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Showing posts with the label Non-Fiction

As a nation mourns wartime loss, controversy and threat surround No Easy Day

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As Australia mourns the loss of five defence force personnel in Afghanistan, it feels almost irreverent to join the discussion about a former US Navy Seal's book about the killing of bin Laden. Our collective grief is much closer to home. But the author Matt Bissonnette (briefly known by the pseudonym Mark Owens) is adamant he chose to write the book No Easy Day to remember the fallen of 9/11. The war in Afghanistan is almost a direct consequence and there are many fallen there too. The book is top of Amazon's best-seller list well before its hardcover release on September 4 and paperback release on September 7. Author wears disguise for 60 Minutes interview In a US 60 Minutes interview to be screened on September 11 (portion above), Bissonnette was disguised by Hollywood make-up artists to conceal his identity, although CBS said he had been willing to appear without disguise. Now that his name and identity have been revealed - first by Fox News - the disguise is a waste

Pippa commits her party credentials to print

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After participating in one of the biggest celebratory events in recent history, you can't blame Pippa Middleton for riding a Royal wave and releasing a book on events and celebrations. Celebrate: A Year of Festivities for Families is to be published by Penguin's Michael Joseph imprint on October 30 but is already available for on-line pre-order . Penguin describe Celebrate as "a useful, practical and inspiring journey into British-themed occasions, focusing on tradition and ritual and the importance of bringing friends and family together." Imprint Michael Joseph is known for handling Penguin's "highly commercial" authors and books and there are reports that Middleton negotiated a six figure sum for the book. And in defence of the claim that she is cashing in on her royal connections, her family does run a party business, Party Pieces , and the 28-year-old is reported to have delayed the release of the book to avoid the Queen's Jubilee cel

Shallow pop-fiction such as Fifty Shades of Grey undermines women's dignity: author

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Impoverished pop-fiction with "flat characters" such as in Fifty Shade of Grey was cheating young women of a dignified view of themselves, according to the author of a new book, Unseduced and Unshaken: The Place of Dignity in a Young Woman's Choices . Dr Rosalie de Rosset says the success of books like Fifty Shades and the Twilight series represents a frustrating trend among today’s women, but she is no less complimentary of Christian writing. Of the vast array of Christian books targetting women, Dr de Rosset says much of it consists of "Jesus fixes everything” scenarios that do not reflect anything like the complexity and depth of real life. “They are not well written and they are not theological.” she says.  Dr de Rosset is a Professor of Literature, English and Homiletics with a 42-year connection with Moody Bible Institute and a PhD in Language, Literacy, and Rhetoric from The University of Illinois,  Chicago. In an interview published on the Chr

Cherish life, especially the small things: Jim Styne's My Journey

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'If you don't have cancer, cherish life. If you do, cherish it even more.' – Jim Stynes, My Journey Jim Stynes, AFL Brownlow Medalist and former president of Melbourne Football Club, endured a tough and public fight with cancer after being diagnosed three years ago at the age of 43. My Journey is his autobiography, in which he recalls his football career from recruitment as a young Irishman and including winning the Brownlow Medal in 1991. It also discusses his co-founding of Reach, a community outreach organisation that works with troubled youth, and his cancer diagnosis and the subsequent battle. At the book's launch in Melbourne yesterday, his wife Sam spoke of how the prospect of Jim never seeing his kids grow up was one of the most upsetting aspects, but at the book will offer some comfort: "So just knowing that they will always have that book with that beautiful sparkly spine sitting on their bookshelf that they can grab at any time, it takes the pres

Book tells the story of Peter Norman, the famous salute and the sadness that followed

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When Peter Norman died of a heart attack on October 3, 2006, the US Track and Field Federation named the day of his funeral, October 9, as Peter Norman Day. This week Australian politicians  finally recognised Norman's brave stand and officially apologised for the delay. They were honouring his solidarity with black athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos who gave the Black Power salute during the medal ceremony for the men's 200 metres at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Howard won the silver medal, making him one of Australia's most successful male sprinters to date (consider how far we were from sprint medals in the London Olympics). When he was told by gold medalist Smith and bronze medalist Carlos that they intended to do during the ceremony, he famously told them, "I'll stand with you." Martin Flanagan of The Age tells the story in an article printed at the time of Norman's death: "They asked Norman if he believed in human rights. He sai

Alcoholics Anonymous makes list of Books that Shaped America

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You would not be surprised to find Catcher in the Rye , Gone with the Wind , Huckleberry Finn or even Catch 22 on a definitive list of books that shaped America but the "Big Book" of Alcoholic's Anonymous would probably not have easily come to mind. The Books that Shaped America list was developed by the US Library of Congress for an on-site exhibition it is holding as part of its multi-year "Celebration of the Book". Alcoholics Anonymous, on reflection a very apt choice considering the devastation of addiction in US (and human) existence, was written by co-founders Bill Wilson and Dr Bob Smith to help people recover from alcoholism. It has spawned many other 12-step programs but they all can be traced to the original inspiration for Wilson and Smith - the Beatitudes of Jesus Christ recorded in Matthew 5 . Other interesting inclusions Christopher Colles' A Survey of the Roads of the United States of America (1789) and Amelia Simmons' American C

Allen & Unwin enjoys a winter of awards

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Fresh from winning three out of 12 of the Prime Minister's Literary Awards announced on July 26, Allen & Unwin have also picked up two awards in the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year. In the PM's Awards, Gillian Mears' novel Foal's Bread won the fiction category, Luke Davies' Interferon Psalms won the poetry category and Bill Gammage received the Prize for Australian History with The Biggest Estate on Earth . In the CBCA awards, Kate Constable’s Crow Country and Scot Gardner’s The Dead I Know were award recipients. Meanwhile, A & U's Top 10 Sellers right now are:   1 Between the Lines Jodi Picoult and Samantha van Leer  2 The Happiest Refugee Anh Do    3 Fit, Fifty and Fired Up Nigel Marsh  4 Hannah & Emil Belinda Castles    5 Life Without Limits Nick Vujicic  6 My Droving Days Pe

Thorpedo of an autobiography

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Thorpe's 2002 autobiography, The Journey There always seemed to be a missing plot-line or two to the story surrounding Ian Thorpe's retirement from swimming and it seems those details are about to be revealed. A new "tell-all" autobiography will be published by Simon & Schuster on October 1 (according to News Ltd) or November 1 (according to S & S website) and extracts already sold to magazines reportedly disclose battles with depression and alcohol. His new manager James Erskine seems less interested in the tell-all approach, making it clear to News Ltd reporters that it was "not your  divine right to know what's in the book" along with more colourful statements. More here

Top 10 from Five Mile Press

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Five Mile Press, an Australian publisher now owned by Swedish media company, Bonnier AB, is making the most of Father's Day with some well targeted titles in Australia Post stores. A range of newly released books such as Wild Colonial Boys and Off The Track and other anthologies are carefully positioned (in some POs at least) next to the counter queue. As men are notoriously hard to buy for and it is their book-loving wives or mother's most likely scratching their heads as to what to get for the bloke in their lives, more than a few of these 'blokey' but beaut books are likely to walk out the door. Meanwhile, Five Mile Press's Top 10 selling titles right now are: Running Pink   - Deborah DeWilliams and Megan Norris   Australian Crime File 3   - Paul B. Kidd Woolsheds   - Andrew Chapman Wild Colonial Boys - Geoff Hocking  Blackened Tanner: The Dennis Tanner Story  - Ron Irwin The Things I Love About Pets  - Trace Moroney   Missing You   - Justine Fo