Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori - Māori Language Week
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New and Recently Released!
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| Can't we talk about something more pleasant? A memoir by Roz ChastAcclaimed cartoonist Roz Chast, best known for her work in The New Yorker, relates her experiences with her aging parents in this bittersweet memoir, which reproduces conversations about getting older and moving to a retirement home (from which the title Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? derives), followed by descriptions of their declining health and the ends of their lives. Chast captures the reader's sympathy for both her parents and herself, employing documents, photographs, and her usual cartoon style, which brings to life her parents' personalities and her concern for them, leavened with deft touches of ironic humour. |
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| Love, Nina: despatches from family life by Nina StibbeIn the early 1980s, when she worked as a 20-year-old nanny in London, author Nina Stibbe wrote captivating letters detailing life with the Wilmers-Frears household to her sister at home in Leicestershire. Stibbe's employer, Mary-Kay Wilmers, was deputy editor of the London Review of Books, and Wilmers' husband, Stephen Frears, was a film director. Their two sons, Sam and Will, were Stibbe's charges. The letters compiled in Love, Nina recount incidents in the boys' lives in addition to the family's delightful conversations with celebrity guests -- emphasising the contrast between Stibbe's London life and that of her rural family. The dialogue "is so snappy it's almost incredible," says Library Journal. |
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Sheila: the Australian beauty who bewitched British society
by Robert Wainwright
Sheila wedded earls and barons, befriended literary figures and movie stars, bedded a future king, was feted by London and New York society for forty years and when she died was a Russian princess. Vivacious, confident and striking, Sheila Chisholm met her first husband, Francis Edward Scudamore St Clair-Erskine, a first lieutenant and son of the 5th Earl of Rosslyn, when she went to Egypt during the Great War to nurse her brother. Arriving in London as a young married woman, the world was at her feet and she enjoyed it immensely. Edward, Prince of Wales, called her 'a divine woman' and his brother, Bertie, the future George VI of England (Queen Elizabeth's father), was especially close to her.
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Cook
by Rob Mundle
Rob Mundle, bestselling maritime biographer, introduces us to an unlikely sailor in a teenage Cook who through the combination of hard-won skills as a seafarer, the talents of a self-taught navigator and surveyor, and an exceptional ability to lead and care for his men, climbed the ranks of the Royal Navy to achieve legendary status among all who sailed and mapped the world. Written with colour, sweep and the authority of Rob's five decades as a competitive sailor, maritime journalist and broadcaster, this extensively researched new biography of Cook will put you on the quarterdeck with the great navigator as he painstakingly guides his ship through dangerous, reef-strewn waters.
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Dreams of the good life: the life of Flora Thompson and the creation of Lark Rise to Candleford
by Richard Mabey
While the Lark Rise to Candleford trilogy, Flora Thompson's much-loved portrait of life in the English countryside, has inspired a hit television series, relatively little is known about the author herself. In this highly original book, bestselling biographer and nature writer Richard Mabey sympathetically retraces her life and her transformation from a post-office clerk who left school at fourteen to a sophisticated professional writer. Revealing how a formidable imagination can arise from the humblest of beginnings, Dreams of the Good Life paints a poignant, unforgettable portrait of a working-class woman writer's struggle for creative expression,
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Facing the music and living to talk about it
by Nick Carter
The author shares his experiences as a member of the boy band Backstreet Boys, the health and substance abuse problems that followed, his road to recovery, and the untimely death of his younger sister, as well what he learned from it all.
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Piano man
by Charles Beauclerk
The first full biography of John Ogdon; a tortured genius and arguably the greatest British pianist of all time. From the beginning of his professional career as a soloist John Ogdon was hailed as a musician of rare understanding and phenomenal technical gifts. Able to play and memorise just about any score at sight, tales of his impossible exploits at the keyboard are legion.
