"I believe that Gandhi’s views were the most enlightened of all the political men of our time." ~ Albert Einstein (1879-1955), German-American physicist
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Staff Pickles - librarians online
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Our team of staff pickles are here to bring you recommendations with flavour. We will be sharing lists, reviews, and blog posts - all about the books, movies, TV, and music we love. Follow us on the libraries' blog or in the catalogue or ask us for a personalised recommendation.
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| More fool me: a memoir by Stephen FryBritish author and comedian Stephen Fry worked very hard by day in the 1980s, writing radio and television skits, recording voice-overs, and appearing in a variety of gigs; he also partied energetically by night. In More Fool Me, which draws on his own diaries from the time, Fry charmingly relates his adventures, dropping celebrity names and hilarious tales about the high life. He also frankly reveals his self-destructive behaviour, including addictions to cocaine and gambling. |
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Havel: a life
by Michael Zantovsky
Examines the life of a man who rose from being outcasted and imprisoned during Communist rule to become the last president of Czechoslovakia, the first president of the newly democratic Czech Republic and a human-rights activist.
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Our last best chance: a story of war and peace
by Abdullah
The Jordanian monarch traces his life while revealing negotiations designed to address key issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, documenting his Western education, military service, and efforts as an intermediary between America and the Middle East.
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Maurice Gee: life and work
by Rachel Barrowman
Maurice Gee: Life and Work explores the connections and paradoxes of a private man who has written his life into fiction. It is a compelling story of a life and a major contribution to New Zealand literary history.
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Hans Sturm: a soldier's odyssey on the Eastern Front
by Gordon Williamson
An engaging reconstruction of events based on exchanges of correspondence and reminiscences between the author and Hans Sturm himself. It vividly portrays not only a German soldier's experience on the Eastern Front, but the intriguing trajectories that success in the battlefield yielded for him at home under the Nazi regime.
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A clean break: my story
by Christophe Bassons
Christophe Bassons is a former professional cyclist. His career was a successful one albeit never in the full glare of the media. That all changed when, in 1998, the Festina doping scandal broke and Bassons shot to fame as one of the handful of clean riders in the peloton and as the only professional who dared to speak openly about the topic.
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A passion for birth: my life: anthropology, family and feminism
by Sheila Kitzinger
Sheila Kitzinger, passionate campaigner for women's and babies' rights, childbirth educator and author, describes the experiences that have shaped her since childhood and the enormous changes that have taken place over the last 50 years on the subject of birth.
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Lights in my life
by Helen Drew
Helen Drew takes the reader from her childhood in New Zealand to her life today... she describes the highs and lows with equal clarity from a terrible episode in her childhood to the joy of her grandchildren. Helen's has been an eventful life with its share of tragedy, misfortune and recovery, and in looking back with humour and insight the reader can share those experiences.
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Barbara Pym: a passionate force
by Ann Allestree
In 1977 Barbara Pym was mentioned twice by both Philip Larkin and Lord David Cecil in a Times Literary Supplement survey of the most underrated writers of the century, leading to a rediscovery of her life and works that has continued to this day. Her reputation as a wry satirist has grown steadily. Just after what would have been her 100th birthday, her books remain in print and are now glowingly received and well-loved.
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The angel and the cad: love, loss and scandal in Regency England
by Geraldine Roberts
The day she turned 16, Catherine Tylney Long became the wealthiest heiress in England and the public found their 'angel'. Witty, wealthy and beautiful, Catherine was the most eligible of young ladies and was courted by royalty but, ignoring the warnings of her closest confidantes, she married for love. Her choice of husband was the charming but feckless dandy William Wellesley Pole, nephew of the Duke of Wellington.
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| Spectacle: the astonishing life of Ota Benga by Pamela NewkirkIn this compelling account, journalist Pamela Newkirk explores the life of Ota Benga, a Congolese man who was brought to the U.S. in 1904 and displayed as an example of the West African "pygmy" people. His sojourn in America was marked by exploitation and abuse - during one period he was exhibited in the monkey section of the New York Zoo. Newkirk carefully researched records of Benga's captivity to compile his personal story and expose the racist and scientifically misguided context in which he was held captive. |
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Shining: the story of a lucky man
by Abdi Aden
Abdi's world fell apart when he was only fifteen and Somalia's vicious civil war hit Mogadishu. Unable to find his family and effectively an orphan, he fled with some sixty others, heading to Kenya.
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The real Peter Pan: the tragic life of Michael Llewelyn Davies
by Piers Dudgeon
Michael Llewelyn Davies was the fourth of five brothers who provided the inspiration for J. M. Barrie's characters Peter Pan, the Lost Boys and the Darling brothers. Barrie struck up an intense friendship with the children and their parents when he encountered them playing in London's Kensington Gardens, an area that would become the Neverland of his most enduring work.
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American wife: a memoir of love, war, faith, and renewal
by Taya Kyle
The widow of late SEAL sniper Chris Kyle describes their shared military service, her husband's murder at the height of his fame and the author's struggles to persevere and raise their children as a single parent.
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Dame Maggie Scott: a life in dance
by Michelle Potter
Born in Johannesburg in 1922, Scott travelled to Australia with Ballet Rambert in 1947. She became a major figure in Australian dance, founding the National Theatre Ballet and helping establish the Australian Ballet.
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Threads: the delicate life of John Craske
by Julia Blackburn
John Craske, a Norfok fisherman, was born in 1881. In 1923 he started making paintings of the sea and boats, and later, when he was too ill to stand and paint, he turned to embroidery. This book is a gentle meditation on art and fame; on the nature of time and the fact of mortality; and is illustrated with Craske's paintings and embroideries.
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Focus on: September and October Birthdays
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| Margaret Sanger: a life of passion by Jean H. BakerSeptember 14, 1879. In the late 19th century, Margaret Sanger saw how multiple miscarriages debilitated her mother and led to her early death. Later, working as a midwife, Sanger witnessed more suffering from unplanned pregnancies and self-induced abortions. In response, she illegally distributed information on contraception and became an advocate for family planning. She faced considerable social and political opposition, but persevered into the 1960s, when the birth control pill became available. |
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| Bruce by Peter Ames CarlinSeptember 23, 1949. This authorised biography of Jersey rocker Bruce Springsteen features in-depth interviews with family, friends, and close associates and even offers a poignant retrospective from the Boss himself. Thanks to these interviewees - high-school classmates, Springsteen's mother, and his sisters among them - readers will get an up-close-and-personal perspective on the 20-time Grammy Award-winning musician and songwriter. |
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| Gandhi before India by Ramachandra GuhaOctober 2, 1869. Mohandas K. Gandhi was born in Gujarat, India and received his early education there, but attended university in England and began his legal career in South Africa. In Gandhi Before India, Ramachandra Guha explores the years before Gandhi returned to India for good. Drawing on voluminous correspondence from others as well as Gandhi's own words, Guha searches out details that richly portray Gandhi's character and vividly depict his friends and associates. He highlights the political significance of Gandhi's work in the context of Britain's efforts to maintain control of its Empire. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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