Countdown to World Book Night - Pt. 2!

Following on from last weeks post about World Book Night and the first book that we will be giving away copies of being revealed...its time to announce the second one!

Library Services Manager Sam Floyd has chosen the classic tale Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. If you are unfamiliar with the story its a fantastic, swashbuckling tale which was first published back in 1883. It follows the story of young Jim Hawkins, who lives with his parents in the local inn. One night a man named Billy Bones dies in the inn after being accosted with the dreaded Black Spot - an infamous Pirate curse. Feeling the need for action, Jim and his Mother break into Billy's chest and steal a logbook and map therein. They soon learn that what they have stolen is of value as they discover they stole Billy's treasure map where X marks the spot of the loot of renowned pirate Captain Flint. Jim and his friend Squire Trelawney immediately start out on an expedition to sail the seas and retreive the treasure. However, another pirate is on the trail of the map, the smooth talking and devious Long John Silver - and he manages to trick his way onto Jim's ship...

The historical tale that ensues is full of mutiny, murder, treasure and adventure and makes for very entertaining reading which will keep you on your toes and eagerly turning the next page!

Here is why Sam chose this book:

"Treasure Island was a book I greatly enjoyed as a child – it was excellent escapism with pirate adventure, treasure maps where “X” marks the spot, great characters and suspense.  I wanted to give other young people the opportunity to enjoy the original Pirates of the Caribbean!" 

Sam will be giving away her 20 copies of this heroic tale in the Information Store on April the 23rd. If it sounds like a book you might be interested in giving a go, then make sure you pop along to get yourself a copy! Absolutly free!

World Book Night has inspired all kinds of people to start reading and enjoying books, people all over the country will be giving away copies of their favourite books in their community. They have a blog on their website with some testimonies and information about their cause. You can visit it here:

 

http://www.worldbooknight.org/blog

DVD Review - The Hunger Games (2012)

The Hunger Games is a science fiction action film based on the books of Suzanne Collins of the same name. Starring the recent Academy Award winning actress Jennifer Lawrence as the tenacious Katniss Everdeen, the film follows her incredible journey as she fights for her life in horrifying circumstances.

The Hunger Games is set in the futuristic dystopian nation of Panem which consists of a Capitol city and twelve districts who due to a rebellion on the Capitol in previous years must now sacrifice their own as punishment. Each year, a representative from the Capitol comes to each of the districts for ‘The Reaping’ where two children aged between twelve and eighteen are selected to represent their district in the annual Hunger Games. Primrose Everdeen, the younger sister of our protagonist Katniss, is selected as the female representative but Katniss nominates herself in her place knowing that her sister wouldn’t survive. Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) is the male nominee and the two travel to the Capitol where they receive training and recognition for the event that is about to possibly end their lives. To the people of the Capitol, the Hunger Games is like the Olympics. It’s a huge event and everyone gets very excited about seeing the ‘tributes’ as they are paraded and interviewed like celebrities. The trick to surviving the Hunger Games is making sure the people like you, if you are favoured then people watching on TV at home can send food, medicine and various survival kits if you need them. Katniss and Peeta meet and train with the rest of the tributes and suss out their competition, some are fierce and some are weak. After significant guidance from Haymitch Abernathy, a previous winner of the Hunger Games (Woody Harrelson) and Cinna (Lenny Kravitz), Katniss and the rest of the tributes are sent up into an extravagant artificial forest where they must fight until to the death and the one remaining survivor will be the victor.

A few of the eager tributes die in the first few minutes at the ‘Cornicopia’ a structure which consists of food, medicine and weapons which everyone runs at all at once. It very quickly descends into a huge blood bath as people get hold of weapons. Katniss grabs a rucksack and a bow and arrow from the pile and disappears into the forest, dodging her competition. She watches up a tree as the deaths of tributes are announced by a canon. The creators of the Hunger Games liven things up a bit for her when they start a huge forest fire to divert her into the path of the hunters and set wild bear like dogs on her trail. Luckily for Katniss, she has won the hearts of the viewers and they send medicines for her when she is injured. With thousands of people willing her to survive and a select few willing her to die, Katniss’ survival depends solely on her survival abilities and skills as an archer. Will she reign victorious? Or will she succumb to the Hunger Games tomb?

