Then Again...a memoir by Diane Keaton

A memoir that records your thoughts and those of your mother, using the most delicious language and an honesty that is searing is the axis of this truly moving and open memoir, which opens its self out to tell the story of the Hall Family with a refreshing candour.
Diane Keaton and her mother Dorothy are both women that could be considered complicated. When Diane sat down to write she realised that for the book to work, to resonate it would need to include the story of her mother who had throughout her life keep 85 journals, journals that recorded thoughts and feelings on her marriage, children, grandparents, quite extraordinary stories that Diane felt deserved to be heard.
This book gives the most amazing snapshot of how people see things often from totally different perspectives and often they can all be in the same room.The book links seamlessly from Dorothy to Diane and vice versa, there are all the Keaton Hollywood Stories and all the big names and from Dorothy all the stories of children growing, marriage, the desperate desire to find herself through her creative outlets, the sense of lost opportunities and missed pathways leads to an immense amount of frustration and this impacts on her marriage.Diane Keaton experiences many of the same frustrations but in different times,places and emotional spaces. There is an amazing Mother-Daughter bond here and their intertwined experiences especially emotionally as both age is quite revealing.
This is a book that is easily read, there is a lot of humour, there are secrets and thwarted hopes, a heap of honesty, wonderful photos, amazing stories from both, a warmth, it is a snuggle up with type of book.Both Dorothy Hall and Diane Keaton are fascinating people, the way they dealt with life was so hands on, practical, down to earth.This book will get you thinking, if you have a parent who doesn`t journal try and tape their reminiscences, they need to be kept as the family backstop.

This book is available at all good bookstores in Trade Paperback and also through the Auckland Library System.

The Family Law by Benjamin Law

Basically the story of Benjamin Law`s family this is a very well written and very funny book. He pulls a few punches and uses a few unique and special words in the book to describe certain feelings, places and people ,their reactions and behaviours especially when confronted with the different and difficult in life, he never loses perspective and never fails to pop someones balloon when able to.
I liked his description of a family sleeping in and having to rush to get to School on time, alarmingly realistic! His dads Asian Grocery Store and his clumsiness when attending to customers, his mum telling her children that they shouldn't have any and given the choice she wouldn`t bother having them! How his dad believed everything he read in the Cantonese tabloids..the half pig story..stands alone! Witty, lively, full of delicate descriptive phrases and family stories that you will all recognise, I loved it. I would not however give it to Granny unless she has a great sense of humour, I would however give it to almost everyone else. Feeling a bit down, a wee bit sad, this book will soon have you laughing and do as he did..attempt to write down 10 things you know about your Dad or Mum without repeating yourself!
Thank you to Claire Hammon who is very good at choosing books for me to read!

A Singular Woman by Janny Scott

The story of Barack Obamas Mother was a very good read indeed although it did take a while for me to get into the book.
With help from both Stanley Anns (known as Ann) children Barack and Maya as well as numerous family members and friends plus professional associates this book is very well researched and very well written.  Ann Dunham followed her own path, was often unconventional and unique and didn't give much toss for society's rules, her choices were brave annd daring for the time and yet while often living on the edge and relying on considerable help from her own formidable parents, she foraged a live well worth living and raised two well rounded, talented children, one whom became the first African American President of the United States.  Never judgemental yet with a balance and a fairness to all Scott manages to bring this often overlooked parent into a limelight that she deserves.  In my opinion she certainly contributed more to Barack Obamas eventual destiny than did his often more publicized and rather disengaged and disconnected father, who appears to have been elevated to a rather unworthy pedestal.
Sadly neither Ann nor her parents lived to see the fruition of their efforts but in this empathetic book, balance is redressed and we get to have a much better understanding of what made Barack Obama into the man he became and the pivotal role that women played in shaping his destiny and that of his sister Maya. Rather fascinatining reading and probably as close as we will come to knowing this rather amazing woman who did her own thing, her own way and took no prisoners in doing so.