Culture
Books
The best celebrity memoirs have exactly what literature today lacks
As more and more crossed my desk, I found that the best of them were written with a robust, fearless honesty that I’ve almost given up looking for in current fiction.
- by David Free
Latest
Eight new books to read this weekend
Our reviewers cast their eyes over recent fiction and non-fiction.
- by Cameron Woodhead and Fiona Capp
The Afghans is an empathic look at life for women under the Taliban
Norwegian journalist Asne Seierstad returns to Afghanistan for the first since she wrote the controversial book, The Bookseller of Kabul.
- by Christopher Kremmer
Ed Zwick’s laugh-out-loud memoir of working in Hollywood
The creator of thirtysomething has written a perceptive and entertaining account of his life behind the camera and the people he has worked with and fallen out with.
- by Tom Ryan
Daughter of acclaimed author Alice Munro alleges sexual abuse by stepfather
The Nobel Prize winner’s daughter says her mother stood by her husband when she was told of the abuse. The Canadian author died eight weeks ago.
- by Elizabeth A. Harris
Siang Lu imagines a comic dystopia in this labyrinthine new novel
Ghost Cities challenges readers to make sense of life on a huge film set where everyone is both a citizen going about their business and an actor.
- by Owen Richardson
The great Australian war stories that didn’t actually happen
In his new book, Mark Dapin demonstrates that the truth and war are uncomfortable partners.
- by Edmund Goldrick
Why do women fall for violent men in jail? This novel has an idea
Tasha Coryell’s main character is a young woman who writes increasingly intimate letters to a man facing charges of murdering several women.
- by Jessie Tu
Why adapting is the key to survival in the face of climate change
Clive Hamilton and George Wilkenfeld have written a necessary book for a world subject to the ravages of climate change.
- by Kurt Johnson
This beautiful memoir beats with a radically open heart
Ailsa Piper’s salts her sorrow with spiritual longing in this subtle book about living with grief.
- by Michael McGirr
And you thought the Taylor Swift tour was bonkers...
A new book celebrating 60 years since the Beatles toured Australia is the deepest dive into the Fab Four you could imagine.
- by Michael Dwyer
Original URL: https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/culture/books