December 14, 2024 • 5 mins
To mark the end of the year, Joan Mackenzie has outlined her favourite non-fiction books for 2024.
Her top five consists of:
More Salad by the Two Raw Sisters
The Last Secret Agent – Pippa Latour with Jude Dobson
Kingmaker by Sonya Purnell
A Life Less Punishing by Matt Heath
The Siege by Ben McIntyre
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
AB Joe Mackenzie joins me. Now, good morning, Good morning.
I am loving this little wrap up that we're doing
on books. Some of your favorite books of the year
which could potentially be very good Christmas presents, and there
are a few on this list which are actually under
our tree. Let's start with More Salad from two Raw Sisters.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Yes, the two Raw Sisters are. That's Rosa Power and
Margo Flanagan. They've done a series of books. They did
one called Just Salad, and now we have More Salad.
And I just wanted to mention this because it is
absolutely fantastic.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
It's a great book.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
I started using it before the book was actually published,
and my family was stunned at the quality of food.
I was suddenly able to magic up. And you might
think that salads is easy, and you could, you know,
just pull a few ingredients together, but what they do
is above and beyond.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
I love this book and I love that they give
you really fantastic alternatives if you don't have something in
your if you don't have something in your pantry.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
If you're looking for good summer food. Go no further.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
I couldn't agree more. Joe Dobson released a book this
year called The Last Secret Agent. We spoke to her
about this. It's a fascinating story.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
It's fascinating. Yes, it's the story of a woman called
Pipi Latour who was British and in her early twenties
when she was dropped into France during the Second World
War to join the resistance and to feed information back
to the British And as you can imagine, of course,
it was extraordinarily dangerous. She was there for about three months.
(01:39):
But the amazing thing is that after she came back
from the war, she never told anybody about her involvement.
She eventually moved to New Zealand. She lived here I
think for the rest of her life, and even her
own kids didn't know the story of what their mother
had done during the war. It's an amazing, amazing piece
of personal history.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Tell Me About King King Maker by Sonya Pernell.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
This is the biography of a woman called Wow, what
was her name? Pamela Church Harriman.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Oh, yes, yes, I haven't read this. You mentioned this,
I do it.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
I can't put it takes a woman who assisted Churchill
and his cabinet during the Second World War by essentially
becoming a bit of a courtisan and dealing with men
from whom she was able to extract secrets and give
them back to the government. She then went to the States.
She married churchill son, actually, I should say, which was
a disaster. She moved to the States, she married twice more.
(02:32):
She ended up being made the ambassador to France. But
all of her life she was pilloried by people who
said that she basically slept her way to the top
and she was always after money. But actually what she
was was an extraordinarily strong, remarkable, principled woman. And it's
a fascinating space. Yes, I must put that on my
list to read this summer. The book that I have
bought for a lot of people this year, because I
(02:53):
think sometimes when you're looking for a book for young
men or men just about life and you know that
it's all going to be okay, it can be hard
to find.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
And I thought Matt Heaths Are Life Less Punishing was
so accessible and enjoyable to read, and I just loved it.
Important and important.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Yeah, A Lifeless Punishing subtitled Thirteen Ways to Love the
life You've got, and he has thirteen chapters in which
he addresses things like if you're stressed, if you've been humiliated,
if you're bored, if you're grieving, if you're angry, all
of which he says that he's experienced at some time
during his life. And he woke up one day and
decided that he didn't want to be that person anymore
(03:32):
who was always grumpy and unhappy. So he set out
about trying to find out what it is that causes
us to feel this way, and then what we can
do about it. And in the course of that he
talked to neuroscientists and to psychologists, he looked back to
the ways of the stoics back in the day. He's
pulled all of that together in a book which is
(03:52):
conversational and in some ways personal because he tells you
his own stories, but also immensely hopeful.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
And I don't want to lead you wrong. This isn't
just a book for men. I thoroughly enjoyed it. But
I've given it to you know. I've given it to
my eighteen year old son, and he'd read this in
this moment. I gave it copy to a twenty year old.
I said, read this check which is in this moment,
because you can dip in and outfit absolutely. And look,
this book is on my list to read this summer,
as well as Siege by Ben McIntyre.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Yes, we talked about this. The Siege is the siege
of the Iranian Embassy in London, which was the first
such event ever to be televised and essentially, I'm going
to say stopped the world. It certainly stopped Britain. The
story of the siege itself is remarkable, but you may
not know that as the thing was being broadcast, they
stopped Coronation Street and the World Snooker Championships were on
(04:41):
and they were being televised and millions of people were watching,
and they broke into that to play this live telecast
of what was happening at the Iranian embassy and it
outraged people, but actually what was happening on the ground
was just remarkable. It was the first time ever that
the Sas were seen in action doing what they do,
and the way that they managed to eventually break into
(05:02):
the embassy and finish the siege, which took several days
as remarkable story.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Thank you so much, Joan. We will get Jones recommendations
for her nonfiction books up on our website. NEWSTALKZDB dot
co dot nz. Forward slash Sunday will put them there
for you. See you next week, See you then.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
For more from the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks A B from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
AB Joe Mackenzie joins me. Now, good morning, Good morning.