The plot may sound familiar and comes also in the form of the Japanese action-horror film Battle Royale where school children are put on an island to fight until the death, however, don’t be fooled. This film is incredibly violent, very disturbing in places and despite one main plot point being similar, they are very different films to be enjoyed on very separate levels.  I would recommend The Hunger Games to most but to those of you with a strong stomach and the correct date of birth you could give Battle Royale a shot. I have warned you though. The Hunger Games has also come under scrutiny from various people remarking on how it promotes an unhealthy body image, certain unfair perceptions of race and a likening to the true life tory of the controversial figure Kony who created his own army of children who would kill each other.

Despite its criticisms and it being banned in Vietnam (suprisingly) The Hunger Games is an entertaining watch whether you know the outcome or not and some of the tributes fall foul of some pretty gruesome deaths. The futuristic hairstyles and clothes much resemble those of older science fiction films like The Fifth Element and the contrasting wealth of the Capitol and the Districts surreptitiously underlines how bleak life is for these children. It feels like the role of Katniss was made for Jennifer Lawrence who perfectly adapts to the strong and feisty character readers of the books will recognise. With familiar faces cropping up along the way – Stanley Tucci, Lenny Kravitz and Donald Sutherland – The Hunger Games triumphs as a different take on the bleak, dystopian future that directors all across the board seem to believe is in store for us. Hopefully we won’t be nominating our young to go to a big fake forest and kill each other though…

Why not borrow The Hunger Games from the Information Store? You will find it in the DVD Zone shelved at 791.43 H! It’s a great film to watch with friends or on your own!

Further Reading in the Information Store:

We’ve got the whole series of The Hunger Games books in the book zone, so why not get ahead before the next film is released! You will find The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay shelved at 823.92COL.

Countdown to World Book Night!

 

World Book Night has been running for a few years now and is a way for people to share the books they love amongst people that may not have as many opportunities to read, or people who haven’t really ventured in to recreational reading in our local community. It’s a great cause and has already had some remarkable results. Visit the World Book Night website for more information at http://www.worldbooknight.org

Some of the library staff here at City College have been chosen as givers for this years World Book Night. This means that they have chosen a book that they love and on World Book Night they will be given 20 copies of the book to share amongst their chosen community.

Three members of the library staff have been chosen as givers and each week we will reveal a member of staff and the book they have chosen. This week, The Information Store’s Digital Resources Office Amy Straker has chosen the book ‘Me Without You’ by Jojo Moyes and she will be distributing copies of it here at the Information Store on 23^rd April!

Here is why Amy chose this book:

“I chose mine because it is a great read, but with an unexpected story line. The cover looks like a light hearted tale of boy meets girl, but it is so much more than that. When Lou loses her job in a coffee shop she takes a job as a carer for the rather dashing Will, who has been injured in a motorcycle accident. They don’t hit it off, at all and Lou doesn’t know about the dark secret that Will has been keeping from her, that threatens to change everything. I hope it will appeal to students who want wouldn’t usually read for pleasure, and that the interesting plot will encourage students to take a copy, and hopefully pass it on…”

Reading books doesn’t have to be just for school or college, it’s a great thing to do in your spare time. You can lose yourself in exciting stories, become heroic characters and be transported to other worlds. If this sounds like something you would like to get involved in, make sure you come to the Information Store on the 23^rd April!

Keep your eyes peeled on the Between the Lines blog to find out what the other books being given away will be!

Reading resolutions

I just spotted these great reading resolutions on the World Book Night blog. I have always felt quite guilty about point 1, but now I feel much better!

 

2013 reading resolutions:

This time last year we made 9 reading resolutions. Some we've kept, quite a few we haven't, but that's not going to stop us trying with them again! We've repeated them below and annotated them with our successes and failures. Is there anything you'd add or change?

1. Give up on a book if you’re not enjoying it. There are too many great books to persevere if you’re really not getting on. Obviously don’t quit after a few pages, give it a little time to settle in, 50-60 is the perceived wisdom (or 1/3rd of the book if it’s particularly short).
- I have absolutely done this this year and it's lead to me getting so much more pleasure from what I have read. I think it's now a habit and one I hope will lead to a more rewarding reading life.

