Meet Your Librarians

Since we want you to tell us about what you like to read, we thought it only fair to tell you a little about ourselves.  So please scroll down to Meet Your Librarians.

 

Helen Rowe - Library & Information Services Manager

My reading tastes:  I read mainly fiction, especially anything with a strong sense of place or history. When I want something a bit different I will read non-fiction, usually popular science. And for real comfort reading I am most likely to go back and re-read some favourite 19th century classics.

 

My all time favourite 5 books: 

  • Elizabeth Gaskell  - North and South
  • Harper Lee  - To Kill a Mockingbird
  • George Orwell – Nineteen Eighty-Four
  • Rose Tremain  - Restoration
  • Kate Atkinson  - Behind the Scenes at the Museum

 

My favourite childhood book:  Any of the Just William books by Richmal Crompton

 

My favourite place to read:  Inside by the fire on a cold winter’s afternoon.

 

 

 

 

Janet Stopper – Assistant Library & Information Services Manager (Adults & Communities)

My reading tastes:  In general I like to read the current, hot titles that everyone is talking about (might be Ian McEwan or Jonathan Coe for example), interspersed with the odd classic (Mrs Gaskell, the Brontes) and occasionally a crime novel (Ian Rankin, Peter Robinson). For comfort reading, I head for historical novels such as Philippa Gregory and Rafael Sabatini. I also like some early 20C, half-forgotten writers such as E M Delafield and A J Cronin.

I’m scarred by reading some science-fiction short stories years ago, which were chilling. There are also some biggies that I don’t like – this will shock you because two of them are Wuthering Heights and Gone With the Wind.

 

My all time favourite 5 books:

  • Thomas Hardy - Far from the Madding Crowd
  • W G Hoskins - The Making of the English Landscape
  • George Eliot - Silas Marner, Adam Bede or Middlemarch (can’t choose so I am fudging it!)
  • Barbara Kingsolver - The Poisonwood Bible
  • Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird 

 

My favourite childhood book:  Any title from Ruby Ferguson’s series of Jill pony books

 

My favourite place to read:  In bed, around a swimming pool on holiday, in the garden on a sunny day.

 

Other information:  I would never travel anywhere without a book – what if I’m stranded or the car breaks down?  Dilemma – to re-read favourites – or to explore new titles?

 

 

Colin Brabazon – Assistant Library & Information Services Manager (Children & Young People)

My reading tastes:  Very wide-ranging! Novels, short stories (especially ghost stories), history, natural history and art. Children’s books – for my job and because I enjoy reading them anyway.  The only thing I don’t read is science fiction!

 

My all time favourite 5 books:

  • Graham Swift – Waterland
  • P.G Wodehouse – Summer Lightning
  • Wainwright – The Central Fells
  • Jan Mark – Thunder and Lightnings
  • F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby

 

My favourite childhood book:  The Beano Annuals 1972 – 1977

 

My favourite place to read:  In bed first thing in the morning with a cup of tea and a biscuit – preferably with a view of Lakeland fells through the window (or the tent flap) and the promise of spending the rest of the day exploring them.

 

 

Coral De Thabrew – Librarian (Adults & Communities)

My reading tastes:  Mainly non-fiction and classic fiction nowadays, although I will occasionally read a new novel that catches my eye, e.g. The lovely bones, by Alice Sebold.

 

My all time favourite 5 books: 

  • The Dhammapada: the essential teachings of the Buddha
  • Wordsworth and Coleridge - Lyrical Ballads
  • Henry Fielding - Tom Jones
  • D. H. Lawrence - The Rainbow
  • Dylan Thomas - Under Milk Wood 

 

My favourite childhood book:  David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

 

My favourite place to read:  Bed

 

 

Jane Carnie – Librarian (Adults & Communities)

My reading tastes:  I like contemporary fiction that is intriguing and slightly quirky.  I prefer books that are well written and not too descriptive.

 

My all time favourite 5 books: 

  • Audrey Niffenegger – The Time Traveller’s Wife
  • Alice Sebold – The Lovely Bones
  • Julie Myerson – Laura Blundy
  • Mark Haddon – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
  • Arthur Golden – Memoirs of a Geisha

 

My favourite childhood book:  Any of the Enid Blyton Mystery series

 

My favourite place to read:  In bed on a lazy Sunday morning with a mug of ground coffee and sunshine streaming through the windows.

