The Political Years
Marilyn Waring
Bridget Williams Books, $40.00,
ISBN 9781988545936
The cover of Marilyn Waring’s book The Political Years shows a telling photograph of the 1979 National Party caucus in the Beehive: row upon row of suited men, with just one young woman in front.
Dead People I Have Known
Shayne Carter
Victoria University Press, $40.00,
ISBN 9781776562213
Rock odysseys can start in obscure places. Shayne Carter’s began in Brockville, a state-housing suburb of Dunedin, a city at the southern end of a country that to most of the world is little known, even more so in the 1970s when Carter was starting out. But whereas rock heroes normally wind up somewhere very different from where they began, Carter returned to Dunedin to write this memoir and, throughout the book, Dunedin never feels all that far away, even after its protagonist has been swept up into the mythical world of rock stardom. There is a late passage in which he finds himself again “stranded in Dunedin, where I signed up to the dole only weeks after being driven in a limousine to the Conan O’Brien show in Manhattan.”
A Life on Film: I’m Taking this Bloody Car to Invercargill! Geoff Murphy HarperCollins, $40.00, ISBN 9781775540793 Okay, there was this guy Murphy back in the 1970s. Somehow, in near impossible conditions, he made three of the foundational feature films of…
Dan Carter: My Story
Dan Carter with Duncan Greive
Upstart Press, $50.00
ISBN 9781927262382
Here’s a crazy idea – get someone who doesn’t give a toss about rugby to review the autobiography of the world’s greatest rugby union fly-half. Madness.
Dan Carter: My Story has featured on the bestseller lists since it was launched just days after the All Blacks’ Rugby World Cup win last October – the game (spoiler alert) New Zealand won, in which Dan Carter kicked four penalties, two conversions and a drop goal, and was named the Man of the Match. A game I didn’t watch. (I know – handing in my New Zealand passport now.) But, after initial hesitation, I figured Carter, his writing collaborator Duncan Greive, and their book, would cheerfully survive no matter what I thought. It seemed that me reviewing it was a risk that wouldn’t involve a knockout win or loss for anyone.
Jerome Kaino: My Story Jerome Kaino Penguin, $40.00, ISBN 9780143573562 Wildboy Brando Yelavich Penguin, $35.00, ISBN 9780143573159 The Good Doctor Lance O’Sullivan Penguin, $38.00, ISBN 9780143572510 How Bizarre Simon Grigg Awa Press, $38.00, ISBN 9781927249222 Lydia Bradey: Going Up is…
My Life in Two Halves: A Memoir Betty Gilderdale David Bateman, $30.00, ISBN 978186953832 Before I Forget Jacqueline Fahey Auckland University Press, $45.00, ISBN 9781869405816 The Lost Woman Sydney Smith Text, $40.00, ISBN 9781921922480 Freud, who supposedly said that he…
Your Unselfish Kindness: Robin Hyde’s Autobiographical Writings Mary Edmond-Paul (ed) Otago University Press, $40.00, ISBN 9781877578212 It’s natural in a densely-packed book to look at the photographs first. Robin Hyde was intensely interested in houses and rooms and their…
Taming the Tiger: A Personal Encounter with Manic Depression Michael Morrissey Polygraphia, $39.00, ISBN 9781877332968 Sing No Sad Songs Sandra Arnold Canterbury University Press, $35.00, ISBN 9781927145067 Michael Morrissey’s account of his long encounter with mental affliction begins…
Mike McRoberts: Beyond the Front Line Mike McRoberts HarperCollins, $39.99, ISBN 9781869509392 Scrim: The Man with a Mike William Renwick Victoria University Press, $50.00, ISBN 9780864736956 “I like to think I have my father’s courage and humour, and…