2. Give as many books as you read. Obviously as well as what we’re doing on April 23 we’re going to aim to give away at least a book a week, if not more in 2012. Sometimes they’ll be the book we’ve just read, passed on (sometimes they’ll be newly purchased copies of the book we’ve just read as we can’t bear to part with ours!), sometimes they’ll be carefully and lovingly chosen gifts, sometimes they’ll be books that have sat unread for too long and deserve better homes. But whatever they are they’ll be amazing gifts.
- Everyone who invites me to their home now gets a book and pass on as much as I'm prepared to part with from the books I've loved reading this year. Plus, regular WBN followers will know how much I'm in love with Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies, so many people have received these as gifts from me this year.

3. Read outside your usual choice. We’ve all got particular tastes: subjects, areas and genres that we know we enjoy. But some of our best reading experiences have come from stepping away from the norm and trying something different for a change. So for every book we read this year within our comfort zone, we’re going to pick one from outside it. After all, we can always give up and move on if it doesn’t work out.
- Hmm. This has been an interesting one. I'd say I've stepped outside my comfort zone maybe a quarter of the time rather than half. I'm still definitely making value judgements about books without trying them and still being regularly delighted with books I don't think are my sort of thing when I do try them. Obviously must try harder with this one!

4. Read aloud more often. Publicly admitting that I read aloud to my husband almost makes me blush. I don’t know whether it’s because reading is such a seemingly intimate, private activity or because we associate reading aloud as something we do only to children or the infirm, but for whatever reason it is, it doesn’t feel like something I should admit to doing. But it is brilliant – you get the combined pleasure of reading with the shared experience of discussing it as you go along, like a book club but with instant gratification. I cannot more highly recommend it, start with something short (our first read aloud was Alan Bennett’s Uncommon Reader) and see how you go. No cheating and reading ahead on your own though, that completely ruins the fun!
- I'm still doing this, enjoying it more than ever and really think everyone should. I'm currently reading Wolf Hall to my husband (I know, I'm obsessed) and it's been interesting as I'd read it before and he hadn't. It's almost like taking someone new to a favourite place - I'm loving experiencing it for the first time vicariously through him and getting things from it that I didn't before. It's ridiculously long when you read it aloud but absolutely brilliant. We started at the end of November and are now very nearly finished. We've both read other things ourselves along side but as we've got more into it we've abandoned Christmas TV to read to each other instead.

5. Read more. Bit of a given this one, but looking back over my 2011 reading I find that increasingly those odd moments when I would have picked up a book have been filled with emails or twitter or playing games on my iPhone and, to be honest, I feel poorer for it. So I’m going to try to waste less time and fill it with amazing stories and writing.
- I've definitely read more this year, but I've still finished the year feeling like I've wasted more time than I should. Partly this is down to a frustration that I don't always have the book I'm reading with me and desperate desire not to have to buy it twice in physical & e format. Maybe 2013 will be the year publishers & booksellers get bundling right.

6. Keep a reading diary. The best books, our favourites, mark out our lives. I waited for my sister to come out of hospital aged 7 with The Princess and the Unicorn for comfort, overcame travel sickness aged 13 as I couldn’t stop reading To Kill a Mockingbird, tackled unrequited love with By Grand Central Station I sat down and Wept and knew I’d found my match when he read The Good Soldier and agreed it was the best book ever written. But I wish I could look back at everything I’ve read over the years so I’m going to keep a reading diary so I can!
- This started well, then fizzled out in the middle months. It's been very easy to track since October as I've read all the WBN books (plus a few others as well). But I can't for the life of me remember half of what I read that isn't written down. If there's one resolution I want to keep this year it's this one.

7. Be completely honest about what you’ve read. Whilst I’ve never out and out lied about having read a book, I’ve been known to give ambiguous answers or nod and smile when discussing a book as if it’s one of my favourites! What does it matter whether I’ve read Wuthering Heights, We Need to Talk about Kevin or Twilight (all on my to read pile)? And I shouldn’t be ashamed to admit that I haven’t.
- All those books are still on my to read pile. Maybe for 2013 I should be completely honest with myself about whether I'm actually going to read something or not!

