Weekend reading: New memoirs and a book about how New Zealanders became Kiwis. Photos / supplied
Weekend reading: New memoirs and a book about how New Zealanders became Kiwis. Photos / supplied
When he was a child, Al Pacino would re-enact the movies he went to see with his single mother, after she came home from her menial jobs. Sonny boy (Century) is a steady, agreeably digressive ramble through the life of the actor, now 84. It tells of his impoverished, wildishworld as a kid in the Bronx, messing around with three of his best mates, all of whom would eventually succumb to drugs. Pacino became the restless, odd-jobbing, boozing young man who read Chekhov, Balzac etc, made his breakthrough on stage, then was cast in The Godfather (and nearly thrown off the production). Pacino also writes about ageing, nearly dying of Covid and, in passing, how much he enjoys his latest child, now aged 1.
Sonny Boy by Al Pacino. Photo / supplied
Stanley Tucci never dreams about food. He dreams about failing to study for exams and not being able to remember his lines, but never cooking or eating, possibly because, unlike the other joys of life, it brings him peace and happiness without anxiety, he says. In What I Ate in One Year (Fig Tree), he writes, in that relatable, decent, occasionally acerbic way of his, about the things he cooked, ate and acted, and the people he met, through the 12 months of 2023. “I would not recommend it.” “… in which I attempted to play Puck.” “To me, soup may be the greatest culinary invention.” Utterly inessential but great company. You’ll find recipes from Tucci’s cookbook The Tucci Table here.
What I Ate in One Year by Stanley Tucci. Photo / supplied
Richard Wolfe, a specialist writer on things NZ, explains how a word came to mean a bird (reserved but aggressive when necessary), a fruit and a people inKiwi (Oratia). In this approachable and well-illustrated history, he attacks the subject from every angle, and shows that it has much to do with our soldiers and a brand of boot polish, and went on to be the name of ships and horses and bacon companies and tea rooms.
Kiwi: A Curious Case of National Identity by Richard Wolfe. Photo / supplied
