Croydon Then and Now by Geoff Arnott

$19.99 AUD

Category: Biography

Phosphorescence: On Awe, Wonder and Things That Sustain You When the World Goes Dark by Julia Baird

$32.99 AUD

Category: Biography

A beautiful, intimate and inspiring investigation into how we can find and nurture within ourselves that essential quality of internal happiness - the 'light within' that Julia Baird calls 'phosphorescence' - which will sustain us even through the darkest times. Over the last decade, we have become bett er at knowing what brings us contentment, well-being and joy. We know, for example, that there are a few core truths to science of happiness. We know that being kind and altruistic makes us happy, that turning off devices, talking to people, forging relationships, living with meaning and delving into the concerns of others offer our best chance at achieving happiness. But how do we retain happiness? It often slips out of our hands as quickly as we find it. So, when we are exposed to, or learn, good things, how do we continue to burn with them? And more than that, when our world goes dark, when we're overwhelmed by illness or heartbreak, loss or pain, how do we survive, stay alive or even bloom? In the muck and grit of a daily existence full of disappointments and a disturbing lack of control over many of the things that matter most - finite relationships, fragile health, fraying economies, a planet in peril - how do we find, nurture and carry our own inner, living light - a light to ward off the darkness? Absorbing, achingly beautiful, inspiring and deeply moving, Julia Baird has written exactly the book we need for these times. ...Show more

Julia Morris Makes it Easy by Julia Morris

$34.99 AUD

Category: Biography

Life is hard. Families, friends, jobs, bills. So much pressure, and everyone else seems to make it look so simple. But don't panic, Lady JMo is here to help you live the perfect Julia Morris life. Julia's hilarious brand of nice-but-not-very-bright advice, slacker life hacks and impractical solutions to practical issues is 0% guaranteed to transform your life with the bare minimum of effort or time. And if she can't do that, she'll at least show you how to cover up the mess she made and make it all look OK on Instagram. EASY!   ...Show more

Becoming: Adapted for Younger Readers by Michelle Obama

$29.99 AUD

Category: Biography

What's important is our story, our whole story, including those moments when we feel a little vulnerable . . . Michelle Robinson started life sharing a bedroom with her older brother Craig, in their family's upstairs apartment in her great-aunt's house. Her parents, Fraser and Marian, poured their love and energy into their children. She would go on to become Michelle Obama, the inspirational First Lady of the United States of America. Now adapted for younger readers, with new photographs and a new introduction from Michelle Obama herself, this memoir tells a very personal, and completely inspiring, story of how, through hard work and determination, the girl from the South Side of Chicago built an extraordinary life. A tale of ups and downs, triumphs and failures, this is an incredibly honest account. It'll take you from the early years - first kiss, first school, first love - to the wonders of the White House, and the moment Mrs Obama shook hands with the Queen of England. A book to read, share, and talk about with the adults in your life, this is a call to action and compassion, and hope for change in uncertain times, and in a scary world.You'll be inspired to help others, and understand that no one is perfect. Just like Michelle Obama, you too are finding out exactly who you want to be (and, actually, so are the adults in your life). Above all, it is a book to make you think- who are you, and what do you want to become? ...Show more

The Beauty of Living Twice by Sharon Stone

$29.99 AUD

Category: Biography

In The Beauty of Living Twice, Sharon Stone chronicles her efforts to rebuild her life, and the slow road back to wholeness and health. In an industry that doesn't accept failure, in a world where too many voices are silenced, Stone found the power to return, the courage to speak up, and the will to mak e a difference in the lives of women and children around the globe. Over the course of these intimate pages, as candid as a personal conversation, Stone talks about her pivotal roles, her life-changing friendships, her worst disappointments and her greatest accomplishments. She reveals how she went from a childhood of trauma and violence to a business that in many ways echoed those same assaults, under cover of money and glamour. She describes the strength and meaning she found in her children and in her humanitarian efforts. And ultimately, she shares how she fought her way back to find not only her truth, but her family's reconciliation and love. ...Show more