8. Get over reading guilt. This kind of applies to all of the above. Reading is an incredible pleasure but too often we find ourselves feeling guilty about all manner of things from whether we’re reading enough to whether we’re reading the right books (or what the right books actually are) and almost all of the above resolutions sort of feed this. So whilst we try to read more, read out of our comfort zone, read out loud and keep track of what we read we’re going to remember the cardinal rule: reading is a great joy and whatever we do or don’t do, read or don’t read we’re not going to let any guilt get in the way of us really enjoying our reading in 2012.
- I really took this to heart in 2012. Particularly when 50 Shades of Grey was published and various parts of the media (as well as people up and down the country) decided to debate, again and again, who on earth was reading it, why, and whether they were actually 'readers'. My thoughts on this are lengthy and not always polite, but they were summarised before the debate started in this resolution. Never let anyone, ever, make you feel bad for what you're reading. I'm not going to try to pretend that 50 Shades was the best book I read, or particularly life changing, but it was a very enjoyable romp to read over a dreary summer weekend.

9. And last but very much not least, sign up to be a World Book Night giver and help spread and share a love of reading.
- Check. Obviously!

If there's one thing I've learnt this year then it really is that I'm a creature of habit. The more I read, the more I wanted to read rather than do any of the other habitual things I do to pass the time. So if I can make keeping a reading diary and diversifying my taste more habitual then hopefully these can be things I do for life not just for January! Now I just have to work on the more exercise, less food & drink and spending money habits too...

Make someone's day

Make someone's day tomorrow. I'm not talking Valentines, I'm talking about giving an unwanted book to an underprivileged child.
 
Tomorrow is International Book Giving Day. Please bring in any preloved children's books to the Information Store desk, or SA103, and we will pass them on to a library that we work with in Dedza, Malawi. 

Make someone's day tomorrow!!

Love your library

To celebrate "National Libraries Day" on Saturday, we have put together a display of some of our favourite books, DVDs, CDs and magazines, all available to borrow, for free!

Come in and browse, and remember that all you need in order to borrow is your student card. Most items are available to borrow for 3 weeks, although more in-demand items will be available to borrow for one week.

Stock up on some DVDs and CDs while the weather is so chilly!

DVD Review - Un Chien Andalou (1929)

2013 marks the 30 year anniversary of the death of Spanish director Luis Bunuel. A unique film maker who lead the avant-garde surrealist movement with his work with the moving image.  While in education he became very close with surrealist painter Salvador Dali who he would later work with to make one of the most respected short films of the surrealist movement called Un Chien Andalou, translated as ‘An Andalusian Dog’. Don’t be fooled by its romantic title which falsely promises the tale of a Spanish pooch, what lies within is something quite different; a hand crawling in ants, a woman having her eyeball sliced open and a man dressed  as a nun riding a bike. It is definitely the work of two avant-garde artists and has been persistently studied by academics since its creation in 1929. Chiming in at only 16 minutes long, it certainly packs a punch and is not for the faint hearted.

A consistent feature of the film is a pattern of black and white stripes which appears in almost every scene, whether it be on some clothing or an object in a room or furniture. It was used by Bunuel as a device for creating some sort of solidarity and consistency throughout the film for the sake of the audience. Bunuel also used a series of title cards stating a progression of time, however these jump around from ‘eight years later’ to ‘around three in the morning’ to ‘sixteen years later’ which in itself is confusing. This kind of narrative structure, where an audience is shown a sequence of images loosely linked together was known as ‘dream logic’ and was favoured by surrealists at the time.

Time frames and narratives aside, there are reasons why this film is so famous, the number one reason probably being the infamous eyeball scene. At the beginning of the film, we see a man sharpening a cut throat knife while gazing at the moon. A woman is sitting looking straight into the camera and the man takes the knife, pulls open her eyelid and brazenly slices her eyeball in half, spilling all kinds of horrible fluid on to her cheek. For years people speculate how Bunuel and Dali constructed this scene arguing about where the eyeball came from, but in 1975 Bunuel came out with the truth and said it was the eye of a baby calf and he bleached the fur of the calf so much that it would look like human skin. He certainly did a good job of making this look convincing, even now almost 90 years on it looks real and is probably just as harrowing as the day it was premiered. 

