To truly appreciate literature, the reader should explore other text types/forms such as plays, speeches, essays and journal articles. This page will explore these miscellaneous types of writing which all add to the richness of the written word and the appreciation of good writing in its many forms.
Danebank library holds a range of magazines which include some excellent writing.
The Big Issue
Meanjin
The New Yorker
TimeDanebank Library subscribes to online editions of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Daily Telegraph. Other newspapers can be accessed online such as The New York Times and The Guardian. There are exceptional journalists who write for daily newspapers and their writing should be appreciated for its analysis of current events and for the depth that their insight can bring to an issue that is currently in the news. However, newspapers have inherent biases, some lean more to progressive or conservative viewpoints and it is wise to bear this in mind when reading. It is best to read widely and critically so that you gain a balanced understanding.
The Opposite of loneliness by
An affecting and hope-filled posthumous collection of essays and stories from the talented young Yale graduate whose title essay captured the world's attention in 2012 and turned her into an icon for her generation. Marina Keegan's star was on the rise when she graduated magna cum laude from Yale in May 2012. She had a play that was to be produced at the New York International Fringe Festival and a job waiting for her at the New Yorker. Tragically, five days after graduation, Marina died in a car crash. As her family, friends, and classmates, deep in grief, joined to create a memorial service for Marina, her unforgettable last essay for the Yale Daily News, "The Opposite of Loneliness," went viral, receiving more than 1.4 million hits. She had struck a chord. Even though she was just twenty-two when she died, Marina left behind a rich, expansive trove of prose that, like her title essay, captures the hope, uncertainty, and possibility of her generation. The Opposite of Loneliness is an assemblage of Marina's essays and stories that, like The Last Lecture, articulates the universal struggle that all of us face as we figure out what we aspire to be and how we can harness our talents to make an impact on the world.
Us women, our ways, our world by
This stunning collection of essays by highly successful Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women is a testament to their courage, resilience and tenacity. Each woman has been an inspiration in her field and a driving force in the fight to secure a better future. Us Women, Our Ways, Our World was born from a profound commitment to provide a space for Indigenous Australian women to reflect upon and identify aspects of their lives that have enabled them to become the women they are today. Share the personal and aspirational in these thought-provoking essays.
Summer of the seventeenth doll by
No play has been more important to the history of the Australian theatre than Ray Lawler's Summer of the Seventeenth Doll. Today Lawler's brawny Queensland canecutters and their long-standing seasonal romance with two Melbourne barmaids are part of the Australian legend.
Mr Takahashi and other falling secrets by
Darwin 1942 -- WWII: A town collapses under the threat of invasion as bombshells drop on Northern Australia. Mothers and daughters, sisters, friends and entire cultures are torn apart by the secrets that start to fall. Is Mr Takahashi to blame? Japan unleashes a wave of attacks on Northern Australia, and Darwin is hit with more bombs than Pearl Harbour. Mr Takahashi turns the lens upon ordinary people caught in the storm that was World War II. It tells the stories of Darwin's multicultural and Indigenous women whose lives were forever changed by the bombings of February 19. Japan also attacked Cairns and Townsville.
A Midsummer Night's Dream by
Shakespeare's best loved play. The famous story of spirits and spells, tricks and potions, lovers lost and found, and a perfect happy ending.
These are recommended Databases from the State Library of NSW
You will need your State Library Card - click the link below and enter your library card number to access resources.
The Art of time travel: historians and their craft by
Writing good history is a high-wire act of balance and grace. Historians scour their own societies for vestiges of past worlds, for cracks and fissures in the pavement of the present, and for the shimmers and hauntings of history in everyday action. In The Art of Time Travel, eminent historian and award-winning author Tom Griffiths explores the craft of discipline and imagination that is history.
Norse Mythology by
The great Norse myths are woven into the fabric of our storytelling - from Tolkien, Alan Garner and Rosemary Sutcliff to Game of Thrones and Marvel Comics. They are also an inspiration for Neil Gaiman's own award-bedecked, bestselling fiction. Now he reaches back through time to the original source stories in a thrilling and vivid rendition of the great Norse tales. Gaiman's gods are thoroughly alive on the page - irascible, visceral, playful, passionate - and the tales carry us from the beginning of everything to Ragnarok and the twilight of the gods.
Half Hours with the Best Thinkers by
Excerpts from twenty-six works by the greatest minds of the last two thousand years including Confucius, Machiavelli, Marx.
The News: a user's manual by
Alain de Botton explores our relationship with 'the news' in this book full of his trademark wit and wisdom. Following on from his bestselling Religion for Atheists, Alain de Botton turns now to look at the manic and peculiar positions that 'the news' occupies in our lives. We invest it with an authority and importance which used to be the preserve of religion - but what does it do for us? Mixing current affairs with philosophical reflections, de Botton offers a brilliant illustrated guide to the precautions we should take before venturing anywhere near the news and the 'noise' it generates. Witty and global in reach, The News will ensure you'll never look at reports of a celebrity story or political scandal in quite the same way again.
