Looking back at July and the books our members have been reading, it's clear that fiction is a favourite and new titles are gobbled up as soon as they hit the shelves. Though some branches clearly have more younger readers that enjoy their favourite series.
224,084 books were borrowed in total in July.
Top book across Australia & New Zealand: Apples Never Fall
Just remember if you are interested in this book that it also comes as a large print, eBook (BorrowBox), eAudiobook (BorrowBox), audiobook (CD), audiobook (mp3) most of which have shorter waiting times!
Top book across YPRL: The Maid
If you are interested in this book that it also comes as a eBook (Libby) and eAudiobook (BorrowBox) and is part of the Book Express Collection (no holds) so it may be available for you to walk in and grab - no waiting! Book Express is available at: Diamond Valley, Eltham, Ivanhoe, Mill Park, Watsonia.
Top Book by Branch!
Diamond Valley: Wake
The small town of Nannine has one sinister claim to fame: the still-unsolved disappearance of Evelyn McCreery nineteen years ago from the bedroom she shared with her twin sister. Mina McCreery's life has been defined by the intense and ongoing public interest in her sister's case. Lane Holland, a private investigator who dropped out of the police academy to earn a living cracking cold cases, has his eye on the unclaimed million-dollar reward, but he also has darker motivations for wanting to solve the case. Compulsively readable, with an unforgettable setting and cast of characters, WAKE is a powerful, unsparing story of how trauma ripples outward when people's private tragedies become public property, and how it's never too late for the truth to set things right.
Eltham: Wild Place
In the summer of 1989, a local teen goes missing from the idyllic suburb of Camp Hill in Australia. As rumours of Satanic rituals swirl, school teacher Tom Witter becomes convinced he holds the key to the disappearance. When the police won't listen, he takes matters into his own hands with the help of the missing girl's father and a local neighbourhood watch group. But as dark secrets are revealed and consequences to past actions are faced, Tom learns that the only way out of the darkness is to walk deeper into it. Wild Place peels back the layers of suburbia, exposing what's hidden underneath - guilt, desperation, violence - and attempts to answer the question: Why do good people do bad things?
Ivanhoe: French Braid
The Garretts take their first and last family vacation in the summer of 1959. They hardly ever venture beyond Baltimore, but in some ways they have never been farther apart. Mercy has trouble resisting the siren call of her aspirations to be a painter, which means less time keeping house for her husband Robin. Their teenage daughters, steady Alice and boy-crazy Lily, could not have less in common. Their youngest, David, is already intent on escaping his family's orbit, for reasons none of them understands. Yet as these lives advance across decades, the Garretts' influence on one another ripples unmistakably through each generation, much like French-braided hair keeps its waves even after it is undone.
Lalor: Thea Stilton and the ghost of the shipwreck
While five little mice at Mouseford Academy are looking for their missing biology professor they dive to a haunted shipwreck off Whale Island to find a rare diamond that was lost when the ship sank.
Mill Park: The No Show
8.52 a.m. Siobhan is looking forward to her breakfast date with Joseph. She was surprised when he suggested it - she normally sees him late at night in her hotel room. Breakfast on Valentine's Day surely means something ... so where is he? 2.43 p.m. Miranda's hoping that a Valentine's Day lunch with Carter will be the perfect way to celebrate her new job. It's a fresh start and a sign that her life is falling into place: she's been dating Carter for five months now and things are getting serious. But why hasn't he shown up? 6.30 p.m. Joseph Carter agreed to be Jane's fake boyfriend at an engagement party. They've not known each other long but their friendship is fast becoming the brightest part of her new life in Winchester. Joseph promised to save Jane tonight. But he's not here... Meet Joseph Carter. That is, if you can find him.
Mobile Library: Still
Darwin, Summer, 1963. Senior Constable Ned Potter looked down at a body that had been dragged from the shallow marshland. He didn't need a coroner to tell him this was a bad death. He didn't know then that this was only the first. Or that he was about to risk everything looking for answers.
Late one night, Charlotte Clark drove the long way home, thinking about how stuck she felt, a 23-year-old housewife, married to a cowboy who wasn't who she thought he was. The days ahead felt suffocating, living in a town where she was supposed to keep herself nice and wait for her husband to get home from the pub. Charlotte stopped the car, stepped out to breathe in the night air and looked out over the water to the tangled mangroves. She never heard a sound before the hand was around her mouth. Both Charlotte and Ned are about to learn that the world they live in is full of secrets and that it takes courage to fight for what is right. But there are people who will do anything to protect themselves and sometimes courage is not enough to keep you safe.
Rosanna: Making Australian History
Australian History has been revised and reinterpreted by successive generations of historians, writers, governments and public commentators, yet there has been no account of the ways it has changed, who makes history, and how. Making Australian History responds to this critical gap in Australian historical research. History isn't just about understanding what happened and why. It also reflects the persuasions, politics and prejudices of its authors. Each iteration of Australia's national story reveals not only the past in question, but also the guiding concerns and perceptions of each generation of history makers. Making Australian History is bold and inclusive: it catalogues and contextualises changing readings of the past, it examines the increasingly problematic role of historians as national storytellers, and it incorporates the stories of people.
Thomastown: Hana the Hanukkah Fairy : The Festival Fairies
When Hana the Hanukkah Fairy's hanukkiah is stolen by naughty Jack Frost, Hanukkah celebrations everywhere are at risk. Rachel and Kirsty must help Hani find her magical object!
Watsonia: The Maid
Molly the maid is all alone in the world. A nobody. She's used to being invisible in her job at the Regency Grand Hotel, plumping pillows and wiping away the grim, dust and secrets of the guests passing through. She's just a maid - why should anyone take notice? But Molly is thrown into the spotlight when the she discovers an infamous guest, Mr Black, very dead in his bed. This isn't a mess that can be easily cleaned up. And as Molly becomes embroiled in the hunt for the truth, following the clues whispering in the hallways, she discovers a power she never knew was there. She's just a maid - but what can she see that others overlook?
Whittlesea: Killing Time
For a musician, killing time is an occupational hazard, hours and years slip by as you drive between towns, queue at airports, wait around at soundchecks and rest between tours. There's a lot of time to kill. Jimmy Barnes' first two books sought to unpack a troubled childhood and make sense of a crazy rock 'n' roll life. The stories in this collection are about what happened in between, in the downtime before gigs or during recording sessions, while travelling in remote places, hanging out with other musicians, or just quietly going about day-to-day life. Tales of adventure, misadventure, love and loss, this collection of non-fiction short stories from the Australian rock legend turned writer Jimmy Barnes. Outrageous, witty, warm and wise, Killing Time shares more than 40 yarns reflecting an epic life, from an encounter with a soul legend in Memphis, a night in a haunted studio in upstate New York and a doomed haircut in Thailand, to a madcap misunderstanding in a Japanese ski resort and an all-too-revealing appearance for a Sydney charity.