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A life of Philip K. Dick: the man who remembered the future
by Anthony Peake
Philip K. Dick was a hugely influential writer who drew upon his own life to address the nature of drug abuse, paranoia, schizophrenia, and transcendental experiences of all kinds. He was a prolific author and many of his books were turned into popular films such as "Blade Runner," "A Scanner Darkly," "Total Recall," and "Minority Report." This book has been written with the cooperation of several close acquaintances and looks to examine his work as well as the socio-political-cultural environment in which he lived. It will be of great interest to any fan of Philip K. Dick or science fiction in general, as well as anyone who grew up the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.
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Focus on: Food and Memories
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"During wartime, people's lives begin to revolve around food: first to stay alive, but also to stay human." ~ from Annia Ciezadlo's Day of Honey
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| As always, Julia: the letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto by Julia Child and Avis DeVoto; edited by Joan Reardon Chef and author Julia Child wrote scholar Bernard DeVoto a fan letter in 1952, long before her Mastering the Art of French Cooking appeared in print. Avis DeVoto replied on behalf of her husband, and soon Julia and Avis became enthusiastic pen pals -- a relationship that lasted over three decades. Avis' papers were unsealed in 2006, and biographer Joan Reardon read them and discovered an enchanting record of their relationship. In As Always, Julia, Reardon selects from their correspondence and adds enough context to help readers follow the train of their exchanges. Fans of Julia Child and anyone interested in cooking or literary memoirs will be thrilled by this volume. |
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My two heavens: a life in French food from Martinborough to Montjaux
by Jo Crabb
A memoir of restaurateur and chef Jo Crabb, the story of her enviable life between Martinborough and southern France, with recipes from her cooking school Careme. This is the story of Jo's life in food, filled with recipes, and the story of finally realising her greatest aspiration by buying a house in France, beautifully illustrated with artist husband Stephen Allwood's drawings and paintings.
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Dot: queen of Riverstone Castle
by Dot Smith
Dot Smith, Grande Dame of Riverstone, is one-of-a-kind engaging, entertaining and entrepreneurial, and she's soon to become queen of her own castle. Dot Smith describes herself as 'a woman's dream and a man's nightmare!' The exuberant 60-something, with bright pink flourishes in her hair, is the Grande Dame of the Riverstone complex, situated just north of Oamaru. It includes the award-winning restaurant, Riverstone Kitchen.
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| Day of honey: a memoir of food, love, and war by Annia CiezadloJournalist Annia Ciezadlo, a New York City native, reported from Beirut and Baghdad between 2003 and 2009. Ciezadlo felt comfortable in the region, since she and her journalist husband often stayed with his family in Beirut. Observing the contrast between war's violence and the welcome extended to her by ordinary people, Ciezadlo's accounts in this memoir emphasise the meals she was served and the ways in which they brought people together. This focus on positive cultural interactions moderates her realistic depictions of conflict, including ethnic and religious battles. The final chapter of Day of Honey includes recipes for many of the mouth-watering foods she describes in the book. |
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| Climbing the mango trees: a memoir of a childhood in India by Madhur JaffreyCookbook author and actress Madhur Jaffrey grew up in Delhi, India, in an affluent Hindu family that maintained close associations with Muslims. Her first name symbolizes the importance of food -- it means "sweet as honey" -- and her childhood was filled with delicious foods and beverages from Punjabi Muslim as well as Delhi Hindu traditions. Climbing the Mango Trees portrays Jaffrey's childhood with constant references to the food and drink she remembers and includes her accounts of learning to prepare Indian meals after moving to England to study acting. Enhanced with photographs and family recipes, this engaging memoir may inspire readers to experience the uses of cumin, ginger, and many other spices. |
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| Yes, Chef: a memoir by Marcus SamuelssonBorn in Ethiopia, raised in Sweden by adoptive parents, and taught cooking by his Swedish grandmother, Marcus Samuelsson became an award-winning chef, owning a restaurant (The Red Rooster) in Harlem and taking first place in a season of television's Top Chef Masters. Providing accounts of his worldwide travels -- which include going to Ethiopia and reconnecting with his birth family -- as well as mouth-watering descriptions of meals, Yes, Chef offers a captivating read for both food lovers and armchair travel enthusiasts. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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