As famous as this scene may be, it is probably not the weirdest thing you’ll see in Un Chien Andalou. How about a man pulling on some ropes with the tablets of the Ten Commandments attached? What if the ropes were also attached to two priests being dragged along the floor? Better still, what if they were then attached to a piano with a dead donkey laying on it? Yes, this all happens. Bunuel and Dali were certainly on a roll when they came up with that little sequence of events.  Overlapping frames and bizarre images makes Un Chien Andalou interesting viewing, whether you like it or not, you certainly won’t see anything else like it. Unique in name and nature and edited in Luis Bunuel’s kitchen, he deserves a round of applause for creating such an unforgettable film which has gone down in film and art history.

Un Chien Andalou can be found in the Information Store DVD Zone at 791.430944. It comes in a box with another film by Dali and Bunuel called L'Age D'or. Maybe you could give that one a try too!

Further Reading in The Information Store

Un Chien Andalou (book) - Book Zone - 791.4372
Belle du Jour by Luis Bunuel - DVD Zone - 791.430944
Salvador Dali 1904-1989 by Gilles Neret - Book Zone - 759.6

A Very Special Christmas DVD Review!

Rather than choosing one of our Christmas DVD's, we've chosen...5 of them!
 
Here is our rundown of all things Christmassy in the DVD Zone.
 

5) Elf

Buddy the Elf is no ordinary Elf. In fact, he’s not an Elf at all. As an infant, Buddy adventurously crawled into Santa’s sack one Christmas eve and was accidentally taken back to the North Pole where he was adopted by one of the Elves. A few years on Buddy is three times taller than everyone else, has no natural capabilities in hand crafting toys and is beginning to question his origins.  Papa Elf tells him that his Father lives in New York City and has no knowledge of Buddy existing as his Mother put him up for adoption and died shortly afterwards. Don’t worry, it gets more cheerful from here.

So off Buddy goes to meet his Father, Walter, who is less than impressed when Buddy arrives at his office in full elf uniform and starts singing to him. Buddy suffers a fair bit of misfortune in New York including getting accidentally drunk in a post room, being hit by a taxi cab and getting into a fight with a toy shop Santa. However, some good does come out of all of this when he meets the blonde haired, blue eyed Jovie, a beautiful little Elf who works at the toy store. However, Jovie has also lost all of her Christmas Spirit, as has the majority of New Yorkers, including Walters wife and son.

 

Christmas Eve is soon upon us and Santa’s sleigh breaks down and crashes into Central Park. The engine is broken and the presents need delivering and the rawkus has attracted quite a crowd of people curious as to what ‘fell from the sky’.  Santa tells Buddy that the only thing to make his sleigh fly is Christmas cheer, and what’s the best way to spread Christmas cheer? ‘By singing loud for all to hear’. Expect a good old rendition of Santa Claus is Coming to Town, a lump in your throat, a warm feeling in your belly and very happy ending.

Will Ferrell is the perfect oversized Elf and his love of Christmas, Syrup and his Father lead him into some quite interesting situations. Predictable yet well executed, Elf will never have the classic status of something like Home Alone, but it is still a great Christmas movie that sets out to do exactly what it wants to do.

 

4) The Grinch

 ‘Inside a snowflake like the one on your sleeve, there happened a story you must see to believe’

It's Christmas in Whoville, and all the Who’s are frantically rushing around doing their Christmas shopping, grabbing bargains and knocking each other over. One of these Who’s, Cindy Lou, becomes frustrated that everyone, even her family have lost sight of what Christmas is all about. Feeling glum. She looks for a distraction and her adventurous little mind stumbles across the story of The Grinch, a hateful creature who lives on Mount Crumpit, overlooking the town. The Grinch hates Christmas, everything about it he loathes and despises, the only thing he seems to tolerate is his dog, Max. Nobody knows the reason behind his hatred, but what we do learn is that his heart is ‘two sizes too small’, withering away inside his green, fluffy chest. 

