Booklist: Christmas Cookery

Christmas is a special time with a delicious range of foods- delicate pastries, sumptuous roasts and indulgent salads you would never treat yourself to any other time of year. If you find yourself in need of a few recipes, or simply want to try something new this year, why not grab one of these books available at your library? At the time of writing, all of these items are available for loan, so get in quick!

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Taste of Summer

A Taste of the Past: Early Australian Cooking

The upside-down pudding : A small book of Christmas feasts

Winter in the Alps : Food by the fireside

Aussie cakes

The Australian Christmas book

Like grandma used to make : tried and trusted recipes rediscovered for today's cooks

Two hundred years of Australian cooking

Maggie's kitchen

Summer Camden Reads - It's On!

Armed with the motherload of giveaways and great prizes, Camden Library presents CAMDEN READS- the library's summer reading program. Divided into three categories: Adult, Youth and Children, Camden Reads rewards you for taking some time out for yourself with a good read, whether it be the latest gossip magazine, a downloaded eBook, an action-packed graphic novel, or the mesmerising novel.

Signing up is easy! Simply fill out the form at Camden and Narellan branches, and you're good to go. For every book you read, write it down on the tickets provided and each one goes in the draw to win heaps of great prizes including a bridge climb, museum and novelty park tickets, movie vouchers, books, and vouchers for a range of goodies.

Children receive (if we don't run out in the first few days!) a goody bag to get them going.

What are you waiting for? Get reading now! Check out these booklists or search our catalogue to get started. Or come into your local branch and have a look at the shelves!

Secret Santa eBooks for you!

Looking for a good Chrissie read? Not to worry, Santa has picked out something just for you! Click one of the presents above to find free Christmas ebooks that you can download to your computer or device.

Merry Christmas all!

Booklist: Staff Picks

You're reading whaaaat?

Did you ever wonder what librarians read (or did you assume they read everything)? Well, next time you're looking for a good book, why not try one of these- read and tested for your reading pleasure by library staff!

The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by Alexander McCall Smith

Tales of Otori Series by Lian Hearn

Made for Goodness: And why this makes all the difference by Desmond Tutu

The Other Hand by Chris Cleave

Saving Private Sarbi by Sandra Lee

A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

Gamble by Felix Francis

The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht

The City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

Autumn Laing by Alex Miller

Divergent by Veronica Roth

And Kim (Youth Librarian) recommends:

Scoop.it!

A online magazine maker for topics- get searching!

Book Review: Virals

14 year old Tory Brennan, niece of renowned forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, has been living with her dad on a secluded island off the coast of South Carolina for six months. She meets a group of teenage guys (Hiram, Ben and Shelton) who are just as smart as she is. She quickly becomes the leader of their group, the “Sci-Philes”. Tory is obsessed with a wolf-dog pack that lives on Loggerhead Island where her dad works. When she notices her favourite wolf-dog Cooper is missing, she knows something is wrong. Upon breaking into one of the science laboratories on Loggerhead Island to clean an old army dog-tag, the friends find Cooper. He is sick and trapped in a cage for medical testing. The “Sci-Philes” take Cooper with them when they leave the lab and keep him for a few weeks to help him recover. As they are caring for him, they realise that they are exposed to an experimental type of canine parvovirus B19. The parvo alters their DNA; their senses heighten to become dog-like and they gain canine-quick reflexes.
Tory, Hi, Ben and Shelton combine their scientific knowledge with their new physical attributes to solve a cold-case murder mystery relating to the dog-tag they found. However, as they uncover more about the mystery, the murderer becomes anxious that they will uncover him, and decides to kill them. Fortunately, now they are a pack. They are Virals.

Kathy Reichs is a popular author who has written many adult crime novels. The TV show “Bones” is based on her adult books. Virals is the first of her books for youths and many critics were impressed. The terminology is all explained in a clear way, allowing people who don’t know much about science to understand the story line. Readers were also impressed with the way the characters were developed.

I recommend this book to any teenagers who are interested in “Bones”, mystery/crime novels or biology.

Thanks to Abbey for this greay review. You can reserve Virals through this link.