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Non-Fiction > Biography

Large 9781509896103

I Wanna Be Yours by John Cooper Clarke

$49.99 NZD

Category: Biography

John Cooper Clarke is a phenomenon: Poet Laureate of Punk, rock star, fashion icon, TV and radio presenter, social and cultural commentator, reluctant national treasure. At 5 feet 11 inches (116lb, 32in chest, 27in waist), in trademark suit jacket, skin-tight drainpipes and dark glasses, with jet-black back-combed hair and mouth full of gold teeth, he is instantly recognisable. As a writer his voice is equally unmistakable and his inimitable dry Salford drawl shines through the prose. I Wanna Be Yours covers an extraordinary life, filled with remarkable personalities: from Nico to Chuck Berry, from all the great punks to Bernard Manning, and on to more recent fans and collaborators Alex Turner and Plan B - who have championed his work. Interspersed with stories of his rock and roll and performing career, John also reveals his boggling encyclopaedic knowledge of twentieth-century popular culture, his private passions and guilty pleasures: from Baudelaire, Pam Ayres and Rimbaud to football to Coronation Street, comprising horse racing and gambling, politics and jokes - and much more. ...Show more

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Large 9781783351473

My Last Supper - One Meal, a Lifetime in the Making by Jay Rayner

$24.99 NZD

Category: Biography

'Hilarious, informative, enlightening, instructive ... It's the funniest book I've read all year' - Chris Evans You're About to Die. What Would Your Final Meal Be? This question has long troubled Jay Rayner. But why wait for death? Why not eat your 'last meal' now, when you can enjoy it? So, he had a simple plan: he would embark on a journey through his life in food in pursuit of the meal to end all meals. It's a quest that takes him from necking oysters on the Louisiana shoreline to forking away the finest French pastries in Tokyo, and from his earliest memories of snails in garlic butter, through multiple pig-based banquets, to the unforgettable final meal itself. This is the story of one hungry man, in eight courses. 'Witty, wise, and, obviously, delicious.' Guardian 'A raucous, joyous celebration of life.' Irish Times ...Show more

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Large 9781526614766

Year of the Monkey by Patti Smith

$24.99 NZD

Category: Biography

'Magical' GUARDIAN'A gripping tale of the search for meaning in times of turbulence - expressed with Smith's signature poetic flair' VOGUE'Extraordinary ... A tense, teasing mix of reality and dream' Sunday Times'A melancholy mood and poetic language distinguish Smith's third memoir' BBC'Her willingness to look closely at life's closing chapters makes for a magical book' WASHINGTON POSTFollowing a run of New Year's concerts at San Francisco's legendary Fillmore, Patti Smith finds herself tramping the coast of Santa Cruz, about to embark on a year of solitary wandering. Unfettered by logic or time, she draws us into her private wonderland, with no design yet heeding signs, including a talking sign that looms above her, prodding and sparring like the Cheshire Cat. In February, a surreal lunar year begins, bringing with it unexpected turns, heightened mischief, and inescapable sorrow. In a stranger's words, “Anything is possible: after all, it's the year of the monkey.” For Patti Smith - inveterately curious, always exploring, tracking thoughts, writing the year evolves as one of reckoning with the changes in life's gyre: with loss, aging, and a dramatic shift in the political landscape of America.Smith melds the Western landscape with her own dreamscape. Taking us from Southern California to the Arizona desert; to a Kentucky farm as the amanuensis of a friend in crisis; to the hospital room of a valued mentor; and by turns to remembered and imagined places - this haunting memoir blends fact and fiction with poetic mastery. The unexpected happens; grief and disillusionment. But as Patti Smith heads toward a new decade in her own life, she offers this balm to the reader: her wisdom, wit, gimlet eye, and above all, a rugged hope of a better world.Riveting, elegant, often humorous, illustrated by Smith's signature Polaroids, Year of the Monkey is a moving and original work, a touchstone for our turbulent times. ...Show more

