In-Between Days
Written by Teva Harrison
In-Between days is billed as a memoir about living with cancer but it is more than that. Author Teva Harrison, diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer at the age of 37, combines prose with illustration to convey the frank realities and inner most thoughts of those living with the disease.
Favourite line: "And we have to listen to the women who went through it before us. I know that somewhere – if I could have just found her – there was a woman who could have told me that I was not alone. And that would have changed everything."
The Creation of Anne Boleyn
Written by Susan Bordo
She is one of history's most polarizing figures described as everything from whore to martyr. These simplistic assessments of character fail to define the influence she had during her life though, not only on King Henry VIII but on the religious framework of an entire nation. Proof that her being was more than just mere words could contain. This book details Anne's history (as far as we know it, as most was erased by Henry after her execution) and also discusses the modern impact she is having on young women who are quick to recognize that she was a complex 21st century queen trapped in medieval times.
Favourite line: "She's a young women whose temperament, for all her flirtatiousness, was more unnervingly "masculine" than was usual for her time: confident, excited by her own potential to effect action in the world, capable of fierce resentments, daring ambitions, bold actions – and unwilling to be anyone's plaything or political tool. She was the mother of Elizabeth, not an understudy of Queen Victoria."
Champagne Supernovas
Written by Maureen Callahan
Alexander McQueen has always fascinated me. His creative genius, aura and history (often self-fabricated) have created a myth that became bigger than the fashion industry itself; his work transcending commerce and veering closer to art, the legacy every designer wants no matter the discipline. This book shines a light behind the glamorous facade of the industry, depicting all the stress, drugs and ego that fuel it. The rise and fall (and rise again) of Kate Moss and Marc Jacobs are also documented in a thoroughly engaging read.
Favourite line: "I don't think she sought out darkness. I think it just happened along the way."