The Sister is written by Dr Sung-Yoon Lee, a scholar and specialist on North Korea who has advised the US government.

This book is a jaw-dropping portrayal of North Korea’s "princess", Kim Yo Jong. It uncovers the close bond with her brother, Kim Jong Un, and the lessons in manipulation they learned from their father.

An extraordinary Holocaust survival story about an Orthodox Jewish woman who managed to survive in wartime Poland by pretending to be a Catholic. Polish Catholics believed she was one of them.

A devoted Nazi family took her in as if she was their own daughter. She fell in love with a German engineer who built aeroplanes for the Luftwaffe.

A powerful memoir by one of the youngest ever survivors of Auschwitz, Tova Friedman, following her childhood growing up in Poland during the Holocaust and surviving a string of near-death experiences in a Jewish ghetto, a Nazi labour camp, and Auschwitz.

Tova Friedman was only four years old when she was sent to a Nazi labour camp at the start of World War II.

I picked up this book given its byline - Mastering Mental Fitness for Sport and Life - a new book hitting the library shelves during mental health awareness week.

I am a keen runner so I was looking forward to its application to this area of my life as well.

The heartfelt and uplifting story of how a project to scatter 60 Postcards in memory of her mother helped a young girl come to terms with her loss.

On 11 February 2012 Rachael Chadwick lost her Mother to cancer, just sixteen days after first being diagnosed, and her world shattered right in front of her. She decided to base a project around her Mum's approaching 60th Birthday. Desperate to spread the word about the wonderful person she had lost, Rachael wanted to  leave notes around a city in her memory. She hand-wrote sixty postcards, each with her email address at the bottom asking the finder to get in touch.

While being a prolific fiction writer, James Patterson and number of coauthors have turned their hand to non-fiction true crime writing. A number of these have been turned into TV series.

'Murder of Innocence' is one of a number of these that I have read.

While I thought this would cover a number of cases (I didn't read the back first), there was in fact only two covered in this particular publication.

Telling the story of an author's love affair with books and how they have influenced and supported her life, Cathy Rentzenbrink has been involved with books from an early age. Cathy tells how books have been a mainstay for her throughout her life as she picks her way through life's experiences including tragedy, love and work.

In his prime Tiger Woods was the best golfer of his time and arguably one the greatest of all time second only perhaps to Jack Nicklaus.

The golfing world then and now is still mad about Tiger, who started out as a child prodigy swinging a golf club before he was even 2 years of age.

Book recounting the story of a foster carer (Angela) and one of ‘her children’ (Danielle) as they work through her time with Angela and her husband Richard.

Set in England (you never really find out where actually, just close to London. The story takes you on roller coaster of concern as Angela and Richard try to deal with Danielle and her many issues.

Set during World War II. It is a true story about Jewish Soldier Tolek Klings told by his son in law, Leon Silver.

The story covers six years of Tolek’s life during the Holocaust.

His story is influenced by his want and need to protect his wife Klara and son Juliusz.

He is conscripted to the Polish army and as the German’s invade he faces an unenviable choice – to protect his family or remain a soldier.

Hilarious book. If you haven't seen the TV show and if they are as entertaining as in the book, then you need to see that as well.

There was a bit of repetitiveness throughout the book with both lads telling their memories of the events (and repeating the history of story that came with it) and I got a bit over the Sam versus Graham plot, but understood that was the premise of the show ...

Captain Tom Moore leapt to instant celebrity during the COVID pandemic for walking one hundred steps around his garden to raise money for charity.

The 99 year old set out to raise 1000 pounds. By his 100th birthday he had raised 32 million to set a new Guinness World Record and was knighted by the Queen for his fundraising efforts.

Jane Fonda has been an environmental activist since the 1970s.

She walks the walk and talks the talk. She has a windmill on one property, uses solar energy in another, says no to single use plastic bags. She speaks at rallies and attends Greenpeace marches.

But aside from what she can do herself, she still wants more.

David Wilson is a Scottish professor of criminology at Birmingham City University. A former prison governor, he is known for his work as a criminologist specialising in serial killers.

Rather than delving too much into the horrors of the crimes themselves, this is more of a narrative on David Wilson's time working with these offenders, working out why they have done what they have done and the system that they now find themselves a part of.

Matt Calman has conquered the Coast to Coast, but also faces another challenge. And that's his fight against depression.

From an early age Matt's battle against anxiety and other problems was by using alcohol. In his late thirties he decided to take a stand against this and to stand up and fight against the darkness caused by depression.

It is a frank and heart-wrenching account and a heartwarming story of the love he has for his family and their love for him.

This memoir has been written by Diane Keaton as she endeavours to explore how her brother who was raised in the same house under the same values as her ended up on what she calls ‘ the other side of normal’.

As children they were best friends, but as Randy grew up he became troubled, then reclusive. He suffered a failed marriage and alcoholism and was unable to hold down a full time job.

