Happy’s Best New Books (10th January – 16th January)
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!
Will Alexander – Refractive Africa
Presenting a trilogy of long poems, Will Alexander’s Refractive Africa is a powerful meditation on the colonial ravagings of the continent and the modern quest for resources that continues to tax its wilderness. A haunting observation of the influential figures who shaped modern Africa and an electrifying display of narrative power through chiselled poetic lines.
9.4
BUY HERE
WILL ALEXANDER
REFRACTIVE AFRICA
Victoria Brookman – Burnt Out
Centring around the protagonist, Cali, Burnt Out is a tale of unexpected highs, before crashing blows. A bushfire in the Blue Mountains has turned her life upside down, but then Cali becomes the face of the climate movement after an impromptu and impassioned rant. Though her life is on the upswing, good things can’t last forever.
9.2
BUY HERE
VICTORIA BROOKMAN
BURNT OUT
Mike Sielski – The Rise: Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit of Immortality
The world was shocked by the death of Kobe Bryant in 2020, but few will know the story of how he became so influential. With the help of never-before-seen archives, journalist Mike Sielski sheds light on the crucial early years of Bryant’s upbringing, and his transformation into a fully-fledged superstar.
9.2
BUY HERE
MIKE SIELSKI
THE RISE: KOBE BRYANT AND PURSUIT OF IMMORTALITY
Eve Rodsky – Find Your Unicorn Space
In bestselling author Eve Rodsky’s latest, she implores readers to embrace the innately human urge to create. Eschewing notions of productivity, Rodsky’s Unicorn Space is the time that’s carved out specifically for the act of creation, no matter what your passion may be.
9.0
BUY HERE
EVE RODSKY
FIND YOUR UNICORN SPACE
Brian Broome – Punch Me Up to the Gods
Sometimes, “heartfelt” doesn’t quite cut it. Case in point, Brian Broome’s memoir, Punch Me Up to the Gods. The emotional terrain that Broome covers is extraordinary. Plus, the writing is so empathetic that the full spectrum is elicited in the reader as well. A painful yearning for belonging is portrayed, but it also functions as an inspiring manifesto of self-acceptance.
9.3
BUY HERE
BRIAN BROOME
PUNCH ME UP TO THE GODS
Julia Holbe – Our Happy Days
An emotional tour de force, Our Happy Days is the debut novel of German author Julia Holbe. It traces the tale of four friends who take blissful summer holidays together in their youth. When three of the friends reconvene years later, it exposes the power of the story and Holbe’s masterful depiction of the power of memory.