Cindy Lou wants to find out why the Grinch is so hateful so she speaks to his Mothers. She learns of his unfortunate childhood and the bullying he received at school in front of his childhood sweetheart Martha May. Little Cindy Lou decides that she wants to reignite the fire in the Grinch’s belly so she goes to Mount Crumpit to invite the Grinch to the Whobilation (Whoville’s most important celebration), hoping this might encourage him to show a bit of festive spirit. The Grinch however sees this as an opportunity to get into some mischief, but he ends up enjoying himself and getting involved with the festive activities. Things turn sour when the Mayor proposes to the Grinch’s childhood love Martha with a ring the size of Mount Crumpit and makes a mean joke about the Grinch in front of the whole town. The Grinch then tears the town apart and burns the Christmas tree before returning to his cave to wallow in self pity once more.

Hating the Whos, he builds a sleigh and steals all the presents and trees from every Who in Whoville. Although a successful haul, it fails to dampen the spirits of the Who’s below who start singing. Cindy Lou wants to wish the Grinch a Merry Christmas so ascends the great Mount Crumpit. The Grinch, angered that he hasn’t destroyed Christmas doesn’t notice Cindy Lou and his sleigh starts slipping towards her. A mixture of the singing, the realisation that Christmas isn’t something you can steal and the sight of the endangered Cindy Lou causes the Grinch’s heart to grow three sizes and he saves Cindy Lou’s life.

Not only is this film funny, but in true Dr Seuss style, it has a fairly significant message too. Jim Carrey is hilarious as the Grinch, and young Taylor Momsen perfectly illustrates the innocence of youth through Cindy Lou. It has all the elements of a good Christmas movie; a villain, a hero, a moment when the villain becomes the hero and lots and lots of snow. The glue that holds the whole thing together is the enchanting poetic legacy of Dr Seuss.

 

3) Miracle on 34^th Street - 1947

Set between Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, Miracle on 34^th Street is regarded as one of the greatest Christmas movies of all time. In New York City on the day of the Thanksgiving Parade, the man hired by Macy’s department store to be Santa Claus is intoxicated so the store manager, Doris, hires another man who calls himself Kris Cringle to take his place. This man claims to be the real Santa Clause but Doris, doesn’t believe in the notion of fantasy and has taught her daughter to think the same. Kris Cringle is regarded as insane by the people around him and after an unfortunate dispute with a psychologist; he is despairingly forced into failing a medical exam, proving his insanity. However, people start to see something in him, the improbability of events that occur just don’t add up and even Doris and her daughter start questioning whether he may in fact be the real Santa. Doris hires Fred Gaily, a friend of hers to represent Kris in court where they can fight for his sanity and prove he is the real Santa. All hope seems lost and the light at the end of the tunnel is barely visible, surely what they need is a miracle…

Directed by George Seaton in 1947, it’s a classic Christmas tale and was remade in 1994 by Les Mayfield. For today’s audience, it is very dated.  Even the 1994 version is dated but it's timeless message will always stay the same.

 

 

2) The Muppets Christmas Carol

I could have chosen the normal A Christmas Carol, the animated A Christmas Carol or even, Scrooge but instead I went with The Muppets, as it is one of my personal favourites.

The story, as we all know, is based on the classic tale written by Charles Dickens about a greedy, hateful man called Ebenezer Scrooge. He is horrible to his employees, to his family and he is the most hated man in town. He is visited by three ghosts on Christmas Eve who show him the past, present and the future. Firstly, reminded of his past and the moment he lost his one true love because of his reculsive and negative attitude. He is then taken to the present to Bob Cratchit’s house, one of his employees, who has a dying son called Tiny Tim who just wants his family to be together and happy for Christmas. Here he sees that material possessions and money are not what is making this family happy, but the love they have for one another.  Finally, he is shown the grim reality of what the future holds for him and for poor little Tiny Tim.

