Invercargill City libraries Blog

Monday, July 25, 2011

Band of Brothers

Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg produced this fantastic mini series based around the efforts of Easy Company of the 101st Airborne in the Second World War. It is mainly based on the best selling biography of the men by Stephen Ambrose. It takes them back to the formation of Easy Company and the rigorous training that they had to complete before being shipped off to England. Here, they received yet more training and learned that they were to be part of one of the largest 'drops' in WWII – D-Day.

It goes through the various places they fought in the war from France, the disastrous 'Market-Garden' in Holland and the freezing winter in the Ardennes in Belgium, right through to Germany and the end of the war. Easy Company received a 100% casualty rate during the war, but this didn't stop them from becoming known as the “Battered Bastards of Bastogne”. Instead, the events that they went through bonded them as a group and helped form a sense of camaraderie that only exists in certain circumstances, such as combat.

The series follows various characters and their reactions to the situations that they had to face. I would highly recommend this series. It kept me riveted from the start to the dramatic conclusion. The Library has Band of brothers in both DVD and Blue-ray.

(Reviewed by Jasmine)

Friday, July 15, 2011

One very old book

The bible is the one book that has probably had more impact on our modern society than any other. You can not tell the history of New Zealand or any other western country without talking about the bible. It has been translated into almost every language. I have it in Maori at home while my mother has a copy in Bislama (How many of you can tell me where they speak Bislama?)

The most famous version of the bible however is possibly the King James Bible and this year is the four hundredth year of the King James Bibles long publication history. To celebrate the Invercargill Bible society are holding a Bible read-athon in the library between 1 & 4 pm this Sunday.

I personally think the bible is one of those books that everybody should have read. Even if your not religious it's a book that contains masses of stories, histories and philosophy. From love stories to blood and gore, the bible has it all.

If your interested the library also holds books on the history of the bible. One specific to the King James is David Norton's 'The King James Bible : a short history from Tyndale to today'

So if your in any way interested in this weekend's event come along to the library this Sunday or contact Diane (216 3622) for more information or to volunteer.