Footscray Mechanics' Institute Library

16/10/2026

14/10/2026

Next FREE talk to members:

"HARRY HOUDINI - a retrospective"

In this chat we'll learn about the greatest escapologist of all time.

Where: FMI Reading Room
When: Friday 30th October 2026, 1pm
Cost: FREE to members

08/10/2026

check our library catalogue here: https://bookmark.central.sa.edu.au/fmi.htm

07/10/2026

another cute read from the FMI collection...

07/10/2026

What's in Your Backyard? Expo event...reaching out to the people of Footscray and sharing our history, story and facilities.

06/10/2026

Trains delayed yet again! 😡
Cam will be in soon- he's enroute now.

24/09/2026

From the FMI Collection: "The Clash - all the albums - all the songs"

The FMI Library has a stack of popular music books across all genres, the highlight today is "The Clash - all the albums - all the songs" by Martin Popoff.

Anyone interested in "the only band that mattered" will get their answers here in Popoff's superb analysis of the songs of The Clash.

He details their recorded output from 1977-1984, with majority of the songs co-written by the late Joe Strummer & Mick Jones.

Ideal for fans wishing to dig deeper into the albums, songs and recordings, but also a good introductory primer, full of self-empowerment and rehumanising of human potential.

"I wanna liquefy everybody gone dry" - "Clash City Rockers" - The Clash - (Strummer/Jones) 1978

Review by Cameron

24/09/2026

BOOK REVIEW: "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck

Published by Penguin edition 2014, in this case though original was from 1937. Another great find in FMI little library.

A tale of two drifters in early 1900s California. A tough existence. Lennie a huge massively strong imbecilic, and his minder/ mate George have lit out of a town full of trouble and are camping by the Salinas River. A bucolic scene as the two head toward a job on yet another ranch. Herons and snakes abound in the river and Lennie drinks from the river water direct. This is much to George's concern.

The story progresses through following days. The farm is managed for a corporation by a manager whose son suffers from little man syndrome and takes dislike to Lennie. George keen to get a stake together and dreaming of getting his own place one day warns all to take care of Lennies' strength. Don't mess with him he advises the others .

Men in the men's bunk house are introduced with great realism. The men work and relax, and things are complicated by the managers sons' wife who desperately lonely flirtaceously interfaces with male characters. Lennie has an obsession with soft furry things mice, puppies and girls hair. He doesn't know his own strength so seems to end up killing objects of his affection. So it proves and the story inevitably moves to its tragic finale. Read it and see.

The book is a novella which reads like a play or a play in prose form; Characters good, bad and ignorant are well portrayed, and images are well done metaphorically. The dreams of men come to nothing, similar to the snakes eaten by the herons in the river. A black character allows Steinbeck to explore a black mans reality in the California of the time sympathetically though, with the usual use of the' n 'word a la Mark Twain. The story is strong on character and setting. The setting of the novel in the Salinas valley would not allow anyone even an imbicile to drink of its river water today . The valley is heavily involved in agribusiness draining the aquifer, and the river is lined with oil wells. The river a hundred years on rarely flows except after flooding rains.

The writer Steinbeck lived the life of the men he describes at times in his life. He wrote other novels and won a Nobel prize for literature.. The recent edition of 'Footnotes' the FMI zine allows you dear members to explore a brief history of American literature. Further the reading room has a small exhibition of some of libraries holding of American writing. Come in and check it out. I will put book back in little library but you will have to be quick. Enjoyed book so much I read (well reread) it in one sitting.

Review by Neil.

17/09/2026

BOOK REVIEW:
"The Hound of The Baskervilles"
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

A classic of crime fiction. Set in the UK, but world famous. "The Hound.." as I refer to the book is a highly enjoyable read. Based around Sherlock Holmes, a detective, and his mate Dr Watson.
They reside at 221b Baker Street, London. The subject of four books and dozens of short stories, these characters changed the face of crime fiction. Often serialised in magazines, especially "The Strand" in the1890s, the stories continue to enthrall people. The character was so popular that when Conan Doyle the author attempted to kill off Holmes he was abused, and the magazine readership plummeted. He was forced to resurrect Holmes after a hiatus as demand was so great!

In "The Hound.." the story is about a spectral dog of legend who 'dogs' the family of minor aristocracy, whose home is on Dartmoor in Devon SW England. The tale is told thru the eyes of Dr Watson and involves him protecting the inheritor of the family manse where the previous owner, his distant relative, has been found dead. The story has the moor, crags, swamps and fogs, well described with several characters, including an escaped murderous prisoner, and various suspects in the suspicious death. The narrative is set up by various goings on in London, and the intervention of a well meaning neighbour. The story develops with several twists and turns till the outcome with the demon hound.

The book appears in various publications since first published 120 years ago. The stories generally are even today a base for TV programs, and have seen several films made from them directly and obliquely. 'Elementary' based on the characters is regularly on TV, and other movies with big name actors regularly appear, not to mention the many classic film and play version,s and obscure spin offs including Japanese comic versions.

Copyright laws mean much of the works are in the public domain. The language is a little dated but some words used are magnificent eg dolichocephalic (which is having a skull longer than average) or chimerical would not be in contemporary crime fiction methinks. Be aware the roles for women reflect values of the time. Other changes in mores show that illegal drugs such as co***ne were not illegal, and Holmes use and consumption of ni****ne via smoking would be frowned upon in todays world. He ordered one pound of strongest s**g to***co to help him think through the case! At same time two men living together would have seen them severely punished if they were physically close sexually.

I found this Puffin Classic edition in the FMI libraries little library. This is where the libraries redundant books make their way. I've put it back for others to enjoy but hurry will not stay for long.

Review by Neil
[We also have a loan copy in our crime fiction collection - CB]