Please note Central West Libraries will be closed for the Queen’s Birthday on Monday 14 June. Normal hours will resume on Tuesday 15 June including Blayney Library which has been closed for some building work.

Please ensure you borrow reading, watching and listening materials to get you through the long weekend. Library ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, movie streaming and Story Box Library are available online www.cwl.nsw.gov.au 24/7 using your library card.

Saturday hours:

Canowindra: 10 – 12 noon

Forbes: 10am – 12 noon

Cowra: 10am – 12.30pm.

Orange City Library  9.30am – 4pm and Sunday 1pm – 5pm.

We invite you to use your Library Card for a fresh take on the best stories set to film, with the finest handpicked collection of independent documentaries, TV shows and feature films streamed straight to you at home. Sourced from film festivals and the latest commercial releases through to creative independent filmmaking, our fast-growing collection is a treasure trove of old and new cinematic delights to make you think and keep you entertained. Here is the link: https://beamafilm.com/loginLib/central-west

Please note that streaming beamafilm will count towards your download limits at home or on your device.

By her brother’s graveside, Liesel’s life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger’s Handbook, left there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordion-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor’s wife’s library, wherever there are books to be found. But these are dangerous times. When Liesel’s foster family hides a Jewish fist-fighter in their basement, Liesel’s world is both opened up, and closed down. The Book Thief is also a successful Hollywood movie. It was first published in 2005 and we are still talking about ! Come along to Pageturners book discussion group on Wednesday 12 March at 5.30pm at Orange City Library  for a lively discussion about this amazing book. What did you think of it or the movie? (that counts too!)….See you there.

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, published in 1960, was immediately successful, winning the Pulitzer Prize, and has become a classic of modern American literature. The novel is renowned for its warmth and humour, despite dealing with serious issues.  The narrator’s father, Atticus Finch, has served as a moral hero for many readers and as a model of integrity for lawyers.  The film earned an overwhelmingly positive response from critics, and was a box office success as well, earning more than 10 times its budget.  Our Classics Book Club, at Orange City Library, will talk about the book, author and movie at its next meeting on Thursday 20th June at 12.30pm.  Interested people are welcome to attend.

Check out the movie trailer http://youtu.be/Mi88P7KfaMA

If I Stay by Gayle Forman – while in a coma following an automobile accident that killed her parents and younger brother, seventeen-year-old Mia, a gifted cellist, weights whether to live with her grief or join her family in death. Read what our on-line book chainers said:

Mandarin 1: A choice  Death and not know pain ever again or continue living and suffer without your close loving family? The indomitable spirit of life is so very strong. We see the struggle all around us daily. Was there really any choice? A very touching and emotional story from an unusual viewpoint. Note: Hollywood is now in the process of making a movie of IF I STAY. Looking forward to seeing it.

Mandarin 2: I read this quickly, it is an easy read but it is too sentimental and unbelievable and dare I say predictable. A talented cello player, perfect boyfriend, perfect family. All toooooo perfect. With all her “should I stay or should I go” it was too much, too self-indulgent  I thought I don't really care. I also didn't believe an emo boy band member would fall for a classical music student. Sorry to everyone but it just wasn't to my taste.

Mandarin 3: I found this an intriguing and emotional read. It is probably more for teenagers but it raises some interesting questions about grief and death and ultimately makes you appreciate life more. A teenage girl, Mia, who happens to be a talented cellist is in a coma after a serious car accident and reflects on her life to help her make a decision. We meet all the key people in Mia's life – mother, father, younger brother, boyfriend, best friend, grandparents. Some of it is told in flashback while she is hovering above herself in hospital. It is all is a bit strange and eerie, but it really moving and will bring you to tears.