Category: Booklists

Lists of items on different topics chosen by our librarians – if you’re after just the new material, visit our Recent Picks. The lists on this page may feature older items that we love or that fit a topic…

Illustrated Lives: Biographies and Memoirs in Graphic Novel Form

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If you have never read a graphic novel – maybe because you find yourself reluctant to pick one up or assume that they’re all superhero stories or just for kids – perhaps an illustrated biography or memoir might tempt you to give them a try. Illustrated biographies are a very popular genre and there are plenty of them to get into. Perhaps you could give one or two of these suggestions a go?

Johnny Cash : I see a darkness : a graphic novel / Kleist, Reinhard
“Cash was a 17-time Grammy winner who sold more than 90 million albums in his lifetime and became an icon of American music in the 20th century. Graphic novelist Reinhard Kleist depicts Johnny Cash’s eventful life from his early sessions with Elvis Presley (1956), through the concert in Folsom Prison (1968), his spectacular comeback in the 1990s, and the final years before his death on September 12, 2003.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

It’s lonely at the centre of the Earth : an auto-bio-graphic-novel / Thorogood, Zoe
“The 2023 Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award winning cartoonist, Zoe Thorogood, records six months of her own life as it falls apart in a desperate attempt to put it back together again in the only way she knows how. It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth is an intimate and meta-narrative look into the life of a selfish artist who must create for her own survival. A poignant and original depiction of a young woman’s struggle with mental health–through the ups and downs of anxiety, depression, and imposter syndrome–as she forges a promising career in sequential art and finds herself along the way.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Andre the Giant : closer to heaven / Easton, Brandon M.
“He was called the “Eighth Wonder of the World” and became an inspiration for millions of wrestling fans all over the globe. While his in-ring exploits were full of flash and spectacle, the personal life of Andre “The Giant” Roussimoff was complicated by an excess of partying and the devastating physical toll of his deteriorating health. This graphic novel biography explores the bookmarks of Andre’s story.” (Catalogue)

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Keeping up with the Jones: new mysteries in our collection

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Tesla Teslasdeathray GIF by Discovery Europe

Image via giphy

Welcome to this month’s selection of newly acquired detective and thriller titles. There is a host of goodies on offer this month but the title that caught our eye was The Wharton Plot by Mariah Fredericks, in which the acclaimed author and socialite Edith Wharton solves a tricky mystery.

Author Edith Wharton is perhaps better known as the chronicler of America’s gilded age, approximately the mid-1870s to the late 1890s, through which Edith Wharton lived.  This time in America’s history is known for its rapid economic expansion, materialistic excess and associated political corruption – in short, a perfect period and location in which to set a detective story.

Edith Wharton was born in 1862 into New York aristocracy. Her family name was Jones and their  wealth was such that it led to the phrase, still in use today, “keeping up with the Jones” being coined about them. She became a hugely gifted writer, realistically portraying the morals and lives of her time. Her novel The Age of Innocence won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and she was the first ever female recipient of the prize. She went on to write numerous other well-known novels such as The House of Mirth and her ghost stories are highly recommended. She passed in 1937 and was posthumously inducted  into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1996.

Our other top tips in this month’s selection can be viewed below.

The Wharton plot : a novel / Fredericks, Mariah
“New York City, 1911. Edith Wharton, almost equally famed for her novels and her sharp tongue, is bone-tired of Manhattan. Finding herself at a crossroads with both her marriage and her writing, she makes the decision to leave America, her publisher, and her loveless marriage. And then, dashing novelist David Graham Phillips–a writer with often notorious ideas about society and women’s place in it–is shot to death outside the Princeton Club. Edith herself met the man only once, when the two formed a mutual distaste over tea in the Palm Court of the Belmont hotel. When Phillips is killed, Edith’s life takes another turn, as she becomes obsessed with solving a crime.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

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Poems about the landscape: Books from Te Pataka

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The tingling sand in your toes, the smell of pinewood in the forest and the howling wind everywhere… the earth’s beautiful landscape is poetic. From Whanganui River to Banks Peninsula, from famous poets to eminent photographers, this blog features landscape, river, lighthouse and animal poems from across New Zealand.

Land very fertile : Banks Peninsula in poetry and prose
“Engaging a mix of style and content that embraces the peninsula’s unique heritage and charm, this collection of poetry and prose about a special region in New Zealand draws from a wide variety of sources–including such New Zealand greats as Ursula Bethell, James K. Baxter, Denis Glover, Ngaio Marsh, Allen Curnow, and Maurice Shadbolt, along with many newer voices. The contributions are thematically arranged to capture the ambience of Banks Peninsula on the eastern coast of New Zealand’s South Island.” (Adapted from the Catalogue)

Flow : Whanganui River poems / Beautrais, Airini
“Where there is water, people settle and stories collect. Six generations of poet Airini Beautrais’ family have lived near the Whanganui River, all-encompassing figure at the heart of Flow. Flow is a brilliant polyphony of stories – large, small, geological, ecological, and human. In March 2017, in a world first, the Whanganui River was granted the status of legal personhood. ‘This remarkable sequence winds and eddies like the Whanganui River, filtering the region’s many histories into something rich and swimmable.” (Adapted from the Catalogue)

The nature of things : poems from the New Zealand landscape
“The Nature of Things is a celebration of the relationship between poetry and the New Zealand landscape. It matches a wide range of poems, that in some way evoke or describe our landscape, with images from the pre-eminent New Zealand photographer Craig Potton. The poems have been selected and the introduction written by James Brown, one of New Zealand’s leading contemporary poets The Nature of Things includes work from many of the central figures.” (Adapted from the Catalogue)

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The Lost Sunflower: our latest fiction titles

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Van Gogh Animation GIF

Image via Giphy

Welcome to another selection of new fiction titles. As is now customary, we like to pick one aspect of one of the books on offer and explore it a bit further. The title that caught our eye this month was The Lost Van Gogh by Jonathan Santlofer – a novel which revolves around the discovery of a long-lost Vincent Van Gogh self portrait and the mysteries surrounding it.

