In the time honoured tradition for this time of year, it is time for the Best of 2011 lists. I have asked a randomly chosen group of people for their input and will be posting these throughout January.First up is Vicki Clarke. She is Service Delivery Manager for the six Kowhai Coast Libraries in the North and West of Auckland, but may also be known to a lot of you as Library Manager at Kumeu Library or as Acting Library Manager for Rodney Libraries. As I discovered when looking at most of the lists, there is something in here that I will be putting on my request list.
Skippy dies / Paul Murray. A sad and memorable 'tragic comedy', this is a story of a group of teenage boys in a boarding school. The story is about their teenage angst (why on earth I read it I don't know!), their obsessions, relationships, and part of their journey in finding out who they are in the world. I'm glad I'm all grown up.
Open : an autobiography / Andre Agassi. I know, this has been out for a while, but finally I found it on the shelf! I really enjoyed this as a very honest expose of his life from being drilled for hours by his father, through his tennis career and marriages to Brooke Shields and the now Mrs Agassi, that other very famous tennis player.
The garden in the clouds : from derelict smallholding to mountain paradise / Antony Woodward. This memoir is set in Wales, about the author dragging his somewhat reluctant family to live on a hilltop farm, and their struggles to develop and present their garden for public tours in the presitigious 'Yellow Book'. No I had never heard of it before either.
The tent, the bucket and me : my family's disastrous attempts to go camping in the 70s / Emma Kennedy. This had me in stitches. The title is self-explanatory - if you're going camping this summer, this could be a really helpful guide of how not to do it.
A world history of art / Hugh Honour & John Fleming. Wow, a big book that gave me a short walk through art from prehistory through to the contemporary. I found the older history more interesting, so stopped reading once it got to the 1960's.....
Euan Macleod : the painter in the painting / Gregory O'Brien ; with a foreword by John McDonald. I would like to own one of this New Zealand artist's works. (My birthday is in March.)
Open : an autobiography / Andre Agassi. I know, this has been out for a while, but finally I found it on the shelf! I really enjoyed this as a very honest expose of his life from being drilled for hours by his father, through his tennis career and marriages to Brooke Shields and the now Mrs Agassi, that other very famous tennis player.
The garden in the clouds : from derelict smallholding to mountain paradise / Antony Woodward. This memoir is set in Wales, about the author dragging his somewhat reluctant family to live on a hilltop farm, and their struggles to develop and present their garden for public tours in the presitigious 'Yellow Book'. No I had never heard of it before either.
The tent, the bucket and me : my family's disastrous attempts to go camping in the 70s / Emma Kennedy. This had me in stitches. The title is self-explanatory - if you're going camping this summer, this could be a really helpful guide of how not to do it.
A world history of art / Hugh Honour & John Fleming. Wow, a big book that gave me a short walk through art from prehistory through to the contemporary. I found the older history more interesting, so stopped reading once it got to the 1960's.....
Euan Macleod : the painter in the painting / Gregory O'Brien ; with a foreword by John McDonald. I would like to own one of this New Zealand artist's works. (My birthday is in March.)
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