another character in the story, or used by the author as an important plot device. We also agreed that novels set in another country and / or place and time give you as a reader a totally immersive experience, not only the feel of another culture but also a slice of history as well, perhaps. Here are some of the authors and titles we discussed with their main setting listed as well.
• Ragnar Jónasson – Snowblind, Blackout, Nightblind (Iceland)
• Hannah Kent – Burial Rites (Iceland)
• Annie Proulx – Shipping News (Newfoundland)
• Margaret Atwood – Alias Grace (Canada)
• Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Half of a yellow sun (Nigeria)
• Elizabeth Laird – Welcome to Nowhere (Syria)
• Nadia Hashimi – Pearl that broke it’s shell (Afghanistan)
• Meera Syal – House of Hidden Mothers (set between UK and India)
• Donna Leon (Venice)
• Salley Vickers – Miss Garnet’s Angel (Venice)
• Joanne Harris – Chocolat, Lollipop Shoes, Peaches for Monsieur Le Cure, Blackberry wine, Five quarters of the orange, Coastliners. (France)
• James Lee Burke – Detective Dave Robicheaux (set in New Orleans and Louisiana)
• Fred Vargas (France mainly Paris)

Some Children’s Titles
• Katherine Rundell – Rooftoppers (Paris), The Wolf Wilder (Russia)
• Cornelia Funke’s –Thief lord (Venice)
• Philip Reeve’s – Pugs of the Frozen North

Did you know? The Library is a source of all sorts of travel information. We have guides to many parts of the world from shorter guides for weekend breaks, or more comprehensive ones for the independent traveller, lots of walking guides and Ordnance Survey maps, cookery books from around the world often accompanying latest tv series, children’s books on different countries, festivals food etc. Not to mention lots of travel memoirs. Below are just a small sample:
• Mhairi Hedderwick (author & illustrator of the Katie Morag children’s books)
Sea change; the summer voyage from East to West Scotland of the Anassa
• Alistair Moffat – The hidden ways; Scotland’s forgotten roads
• Rick Stein’s – From Venice to Istanbul, and Road to Mexico.
• Hairy Bikers Mediterranean adventure

Thank you for listening to the Library Love podcast, we hope you’ve enjoyed yourself and if you did, then give us a shout out on Facebook or twitter. We love to hear from you and if you’d like to get in touch with us, then go to librarylovefalkirk.com, Falkirk Libraries on facebook, or @LibFalkirk on Twitter.