Haddenham Library

24/10/2026

Don't forget the clocks go back an hour at 2am tonight...that's an extra hour of reading in bed on Sunday morning (of course).

22/10/2026

A reminder that if anyone wants their local November events on **The Third Page** in the library newsletter you need to let Andrea have them before the end of October so they can be included.
You can message her on here or via the library email.

21/10/2026

This Saturday is a Digital Saturday at the Haddenham Library.
10 'til noon as usual for all your borrowing* and tech help needs.

*yes...you can borrow a laptop or tablet just like you can a book.**

**yes...of course we still lend books...and jigsaws.

21/10/2026

BOOK GROUP
We welcomed two new members to the group this month and our discussion was about The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris which brought about some lively discussion the crux of which is there are two clear arguments for and against the tale. The pro stance is that it makes the Holocaust accessible - it's an easy read with a love story and happy ending thrown into the mix - who wouldn't enjoy that? We had at least one member who felt she knew very little before reading this book.

The counter argument is that it trivialises the Holocaust, several of the group felt they needed to feel more, that they felt uncomfortable for not feeling viscerally more than they did from reading this book and that the love story swept the true horror of Auschwitz under the carpet.

Then there was the accuracy. There was a fair amount of controversy when the book was published. These are after all the memories of an old man which were then collated and made into a novel by Heather Mills and that backlash has only grown with the publishing of not one but two sequels.
The Auschwitz Memorial Centre criticised The Tattooist of Auschwitz pointing out glaring historical errors and inconsistencies and claimed that it would give false knowledge to what life in the camps was actually like.

As to would we recommend this book to others?....probably not. Did we enjoy reading it?...in the main yes. This resulted in The Tattooist of Auschwitz being given 4 thumbs down and 7 thumbs up.

👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👎👎👎👎

We're sliding into Black History Month by the seat of our pants with Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche's book Purple Hibiscus and will be discussing it on the 17th of November.

20/10/2026

A reminder that 'The Case of the Missing Spire' is on THIS Thursday evening.

19/10/2026

Thank you Haddenham B**r Festival
We have purchased this years Guinness World Records book. We often see people browsing this book but you are welcome to borrow it. It is on the Adult non-fiction shelf but Children are also welcome to borrow it. Our old one was over 10 years old. The Suzanne Collins book is second prequel novel to the original The Hunger Games trilogy and is proving a popular book to borrow from other libraries.

19/10/2026

We have a new member of the book in training but we still managed to add lots of great books. There is lots of great new Junior Fiction, a few for the smaller sections (Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy) and some books that were bought with money donated by Haddenham B**r Festival - Haddenham, Ely

19/10/2026

Black History Month this year is 1–31 October 2026, with the national theme “Honouring Our Communities,” focusing on recognising everyday contributions of Black people across Britain. We feel what better way to recognise contributions than to showcase Black authors and/or books about Black people or culture.

17/10/2026

If you missed The Book That Changed My Life earlier in the week you can catch it on i player or on Sunday evening BBC2 at 5.35.

Here's the blurb beyond the click....

"Inspired by her passion to get people reading, Her Majesty Queen Camilla joins four remarkable people to share the stories of books that shaped them.

Warm, emotional and full of hope, the film shows how reading can lift people up, open minds and even change lives in a celebration of the magic power inside every book."

Something well worth watching in this National Year of Reading.

Five surprising and inspiring stories of how books can change lives.

16/10/2026

Thanks to Robin for this picture of the new village map that compliments the local history walks that are for sale in the Library, Spar and the Art Centre.
Taken from this angle you can see why it was placed on the village green...you should be able to orientate yourself with the map fairly easily.

You can also find out more about the local history walks here -
https://www.haddenhamlibrarycambs.co.uk/Haddenham-History-Walks/