The premise to this book is entirely fictional but in reality, there is a lost Van Gogh masterpiece. As well as his self-portraits Van  Gogh was, of course, famous for his luminous paintings of sunflowers . He painted eight in total; six are in major public collections, one in private hands and one is lost.

In 1920 a Japanese collector bought a Vincent Van Gogh painting called Six Sunflowers, painted in 1888, and they took it to Japan shortly after its purchase. It was quite unlike any of the other sunflower paintings – being influenced by Van Gogh’s interest in Japanese woodblock art, and it was framed in a bright orange frame, revolutionary for the time, that complimented the colours used in the work.  Tragically, this masterwork was destroyed in the Osaka fire bombings at the end of World War II in 1945. We are, however, fortunate that some photographs of the painting were taken before it was lost and you can see one of those photographs here.

Van Gogh loved the perceived coarse and unrefined nature of sunflowers’ structure. As well as their colours and relationship with the sun, he also intended them to symbolise gratitude. Indeed, he decorated Paul Gauguin’s room with sunflower paintings when he stayed with him at the yellow house in Place Lamartine in Arles southern France.

We also have copies of  the already heavily  acclaimed Lioness by Emily Perkins just in and a host of other goodies.

The lost Van Gogh : a novel / Santlofer, Jonathan
“For years, there have been whispers that, before his death, Van Gogh completed a final self-portrait. Curators and art historians have savored this rumor, hoping it could illuminate some of the troubled artist’s many secrets, but even they have to concede that the missing painting is likely lost forever. But when Luke Perrone, artist and great-grandson of the man who stole the Mona Lisa, and Alexis Verde, daughter of a notorious art thief, discover what may be the missing portrait, they are drawn into a most epic art puzzles. When only days later the painting disappears again…” (Adapted from Catalogue)

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Healthy Made Simple: New Health Books in the Collection

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It’s very easy for the doldrums to set in when February hits, so what better time to think about learning how to be more healthy.  Healthy eating, exercise, taking care of your mental health, looking after babies and children and living with chronic illness are all included in this month’s new health titles in the collection.  Take a look at these we’ve selected for you:

Healthy made simple : delicious, plant-based recipes, ready in 30 minutes or less / Mills, Ella
“What can you do today that makes life simpler tomorrow? How can you create a healthy, genuinely delicious meal in minutes? There’s no denying the challenge or the pressure to continuously look after your wellbeing, carve out time to exercise, manage your stress, cook healthy meals, get enough sleep and make time for your friends, all while juggling life’s other many demands! Ella wants to make eating well every day a joy, and in Healthy Made Simple she gives you the tools you need to unlock a healthier life.” (Provided by publisher)

How to wild swim : what to know before taking the plunge / Foote, Ella
” Whether you want to explore remote beaches and mountain lochs, improve your confidence in open water, refine your swimming technique, or have a race or long-distance swim challenge coming up, How to Wild Swim offers the perfect practical foundation to help you find your perfect adventure and achieve your goal. This body conditioning sport is praised for not only making us stronger and healthier but also happier too. So no matter what your goal–short wild swims and weekend breaks, to full adventure swimming expeditions and off-grid vacations–dive right in and submerge yourself in this wild, watery, fearless book.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Change your brain every day : simple daily practices to strengthen your mind, memory, moods, focus, energy, habits, and relationships / Amen, Daniel G
“In Change Your Brain Every Day psychiatrist and clinical neuroscientist Daniel Amen, MD, draws on over 40 years’ clinical practice with tens of thousands of patients to give you the most effective daily habits he has seen that can help you improve your brain, master your mind, boost your memory, and make you feel happier, healthier, and more connected to those you love.” (Catalogue)

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Stories of Chinese people in Aotearoa

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This blog highlights some famous contemporary Chinese people in New Zealand in different fields, including world-renowned haute couturier Guo Pei’s fashion (now showing at the Auckland Museum), and Geeling Ng, currently Geeling Ching, an actress and model. This list also features filmmaker Roseanne Liang and Meng Foon, who was the Mayor of Gisborne and Race Relations Commissioner.

Guo Pei : couture beyond
“The first major book on China’s leading couture visionary reveals the intricate craftsmanship and imperial glamour that has fashion publications worldwide declaring Guo Pei’s creations. including the aureate cape Rihanna wore to the 2015 Met Gala to a gown festooned with 200,000 crystals featured in the Beijing Olympics, distinguishes Guo Pei as a worthy heir to the grand tradition of haute couture. An exponent of artisan craftsmanship and theatrical fantasy.” (Adapted from the Catalogue)

Image from Aro VideoBanana in a nutshell
“Having fallen in love with a white New Zealand boy, 27-year-old Rosanne Liang turns the camera on herself in this thoroughly intimate self-account of the struggle to gain acceptance from traditional Chinese parents.” (Adapted from the Catalogue)

 

Great New Zealand argument : ideas about ourselves
“Tze Ming Mok is a prominent writer in New Zealand, a column writer at the Sunday Star-Times, and of Singapore and Malaysian Chinese descendent.  This book features: Ideas about ourselves is a collection of some of the most important writing about who New Zealanders are and how we are changing, spanning 70 years of our history. It includes the first published transcript of David Lange’s momentous 1985 Oxford Union debate speech, arguing the proposition that ‘Nuclear weapons are morally indefensible’.” (Adapted from the Catalogue)

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