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Large 9781529125207

The Last Days of John Lennon by James Patterson

$38.00 NZD

Category: Biography

John Lennon achieved with the Beatles a level of superstardom that defied classification. "We were the best bloody band there was," he said. "There was nobody to touch us."   In the summer of 1980, Lennon signs with a label and hires a top producer to recruit the best session musicians, ready to record new music for the first time in years. They are awestruck when Lennon dashes off "(Just Like) Starting Over." Lennon is back in peak form, with his best songwriting since "Imagine."   The Last Days of John Lennon is the amazing story of John Lennon's life and career, from his earliest days and first songs up to his last seconds. It tells the story of the most profound rock-and-roll genius of all time-and of Mark David Chapman, the consummate Nowhere Man who took him from us. Enriched by exclusive interviews with Lennon's friends and associates, including Paul McCartney, the book is a true-crime drama about two men who changed history. One whose indelible songs still enrich our lives today-and the other who ended the beautiful music with five pulls of a trigger.   ...Show more

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Large 9780733645730

Rise by Mark Bouris

$37.99 NZD

Category: Biography

'Anyone can better themselves, better their life, better their situation. You've got to think big. People have lost faith in the system, it's time to empower yourself.' At a time of ultimate global disruption, many people are having to re-set their goals and take a new path. Mark Bouris is a self-made man who knows what that feels like. He sees this as an opportunity to change what isn't working. The founder of two hugely successful financial institutions, he's watched Australia's enormous potential be squandered as entrepreneurship has been ignored, ingenuity has been punished and our reputation for boxing above our weight as a nation has been torn down. It's pissed him off. And now, more than ever, he knows we all have to be our best self and not throw in the towel and think it is all too hard. Growing up in the working-class suburb of Punchbowl, in western Sydney, there were no silver spoons in the Bouris house. No easy rides. He learned quickly that he had to be his own best asset. To be resilient, focused and determined. To have energy, drive and a willingness to work his arse off. All of that was more valuable than any amount of money. It's what separated Mark from the pack, and what will help you stand out as well. You might be sitting there thinking, I can't do that, I can't do what he does, I can't be a Mark Bouris, it's all too difficult. But the fact is ... you can. Anyone can. And in Fight to Win he's going to show you how. ...Show more

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Large 9780349013176

The Secret Life of Dorothy Soames - Losing and Finding My Mother in the Foundling Hospital by Justine Cowan

$34.99 NZD

Category: Biography

Growing up with a volatile and obsessive mother, Justine Cowan couldn't get far enough away. It was only after her mother died that she found herself pulling at the threads of a story half-told - her mother's upbringing as a foundling in the famous British institution. Haunted by this secret history, Ju stine travelled across the sea and deep into the past to discover the girl her mother once was. Here, with the vividness of a true storyteller, she pieces together her mother's childhood alongside the history of the Foundling Hospital: from its idealistic beginnings in the 18th century, famous patrons from Handel to Dickens, its approach to childcare and teaching, and how it survived the Blitz only to close after the Second World War. This was the environment that shaped a young girl then known as Dorothy Soames, who was left behind by a mother forced by stigma and shame to give up her child; who withstood years of physical and emotional abuse, dreaming of escape as German bombers circled the skies, unaware all along that her own mother was fighting to get her back. ...Show more

