Lives of the Poets John Newton Victoria University Press, $25.00, ISBN 9780864736284 Goya Rules Harvey McQueen HeadworX, $24.99, ISBN 9780473160401 Walls to Kick and Hills to Sing from Murray Edmond Auckland University Press, $24.99, ISBN 9781869404581 When…
Beyond the Scene: Landscape and Identity in Aotearoa New Zealand Janet Stephenson, Mick Abbott and Jacinta Ruru (eds) Otago University Press, $45.00, ISBN 9781877372810 I’m clear about the origins of my identity. Banks Peninsula is my heartland. My…
Helen Clark: A Political Life Denis Welch Penguin Books, $40.00, ISBN 9780143202417 I admire Helen Clark, and I was pleased to be asked to review this book. Unlike David Lange, who flashed meteor-like across the parliamentary firmament, Clark became a…
Working With David Michael Bassett Hachette Livre, $59.99, ISBN 9781869710941 Working With David is a dogmatic and humourless book about a man who, even in adversity, revelled in laughter. Beginning with clear praise – “at the peak of his career…
Heartlands: New Zealand Historians Write about Where History Happened Kynan Gentry and Gavin McLean (eds) Penguin, $35.00, ISBN 0143019929 History used to be about kings, queens, politicians, diplomats, generals, wars, revolutions, parliaments, laws and treaties. My early schooling followed the…
This Piece of Earth: A Life in My New Zealand Garden Harvey McQueen Awa Press, $34.95, ISBN 0958253838 Reading Harvey McQueen’s account of a year’s engagement with his garden has confirmed what I’ve thought for a long time: you have…
Spirit Abroad: A Second Selection of New Zealand Spiritual Verse ed Paul Morris, Harry Ricketts and Mike Grimshaw Godwit, $39.95, ISBN 1869621115 Under Flagstaff: An Anthology of Dunedin Poetry ed Robin Law and Heather Murray University of Otago Press, $39.95,…
It Was a Tuesday Morning Peter Olds Hazard Press, $25.00, ISBN 187727075X Natural Anthem Leonard Lambert HeadworX, $19.95, ISBN 0473098032 Recessional Harvey McQueen HeadworX, $19.95, ISBN 0476002710 Peter Olds published work in the iconoclastic literary magazine Freed in the late…
Apes Road: Poems Since 1997 Rob Jackaman Hazard Press, $21.95, ISBN 1877270245 Working Voices John O’Connor & Eric Mould Hallard Press, $24.95, ISBN 0864770480 In his essay “The Narrow-Columned Middle Ground”, Australian Les Murray explores a myth: We tend nowadays…