July Picks

Fuller, Alexandra (2015) Leaving Before the Rains Come. Penguin.  In this latest instalment of Alexandra Fuller's memoir she looks back to her African youth to understand the disintegration of her marriage. Alexandra recalls her courtship in Zambia as she struggles to come to terms with her life in Wyoming, and the pragmatism of her husband. She hankers for the fatalistic and… Continue reading July Picks

June Picks

Clough, Tina (2015) Running towards danger. Vanguard Press. Karen witnesses the murder of her flatmate and within days she becomes a target. To evade the killer she criss-crosses New Zealand, changes her name and appearance, and settles in a small Hawkes Bay community. But, when she becomes the reluctant hero in a river rescue her… Continue reading June Picks

April Picks

Whitehouse, David (2015) Mobile Library. Picador.  Twelve-year-old Bobby Nusku ekes out a brutal existence with his father, as he archives the life of his long-gone mother. When he befriends Rosa and her mother Val, he finds solace. They escape town in a redundant mobile library and begin an adventure equal to the books that surround them.  This dark and original tragicomic road trip is a touching… Continue reading April Picks

March Picks

Wilder, Laura Ingalls (2014) Pioneer Girl: The annotated autobiography, edited by Pamela Smith Hill. South Dakota Historical Society Press. Laura Ingalls Wilder's never before published autobiography reveals true stories behind her pioneering life.  Pioneer Girl served as the historical foundation for Wilder's fictional world. Out of the period, places and people in the manuscript sprang the characters and settings… Continue reading March Picks

February Picks

Norton, Graham (2014) The life and loves of a He Devil. Hodder & Stoughton. Graham Norton's memoir is inspired by love, premised by "it is really the things you love that inspire and drive you". Although his approach is largely eclectic he shares his love of his career, dogs, the divas he has met, booze and boys, and his homeland… Continue reading February Picks

Jan’s Holiday Reads – January 2015

Koch, Herman (2012) The Dinner, translated from the Dutch by Sam Garrett. Atlantic.  Brothers Paul and Serge Lohman, and their wives Claire and Babette, meet at a fashionable Amsterdam restaurant to discuss their 15 year-old sons. Initially the conversation is banal and trivial, but slowly as the dinner reaches its culinary climax the horror of… Continue reading Jan’s Holiday Reads – January 2015