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Large 9781787332539

Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath by Heather Clark

$75.00 NZD

Category: Biography

The highly anticipated new biography of Sylvia Plath that focuses on her remarkable literary and intellectual achievements, while restoring the woman behind the long-held myths about her life and art. With a wealth of never-before-accessed materials--including unpublished letters and manuscripts; court, police, and psychiatric records; and new interviews--Heather Clark brings to life the brilliant daughter of Wellesley, Massachusetts. Sylvia Plath had poetic ambition from a very young age and was an accomplished, published writer of poems and stories even before she became a star English student at Smith College in the early 1950s. Determined not to read Plath's work as if her every act, from childhood on, was a harbinger of her tragic fate, Clark here evokes a culture in transition, in the shadow of the atom bomb and the Holocaust, as she explores Plath's world: her early relationships and determination not to become a conventional woman and wife; her conflicted ties to her well-meaning, widowed mother; her troubles at the hands of an unenlightened mental-health industry; her Cambridge years and thunderclap meeting with Ted Hughes, a marriage of true minds that would change the course of poetry in English; and much more. Clark's clear-eyed sympathy for Hughes, his lover Assia Wevill, and the other demonized players in the arena of Plath's suicide promotes a deeper understanding of her final days, with their outpouring of first-rate poems. Along with illuminating readings of the poems themselves, Clark's meticulous, compassionate research brings us closer than ever to the spirited woman and visionary artist who blazed a trail that still lights the way for women poets the world over. ...Show more

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Large 9781988592541

Letters of Denis Glover by Sarah Shieff (editor)

$79.95 NZD

Category: Biography

Oh Christ, a bloody ½ witted student, for purposes of an essay, has just come in to ask me what I and Baxter write verse for, and if we mean what we say, or is there something deeper; could we write better verse in England, or here; or do the critics and professors just read a lot into what’s said that isn’t there? So much. And I have been very rude indeed. – Letter to John Reece Cole, 16 August 1949 Nothing about this excerpt from a letter by Denis Glover will surprise anyone who knows him by reputation. He – and his letters – could be witty, intelligent, alarmingly frank and frequently highly entertaining. A widely admired poet, honoured naval commander, gifted printer and typographer, Denis Glover was founder of the Caxton Press in Christchurch. For 15 years from 1935 he directed a publishing programme that did much to define New Zealand literature for its day, and for much of the rest of the century. His literary work was suspended for war service in the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy, during which he earned a DSC for his activities in the Normandy landings. But he was also a serial philanderer and prodigious drinker, and his private life increasingly disintegrated around him, more and more publicly. And yet his energy as a correspondent appeared never to wane, and almost to the end he confided openly, prolifically and entertainingly to hundreds of acquaintances and confidants. In this magnificent volume Sarah Shieff presents around 500 of Glover’s letters to around 110 people, drawn from an archive of nearly 3000 letters to over 430 recipients. Many now recall Glover as little more than a misogynistic old fart, a court jester. These letters should give readers the opportunity to revise – or at least complicate – those dismissive categorisations. ...Show more

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Large 9781529125122

A Del of a Life by David Jason

$38.00 NZD

Category: Biography

A third volume of memoirs from the national treasure David Jason, following on from the success of his previous much-loved books My Life and Only Fools and Stories. In celebration of Sir David Jason's 80th year, A Del of a Life: Lessons I've Learned relives Jason's extraordinary life and career from ove r 50 years in entertainment. From a trainee electrician to one of Britain's most revered and loved actors, Jason shares heartfelt and hilarious wisdom with readers on subjects ranging from family to work, resilience to ebullience. Told with his characteristic warmth and wit, Jason shines a wonderful new light on the characters and shows that fans have come to love him for, from Del Boy to Granville, Larkin to Frost. 'In my first two books, I enjoyed sharing my life with the great British public, and I was overwhelmed by their support and kindness. In my new book, A Del of a Life, I am delighted to share with readers some of the hard-won lessons I've learned along the way - how to dream big, how to work hard, and how not to fall through the gap in the pub bar... ...Show more