 

 

Lynda Conlon – Librarian (Adults & Communities)

My reading tastes: Mixed – I love a lot of contemporary novelists but have an enduring affection for post-war British fiction, e.g. Stan Barstow, Alan Sillitoe, John Braine, Iris Murdoch, because I read so much of it as a teenager.  I often prefer style over content/plot and love the writing styles of popular contemporary authors such as Ian McEwan, Joanne Harris and Zadie Smith.

 

My all time favourite 5 books: 

  • Kingsley Amis -Lucky Jim 
  • Philip Larkin - A Girl in Winter
  • Donna Tartt - The Secret History
  • J D Salinger - Catcher in the rye
  • Graham Greene - Our man in Havana

 

My favourite childhood book:  Anything by Antonia Forrest or Ruby Ferguson

 

My favourite place to read:  In bed, post-bath

 

 

Veronica Robinson – Librarian (Adults & Communities)

My reading tastes:  Nothing too long, too hard, too complicated, too heavy going or too taxing.

 

My all time favourite 5 books:

  • Michelle Magorian - Goodnight Mr Tom
  • Dan Brown - Da Vinci Code
  • J. K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
  • Jane Austen - Sense and Sensibility
  • Quentin Blake - Mrs Armitage on Wheels

 

My favourite childhood book:  Any Naughty School Girl stories by Enid Blyton

 

My favourite place to read:  A hot steamy bath, preferably a Jacuzzi bath.

 

 

 

Yvonne Lea - Librarian (Adults & Communities)

My reading tastes:  I have always enjoyed anything escapist, including fantasy, science fiction, and adult/teen crossover titles. Since involvement with reading groups, I have diversified into crime, historical and anything else (often unusual) that takes my fancy.

 

My all time favourite 5 books:

Please note these are in no particular order, as they have each been “favourite” at one time or another.

  • J. R. R. Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings
  • Carlos Ruiz Zafon - Shadow of the wind 
  • William Horwood - Skallagrigg
  • Malorie Blackman - Noughts and crosses 
  • Mark Haddon - Curious incident of the dog in the nighttime

 

My favourite childhood book:  Beatrix Potter’s “The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies”

 

My favourite place to read:  I vividly remember reading Jonathan Livingstone Seagull on the beach at Port Erin, Isle of Man, with seagulls soaring overhead – magical. In summer my favourite place to read is on holiday, preferably with a picturesque view, and a glass of the local speciality to add to the experience. In winter it is snugly wrapped up in a comfortable chair in front of a warm fire.

 

 

Carol Longbone – Local Studies Librarian

My reading tastes:  Varied but in the main I like large doses of Science fiction and fantasy as I like “what if” books. I will read detective novels, mainly Tony Hillerman, and things that catch my eye in reviews as well as books on art and craft and cookery.

 

My all time favourite 5 books:

  • J.R.R. Tolkien - Lord of the Rings
  • Anything by C. J. Cherryh
  • Nigel Slater - The Kitchen Diaries
  • Ursula K Le Guin - The Lathe of Heaven
  • Elizabeth Kostova - The Historian

 

My favourite childhood book:  The Wind in the Willows

 

My favourite place to read:  I’ll read anywhere, on the train, in the kitchen, in bed as well as curled up on the chair.

 

 

Tim Davies – Librarian (Adults and Communities)

My reading tastes:  I read a lot of non-fiction, especially around art and music, history, literature, science and religion - unfortunately, I'm still useless at Trivial Pursuit.  Folktales and fairy stories are always fascinating, and differently nuanced in each retelling. They can be surprisingly naughty (or even sinister) sometimes, too...  As for fiction, I dabble in the classics occasionally - Hardy and Trollope (A, not J) get a thumbs up, as do Nabukov and PG Wodehouse from the 20th century; however, I do tend to gravitate towards crime, thrillers and humour - especially as I get older and grumpier.  In mainstream fiction, I'm always tempted by anything that combines my interests: 'Girl with a Pearl Earring', 'Music and Silence', that type of thing... 

