Other books that might interest you

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  Not That I'd Kiss A Girl - A...

  Anonymous

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  Lil O'Brien accidentally outed herself to her parents at the age of nineteen when they overheard her talking to a friend about liking girls. Half an hour later she found herself on the side of the road, with instructions to come back and pick up her suitcase the next day. 
  What follows is a heartbreaking yet hugely funny story of a young Kiwi girl - the deputy head girl from a posh private school - coming to grips with her sexuality in the face of stark disapproval from her parents. 
  Bit by bit, Lil finds the inner strength to pull herself into an entirely new world. Along the way she's called out for looking too straight in a gay bar, tries to break in to the lesbian in-crowd and figures out how to send her internet lover back to America. She falls in lust over a knotted soccer shoelace, explores how the hell to have sex with a girl and dates four women at once - unsuccessfully. 
  Lil's story is an insightful and honest look at how you figure out whether you're gay, bi or whatever - and deal with what comes next. It's an essential read for anyone who's had to fight for who they are and what they believe in.

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  Together We Can - 33 Marathons...

  Peter Baines OAM

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  Together We Can is the inspiring story of an amazing feat. On 1st of December 2024, at the age of 58, Peter Baines set off in the extreme heat and humidity from the north of Thailand to run 1400km over 26 days, averaging 60kms per day. Peter's goal was to raise $1 million. Peter Baines had been a leading forensic investigator with the NSW Police before he was deployed to Bali in 2002 after the bombings, and then to Thailand after the Boxing Day tsunami. It was during the aftermath of the tsunami that Peter started the Hands Across the Water charity. The biggest impact upon Peter during his work in Thailand was meeting a group of Thai children orphaned by the tsunami. Returning to Australia, Baines made a commitment to support these 32 children who were living in the tent in the grounds of a Buddhist temple. The initial objective of the Hands Across the Water was to build a home for these children, and it was this first home that marked the finishing line of the Run to Remember, exactly 20 years to the day of the tsunami. Together We Can is not a story of one man s 20-year commitment to children and communities in need. Nor is it simply a story of physical achievement the likes of which many simply cannot comprehend. It is the celebration of what can be achieved together. It is the celebration of the best of humanity, through what were often the most difficult times.One of the main learnings from this incredible feat of endurance (running the equivalent of 33 marathons in 26 days) was that although Peter was the only person who completed the run, it took a team to get him across the finishing line. The lessons are invaluable for businesses, organisations and sports teams and it is these lessons that remain with Peter (and hopefully the reader) long after the blisters have healed.

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  Over the Hill and Up the Wall

  Todd Alexander

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  A heart-warming journey with parents of a certain age and a son who thinks he knows best. 
   
  Of course, we love our parents. Even if they do so many things that drive us bonkers. 
   
  Like how a mother - for argument's sake, let's say mine - taps her fingernails on the car window whenever she sees a place of interest (seven taps for a regular haunt, up to twenty for somewhere fascinating). Or the way a father - let's call him Dad - practises deafness but can miraculously hear a suggestion of no ham at Christmas over the roar of cricket commentary. It might be the way your mum works herself into a tizz over a call from Azerbaijan one week and Nigeria the next. Or how your dad has an answer to everything (despite his information being forty years out of date) and 'a guy' for all fixes (if only he could find his Rolodex). 
   
  When do we stop being our parents' child and become their parent? After all, they did pretty well on their own for decades - why do they need our intervention now? And that tendency for them to drive us up the wall ... could it be because we are entering middle age and starting to recognise some of those traits in ourselves? 
   
  Over the Hill and Up the Wall is an affectionate, funny look at the frictions of taking a more active role in our elders' lives. It's a nod to every child who has waited three hours for a parent to fasten their seatbelt, and every parent whose child assumes they can't count to twenty. And, if your parents are just hitting middle age, it may well be a warning of things to come! 
   
  'Warm, witty, honest. With a healthy serving of humour, Todd Alexander has written a marvellous, touching and insightful book. You'll laugh, cry and hope your own kids love you this much. I'll be more patient with my parents after reading this' Better Reading

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  For The Love of Trains

  Paul Routledge

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  Dedicated ‘Puffer Nutter’ Paul Routledge has loved trains all his life. 
  Whether it’s chugging along on a scenic steam railway or whizzing through towns and fields to the other side of the country, for Paul it has never lost its magic. 
  A journalist for nearly 60 years years and Daily Mirror columnist for 27 of those, Paul has written regularly about the joys of train travel. 
  Now the country is set to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the modern railway – The Stockton & Darlington Railway opened on September 27, 1825 – when better to pen a love letter to trains? 
  Looking at everything from the earliest days, fascinating stories, famous faces and future of the railways, Paul’s ode to trains is a must-read for any railway fan as well as those enthusiastic amateurs who just want to know a little more about transport they possibly take for granted.

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  The First Emperor of China

  Jonathan Clements

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  The First Emperor 
   
   
   
  In 1974, Chinese peasants made the discovery of the century . . . Thousands of terracotta soldiers guarding the tomb of a tyrant. 
   
   
   
  Ying Zheng was born to rule the world, claiming descent from gods, crowned king while still a child. He was the product of a heartless, brutal regime devoted to domination, groomed from an early age to become the First Emperor of China after a century of scheming by his ancestors. 
   
   
   
  He faked a foreign threat to justify an invasion. He ruled a nation under twenty-four-hour surveillance. He ordered his interrogators to torture suspects. He boiled his critics alive. He buried dissenting scholars. He declared war on death itself. 
   
   
   
  Jonathan Clements uses modern archaeology and ancient texts to outline the First Emperor's career and the grand schemes that followed unification: the Great Wall that guarded his frontiers and the famous Terracotta Army that watches over his tomb. 
   
   
   
  This revised edition includes updates from a further decade of publications, archaeology and fictional adaptations, plus the author's encounter with Yang Zhifa, the man who discovered the Terracotta Army.

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  Ten Thousand Miles of Clouds and...

  Simon Shieh, Zuo Fei, Xiao Yue Shan

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  Ten Thousand Miles of Clouds and Moons gathers sixteen phenomenal
  writers of the Chinese language in their English debut: eight fiction
  writers, six poets, and two essayists. Amongst these dazzling tellings,
  the planets are being pulled closer to the earth; a treasured classical
  fiction holds the secrets of the universe; shameful acts of urban
  ennui are committed over- and underground; a couple navigates the
  phantasmagoric border between life and death; the classrooms of the
  eighties and nineties are fleetingly free.
  Ranging from cityscapes to
  mountain ranges, ancestral lands to parallel worlds, these authors
  exhibit a panoramic vista of contemporary Chinese-language writing
  at its most imaginative and incisive, balancing intellectual power with
  lyrical enchantment to lend insight into a nation oscillating between
  tradition and modernity, apocalyptic visions and pedestrian loves,
  provocation and nostalgia, reality and dreamscapes.

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