If You Would Have Told Me: New biographies in the collection

Summer is here and that means beach reads, holiday reads, chilling on the deck reads… all those lovely ways to relax and enjoy a good book.  This month we have some cracking good reads in our new biographies, take a look at these that have hit the shelves recently.

If you would have told me : a memoir / Stamos, John
“If you would have told a young John Stamos flipping burgers at his dad’s fast-food joint that one day he’d be a household name and that, at the height of his success, he’d be living alone, divorced, with no kids, high on a cocktail of forgetting, he might’ve asked, “You want fries with that?” John burst onto the scene in General Hospital, propelling him into the teen idol stratosphere, a place that’s often a point of no return. Whether showing off his comedic chops on Full House or his dramatic skills on ER, pushing the boundaries on Broadway or living out his youthful dreams as an honorary Beach Boy, John has surprised everyone, most of all himself.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

The stirrings : a memoir in northern time / Taylor, Catherine
“This is a story about one young woman coming of age, and about the place and time that shaped her: the North of England in the 1970s and 80s. About the scorching summer of 1976 – the last Catherine Taylor would spend with both her parents in their home in Sheffield. About the Yorkshire Ripper, the serial killer whose haunting presence in Catherine’s childhood was matched only by the aching absence of her own father. About 1989’s ‘Second Summer of Love’, a time of sexual awakening for Catherine, and the unforeseen consequences that followed it.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Wifedom : Mrs Orwell’s invisible life / Funder, Anna
“Looking for wonder and some reprieve from the everyday, award-winning writer Anna Funder slips into the pages of her hero George Orwell. When she uncovers his forgotten wife, it’s a revelation. Eileen O’Shaughnessy’s literary brilliance shaped Orwell’s work and her practical common sense saved his life. But why-and how-was she written out of the story? Using newly discovered letters from Eileen to her best friend, Funder recreates the Orwells’ marriage, through the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War in London.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Continue reading “If You Would Have Told Me: New biographies in the collection”

Wild Boys and Material Girls: The Pop Idols of the 80’s in Print

Hands up all the Gen X pop tragics out there! Yes, I’m one of those, my pre-teen years were right there from 1980 – 1985, so I have a long history of boy bands, pop idols and pin ups in my past.  The good news is, all of those pop idols, at least those that are still with us, are writing books and being written about.  I’ve chosen a few of my favourites to share with you all here.

Please please tell me now : the Duran Duran story / Davis, Stephen
“In ‘Please Please Tell Me Now’, bestselling rock biographer Stephen Davis tells the story of Duran Duran, the quintessential band of the 1980s. Featuring exclusive interviews with the band and never-before-published photos from personal archives, this book offers a definitive account of one of the last untold sagas in rock and roll history – a treat for diehard fans, new admirers, and music lovers of any age.” (Catalogue)

Wham! : George & me / Ridgeley, Andrew
“Wham! were the band that never underestimated the power of pop, nor the healing powers it possessed. In 1981, what started out as a boyhood friendship, catapulted two suburban adolescents to worldwide pop domination, becoming icons of their era.” (Catalogue)

 

 

This thing called life : Prince, race, sex, religion, and music / Vogel, Joseph
“What were Prince’s politics? What did he believe about God? And did he really forsake the subject- sex- that once made him the most subversive superstar of the Reagan era? In this illuminating, thematic biography, Joseph Vogel explores the issues that made Prince one of the late 20th century’s most unique, controversial, and fascinating artists.” (Catalogue) Continue reading “Wild Boys and Material Girls: The Pop Idols of the 80’s in Print”

Sweet Dreams are Made of This… Fiction Set in the 1980’s

As those of us in Generation X are firmly planted in middle age, and the children of Gen X are nostalgic for the music they listened to when they were children, now’s a great time to seek out books either set in the 1980’s or with that 1980’s vibe to them.  We’ve had a dig around the collection and here are some that you might enjoy…