All doctors are recommended to log their clinical experiences during their time practicing. It’s known as reflective practice.

After being struck off the register after not practising for 5 years Adam Kay decided to go through his recordings initially with a view to cleaning out his spare room.

What it turned into was a diary of experiences of a Junior doctor.

MasterChef UK finalist, cookbook author, and sometime lawyer Hannah Miles has come up with more creative and yummy things to do with baked potatoes than you can shake a spatula at. They range from simple, no-cook topping options like tuna mayo, sour cream & chives, and of course, the classic cheesy potato, right through to more unusual possibilities such as ratatouille with goat's cheese, haggis with whiskey sauce, and the intriguing combination of mackerel, beetroot and horseradish.

This lovely little book is mainly pictorial and features beautiful photos of all kinds of tiny homes, in all kinds of locations around the world.

From cosy cottages in Scandinavia and rustic cabins in the US, to a houseboat on the Noosa River, tiny houses are everywhere.

This is the story of the daughter of the BTK killer (or BTK Strangler), Dennis Rader. Rader gave himself the name "BTK" (for "bind, torture, kill)].

His daughter Kerri shares her shock at discovering her beloved father was one of the most wanted killers in America.

'The startling story of Exclusive Brethren life'

Ngaire Thomas left the Exclusive Brethren in 1974 after being born into it in 1943. This is her story written against a background of potentially being sued.

She uses a mix of real or changed names where privacy needs to be protected.

True stories of death and murder from a New Zealand pathologist.

This book is written by Dr Cynric Temple-Camp a South African pathologist who moved to New Zealand for a change in lifestyle. The book talks about why he moved away from being a doctor to a pathologist and some of the stories of death and murder in New Zealand.

The Casketeers, which is on TV, follows the daily life of  the business Tipene Funeral Home which NZ audiences have enjoyed watching.

It was interesting reading finding out bits and pieces that you don't know from the programme.

In 2004, Schapelle Corby was arrested in Bali after 4.2 kilograms of marijuana was found in a plastic bag inside her boogie bag case. She professed her innocence.

In 2005 she was sentenced to 20 years by the Denpasar District Court and imprisoned in Kerobokan Prison. In 2012 her sentence was reduced by 5 years after an appeal for clemency was made.

The first edition of My Story was released in 2006. This edition includes details of her mental illness and her return to Australia.

John Carreyrou is a French/American reporter and received the 2018 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award for the investigative reporting, culminating in this publication of this book. Theranos a start-up bio-tech company, headed by Elizabeth Holmes claimed to be developing high tech, blood testing technology that would revolutionise blood testing in third world countries as well as making blood testing through simple technology available at chemists.

Julie Andrews made her screen debut in Mary Poppins closely followed by The Sound of Music. These are now considered to be amongst the classics.

This also brought Julie overnight success and the beginning of a career that would make her an icon of her time.

As part of Britain’s’ mobility Anne Glenconner’s early life was spent at Holkham Hall in the company of the landed gentry and her royal relatives and friends. She was asked to be part of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth the second, the links to the royals very much part of her long life.

The debutante season and her coming out did not result in the engagement and marriage that was expected so Anne was encouraged to learn the retail pottery trade allowing her the freedom to travel and interact with all sorts of people.

As the cover states this is the story of what happened to MH17 over Ukraine and the lives of those who were on board.

MH17 was the second Malaysian airlines flight to be struck with disaster in 2014. This came 4 months after MH370 went missing (and is still yet to be found).

MH17 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. All 298 people on board were killed when the plane came down. The deceased covered 10 nationalities, including one New Zealander. The bodies of some of the passengers have never been recovered.

This is the tragic true story about one of Australia's and US's worst predators and serial killers dating back to the early 1960s.

Christopher Wilder managed to evade police in both countries despite using the same modus operandi. He evaded capture for over 20 years.

This is the story of Pablo Escobar, the infamous Columbian druglord and narcoterrorist.

It is a story from the inside, told from his partner of 16 years Victoria Eugenia Henao.

US trained surgeon Joshua Mezrich, who after training, started transplantation research at Massachusetts General. He is now in Madison performing transplants and running a basic lab studying the immune system.

This book is divided into two parts – part 1 is a history of Sir Jon’s career. The second is a collection of his thoughts on how he has done things over the years so it might be of use to performers of the future.

This is the story of solitary Icelandic sheep farmer Heida who at age 23 returned home to look after her parent’s farm. She has also been a police officer and a teacher. She has a flock of 500 sheep in remote Icelandic highlands set under the volcano Katla.

This is a true story from the early 1900s in Australia. The husband and wife are found dead lying next to each other in an upstairs room in their house. They have four children at the time.

This is actually a collection of poetry from this young New Zealand author.
How I get ready is just one of the many poems.