Tag: Politics

Making it so: New biographies and memoirs

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Have you set a reading goal for 2024?  Are you looking for some inspiration to get you rolling?  Look no further than these amazing new biographies hitting our collection this month.  We’ve got everything from a star of the Star Trek universe, to legendary filmmakers, to our former Prime Minister to pique your interest.  Take a look at this selection…

Making it so : a memoir / Stewart, Patrick
“From his acclaimed stage triumphs to his legendary onscreen work in the Star Trek and X-Men franchises, Sir Patrick Stewart has captivated audiences around the world and across multiple generations with his indelible command of stage and screen. Now, he presents his long-awaited memoir, Making It So, a revealing portrait of an artist whose astonishing life — from his humble beginnings in Yorkshire, England, to the heights of Hollywood and worldwide acclaim — proves a story as exuberant, definitive, and enduring as the author himself.” (Catalogue)

Lies my mirror told me : a frank, funny, fearless memoir / Harmer, Wendy
“Wendy Harmer has had an extraordinary life. From being born with a severe facial deformity, to performing as a stand-up comedian, a national television host and then the highest paid woman in the cut-throat world of Sydney FM radio … Wendy’s tale of overcoming adversity is told with her trademark in-your-face frankness and celebrated wit.  In Lies My Mirror Told Me Wendy reflects on her life – one of the most unlikely success stories you will ever read.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Sure, I’ll join your cult : a memoir of mental illness and the quest to belong anywhere / Bamford, Maria
“Maria Bamford is a comedian’s comedian (an outsider among outsiders) and has forever fought to find a place to belong. From struggling with an eating disorder as a child of the 1980s, to navigating a career in the arts (and medical debt and psychiatric institutionalization), she has tried just about every method possible to not only be a part of the world, but to want to be a part of it. In Bamford’s signature voice, Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult, brings us on a quest to participate in something.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Every man for himself and God against all : a memoir / Herzog, Werner
“Legendary filmmaker and celebrated author Werner Herzog tells in his inimitable voice the story of his epic artistic career in a long-awaited memoir that is as inventive and daring as anything he has done before. Every Man for Himself and God Against All is at once a firsthand personal record of one of the great and self-invented lives of our time, and a singular literary masterpiece that will enthrall fans old and new alike. In a hypnotic swirl of memory, Herzog untangles and relives his most important experiences and inspirations, telling the full story of his life for the first and only time.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

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Would That Be Funny? New Biographies and Memoirs in the Collection

Kath
Silhouettes of biography book covers against a sunlit backdrop with a person reading a book with a cup of tea

A new month means new items in the collection, and we’ve got a great batch of biographies and memoirs coming your way right now.  Here are some of them to explore:

Would that be funny? : growing up with John Clarke / Clarke, Lorin
“In this fascinating memoir, Lorin Clarke tells the story of growing up with her famous father, her art historian mother Helen, and her little sister Lucia. Much has been written about John Clarke, but this is the insider’s view-of his childhood, his relationship with his parents, his decision to leave New Zealand and live in Australia, and the choices he and Helen made to create a family life that is right out of the box. Would That Be Funny? is a story about the almost imperceptible things that make a family what it is, from long-told folklore, in-jokes, and archetypes, to calamities like world wars, deep-seated traumas, and sudden loss.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Jackie : public, private, secret / Taraborrelli, J. Randy
“From New York Times bestselling author of Jackie, Janet & Lee comes a fresh and often startling look at the life of the legendary former first lady, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Twenty-nine years after her death and sixty years after the assassination of President Kennedy, Jackie delivers the last word on one of the most famous women in the world.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

 

Everything / nothing / someone / Carrière, Alice
“Alice Carrière tells the story of her unconventional upbringing in Greenwich Village as the daughter of a remote mother, the renowned artist Jennifer Bartlett, and a charismatic father, European actor Mathieu Carrière. With gallows humor and brutal honesty, Everything/Nothing/Someone explores what it means for our body and mind to belong to us wholly, irrevocably, and on our own terms. In pulsing, energetic prose that is both precise and probing, Alice manages to untangle the stories told to her by her parents, the American psychiatric complex, and her own broken mind to craft a unique and mesmerizing narrative of emergence and, finally, cure.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Mortification : eight deaths and life after them / Watson, Mark
“Mark Watson is generally accepted to be alive. And yet he’s died. In fact, he’s died loads of times. On stage. It’s embarrassing. Excruciating. But dying on stage isn’t the only death Mark’s suffered. There’s also been the death of his innocence. The death of that absolutely brilliant project that everyone told him was really amazing. And that time he died inside. In this memoir, he takes you behind the scenes of a life in comedy and beyond.” (Catalogue)

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