The great believers / Makkai, Rebecca
“In 1985, Yale Tishman, the development director for an art gallery in Chicago, is about to pull off an amazing coup, bringing in an extraordinary collection of 1920s paintings as a gift to the gallery. Yet as his career begins to flourish, the carnage of the AIDS epidemic grows around him. Soon the only person he has left is Fiona, Nico’s little sister. Thirty years later, Fiona is in Paris tracking down her estranged daughter who disappeared into a cult. The two intertwining stories take us through the heartbreak of the eighties and the chaos of the modern world, as both Yale and Fiona struggle to find goodness in the midst of disaster.” (Adapted from catalogue)

Malibu rising / Reid, Taylor Jenkins
“Malibu: August, 1983. It’s the day of Nina Riva’s annual end-of-summer party and anticipation is at a fever pitch. By midnight the party will be completely out of control. By morning the Riva mansion will have gone up in flames. But ahead of that first spark in the early hours before dawn, the alcohol will flow, the music will play, and the loves and secrets that shaped this family will all come bubbling to the surface.” (Adapted from catalogue)

I must betray you / Sepetys, Ruta
“In a country governed by isolation, fear, and a tyrannical dictator, seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu is blackmailed by the secret police to become an informer, but he decides to use his position to try to outwit his handler, undermine the regime, give voice to fellow Romanians, and expose to the world what is happening in his country.” (Catalogue)

The music shop / Joyce, Rachel
“In 1988 Frank owns a music shop. He is loved by many people but is happy to be alone until Ilse Brauchmann comes into his life. Both hold secret pasts. This is a book about second chances.” (Catalogue)

My best friend’s exorcism : a novel / Hendrix, Grady
“1988. Charleston, South Carolina. High school sophomores Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since fourth grade. But after an evening of skinny-dipping goes disastrously wrong, Gretchen begins to act–different. She’s moody. She’s irritable. And bizarre incidents keep happening whenever she’s nearby. Abby’s investigation leads her to some startling discoveries–and by the time their story reaches its terrifying conclusion, the fate of Abby and Gretchen will be determined by a single question: Is their friendship powerful enough to beat the devil?” (Catalogue)

Oona out of order / Montimore, Margarita
“Just because life might be out of order, doesn’t mean it’s broken. It’s new years eve 1982, and Oona Lockhart has her whole life before her. At the stroke of midnight Oona is torn from her life and everyone she loves, finding herself in her 51 year old body thirty-three years into the future. Greeted by a friendly stranger in a beautiful house she’s told is her own, Oona learns that will with each passing year she will leap to another age at random. Hopping through decades, and a lifetime Oona Out of Order is a surprising, magical novel that explores the power of love, the bonds of family, and the wonders of life” (Adapted from catalogue)

Ready player one / Cline, Ernest
“In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the virtual utopia known as the Oasis. Wade’s devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world’s digital confines — puzzles that are based on their creator’s obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade’s going to survive, he’ll have to win — and confront the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape” (Catalogue)

Silver sparrow : a novel / Jones, Tayari
“A story about a man’s deception, a family’s complicity, and two teenage girls caught in the middle. Set in a middle-class neighborhood in Atlanta in the 1980s, the novel revolves around James Witherspoon’s two families, the public one and the secret one. When the daughters from each family meet and form a friendship, only one of them knows they are sisters. It is a relationship destined to explode when secrets are revealed and illusions shattered. As Jones explores the backstories of her rich yet flawed characters, the father, the two mothers, the grandmother, and the uncle, she also reveals the joy, as well as the destruction, they brought to one another’s lives.” (Catalogue)

Swing time / Smith, Zadie
“Two brown girls dream of being dancers – but only one, Tracey, has talent. The other has ideas: about rhythm and time, about black bodies and black music, what constitutes a tribe, or makes a person truly free. It’s a close but complicated childhood friendship that ends abruptly in their early twenties, never to be revisited, but never quite forgotten, either…Dazzlingly energetic and deeply human, Swing Time is a story about friendship and music and stubborn roots, about how we are shaped by these things and how we can survive them. Moving from North-West London to West Africa, it is an exuberant dance to the music of time.” (Catalogue)

