Oxford Brookes University Library

Don't miss our great little video '6 essential things about the Library' - with jolly music to brighten your day!
https://youtu.be/hAW4oVFaDOI

"I have had a bit of a love/hate relationship with Alexis Deacon. As with Shaun Tan and Maurice Sendak, the first time I see his work the experience grates on me. I don’t immediately like it yet I know there is something powerful and provocative going on behind the drawings and words and that it is this calling that jars so much. Deacon’s pictures are never warm or comforting or easy but they are deeply expressive, thought-provoking and they sit in your mind like a soft-paste...l splinter. The book I love of his is one he illustrated but did not write.The writer, in fact, was Russell Hoban who, much like the illustrator, was a writer whose stories took time to like and understand. They are generally philosophical in context and always ask the reader to look beyond the word surface. The name of the children’s book is Jim’s Lion.
The book is a perfect example of what a real picturebook does: both words and the pictures share the weight of the storytelling. It also illustrates something that many people do not realise: that even books for older children, even adults, can have pictures in them and that these pictures can evoke within the reader as rich and imaginative an experience as words can."
Mat Tobin, Senior Lecturer in English and Children’s Literature
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"Jane Grigson was an inspiring food writer; an educated woman writing about the pleasures and meanings of food at a time when women were expected to be compiling recipes, not gastronomy. I’ve been mainly reading her thoughts about cake because I’ve been writing a book on its history, but Good Things* (published in 1973 during her long stint as a food journalist at the Observer) is an amazing collection of articles on another passion of mine: seasonal and local eating, all suf...fused with strong sense of history. Jane has left us countless recipes for traditional British fare, including her now-famous curried parsnip soup – but I love her reminiscences of Betty’s Tea Room in Harrogate, and Grasmere Gingerbread."
Dr Alysa Levene, Reader in History
*The book is part of the Jane Grigson library in the Special Collections
#lovebrookesbooks
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Here's the Vice Chancellor Professor Alistair Fitt discussing one of his favourite books for #LoveBrookesBooks

When I first met my boyfriend, he already had a real interest in primates, and over the last six years he has enlightened me into this way of thinking! This is my favourite book on primates, as it features not only detailed information, but also beautiful photos of each species. These photos remind me of many happy days spent together, visiting fascinating primates at sanctuaries, including a breath-taking Gibbon Rehabilitation Project in Thailand.
The combination of the book..., with its academic links to the award-winning Primate Conservation course at Brookes, and the chimp puppet, from our School Experience Centre, reflects the wide range of resources that the libraries at Brookes provide. It also sums up my personality; an academic nature which always wants to learn more, but never forgetting the importance of fun and happiness!
Tracey Bassett, Library Assistant (Customer Services)
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Special Collections is having an Open Day on Tuesday 8th March 10.00-17.00. Drop in to the Special Collections Reading Room (Basement Level of Headington Library, JHB Building) to view some treasures from the collections, browse the shelves, and check out the Archive Store.
The University's Special Collections and Archives are collected around five themes:
Art & Architecture... Food & Drink Public & Allied Health Publishing & Literary Prizes Oxford Brookes University
To find out more about the collections we hold, and to search our online catalogues, please visit our website: www.brookes.ac.uk/library/speccoll.html