#secretread at Trangie Library, NSW

There are other resources as well.  This visualisation of all the tweets has a searchable section.

Screen shot of Tags explorer beta for #rwpchat

You can search this archive by clicking on search on the top right of the screen. The image below shows a search for crime, but there are many more searches you can try.  More recent tweets are available here.

Showing a search for crime om Tags explorer beta

Have fun using these resources, and share the photographs on social media using #rwpchat.

Have a great year reading, watching and playing.

We’re still working to promote Readers’ Advisory Services across New South Wales and will continue to host the Annual Readers’ Advisory Seminar. Our next Seminar is 20 March 2019.

Thanks to all the partners  in particular the work of Surrey Libraries @SurreyLibraries and @ggnewed

This blog will stay here so you can continue to use these resources. We will also maintain our Twitter account to let you know of upcoming events, including our Annual Seminar.

Use the tags #chilloutread and #rwpchat as you discuss your reading, watching and playing, so others can join in the conversation too.

Will you be shivering or chilling with Ice station by Matthew Reilly, Ice Station Zebra by Alistair MacLean or Chasing the light by Jesse Blackadder? You may also want to explore the history of the Antarctic with information about Roald Amundsen, Ernest Shackleton, Robert Scott and their expeditions.

Will you be reading books which make chills go up your spine, or watching or reading tales of crime that makes your blood run cold or is true crime more your style? Do you chill with Jo Nesbo, Henning Mankell, Yrsa Sigurðardóttir and Karin Alvtegen and their characters in cold climates? Or are you seeking to chill out and relax? This could be a time to try reading some comics, or is reading about romance more your #chilloutread?

Perhaps ice-cream and gelato recipes will your #chilloutread, or will you be making cocktails, reading about craft beer, or even making it.

Hobbies can help us chill, so you may want to explore knitting, crochet, or cycling (or you could be knitting and crocheting while watching the cricket). Will you be playing winter sports in the chill to keep warm, or summer sports to chill out?

Do games help you chill? Does World of Warcraft help (with the chilly home world of the Dwarves and Gnomes), or do you chill with crossword or jigsaw puzzles, or would you rather scrabble or other board games?

What music helps you chill out? Or do you want the speakers to freeze so you have silence?

We also should include Frozen, The snow queen, and the Lion, the witch and the wardrobe. If you want sadder reading try, The little match girl and the Happy prince, and of course, “Winter is coming”. The Hobbit and The Lord of the rings are also titles to watch or read or play.

Where’s your favourite place to chill out whilst you’re reading?

(c) Elliott Brown/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

What will be your favourite #chilloutread this month? Don’t forget …while you are reading, playing or watching, you might like to tweet about it using #chilloutread #rwpchat so that other people can have a conversation with you about it. You can add to the discussion on Pinterest too. You might like to post your photographs to Instagram or Flickr and use #chilloutread #rwpchat so others can share in your reading, watching and playing.

Make sure you include #chilloutread and #rwpchat

And as well as revisiting themes, there were some books that were so popular we revisited them for a number of themes. George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones was a particular fantasy favourite and came up in #redread, #questread, #darkread and #fanread discussions. And in a much less bloody style of writing Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice appeared in #classicread, #reelread and #heartread. Less bloody? We shouldn’t forget the mentions of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

This photograph is for those who have read Ice Station

January – #firstread What was the first Matthew Reilly title you read?

February – #wildread Matthew Reilly titles have wild elements, including wild driving, and some amazing wild animals

March – #redread Matthew Reilly titles have a lot of blood (yes even Jason Chaser hover car racer has some injuries) and people ‘seeing red’

April – #wellread Matthew Reilly titles may provide a sense of wellness upon completion as well as gratitude that life is not always so eventful

May – #localread these titles may be a local read as there are detailed descriptions of many different places around the world including central Australia, Paris and part of Egypt.

June – #technoread technology is often crucial including robots, sunglasses, prosthetic arms, watches (there is often a countdown) and aircraft.

July – #classicread Matthew Reilly titles are modern classics

August – #urbanread These novels often have some action in urban areas – this may involve theft, as well as attempts to kill or kidnap.

September–#reelread Matthew Reilly titles are yet to be filmed although there is a test film for Contest

October– #secretread Some people may read their Matthew Riley titles in secret (no need to do this), and there are secrets within the novels which can lead to much of the action (need I mention dragons)

November- #crimeread Matthew Riley novels often have crimes as key elements, some of these are government to government crimes, or crimes within governments, crimes within tournaments, as well as lots of conspiracies

December – #chilloutread some of these novels have snow and so have chilly locations (including Ice Station, Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves) however, the sheer amount of action in these can make them titles to chill out while you read them.

The Twitter discussion itself also featured chocolate, fruitcake, brownies and a black burger. But it wasn’t just books that featured, there was also classical music for Halloween, and a cross over into heavy metal cookbooks. Lots of people enjoyed sharing their dark fix during that discussion.

For these “real world” events many books, films, and television shows featured in the discussions, mostly focused on non-fiction and biographical representations of these events along with opportunities to discover fictional interpretations of them as well. And the backdrop of events such as these and other key important events and issues has given many writers the opportunity to educate as well as share their fictional tales. And on a lighter note, Star Wars Day (May the 4th); the 200th anniversary of the publication of Frankenstein and birth of Emily Bronte; and the 20th anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter (yes, it has been that long already!) have also been featured and celebrated here.

Children’s books are a great starting point, but the options are almost endless with many films featuring animals whether real, imagined or fictional.  There are animal heroes and comedians, military animals, and other working animals, as well as the people who work with then, or heal them.

We can’t ignore paranormal reading either, with werewolves and other shapeshifters, and don’t forget the selkies.

Animals also feature in microscience titles such as Cod, exploring these subjects in much loving detail.

Rats feature in many works such as Rats of Nimh, Ratatouille,  and with the character Death of Rats in many Terry Pratchett novels, and other animals are the focus of different mythologies.

Animals are participants in sports, but there are also issues of animal welfare.

There are imagined, hybridised (Island of Dr Moreau), and recreated animals (Jurassic Park) Synthetic Animals/Extinct Animals(Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep).

There is much to read about endangered animals as well.

Games also involve animals (Fleece lightning, World of Warcraft).

Plus, there is also also animal husbandry and recipes involving animals.

What are your favourites for  #furread?

Crime writing offers windows into the worlds of the worst types of criminals. These tales also let us travel – across time and around the world – we can work hard to solve the crime or we can sit back and let our heroes and heroines being offenders to account for what they have done. What are your favourite crime related reads? Any films or games? What are the blogs, Twitter streams or magazines you read for #crimeread? What about podcasts?