Category

Non-fiction

Jack, New, Non-fiction
New Non-Fiction
18.06.11 | Permalink | Comment?

Man, there’s still so much non-fiction coming in. Pretty sweet if you enjoy facts, am I right? Rather than describe them all – the titles give away enough clues as far as the content goes – here they are in list form.

Waves: great stories from the surf - Tim Baker
The Twilight saga: the official illustrated guide
101 things I learned in fashion school - Alfredo Cabrera and Matthew Frederick
Cat on a hot tin roof - Tennesse Williams
Let’s get this staright: the ultimate handbook for youth with LGBTQ parents - Tina Fakhrid-Deen
Indie craft - Jo Waterhouse
Tees: the art of the t-shirt - Maki
The complete book of drawing manga - Peter Gray
Weirdo noir: gothic and dark lowbrow art - Matt Dukes Jordan
Illustration now - Gregoire Noyelle and Katy Lee
Rock gods: 40 years of rock photography - Robert M. Knight
Glee: the official annual 2011
DC Comics: year by year visual chronicle

There you go. Lots of interesting topics covered. Reserve them if you would like.
Jack, New, Non-fiction
Still More New Non-Fiction
08.06.11 | Permalink | Comment?

Pocket fantasy art: the very best in contemporary fantasy art and illustration. Full of pictures that would be equally at home in a White Dwarf magazine or on the cover of a badass metal album. Here are some of the sections to give you an overview; Brawny Barbarians and Hulky Heroes, Sirens and Seductresses, Myths and Monsters.

101 things I learned in film school by Neil Landau with Matthew Frederick. Handy hints for every stages of making a film, be it script-writing, filming, editing or even pitching an idea. An indispensible guide for budding filmakers and screenwriters from an accomplished industry veteran.

From sometimes love Beth: An adventure in postcards by Beth Sometimes. Beth Sometimes wrote a postcard (and drew on the front side too) to someone every day for a year and compiled them as she did so. This is the result. It’s kind of like I zine I guess. Funny and cute images and some postcard facts at the beginning as well.

Ready made: how to make (almost) everything. Chairs, bathmats, aprons, chandeliers – with this book you can make all of these things relatively easily and out of mostly recycled materials. Crazy, right? Fill your house with all of these things and it will make you seem like you are a quirky indie-comedy film character.

D.I.Y. Fashion: Customize & Personalize by Selena Francis-Bryden. Do you have some old pants that you don’t like anymore? Just turn it into a skirt, dummy! Do you need a new dress? Cut up your Dad’s old t-shirts and make one yourself, idiot! Turn those old jeans into a tie, or a cushion. Why didn’t you think of that?

Top Gear: Top drives, road trips of a lifetime in the world’s most dramatic locations. If you are a car enthusiast, maybe this is your bucket list? Photos of fancy cars driving all over the world along with words that describe the photos. Sometimes the cars are themed for the country they are in, like a ute in Australia (lol), sometimes they aren’t, like a Ford Mondeo in Russia.

Kelly Slater: for the love by Kelly Slater with Phil Jarratt. Kelly Slater’s real first name is Robert, but Kelly sounds a bit “cooler” and “chill”, so therefore more ideally suited to surfing. That is just one of many Kelly Slater facts in this book. There are lots of nice photos of beaches and other nice photos of Kelly Slater moodily staring off into the middle distance.

Now here are some books that list things. The titles are self-explanatory, so I need not elaborate. 101 Cult movies you must see before you die, 101 Sc-fi movies you must see before you die, 501 Great artists, 1001 Albums you must hear before you die and 1001 Songs you must hear before you die. That’s an awful lot of things to get through before you die, best get to it.
Jack, New, Non-fiction
More New Non-Fiction
03.06.11 | Permalink | Comment?

Here is some more of the new non-fiction, hurrah!

The big book of Top Gear 2010. I am sure you have seen the television show and therefore have a pretty good idea of what to expect. The cover says that this time they are slightly on fire, so there is sure to be at least one dangerous mishap. At least.

What on earth are you wearing? A Michipedia of fashion by Chloe Quigley. Before thumbing through this book I was uncertain as to what exactly a “Michipedia” was. I now see that it is like an encyclopedia, but more fashion-y, water colour illustrated and with a humorous intent. Nothing like some fashion lolz.

Graffiti Planet 2 compiled and introduced by KET. It’s a book of graffiti from all over the planet and is the second volume in its’ particular series. More than a hundred images from a bevy of artists. That’s right, a bevy.

How to rap: The art and science of the hip-hop MC by Paul Edwards. Rappers explaining how they go about their rapping so that you too can be a rapper. Which is nice of them. Tip: pay closer attention to what the likes of Pharoahe Monch and the Wu-Tang kids have to say than Will.I.Am, you’ll be better off.

How to talk to boys by Dianne Todaro and How to talk to girls by Jonathan Toussaint. Two books filled with tips on how to talk to the opposite sex. Then what to do once you’ve used your new-found flirting skills to enter into a meaningful relaish. Also there are authentic real life stories inside.

