1980s cover versions

Grant Lee Phillips has released an album called nineteeneighties. (read a review - hold this item. His cover versions of songs by The Cure, Robyn Hitchcock etc are dreamily low key and evocative. He even takes on one of my favourite epics - Echo and the Bunnymen's The Killing Moon.

Coincidentally, Q magazine (August 2006) focused on the 80s music scene and came with a cd of cover versions.

And yes it is official - every 80s cover version album must feature The Smiths - Phillips does "Last night I dreamt that somebody loved me" and the Q magazine cd has Clayhill doing "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want".

Best books of 2006

Tell us your favourite reads of 2006

What books did you read this year that you just couldn’t stop telling people about? Now is your chance to share your impeccable literary taste with a very wide audience via our Best Reads of the Year list (see the 2005 list).

Tell us which books you loved in 2006 and why - preferably books that came out this year but there could be room for a timeless classic section if you are passionate enough about them.

The Library has kept lists of staff and customers' favourite books since 2001 - reading them is a great way to find out something interesting to read.

6 word stories at Wired

Wired this month (Nov 2006) has a great little article wherein they've asked a bunch of, mostly sci fi and fantasy, authors to write a story in six words. In the printed magazine many of them have then been designed into artworks but print being limited in size they had to leave some out so pop along to the web site to read them all - and additional ones in the comments.

They are mostly pretty great so its hard to pick a favourite but I did like Joss Whedon's: "Gown removed carelessly. Head, less so." and "Dinosaurs return. Want their oil back." by David Brin.

Curb your enthusiasm

Larry David was the hidden genius co-creator of the comedy Seinfeld. The neurotic character George Costanza was based on Larry.

But in the series Curb your Enthusiasm he is the star - sociopathic, inappropriate, and living out all the dilemmas of modern day manners.

Not everyone will find his misadventures funny, but if you like your humour dry and bracing this is the show for you. Painfully funny and cringe inducing.

For more tv comedies at the library:
see Comedy - video recordings
and Television comedy

Our collection includes Blackadder, The Office and Extras by Ricky Gervais, and The Good Life.