Reviews
August
Reviews by Mark
Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
Matthew McConaughey is well known as an Oscar winning actor and most recently for his passionate plea for gun reform when Congress was considering new legislation following the mass shooting at Robb Elementary in his hometown of Uvalde Texas. This memoir based on his own diaries, poems and notes written over his life show a journey to find meaning in life with all its ups and downs. There are some real laugh-out loud moments including his father suing a skin product company his mother worked for that worsened his acne and his AFS year in Sydney. His movies are mentioned but almost all the photos in the book are from his “real” life. Of his book he says "It’s a guide to catching more greenlights – and to realising that the yellows and reds eventually turn green too. By design and on purpose……….”
Shackleton: A Biography by Ralph Fiennes
With the rediscovery this year of Endurance, Sir Ernest Shackleton is set to ride a new wave of popularity, as an Antarctic explorer and more deservedly the hero, saving the lives of all his men after the ship broke up and sank into pack ice. A complex personality endowed with charm and charisma, he could fill halls with his storytelling and convince many to finance his explorations from wealthy women to the New Zealand Government. Ranulph Fiennes as a fellow member of that exclusive club who have walked across Antarctica is deservedly an excellent biographer. His own experiences are mentioned when relatable to his subject, but he never allows his own story to take over from Shackleton’s.