Blog Archives

The hand of fear, Mandy Hager

Telling Lies Tricia Glensor  HarperCollins, $20.00, ISBN 9781869509347 Earth Dragon, Fire Hare Ken Catran HarperCollins, $25.00, ISBN 9781869509415 There seems to have been a rash of books recently about our involvement in the two world wars, and both these YA

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Posted in Literature, Review, Young adults

The truth or else, Bernard Carpinter

Collecting Cooper Paul Cleave Penguin Books, $35.00, ISBN 9780143568025 The Laughterhouse Paul Cleave Penguin Books, $38.00, ISBN 9780143568292 The Faceless Vanda Symon Penguin Books, $30.00, ISBN 9780143567202 By Any Means Ben Sanders HarperCollins, $24.99, ISBN 9781869508777 New Zealand crime fiction

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

Superheroic coping, Tatjana Schaefer

Reach Hugh Brown HarperCollins, $23.00, ISBN 9781869509569 Broken Elizabeth Pulford Walker Books, $22.00, ISBN 9781921529887 Both Reach and Broken feature episodes of the superhero genre, and in each case this element of the story functions as an exploration into the

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Posted in Graphic novel, Literature, Review, Young adults

Between dream and dread, Peter Russell

Under New Stars: Poems of the New Zealand Exile: German and English, Friedrich Voit (ed), Andrew Paul Wood, Margot Ruben, Dean and Renate Koch (trans)  Karl Wolfskehl  The Holloway Press, $290.00,  ISBN 978086461828  This book will be welcomed by those

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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

Object lessons, Nicholas Reid

The Thrill of Falling Witi Ihimaera Vintage, $38.00, ISBN 9781869799205   Recently, with the death of Margaret Mahy, New Zealand mourned the loss of one of its best-known writers for children. We can take comfort, however, from the fact that

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Posted in Literature, Review, Short stories, Young adults

Getting it covered, Jenny Nicholls

North & South magazine art director Jenny Nicholls looks into the future of book design. Recently I was sent a photography book published by Taschen – Mario Testino: Private View – to review. I had been looking forward to the

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Posted in Comment, ebooks, Media

Hot gospels and wowserism, Paul Morris

The Spirit of the Past: Essays on Christianity in New Zealand History  Geoffrey Troughton and Hugh Morrison (eds)  Victoria University Press, $50.00,  ISBN 9780864736543 Theology no longer forms part of a university education in the social sciences or humanities, where

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Posted in Essays, Non-fiction, Religion, Review

Matters of form, Julia Marshall

Julia Marshall of Gecko Press wonders about the future of the book as artefact.  Recently, Frances, in charge of Gecko Press accounts, went to get her daily coffee at The Jimmy in Wellington and was asked where she worked. On her

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Posted in Comment, ebooks

The invisible hand, Margot Schwass

The Occupiers: New Zealand Veterans Remember Post-war Japan  Alison Parr Penguin Books, $45.00, ISBN 9780143567240 In Love and War: Kiwi Soldiers’ Romantic Encounters in Wartime Italy  Susan Jacobs Penguin Books, $40.00, ISBN 9780143567554 I detoured into these two books while

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Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review, War

Cashing up, Jane Westaway

Jane Westaway sells a book and wonders how.  Eleven years ago I published a novel. Last Wednesday I received my latest royalty statement. Somewhere out there, I understand, are authors who, along with their statements, get cheques that go some

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