Even more coming soon!
New, Non-fiction, Roberto B.
New Non-Fiction, Art And Fashion
02.06.11 | Permalink | Comment?

As promised, here is more of the new non-fiction. Today music, art and fashion.

Live: Gigs that rocked New Zealand by Bruce Jarvis & Josh Easby. A nice visual history of some of the landmark concerts staged in New Zealand with along with interesting anecdotes. If you look very closely at the crowd photos you may just spot your parents, you never know.

Japanese animation: From painted scrolls to Pokemon by Brigitte Koyama-Rickard. A wonderfully detailed history of Japanese animation. Includes plenty of interviews with famous animators discussing their craft. Interesting to see the development of different trends in Manga and Anime over the years.

Banksy: Wall and Piece. If you are unfamiliar with the work of provocative graffiti artist, Banksy, this is well worth an issue. Page after page of his always humorous and frequently audacious work covering every corner of the globe. Here’s a Banksy Simpsons intro.

Outsiders: Art by people compiled by Steve Lazarides. This a a companion piece to Wall and Piece, with outsider art compiled by Banksy’s manager. Taking the same sort of intelligent, witty and subversive approach, none of these artists have ever been formally trained, yet produce some amazing work.

Juxtapoz: Car Culture. A collection of car and car related illustrations and photgraphs from cutting edge design magazine, Juxtapoz. Filled with the sorts of things you’d see on the walls in American diners and the things you’d see on the black t-shirts inside those same diners. Worth a look for art fans and car enthusiasts alike.

The Sartorialist by Scott Schuman. It’s a sign of blog success when your blog gets a book deal*, The Sartorialist has done just that. If you’ve never been to the site (and for some reason have chosen not to click on the link in the previous sentence) it’s basically a series of very well-dressed people photgraphed in their natural environments. Bookmark it, then reserve this book.

Fashion Box: The immortal icons of style by Antonio Mancinelli. If Friday is your favourite day because you enjoy look forward all week to Le Chic Librarian’s posts, perhaps this can help bridge the gap inbetween? Includes sections like “The little black dress”, “The trench coat”, “Jeans” and “The mini skirt” all worn by good looking famous people.

There are still more books yet to blog. Coming tomorrow; Cars, Surfing and a whole lot of other things that have just arrived since I took my lunch break.

*One day there will be a Teen Blog book. We hope.
New, Non-fiction, Roberto B., Sport
New Non-Fiction, Sports
01.06.11 | Permalink | Comment?

The Central Library has recently expanded its’ YA non-fiction collection – just today actually – but because it has expanded so much I cannot possibly cover all of the new material in a single post. So for now, here are the newest sport titles.

Mana by James Kerr, photographs by Nick Danziger. This features page after page of black and white photos of the All Blacks playing, practicing the haka, listening quietly in meetings, relaxing (they seem pretty like pretty chill bros in these ones), eating, working out and showing off their sweet tats. Kind of “a day in the life” deal. Also there are photos of kids playing rugby, just like the real All Blacks, but smaller!

Golden Girls: Celebrating New Zealand’s six female Olympic gold medalists by Margot Butcher. The title of this book sparked quite some debate at Teen Blog HQ, is it “medallist” or “medalist”? Spellcheck, the Oxford Dictionary and we say “medalist”, but this book and the MacMillan UK Dictionary say “medallist”. All confusion aside, you can expect six stories about six champion female athletes.

Dan Carter: A tribute to the All Black’s perfect 10 by John Matheson. Like a biography, but in coffee table book form and with more photos. Follow his story from precocious youngster to the hyperbolic quote generating machine (eg. “… is the ‘Koh-i-Noor’ diamond of his time”) he is today. Not sure if it mentions his clothing chain or not.

All White Fever: New Zealand’s road to the World Cup by John Matheson. Remember that time the All Whites made it to the Football World Cup in South Africa? It was pretty sweet. If you’ve forgotten some of the glorious details (tsk) or just want to relive it in text with photos form, now you can. It still makes me feel proud to see a photo of Tim Brown tackling Cesc Fabregas.

WWE Encyclopedia: The definitive guide to World Wrestling Entertainment by Brian Shields and Kevin Sullivan. All the information you could possibly fit into a coffee table sized book on wrestling! From Abe “knuckleball” Schwartz to Zeus and all the Honkytonk Men and Ric Flairs in between. Pro wrestling in the 1980’s was hi-larious btw.

Fight by Eugene S. Robinson. Covers pretty much everything you could think of about fighting. From the greatest boxing matches to knife techniques, there is even mention of my favourite ’so terrible it’s fantastic’ martial arts movie, Gymkata. If that isn’t exhaustive enough, then I don’t know what to tell you.

If these new titles prove popular (and really, why wouldn’t they?) there will be more YA non-fiction popping up at branches too. Fashion and arts coming tomorrow.