It’s the perfect redemption story and other adaptations it can be quite eerie. However, this version is by The Muppets so there is very minimal eeriness and lots more silliness instead. Scrooge is played by Michael Caine, and Bob Cratchit and his wife are Kermit and Miss Piggy. The story is told by Charles Dickens, otherwise known as The Great Gonzo and his pal, Rizzo the Rat. It’s a highly entertaining adaptation of a classic Christmas story and its message is just as clear, albeit slightly devoid of some of the novels more poignant moments.  With plenty of songs to sing a-long to, and moments to laugh out loud to, it’s a great family film that doesn’t get boring, in true Muppets style, when things start to get a bit serious, they just do something stupid to make up for it. 

 

 

      1) It’s a Wonderful Life

A year before Miracle on 34^th Street hit the movie theatres, It's a Wonderful Life enchanted audiences with its beautiful, honest tale of one mans relentless selflessness overcoming all odds. Set in New York, the film follows a troubled young man called George Bailey. George’s family and friends have been praying to the heavens for someone to help him, and so an Angel called Clarence, who is yet to earn his wings, reviews George’s life with the head Angels to decide whether he deserves their help or not.

The film chronologically moves through George’s life from the age of 12 to his present age at the beginning of the film. We see the sacrifices he made as a young man, and how his efforts to travel the world are constantly thwarted by some sort of incident which ends up making him stay. Things repeatedly look hopeful and then everything crashes down around him over and over again. He and his new wife even sacrifice the money saved for their honeymoon in helping the company George started from going bankrupt. George and Mary start a family and his brother, Harry, receives the Medal of Honour for serving in WWII. Things certainly look like they are on the up. That is until the evil Mr Potter, from a rival company, unlawfully acquires money from George and his company goes into bankruptcy. George goes and gets drunk at a nearby bar and after crashing his car into a tree he tries to commit suicide by jumping into a river. However, Clarence the Angel’s moment to shine arrives and he jumps in the river first, knowing full well that George will save him.  Clarence reveals himself to be George’s Guardian Angel, and George tells Clarence he wishes he had never been born, so Clarence shows George what the world would be like if he wasn’t in it. All the good things that happen to George’s family and friends were out of acts of selflessness of George so without him everything goes wrong for everyone.  George learns to value and appreciate what he has, and Clarence allows him ‘to live again’ earning him his wings and George a wonderful life.

Despite a mixed reception on its release, It’s a Wonderful Life appears in the BFI’s 100 greatest films of all time list, and AFI’s and IMDB’s. It’s the epitome of a Christmas movie, it’s heartfelt and emotional yet funny and serious all at the same time. The fact that it’s set at Christmas time is the cherry on top of an already magnificently iced cake.

I don’t know about you, but I’m beginning to notice a theme with these Christmas movies…New York, bad guy turned good, redemption, morals…? Anyway, why not give one of these films a go and invite that warmness into your heart that only a Christmas movie can bring.

 "Welcome Christmas while we stand, heart to heart and hand in hand."

- Dr Seuss (1957)

 

Further Reading in The Information Store:

Elf – DVD ZONE – 791.43

The Grinch – DVD ZONE – 791.43

The Muppets Christmas Carol – DVD ZONE – 791.43

It’s a Wonderful Life – DVD ZONE – 791.43

Miracle on 34^th Street – DVD ZONE – 791.43

Why not take a look at our Christmas display of books by the Issue Desk? We’ve got everything from cookery to crafts!

Happy Christmas Everyone!

Consider yourself invited!

Vince Laws (poet, performer, artist and campaigner) will be giving a talk and performance of his poetry in the HE Zone next Monday (3rd December).

Vince campaigns to remove the stigma of HIV and mental health. He will be in the HE Zone from 12-1pm, please come along and show him your support for some or all of this hour. It looks to be a full on and exciting hour!

http://www.vincelaws.com/cv.htm

Coming soon...Road Safety Week

Watch this space or, more specifically, the seating area in the Information Store next to the newspapers.

Next week we will have a selection of books and DVDs for you to borrow on learning to drive, and most importantly, learning how to drive safely.

The Wellbeing Zone also has a wide selection of leaflets about road safety - pop upstairs and have a look.