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Poem – Elizabeth Smither

Carol’s eggs   Each girl child contains her eggs. Carol keeps under her bed one dozen in a carton, safe from plundering friends and flatmates. Eggs make a meal, a girl is eggs. Poached or scrambled, eggs are quick. In

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Earshot rules, Nelson Wattie

Languages of New Zealand ed Allan Bell, Ray Harlow and Donna Starks Victoria University Press, $49.95, ISBN 0864734905 When I returned to New Zealand in 1989 after a quarter-century in Europe, I was naturally curious about how European languages fared

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Posted in Language, Non-fiction, Review

Tousled and tart, Emma Neale

London Notebook  Mark Pirie Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop, $24.95, ISBN 1869420586 Wild Daisies: The Best of Bub Bridger  Bub Bridger Mallinson Rendel, $34.95, ISBN 0908783973 Your Secret Life  Harry Ricketts HeadworX, $24.99, ISBN 0476101300 Presenting Pirie’s new collection as

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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

Picture books, the cunning genre, Norman Bilbrough

Papa’s Island Melanie Drewery, illustrations Fifi Colston Reed, $16.99, ISBN 1869485947 Nobody’s Dog Jennifer Beck, illustrations Lindy Fisher Scholastic, $16.99, ISBN 1869437284 Haere – Farewell, Jack, Farewell Tim Tipene, illustrations Huhana Smith Huia, $16.99, ISBN 1869691040 Uncle Jack Kate De

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Posted in Children, Literature, Review

Portrait of an irritating lady, Isa Moynihan

Vibrant with Words: The Letters of Ursula Bethell ed Peter Whiteford Victoria University Press, $49.95, ISBN 0864735049 Editor Peter Whiteford, a senior lecturer in the English Department at Victoria University, has done Ursula Bethell proud with this generous selection of

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Posted in Letters, Non-fiction, Review

Kissing the gunner’s daughter, Raymond Huber

A Respectable Girl Fleur Beale Random, $19.00, ISBN 186941764X Sea of Mutiny  Ken Catran Random, $18.95, ISBN 1869417070 Red Leader Down  Ken Catran Random, $19.99, ISBN 1869417593 Red Haze: Australians and New Zealanders in Vietnam Leon Davidson Black Dog, $16.95,

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Posted in Literature, Non-fiction, Review, War, Young adults

For New Zealand, read Auckland, Bruce Wallace

City Of Enterprise: Perspectives on Auckland Business History ed Ian Hunter and Diana Morrow Auckland University Press, $59.99, ISBN 1869403517 City of Enterprise presents an unashamedly Auckland Point of view on business, and why not? So little is known about

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Posted in History, Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review

Awkward positions , Christina Thompson

Pictures by Goya and Other Stories Vincent O’Sullivan Penguin, $28.00, ISBN 0143020552 In the title story of Vincent O’Sullivan’s collection Pictures by Goya, two characters find themselves in an awkward position. They have been carrying on an adulterous affair when

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review, Short stories

Telling moments, Lawrence Jones

Collected Stories Barbara Anderson Victoria University Press, $29.95, ISBN 0864734980 In the “Author’s Note” prefacing her The Peacocks and Other Stories, Barbara Anderson said that she found “writing short stories requires a completely different technique from writing novels”, and that

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review, Short stories
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