News Blog @ Wellington City Libraries

Friends like these: my worldwide quest to find my best childhood friends, knock on their doors and ask them to come out and play by Danny Wallace is an exercise in whether you can go back and recreate an earlier part of your life. Wallace found an address book with the names of his ten best childhood friends and wondered if the relationship between them was still intact after so many years. His “quest” led him from Berlin to Tokyo, from Sydney to LA. Did they still have things in common? Read and find out.

One of the most appealing books, Little Women has been read worldwide but what is known of the author? The biography by Harriet Reisen of Louisa May Alcott: the woman behind Little Women fills in the gaps. Using journals, letters and reader’s recollections her life-story is told. Early family economic difficulties, frequent moves and poor health were overcome ultimately leading to recognition and financial security.  This is a classic rags-to-riches tale.

Read about these lives and others including J. M. Barrie, Churchill, Paulo Coelho, Harriet Cohen and Che Guevara in this month’s Biography Recent Picks.