I am loving this little wrap up that we're doing
on books. Some of your favorite books of the year
which could potentially be very good Christmas presents, and there
are a few on this list which are actually under
our tree. Let's start with More Salad from two Raw Sisters.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Yes, the two Raw Sisters are. That's Rosa Power and
Margo Flanagan. They've done a series of books. They did
one called Just Salad, and now we have More Salad.
And I just wanted to mention this because it is
absolutely fantastic.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
It's a great book.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
I started using it before the book was actually published,
and my family was stunned at the quality of food.
I was suddenly able to magic up. And you might
think that salads is easy, and you could, you know,
just pull a few ingredients together, but what they do
is above and beyond.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
I love this book and I love that they give
you really fantastic alternatives if you don't have something in
your if you don't have something in your pantry.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
If you're looking for good summer food. Go no further.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
I couldn't agree more. Joe Dobson released a book this
year called The Last Secret Agent. We spoke to her
about this. It's a fascinating story.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
It's fascinating. Yes, it's the story of a woman called
Pipi Latour who was British and in her early twenties
when she was dropped into France during the Second World
War to join the resistance and to feed information back
to the British And as you can imagine, of course,
it was extraordinarily dangerous. She was there for about three months.
(01:39):
But the amazing thing is that after she came back
from the war, she never told anybody about her involvement.
She eventually moved to New Zealand. She lived here I
think for the rest of her life, and even her
own kids didn't know the story of what their mother
had done during the war. It's an amazing, amazing piece
of personal history.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Tell Me About King King Maker by Sonya Pernell.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
This is the biography of a woman called Wow, what
was her name? Pamela Church Harriman.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Oh, yes, yes, I haven't read this. You mentioned this,
I do it.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
I can't put it takes a woman who assisted Churchill
and his cabinet during the Second World War by essentially
becoming a bit of a courtisan and dealing with men
from whom she was able to extract secrets and give
them back to the government. She then went to the States.
She married churchill son, actually, I should say, which was
a disaster. She moved to the States, she married twice more.
(02:32):
She ended up being made the ambassador to France. But
all of her life she was pilloried by people who
said that she basically slept her way to the top
and she was always after money. But actually what she
was was an extraordinarily strong, remarkable, principled woman. And it's
a fascinating space. Yes, I must put that on my
list to read this summer. The book that I have
bought for a lot of people this year, because I
(02:53):
think sometimes when you're looking for a book for young
men or men just about life and you know that
it's all going to be okay, it can be hard
to find.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
And I thought Matt Heaths Are Life Less Punishing was
so accessible and enjoyable to read, and I just loved it.
Important and important.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Yeah, A Lifeless Punishing subtitled Thirteen Ways to Love the
life You've got, and he has thirteen chapters in which
he addresses things like if you're stressed, if you've been humiliated,
if you're bored, if you're grieving, if you're angry, all
of which he says that he's experienced at some time
during his life. And he woke up one day and
decided that he didn't want to be that person anymore
(03:32):
who was always grumpy and unhappy. So he set out
about trying to find out what it is that causes
us to feel this way, and then what we can
do about it. And in the course of that he
talked to neuroscientists and to psychologists, he looked back to
the ways of the stoics back in the day. He's
pulled all of that together in a book which is
(03:52):
conversational and in some ways personal because he tells you
his own stories, but also immensely hopeful.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
And I don't want to lead you wrong. This isn't
just a book for men. I thoroughly enjoyed it. But
I've given it to you know. I've given it to
my eighteen year old son, and he'd read this in
this moment. I gave it copy to a twenty year old.
I said, read this check which is in this moment,
because you can dip in and outfit absolutely. And look,
this book is on my list to read this summer,
as well as Siege by Ben McIntyre.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Yes, we talked about this. The Siege is the siege
of the Iranian Embassy in London, which was the first
such event ever to be televised and essentially, I'm going
to say stopped the world. It certainly stopped Britain. The
story of the siege itself is remarkable, but you may
not know that as the thing was being broadcast, they
stopped Coronation Street and the World Snooker Championships were on
(04:41):
and they were being televised and millions of people were watching,
and they broke into that to play this live telecast
of what was happening at the Iranian embassy and it
outraged people, but actually what was happening on the ground
was just remarkable. It was the first time ever that
the Sas were seen in action doing what they do,
and the way that they managed to eventually break into
(05:02):
the embassy and finish the siege, which took several days
as remarkable story.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Thank you so much, Joan. We will get Jones recommendations
for her nonfiction books up on our website. NEWSTALKZDB dot
co dot nz. Forward slash Sunday will put them there
for you. See you next week, See you then.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
For more from the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks A B from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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