 

My all time favourite 5 books:

  • Choderlos de Laclos - Les Liaisons Dangereuses
  • John le Carré - The Spy Who Came In From The Cold 
  • AE Housman - A Shropshire Lad
  • Malcolm Pryce - Last Tango in Aberystwyth (and the rest of the series...)
  • Iain Pears - An Instance of the Fingerpost/The Dream of Scipio (They're both equally good...)

 

My favourite childhood book: Sir Nobonk and the Terrible, Awful, Naughty, Nasty Dragon by Spike Milligan (when I was quite young),  Right Ho, Jeeves (when I was older)

 

My favourite place to read: I've been known to take the train, just to get some reading done. (Well, it isn't for the coffee...)  But, I must confess, I've found worse places than the corner of a quiet pub - especially if there's real ale and a real fire.

 

 

Suzanne Rhodes – Librarian (Reference / Children & Young People)

My reading tastes:  I like contemporary women’s fiction (otherwise known as Chick-Lit) such as Freya North, Marian Keyes, Melissa Nathan etc but also love the classics that were the inspiration for many of these i.e. Jane Austen and the Brontes.  I also love reading cookery books, even if I don’t always get round to making everything in them.  To me, the sign of a great book is one that I can quite happily read it over and over again and where I can really get to know and identify with the characters.

 

My all time favourite 5 books:

  • Jane Austen – Pride and Prejudice
  • Emily Bronte – Wuthering Heights
  • Melissa Nathan – Pride, Prejudice and Jasmin Field (republished as Acting Up)
  • Daphne du Maurrier – Rebecca
  • Audrey Niffenegger – The Time Traveller’s Wife (despite the fact that it made me cry)

 

My favourite childhood book:  I read anything and everything as a child so it’s hard to pick a favourite.  I love Roald Dahl, so anything by him is on the favourites list, especially The Twits.  I also loved reading my mum’s copy of Spike Milligan’s  Silly verse for kids that she'd had when she was small.

 

My favourite place to read:  Curled up on the sofa on a winter’s afternoon with a big mug of tea.

 

 

Rosie Scotting – Librarian (Children & Young People)

My reading tastes:  Historical and “costume drama” but not whodunits.  I like descriptions of landscapes and anything with animals, especially cats.  Crafty non-fiction.

 

My all time favourite 5 books:

  • Mary Stewart – The Crystal Cave
  • Michael Morpurgo – Singing for Mrs Pettigrew
  • Rosamunde Pilcher – The Shell Seekers
  • Joanne Harris – Blackberry Wine
  • Nancy Turner – These is my words

 

My favourite childhood book:  Original Rupert, The Hobyahs, Enid Blyton

 

My favourite place to read:  Comfy chair with cat on knee and cup of tea, and absolute quiet!

 

 

Jemima Kelly - Librarian (Children and Young People) 

My reading tastes:  My reading material tends to be very varied.  I read a lot of children's fiction.  The adult fiction that I read tends to be books that have been recommended by family and friends.  I also enjoy poetry and plays.

 

My all time favourite 5 books:

  • Kahil Gibran - The Prophet
  • Emily Bronte - Wuthering Heights
  • Peter Carey - The True History of the Kelly Gang
  • Radclyffe Hall - The Well of Loneliness
  • Elizabeth Kostova - The Historian

 

My favourite childhood book:  Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne

 

My favourite place to read:  I mostly read in bed.  I have been known to spend the whole day wrapped in a duvet with my nose in a book in various rooms in the house.  I love to read on long plane/train/ferry journeys and on the beach of course.

 

 

Ann Rowlands -  Librarian

My reading tastes:  Wide range in tastes from "who dunnit" mysteries, historical novels, some classics, and general fiction with a local setting (for a good laugh Gervase Phinn is ideal)  to animal and country stories (both fiction and non-fiction) and down to earth with gardening books.

 

My all time favourite 5 books:

  • Anya Seton - Katherine
  • Rosamunde Pilcher - Winter Solstice
  • Cynthia Harrold-Eagles - The Morland Dynasty series
  • Gervase Phinn - Up and Down in the Dales
  • Tracy Chevalier - Girl with a Pearl Earring

 

My favourite childhood book:  Wind in the Willows by Graham Greene and Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

 

My favourite place to read:  Cold winter day, sitting by the fire with a hot cup of tea.

 

Now you've seen what librarians like to read, why not see the choices of your local library staff