Biography and memoir
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty
Funny, gruesome and thought-provoking, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes is Caitlin Doughty’s candid account of her early experiences working with dead bodies, first as a crematorium operator and then at mortician school. Doughty, who’s been rather aptly described as a…
Fallen by Rochelle Siemienowicz
From the outset of Fallen, Rochelle Siemienowicz openly acknowledges that while her memoir, which began life as a novel, is a true story, it is first and foremost a story. Events have been merged and names changed, even her…
Lion Attack! by Oliver Mol
Oliver Mol deals in honesty and optimism. His memoir, Lion Attack!, the inaugural co-winner of the Scribe Nonfiction Prize for Young Writers, carries the subtitle ‘I’m trying to be honest and I want you to know that’. While aspects…
Between You and Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen by Mary Norris
Last night I went to I Gradi for pizza with my son. It was an easy decision for Joe and me to make and we enjoyed the pizzas very much. You, possibly, think I should have written ‘Joe and I’…
One Life: My Mother’s Story by Kate Grenville
We already know that Grenville is one of Australia’s most-loved story tellers. We already know that each of her stories reflects upon Australia’s history and consciousness. One Life is no exception. In her introduction, Grenville says that this book, the…
The Good Greek Girl by Maria Katsonis
The subtitle of The Good Greek Girl, ‘from the highs of Harvard to the lows of the psych ward’, says it all: this is a brave memoir from a woman who has experienced success in her professional and academic…
Bad Behaviour by Rebecca Starford
This is one of the most anticipated Australian books of 2015. Within minutes of reading, I was hooked. Rebecca Starford writes about her experience as a fourteen-year-old at a prestigious Melbourne school’s outdoor education campus. Rebecca was a scholarship student…
One of Us by Asne Seierstad
This is an horrific and tragic book; it is an account of one the most devastating mass shootings in recent history. In July, 2011, Anders Breivik detonated a home made bomb in front of the Norwegian Prime Minister’s office in…
Hello, Beautiful! by Hannie Rayson
Hannie Rayson is one of Australia’s most renowned and revered playwrights for stage and TV. Inheritance, Hotel Sorrento and Life after George all capture the quintessential contemporary Australian voice and as a result, have enjoyed successful seasons right across…
Schubert’s Winter Journey by Ian Bostridge
Sitting through a performance of Schubert’s Winterreise can be a harrowing experience. We follow the protagonist as he, in the darkness of night, embarks on a winter’s journey with only the light of the moon as his companion. Restlessly he…
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