Prince Philip Revealed: A Man of His Century by Ingrid Seward

$32.99 AUD

Category: Biography

For more than 70 years, Prince Philip has been the Queen's constant companion and support, but his vital role in the monarchy has too often gone largely unnoticed. Now, in Ingrid Seward's superb new biography of the Duke of Edinburgh, we get the chance to read the full story of his remarkable life and a chievements.  Born into the Greek and Danish royal families in 1921, a descendant of Queen Victoria, Prince Philip's aristocratic credentials were second to none. But, only 18 months after his birth, the family had to be rescued by a British warship from the island of Corfu after his father was exiled. His nomadic childhood was spent in Germany, Paris and eventually England where he was sent to boarding school. At the age of 18, while studying at Dartmouth Naval College, he was asked to look after the King's two daughters, 13-year-old Elizabeth and her sister Margaret, during a royal visit. It was their first proper meeting and, only eight years later, their marriage in 1947 brought new light to the country after the perils of the war. But, within a few years, their lives were transformed when in 1952 she became Queen Elizabeth II, and he had to give up his naval career and learn a new role as consort, deferring in public to the monarch and even having to give up his surname. In Ingrid Seward's brilliant new biography, we see how such a man of action coped with having to spend the next seventy years of his life walking two steps behind his wife. His reaction was to create a role for himself, modernising the monarchy, campaigning to protect the environment, supporting the sciences and engineering, and inspiring the young through the Duke of Edinburgh Awards. But, above all, he proved himself to be the Queen's most valuable and loyal companion throughout her long reign. The TV series The Crown has helped bring Prince Philip to the centre of attention, but this superb biography not only examines the major influences on his life but is packed with revealing behind-the-scenes details and great insight. This first major biography of Prince Philip for almost 30 years shines new light on his complex character and extraordinary career.  ...Show more

Yearbook by Seth Rogen

$32.99 AUD

Category: Biography

A collection of funny personal essays from one of the writers of Superbad and Pineapple Express and one of the producers of The Disaster Artist, Neighbors, and The Boys. (All of these words have been added to help this book show up in people's searches using the wonders of algorithmic technology. Thanks for bearing with us!) Hi! I'm Seth! I was asked to describe my book, Yearbook, for the inside flap (which is a gross phrase) and for websites and shit like that, so... here it goes!!! Yearbook is a collection of true stories that I desperately hope are just funny at worst, and life-changingly amazing at best. (I understand that it's likely the former, which is a fancy "book" way of saying "the first one.") I talk about my grandparents, doing stand-up comedy as a teenager, bar mitzvahs, and Jewish summer camp, and tell way more stories about doing drugs than my mother would like. I also talk about some of my adventures in Los Angeles, and surely say things about other famous people that will create a wildly awkward conversation for me at a party one day. I hope you enjoy the book should you buy it, and if you don't enjoy it, I'm sorry. If you ever see me on the street and explain the situation, I'll do my best to make it up to you.   ...Show more

Full Credit to the Boys by Mel Hoffman

$29.99 AUD

Category: Biography

When Mel fell in love with Ryan 'Hoff' Hoffman, a dedicated young player with the NRL's Melbourne Storm, she had no idea what she was getting into. Firstly, she was from Melbourne, so she didn't even know the rules of rugby league. Secondly, she'd always been more the theatre and literature type - sport was pretty much a mystery to her.But she soon learned that marrying a professional sportsman means marrying a whole team of players, their managers, fans, wives and girlfriends. She also learned that the rules of the game extended far beyond the field, and as part of the rugby league 'family', she would be expected to fall into line. Two kids and a feminist awakening later, Mel found that while there was much to love about a life in footy, its failures - particularly when it came to women in the game - were impossible to ignore. In Full Credit to the Boys, Mel charts the highs and lows of life on the sidelines of a professional sport career. Hilarious, biting and unabashed, it's a story for sports lovers and haters alike, an insider's look at a life dedicated to the games that sit at the heart of Australian culture.   ...Show more

