The Lucky Ones: New Biographies and Memoirs
This month's new biographies and memoirs serve communal living, surviving violent regimes, rugby heroes, New Zealand veterinarians and movie stars. There's something for everyone in this selection.
Group living and other recipes / Milholland, Lola
Growing up in a communal house in Portland, Oregon, the child of hippies, Milholland tells the story of Holman House, a multigenerational experiment into communal living. From transcendent meals to wild parties, strange guests and dreams of utopia, Milholland weaves a quirky story that is steeped in the wisdom that comes with experience. Having lived in multiple generations of communal living, Milholland ponders what we can learn from these generations to take us into the future, and whether it might be time to re-imagine family and community.
The Lucky Ones: a memoir by Zara Chowdhary
A moving memoir by a survivor of anti-Muslim violence in contemporary India. In 2002 when Zara Chowdhary was a 16 year old high school student, she and other Muslim inhabitants of her home city of Ahmedabad were put in a 3 month lockdown, severely restricting their freedoms and leaving many in fear for their lives. In The Lucky ones, Chowdary examines the past and present of her multi-generational Muslim family, and the broader context of being Muslim in modern day India.
The art of power : my story as America's first woman Speaker of the House / Pelosi, Nancy
The most powerful women in American political history, Nancy Pelosi has inspired both admiration and controversy. With a life that spans from housewife to House Speaker, Pelosi tells the story of how she became a top legislator, a key partner to presidents and the most visible woman in power in the resistance to former president Trump.
The ones that bit me! : camels, cows & other young-vet stories / Taylor, Marcus
A heartwarming and hilarious memoir of a young New Zealand vet. By the time Marcus Taylor graduated from veterinary school at 23, he had been bitten by a cow, a hawk, many dogs, cats, parrots and even a fish. This memoir is full of tales that will have you roaring laughing, scratching your head at the absurdity of life as a vet, and maybe even shed a tear or two as Marcus tells his story.
Seeing through : a chronicle of sex, drugs, and opera / Gordon, Ricky Ian
Music has been the guiding force of Ricky Ian Gordon's life, since he was an 8 year old at piano lessons. One of our generation's greatest living composers, Gordon has found music carrying him through all of life's path, from great sorrow through to deepest love. This honest, funny memoir takes you through his life from growing up on Long Island, his career in music and the loss of his partner to AIDS in the height of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
View from the second row / Whitelock, Samuel
After making his debut in 2010, Sam Whitelock has seen three rugby world cup grand finals, nine super rugby finals, and 153 appearances in the black jersey. In this autobiography he speaks in his own words about leadership, coaching, physical and mental toughness, friends and foes on the footy field, and how family and farming provided the bedrock for his global success.
Bits and pieces : my mother, my brother, and me / Goldberg, Whoopi
If it weren't for her mother, Emma Johnson, Caryn Johnson would never have become Whoopi Goldberg. Emma raised her children not just to survive, but to thrive. After losing her mother in 2010 and brother in 2015, Whoopi felt adrift and deeply alone. In this intimate and heartfelt memoir, she shares many of the deeply personal stories of their lives together for the first time. Whoopi writes, "Not everybody gets to walk this earth with folks who let you be exactly who you are and who give you the confidence to become exactly who you want to be. So, I thought I'd share mine with you."
How to avoid a happy life : a memoir / Lawrinson, Julia
From high school dropout on a psych ward to card-carrying lesbian on a motorbike, from enduring a controlling relationship with her ex-lover's brother to being chased by a media scrum outside a Perth court, the life of beloved children's author Julia Lawrinson is stranger than fiction - and she draws on all her power as a storyteller to turn a life of intense headlines into a wild, marvellous tale.