DIVERSE BUNCH OF NON-FICTION CROSSES MY DESK

THE ISLAND OF THE ANCIENTS - the secrets of Sardiania’s centenarians
Ben Hills – Murdoch Books - A$34.95

Hills is well-known in Australia as an investigative journalist, former foreign correspondent and TV producer. This is his fourth book.
If you live in Sardinia you have twice the chance of reaching 100 years of age than if you live in NZ, Australia, the UK or the US.
When Hills learned about this he decided to go and check the place out along with acclaimed photographer Mayu Kanamori.
The result is quite fascinating and although in the end I don’t think we really do find the secret to their amazing longevity we do travel the length and breadth of this fascinating part of Italy, learn about its history and attractions, vicariously share some great food and meet some truly astonishing characters.
If you are heading in that direction this is a book to take with you.

And Abba Renshaw of Allen & Unwin has just reminded me that author Ben Hills is attending The Press Christchurch Writers Festival.

IMAGES OF DIGNITY – Barry Barclay and Fourth Cinema
Stuart Murray – Huia - $50

Sadly Barry Barclay died earlier this year without seeing this fine record of his life’s work. He was of course one of the most important film makers in New Zealand and a major indigenous film maker internationally. The book, which has a scholarly feel and appearance, (and price), analyses all of Barclay’s film and television work.

Stuart Murray is a senior lecturer in the School of English at the University of Leeds and has published widely on New Zealand literature and film.

UNCOMMON ARRANGEMENTS – Seven portraits of married life in London literary circles 1910-1939
Kate Roiphe – Virago - $39.99

The sub-title possibly tells you all you need to know in advance about this quite fascinating book.
Here are the seven couples featured:

H.G. & Jane Wells
Katherine Mansfield & John Middleton Murry
Elisabeth Von Arnim & John Francis Russell
Vanessa & Clive Bell
Ottoline & Philip Morrell
Radclyffe Hall & Una Troubridge
Vera Brittain & George Gordon Catlin.

Photographs of each couple appear at the beginning of each chapter. I must say reading their various stories makes one feel remarkably normal! Katherine Mansfield’s inclusion will ensure every library in New Zealand will have to buy copies.

The author is a writer and journalist with several books to her credit and stories that have appeared in the New Yorker, Vogue, Esquire and the Washington Post.

GET OFF YOUR ARSE AND LOSE WEIGHT
Steve Miller – Headline - $29.99

He has been called the Gordon Ramsay of lifestyle gurus and I’m not surprised because Miller, a successful motivator who specializes in training company executives in positive thinking, is a very straight talking guy. This is not a diet book although quite a lot of it is about our eating habits, he’s very strong against processed foods and takeaways, he’s keen on fresh foods, and walking. The book is full of commonsense packaged in a highly motivational manner and at the end of the book are menus for a month, helpful lists of goodies and baddies when it comes to food and a thoroughly comprehensive index. If you have a weight problem then this book could well provide the motivation to do something about it.

COME ON SHORE AND WE WILL KILL AND EAT YOU ALL
An unlikely love story
Christina Thompson - Bloomsbury - $35

With a title like this it is no wonder the book has created huge media interest around the world. I first heard about it via the New York Times and then noticed excerpts were being published in diverse media.
So what’s it all about? Well the author was born in Switzerland in 1959 but grew up near Boston in the US. She attended Dartmouth College and later earned a PhD from the University of Melbourne subsequently holding doctoral appointments in Hawaii and Queensland before being appointed editor of the Australian literary journal Meanjin in 1994. Since 2000 she has been editor of the Harvard Review. Her essays and criticism have appeared in numerous publications. She lives in Boston with her husband and three sons. She met her husband, Tauwhitu Matariki, while holidaying in the Bay of Islands, quite a story in itself which she relates in the book. So all in all a most interesting woman with an impressive scholarly background.
The work is a mixture of memoir, anthropology and history and tells the story of the cultural clash between Europeans and Maori.
It will be interesting to see how it is received here in New Zealand.

GHOST TRAIN TO THE EASTERN STAR
On the tracks of the Great Railway Bazaar
Paul Theroux – Hamish Hamilton - $37

Theroux is a prolific author with some 27 fiction titles published as well as 15 works on non-fiction.
But his most loved and successful book is his first work of non-fiction, The Great Railway Bazaar, so the publishers were wise to add the sub-title, On the tracks of the Great Railway Bazaar, which will undoubtedly attract many a reader.
Thirty three years have gone by and as Theroux says in chapter one, The Eurostar, he is now “twice as old as the person who had ridden those trains” but his is something he has to do, to make the trip again.
Theroux, now well into his sixties, sees things very differently from his first grand rail tour but he captures the sights and sounds along the way with just as much skill as before. It is of course a very different world to the previous one with the fall of communism, the bustling successful Turkey presently wishing to join the EU but with lots of political tensions, and so on. 500 pages of entertainment for the armchair traveller.
FOOTNOTE.
Mine is an advance proof copy, publication in NZ September 1.

ROUGH JUSTICE- The Rex Haig Story
Longacre Press - $34.99

After listening to Haig being interviewed by Kathryn Ryan on her Nine to Noon show a month ago I decided this book was going to be a must-read.
Well, what a riveting story. Haig spent 10 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, the murder of a crew member on his fishing boat. He has maintained his innocence throughout the years since the murder and finally in 2006 his conviction was quashed.
This is his story, in his own words, as told to Wellington lawyer Rennie Gould.
The foreword by First Court of Appeal Counsel for Haig, Keith Jefferies, included this paragraph:
The case of Rex Haig provides lessons for the Police, Prosecutors, Defence Lawyers, and Judges, in that it highlights the dangers of faithfully subscribing to obstinacy where emerging post trial evidence, clearly began to disinter the truth.
I couldn’t put it down. Haig is inspiring in his struggle from prison to be heard and listened to. Finally a triumph for justice but a lot of worrying issues are exposed.