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Posts Tagged Non-FIction

Archive

January 2, 2022 by Simon Sweetman

R.I.P. Joan Didion

Just ahead of Christmas it was very sad to hear of the passing of Joan Didion. She lived a long and extraordinary life and wrote so beautifully, so dutifully also. She was a chronicler of times, putting art into journalism, putting her life down on the page alongside all she captured. She’s been one of […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Author, Book, Books, Essay, Essays, Eulogy, Joan Didion, Journalism, Non-FIction, R.I.P., R.I.P. Joan Didion, Tribute, Writer, Writing ·

Archive

September 10, 2021 by Simon Sweetman

Poem: Non-Fiction

I saw Pulp Fiction three times in a row, three days, same cinema, same session time. Took a different group of mates each time. Introducing them. I’d seen Reservoir Dogs. I was a fan. When I moved to Wellington, I saw it on my first weekend here. (Had bought a Reservoir Dogs poster to mark […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Non-FIction, Poem, Poem: Non-Fiction, Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino ·

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June 7, 2021 by Simon Sweetman

Carmen Maria Machado: In The Dream House

In The Dream House Carmen Maria Machado Graywolf Press In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado It is not brand new, though it is only just over a year old (released late 2019). Not a new release but it might be still new to you.
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Book, Book Review, Carmen Maria Machado, Carmen Maria Machado: In The Dream House, Creative Writing, Domestic Abuse, In The Dream House, Memoir, Non-FIction, Want more? Check out my Substack You can also support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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September 17, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Chuck Palahniuk: Consider This

Consider This: Moments In My Writing Life After Which Everything Was Different Chuck Palahniuk Grand Central Publishing I am probably best described as a fairweather fan of Chuck Palahniuk – but certainly the visceral charge of catching up with his first few books (Fight Club, Survivor, Invisible Monsters and Choke) was akin to blasting my […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Book, Book Review, Chuck Palahniuk, Chuck Palahniuk: Consider This, Consider This: Moments In My Writing Life After Which Everything Was Different, Grand Central Publishing, Non-FIction, Writing, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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July 28, 2019 by Simon Sweetman

Alan Duff: A Conversation With My Country

A Conversation With My Country  Alan Duff  Penguin  Alan Duff wrote one of New Zealand’s most important books – Once Were Warriors. It’s not a particularly well written book. But its timing was crucial. It meant something. Since then he repeated the formula until no one cared, perfected the Old Man Yells At Cloud-persona of the truly entitled, right-wing newspaper columnist […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged A Conversation With My Country, Alan Duff, Alan Duff: A Conversation With My Country, Book, Book Review, Essay, Non-FIction, NZ, Once Were Warriors, Penguin, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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May 9, 2019 by Simon Sweetman

Bret Easton Ellis: White

White Bret Easton Ellis Knopf; 1st Edition edition  “Stop whining, take your medicine; grow the fuck up” – this is Bret Easton Ellis’ advice in his first effort at non-fiction; a book written to largely justify a series of individual tweets and then all-out Twitter brawls, a book that starts promisingly as actual memoir and then shifts just as surreally […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged American Psycho, Book, Book Review, Bret Easton Ellis, Bret Easton Ellis: White, Film, Lunar Park, Memoir, Movies, Non-FIction, White, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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March 12, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

NZ Festival Writers & Readers: Francis Spufford & Elizabeth Knox Talk About God

Francis Spufford & Elizabeth Knox Talk About God Circa One, Circa Theatre Saturday, March 10 This Writers & Readers session featured a conversation about God between long-time correspondents Francis Spufford (UK) and Elizabeth Knox (NZ). It was, if you’ll pardon the pun, a spirited conversation. It was lively, funny and often irritating. For a start, […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged 2018), Author Talk, Christianity, Circa, Circa One, Circa Studio, Circa Theatre, Discussion, England, Francis Spufford & Elizabeth Knox, Francis Spufford & Elizabeth Knox Talk About God, God, March 10, New Zealand, Non-FIction, Novel, Novelist, NZ, NZ Festival, NZ Festival Writers & Readers: Francis Spufford & Elizabeth Knox Talk About God, Readers, Religion, Richard Dawkins, Saturday, Talk, Talk About God, UK, Wellington, Writers, Writers & Readers, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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September 23, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

Timothy Snyder: On Tyranny – Twenty Lessons From The Twentieth Century

On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons From The Twentieth Century Timothy Snyder Tim Duggan Books; 1st Edition Timothy Snyder, Professor of History at Yale Univeristy and permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna, breaks down big concepts into easy-to-digest bites here in a deliberately taut, concise set of fragment-essays that offers a geo-political, historical […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Book, Book Review, Brief, Essays, Geo-Politics, Geography, History, Non-FIction, On Tyranny, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons From The Twentieth Century, Philosophy, Politics, Timothy Snyder, Timothy Snyder: On Tyranny - Twenty Lessons From The Twentieth Century, Twenty Lessons From The Twentieth Century, Vignettes, World ·

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July 11, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

Joan Didion: South and West

South and West: From a Notebook Joan Didion Knopf; First Edition edition “We tell ourselves stories in order to live”, Didion famously wrote. Here you could imagine a wag in her publisher’s office suggesting “We sell stories in order to make a living” – for this slim volume, this set of notes “from a notebook” […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Book, Book Review, Essays, Joan Didion, Joan Didion: South and West, Knopf, New Orleans, Non-FIction, Notebook, Notes, Patty Hearst, Road Trip, San Francisco, Slim Volume, South, South and West: From a Notebook, Travel, Travel Writing, West ·

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June 28, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

Gay Talese: The Voyeur’s Motel

The Voyeur’s Motel Gay Talese Grove Press Gay Talese’s best work helped to create the idea/l of “The New Journalism”; his memorable essay on Frank Sinatra for starters; his foray into being the method-actor-of-writing with the scandalous and heart-racing Thy Neighbor’s Wife; Honor Thy Father too…
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Book, Book Review, Frank Sinatra Has A Cold, Gay Talese, Gay Talese: The Voyeur's Motel, Honor Thy Father, Non-FIction, The New Journalism, The Voyeur's Motel, Thy Neighbor's Wife ·

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July 29, 2016 by Simon Sweetman

Scott McClanahan/Ricardo Cavolo: The Incantations of Daniel Johnston

The Incantations of Daniel Johnston Scott McClanahan (Text) Ricardo Cavolo (Artist) Two Dollar Radio Here Daniel Johnston’s life has been lovingly paid tribute to in a rather exquisitely made graphic novel/biography. The non-fiction graphic novel can at times get bogged down when trying to find room for text but still have something to say, image-wise, […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Artwork, Bio, Biography, Book, Book Review, Daniel Johnston, Drawings, Graphic Novel, Jeff Tartakov, Music, Non-FIction, Ricardo Cavolo, Scott McClanahan, Scott McClanahan (Text) Ricardo Cavolo (Artist), The Incantations of Daniel Johnston, Two Dollar Radio ·

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June 26, 2016 by Simon Sweetman

R.I.P. Michael Herr

Michael Herr has died. He was 76. He wrote the greatest book about war, one of the greatest non-fiction books you might ever read. I first came across Herr’s name – and extracts of his work – in the extra reading around the very best university class I took; perhaps the only one that stuck. […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Anthony Loyd, Apocalypse Now, Author, Dispatches, Eulogy, Full Metal Jacket, Journalism, Journalist, Michael Herr, Non-FIction, R.I.P., R.I.P. Michael Herr, Soldier, Vietnam, Vietnam War, War, War Reporter, War Reporting, Writer, Writing ·
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