Tell the wolves I’m home / Brunt, Carol Rifka
“It is 1987, and only one person has ever truly understood fourteen-year-old June Elbus — her uncle, the renowned painter Finn Weiss. Shy at school and distant from her older sister, June can only be herself in Finn’s company; he is her godfather, confidant, and best friend. So when he dies, far too young, of a mysterious illness her mother can barely speak about, June’s world is turned upside down. But Finn’s death brings a surprise acquaintance into June’s life — someone who will help her to heal, and to question what she thinks she knows about Finn, her family, and even her own heart.” (Catalogue)

Trust exercise : a novel / Choi, Susan
“In an American suburb in the early 1980s, students at a highly competitive performing arts high school struggle and thrive in a rarified bubble. When within this striving “Brotherhood of the Arts,” two freshmen, David and Sarah, fall headlong into love, their passion does not go unnoticed or untoyed with by anyone, especially not by their charismatic acting teacher, Mr. Kingsley. The outside world of family life and economic status, of academic pressure and of their future adult lives, fails to penetrate this school’s walls until it does, in a shocking spiral of events that catapults the action forward in time and flips the premise upside-down.” (Adapted from catalogue)

The 80s called and they’ve given their magazine back

Wellington City Magazine on Recollect

Wellington City Libraries is bringing the past back to the future with the popular 1980s Wellington City Magazine now accessible online.

Not only will it showcase the big hair, shoulder pads and jazzercize of the era in the capital, but also the cool cats, clubs and cafes, and feature articles and columns from many still well-known contributors.

Wellington City Magazine on Recollect

Wellington City Magazine offers a fascinating insight into Wellington’s culture in the mid-1980s during a time of considerable societal and economic change, says Wellington City Libraries Local Historian Gabor Toth.

“Its first edition was printed at the very end of Robert Muldoon’s final term as the National Government’s Prime Minister in 1984, and came to an end after 27 issues following the share market crash in 1987.

“Published by Henry Newrick, the magazine had an enormous variety of feature articles and regular columns. Its advertising content reflected a boom in the local economy as financial regulatory controls were dropped, the share market rose to new heights and a new generation of high-earning workers, investors and entrepreneurs opened their wallets. The magazine was also highly innovative in its graphic design, page layout and high-quality photograph reproduction.

“The first five issues were called Wellington Cosmo to reflect the fact that Wellington was seen as being a particularly ‘cosmopolitan’ city, a legal threat to change the title as it violated the international Cosmopolitan Magazine trademark, and a failed appeal and injunction, saw it change its title to Wellington City Magazine.

“The magazine had three editors; Lloyd Jones, John Saker and Malcolm McSporran and attracted many talented writers and journalists who often had significant literary, academic or business backgrounds – including David Burton, Ian Wedde, Simon Morris, Lorraine Mexted, Tony Simpson and Bill Gosden.

“The magazine also took on causes, and was one of the first outlets to raise the profile of the St James Theatre when it was threatened with demolition.”

This was a labour of love for Gabor, hand scanning every page and photoshopping the gutter out of the double page spreads, says Manager of Libraries & Community Spaces, Laurinda Thomas.

“Everyone, young and old, is going to get a kick out of these magazines – it’s like a time machine, and everyone can just go online and get transported there.

“So many of the restaurants, bars, cafes, cinemas, galleries have been replaced with new ones, but some things that haven’t changed are the political, arts and cultural scene – and the Green Parrot!”

Go to wellington.recollect.co.nz and click on the ‘Collections’ button to see all 27 issues, and keep an eye on Wellington City Council and Libraries social media channels for some 1980s nostalgia to coincide with the launch.