Happy’s Best New Books (11th April – 17th April)
Updated weekly by the fine folk at Happy Mag, these are the best new books that this week has to offer from Australia and around the world!
Martha Wainwright – Stories I Might Regret Telling You
Martha Wainwright exploded onto the music scene with her brutally honest hit, Bloody Mother F*cking Asshole, which the Sunday Times called one of the best songs of the year. This is Wainwright’s genuine and passionate memoir about what it was like to grow up in a bohemian musical family and shares her experiences with love, loss, motherhood, divorce, and the music industry. In Stories I Might Regret Telling You, Wainwright digs deep to express herself with the same emotional honesty that we have come to know her for.
MARTHA WAINWRIGHT
STORIES I MIGHT REGRET TELLING YOU
Ocean Vuong – Time is a Mother
In this deeply intimate poetry collection, Vuong navigates his way beautifully through memory and loss. Written from the space that holds both grief and the desire to want to survive the impact of his mother’s death, Time is a Mother is about deep personal loss and the meaning of family. A vivid, courageous, and compelling collection, Vuong gives voice to the emotions that are at the centre of pain, and what it requires to come to terms with the process of healing.
OCEAN VUONG
TIME IS A MOTHER
Douglas Stuart – Young Mungo
Young Mungo is an exceptional follow-up to Douglas Stuart’s 2020 Booker Prize-winning novel Shuggie Bain. A dangerous love story between two young men, Mungo and James, it’s set in the violent world of Glasgow’s housing estates. Young Mungo is a gripping and honest story about masculinity, the invisible but tight constraints of the family unit, and the violence faced by so many queer people living within a sectarian environment.
DOUGLAS STUART
YOUNG MUNGO
Stephen Charles and Catherine Williams – Keeping them honest
Stephen Charles AO, QC, board member of the Accountable Round Table and the Centre for Public Integrity, has long been a tireless advocate for the creation of a federal anti-corruption watchdog. Keeping Them Honest brings forth a powerful and compelling case for the establishment of a strong national anti-corruption body at a Federal level in Australia that would expose and ultimately hold any wrongdoings of the public administration and government to account.
STEPHEN CHARLES AND CATHERINE WILLIAMS
KEEPING THEM HONEST
Tom Watson – Metronome
Metronome is an extraordinary debut novel that combines a survival story and the mistrust born from decisions made in the past. Imprisoned for a crime they committed together, Aina and Whitney have been in exile on an island for 12 years. On the day that they are to be paroled, they discover that something’s not right. Instead of the warden that is supposed to come to set them free, there’s a sheep. But sheep cant swim. Convinced they’ve been abandoned, Aina investigates ways she might escape.
BUY HERE
TOM WATSON
METRONOME
Ellie Laing, Adam Goodes, and David Hardy – Ceremony: Welcome to Our Country
Former Australian Rules Footballer and 2014 recipient of Australian of the Year Adam Goodes collaborates with Ellie Laing and David Hardy to publish a series of books for young children and families about Australia’s First Nations history. Engaging, informative, joyful, and fun, Ceremony celebrates the rich traditions of dance, family, community, and caring for the Country from the world’s oldest continuous culture.
BUY HERE
ADAM GOODES, ELLIE LAING, AND DAVID HARDY
CEREMONY