Beyond Alice by Tanya Heaslip

$32.99 AUD

Category: Biography

From the happiness and freedom of her bush childhood, Tanya Heaslip is sent to a boarding school sixteen hundred kilometres away from everything and everyone she loves. As these years pass surrounded by the friends she makes, Tanya's memoir is a humorous and inspiring story of strength, resilience and t he realities of Australian outback life.   ...Show more

One Italian Summer by Pip Williams

$29.99 AUD

Category: Biography

Pip and Shannon dreamed of living the good life. They wanted to slow down, grow their own food, and spend more time with the people they love. But jobs and responsibilities got in the way: their chooks died, their fruit rotted, and Pip ended up depressed and in therapy. So they did the only reason able thing – they quit their jobs, pulled the children out of school and went searching for la dolce vita in Italy. One Italian Summer is a warm, funny and often poignant story of a family’s search for a better way of living in the homes and on the farms of strangers. Pip sleeps in a woodshed, feasts under a Tuscan sun, works like a tractor in Calabria and, eventually, finds her dream – though it’s not at all the one she expected.   ...Show more

The Believer: Encounters with Love, Death and Faith by Sarah Krasnostein

$34.99 AUD

Category: Biography

This book is about ghosts and gods and flying saucers and certainty in the absence of knowledge. From award-winning author Sarah Krasnostein comes an exploration of the power of belief. Weaving together the stories of six extraordinary ordinary people, The Believer looks at the stories we tell ourselve s to deal with the distance between the world as it is, and the world as we’d like it to be. How they can stunt us – or save us. Some of the people you will meet believe in things most people don’t. Ghosts. UFOs. Heaven and the Devil. The literal creation of the universe in six days. Others believe in things most people would like to. Dying with autonomy. Facing one’s own transgressions with an open heart. In this intensely personal and gorgeously written new book Krasnostein talks with her characteristic compassion and empathy to these believers – and finds out what happens when their beliefs crash into her own. ...Show more

You've Got to Be Kidding: A Shed Load of Wine and a Farm Full of Goats by Todd Alexander

$34.99 AUD

Category: Biography

The steep-climb highs and free-fall lows of my rollercoaster rural life They say it takes 10,000 hours to master a new skill. Well, seven years (60,000 hours) since former city boys Todd and Jeff moved to the country they should have nailed this whole farming gig, right? Yes, they make lovely wine and have built beautiful accommodation, and they've even learnt how to look after their rescued farm animals. But they didn't really count on Mother Nature getting involved. Drought, bushfires, sick animals, failed crops, heatwaves, enormous changes in the two industries they rely on to make a living, snakes, the unstoppable breeding of peafowl, insurmountable debts and broken machinery ... Just when they think they're on top of things, the land throws another few hurdles their way. But with fierce determination to succeed, willingness to evolve and their ever-present senses of humour, these boys might be down for the count but they aren't quite ready to throw in the towel just yet. PRAISE FOR Thirty Thousand Bottles of Wine and a Pig Called Helga 'Never before have I felt the responsibility for someone's tree change ... Todd and Jeff's ups and downs made me laugh out loud, and "verjuice schmerjuice" says it all' Maggie Beer 'This joyously honest account will make you laugh till it hurts, and you'll shed more than a few tears . . . it's The Birdcage meets A Country Practice' Bradley Trevor Greive AM, internationally bestselling author of The Blue Day Book and Penguin Bloom 'Every man, woman and child on earth has toyed with this fantasy. Todd and Jeff are living the dream. And have not murdered each other . . . yet' Stephan Elliott, writer and director of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert 'This book has it all - humour, heart, wine and crazy animals . . . A rollicking read for anyone looking to shake things up a little in their lives' Rachael Johns, internationally bestselling author 'If you're looking for a book that will make you chuckle, while challenging you and making you think differently about your life and your goals, then look no further - this is the book for you' Better Reading LONGLISTINGS 2020 Indie Non-fiction Book Award 2020 Booksellers' Choice Adult Non-Fiction Book of the Year ...Show more