The book is written simply, with a tender humility that shines the light on Mapplethorpe and other tragic geniuses of that era, tracing their guiding hunger, their successes, and ultimate failures. The book isn’t sad though—it’s transcendent. Smith is the survivor, her story extending well beyond the pages of the book.
Category: Non fiction reviews
Forty Something and Fifty Something by Dr Robert M Fleisher
Overall the premise for both of these books is that, as you age, the lifestyle choices you make can have a major, drastic impact on the quality of your life. In a relaxed, funny, and easy to read way, Fleisher points out exactly how to make the most of what you can, and deal with what you can’t. Both of these are good manuals that prescribe rather than preach and are as entertaining as they are informative.
A review of Corn Flakes with John Lennon by Robert Hilburn
Hilburn does have the special gift of getting behind the glitz and glamour of these famous stars and merely starting conversations with the person. He says in several places throughout the book that he was often assigned interviews at the last minute at the artist’s request, and rather than conduct a proper interview with microphones or tape recorders, he and the artist simply had a conversation, Hilburn jotting down notes and important quotes as they talked.
A review of The $21 Challenge by Fiona Lippey and Jackie Gower
It isn’t so much about making do with less, as about how best to use what you’ve got and driving your spending by a well thought through process of planned expenditure. Don’t expect any new age claptrap here though. Instead, Lippey and Gower have created a very practical, fun, cartoon rich book that will appeal to just about anyone and will add value to any household whether it’s used as an occasional tool to save up for something or as the start to a major life-change.
A review of The Element by Ken Robinson
If this book makes even a small chip in the notion that a standardized test score is the best indicator of intelligence, it will have been worth Robinson and Aronica’s investment of time. For those of us reading it, it could do much more. It could open our eyes about the great diversity of unique capability that we all have and help us to think in much broader terms about ourselves, our children, our colleagues, and indeed our world.
A review of Fast Ed’s Dinner in 10 by Ed Halmagyi
The principle that has made him famous is basically, that you don’t have to spend a lot of time cooking to create a good meal. Fast food doesn’t have to mean bad, unhealthy food. Fast Ed’s second cookbook Dinner in 10 is an elegant offering, and despite it’s casual paperback feel, it’s nicely stylised, with fresh looking line drawings, and large, attractive images of most of the recipes.
A review of Nothing to Be Frightened Of by Julian Barnes
That the book remains elegant, moving, upbeat, erudite, lucid, and calm throughout the morass is due to Barnes’ great skill as a writer. Nothing To Be Frightened Of is, as one would expect from Julian Barnes, a tightly written, and ultimately affirmative piece of work that takes the reader on a journey that ends in exactly the place you’d expect. Black humour notwithstanding, it’s one of those books that will enrich your life, at least while you’ve still got it.
A review of Science as a Spiritual Practice by Imants Baruss
So there is little account of the ethical dimensions of a spiritual life, nor of the fact that spiritual yearning can arise out of a dissatisfaction with contemporary modes of living, despair or indeed grief, ‘so often the source of our spirit’s growth’ (Rilke). Rather than, say, through a sense that science’s materialist world-view is inadequate.
A review of by Résistance by Agnes Humbert
All in all, despite any questions about her methodology, Humbert ‘s account of her wartime experience is a remarkable book, a testament to at least one woman’s ability to maintain her humanity when inhumanity is all around her.
A review of The Greatest Moving Abroad Tips in the world by Lorraine Mace
It’s small enough to fit in your handbag, and a good solid construction that should take the reader through the early stage trips, to the final move, and beyond to settling in. This is a fun, easy to use, and inexpensive guide which could save you lots of costly and painful errors and mistakes. If you’re planning a trip abroad, it would certainly pay to take advantage of the considerable knowledge of the ‘moving abroad queen’ Lorraine Mace.