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Large jacket  3

The Powerful and the Damned: Private Diaries in Turbulent Times by Lionel Barber

$38.00 NZD

Category: Biography

'An extraordinary personal and professional insight into fifteen years of tumultuous times.' - Tony Blair 'Riveting - a world of power, money, ego and disaster, as witnessed from the front row' - Philippe Sands 'Brutal, brilliant and scurrilously funny ... don't miss it' - Misha Glenny 'As FT editor, I was a privileged interlocutor to people in power around the world, each offering unique insights into high-level decision-making and political calculation, often in moments of crisis. These diaries offer snapshots of leadership in an age of upheaval...' Lionel Barber was Editor of the Financial Times for the tech boom, the global financial crisis, the rise of China, Brexit, and mainstream media's fight for survival in the age of fake news. In this unparalleled, no-holds-barred diary of life behind the headlines, he reveals the private meetings and exchanges with political leaders on the eve of referendums, the conversations with billionaire bankers facing economic meltdown, exchanges with Silicon Valley tech gurus and pleas from foreign emissaries desperate for inside knowledge, all against the backdrop of a wildly shifting media landscape. The result is a fascinating - and at times scathing - portrait of power in our modern age; who has it, what it takes and what drives the men and women with the world at their feet. Featuring close encounters with Trump, Cameron, Blair, Putin, Merkel and Mohammed Bin Salman and many more, this is a rare portrait of the people who continue to shape our world and who quite literally, make the news. ...Show more

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Large 9780241371381

Diary of an Apprentice Astronaut by Samantha Cristoforetti

$48.00 NZD

Category: Biography

'Today I woke up on Earth. And I will fall asleep in space' In space the sun rises and sets 16 times a day. You fly over every sea, every mountain and desert, every city and every port. The most ordinary things -- eating, sleeping, brushing your teeth or cutting your hair -- have to be relearned, until they become familiar again. This is the story of Samantha Cristoforetti's incredible journey to becoming an astronaut, and her journey beyond Earth. Her voyage as an apprentice astronaut began when she was in her early thirties: five years of intense training around the world, from Houston to Japan to the legendary Star City in Russia. Countless hours spent in centrifuges, spaceship simulators and under water for spacewalk practice. Then, one day, a rocket was waiting for her on the launch pad. And after eight minutes of wild ascent, she was on orbit, crunched up with her two crewmates in a tiny spaceship that took them to the International Space Station. With honesty and warmth, Cristoforetti chronicles the two hundred days she spent on the ISS, the joys and challenges of being in an extraordinary place, from the sublime sight of seeing Earth for the first time to more unusual concerns, such as mastering the art of floating. How do you find your bearings when there is no up and down? What is it like to run in weightlessness? And how do you cook in space? This is an enthralling, inspiring and surprisingly down-to-earth story about what it really takes to pursue your dreams. ...Show more

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Large 9781529040005

Lights Out, Full Throttle: Stories from the Pit Lane by Damon Hill; Johnny Herbert

$39.99 NZD

Category: Biography

Laurel and Hardy, Ant and Dec, Morecambe and Wise, Herbert and Hill. The history of entertainment is studded with brilliant comic duos. Johnny Herbert and Damon Hill between them competed in 261 Grand Prix amassing 25 wins, 49 podium finishes, one World Championship, 458 championship points, a Le Mans w in, two smashed ankles, a broken arm, wrist, leg, sixty ribs and two bruised egos.Having retired from racing, Johnny and Damon have become the one constant for passionate English F1 fans in a rapidly changing landscape.They have earned cult status as commentators and pundits, with viewers loving their unerring dedication to the sport's greatness. Drawing on a lifetime of sniffing petrol fumes, Lights Out, Full Throttle stands large over the landscape of Formula One and takes the temperature of the good, the bad and the ugly of the petrol-heads' paradise.Lights Out, Full Throttle takes F1 fans on a tour of the sport - from Monaco to Silverstone, Johnny's crowd-surfing and Bernie's burger bar, the genius of Adrian Newey and Colin Chapman, Martin Brundle's hush puppies, why Lewis Hamilton will never ever move to Ferrari (probably), getting the yips, money, safety, the future of the sport, and what it's like to have an out of body experience while driving a car in the pouring rain at 200mph.Whether you're a fan of Nigel, Niki, Kimi or Britney, pine for the glory days of Brabham, Williams, Jim Clark and Fangio, or believe that Lewis is one year away from retiring as the GOAT, Lights Out, Full Throttle is the oily rag for the petrol-head fan to inhale while waiting for the racers to line up on the grid. ...Show more

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