The power of one / Frances Haugen

In the spring of 2021, when news outlets feasted on "the Facebook Files," Frances Haugen went public as the former employee who blew the whistle on the company by copying tens of thousands of documents. She testified to Congress and spoke to the media. She was hailed at President Biden's first State of the Union Address. She made sure everyone understood exactly what the documents revealed: Facebook not only set its algorithm to reward extremism, it knew that its customers were using the platform to foment violence, to spread falsehoods, to diminish the self-esteem of young people, and more. But how was it that Frances was the only employee at the company who dared to step forward? The answer to that question is an inspiring tale of one young woman's life and the choices she made. From an isolated childhood in Iowa to an unaccredited college, to one among the few women at Google in its heyday, Frances Haugen learned how to focus on what mattered, and to ignore her critics. To harness the strength of standing in the truth. – Book back cover.

Listen here to RNZ interview with the author

https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018897948

Horse / Geraldine Brooks

• WINNER OF THE FICTION INDIE BOOK AWARDS 2023
• WINNER OF THE ANISFIELD-WOLF BOOK AWARDS 2023
• SHORTLISTED FOR THE ARA HISTORICAL NOVEL PRIZE 2022

A discarded painting in a roadside clean-up, forgotten bones in a research archive, and Lexington, the greatest racehorse in US history. From these strands of fact, Geraldine Brooks weaves a sweeping story of spirit, obsession and injustice across American history. Kentucky, 1850. An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal forge a bond of understanding that will carry the horse to record-setting victories across the South. Washington, DC, 2019. Jess, a Smithsonian scientist from Australia, and Theo, a Nigerian-American art historian, find themselves unexpectedly connected through their shared interest in the horse - one studying the stallion's bones for clues to his power and endurance, the other uncovering the lost history of the unsung Black horsemen who were critical to his racing success. This novel is a gripping reckoning with the legacy of enslavement and racism in America. – Book back cover.

“Horse” moves between Lexington’s record-breaking life and his legacy and at the centre of it all, is a love story of a boy and his horse. He was a legendary sire whose offspring dominated racing for the second half of the nineteenth century. He was “a horse so fast that the mass-produced stopwatch was manufactured so his fans could clock times in races that regularly drew more than twenty thousand spectators.” (Brooks) In 1999, Lexington’s skeleton was part of the exhibition "On Time", at the National Museum of American History, where he helped illustrate the history of the first mass-produced stopwatch that split time into fractions of seconds—which was supposedly developed to document Lexington's feats on the racecourse – Wikipedia.

LeBron / Jeff Benedict

LeBron is the greatest basketball player of the twenty-first century and vying with Michael Jordan as the greatest of all time. He is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer and the first active NBA player to become a billionaire. Off the court, LeBron's political activism, outspoken stance on racism and social injustice have helped build a social media presence that includes 117 million followers on Instagram and 51 million followers on Twitter. He produces Hollywood films and television shows. He is an international brand worth billions of dollars. He doesn't just have huge endorsement deals with some of the biggest corporations in the world; LeBron sits on boards of directors and has an equity stake in the companies he sponsors. He has forged a close friendship with President Barack Obama and clashed publicly with President Donald Trump. As a child, LeBron was a lost little boy living in a public housing project in Akron, Ohio. His mother, who had LeBron when she was just sixteen, would disappear for days at a time. Scared and alone, LeBron rarely attended school. He was dirt poor and fatherless. And he had never played organised basketball. Yet he would become the most successful and most popular athlete that the United States has produced this century. – Book back cover.

Everything is beautiful and everything hurts / Josie Shapiro

WINNER OF THE ALLEN & UNWIN COMMERCIAL FICTION PRIZE

This is the debut novel by a talented NZ author which won the inaugural Allen & Unwin Fiction Prize. It is garnering rave reviews for the heartwarming and uplifting story of Mickey Bloom. Mickey Bloom: five foot tall, dyslexic, and bullied at school. Mickey knows she's nothing special. Until one day, she discovers running. Mickey's new-found talent makes her realise she's everything she thought she wasn't - powerful, strong and special. But her success comes at a cost, and the relentless training and pressure to win leaves Mickey broken, her dream in tatters. Years later, when Mickey is working in a dead-end job with a drop-kick boyfriend, her mother becomes seriously ill. After nursing her, Mickey realises the only way she can overcome her grief - and find herself - is to run again. The story is told as she runs a marathon, veering from the present to the past and back again. It has a perfectly paced rhythm to match the marathon run, with vivid depictions of our beautiful Aotearoa. Mickey learns what it means to run in the right direction. An unforgettable debut novel about change, family and grit, and what it takes to achieve your dreams. – Book back cover.

Listen to a book review here:

https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018892294

And you can access the library website here at any time to see what else is new, search for items, reading lists and links to Research and Academic databases.