Blame Vermeer Vincent O’Sullivan Victoria University Press, $25.00, ISBN 9780864735515 The Black River C K Stead Auckland University Press, $25.00, ISBN 978869403850 Sol Andrew Johnston Victoria University Press, $25.00, ISBN 9789864735492 The Ponies Bernadette Hall Victoria University Press, $25.00, ISBN…
Aramoana: Twenty-two Hours of Terror Bill O’Brien Penguin, $28.00, ISBN 014300624X I was only nine years old when David Gray killed 13 people, too young to remember with any sadness or clarity the tragedy beamed into our living rooms that…
Insights: New Zealand Artists Talk about Creativity Gareth Shute (ed) Reed, $29.99, ISBN 1869418247 “The more you reason,” counselled Raymond Chandler, “the less you create.” Before he began working on his latest book, Insights: New Zealand Artists Talk About…
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…
Gate Crasher and Other Stories Frances Cherry Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop, $25.00, ISBN 186942056X Flashpoint Frances Cherry Scholastic New Zealand, $16.99, ISBN 1869437438 Frances Cherry’s first collection, The Daughter-in-law and Other Stories, was published in 1986, and her first…
A Short History of Sheep in New Zealand Richard Wolfe Random House, $29.99, ISBN 1869418204 Instructions for New Zealanders Richard Wolfe Random House, $34.99, ISBN 1869418506 The Smell of Powder: A History of Duelling in New Zealand Donald Kerr Random…
ZB: The Voice of an Iconic Radio Station Bill Francis HarperCollins, $36.99, ISBN 186950612X A radio station is not just intangible, but purely transient. Voices change, frequencies change, even the name of the station changes. All that’s left to bridge…
Lake of Coal: The Disappearance of a Mining Township David Cook Craig Potton Publishing and Ramp Press, $49.99, ISBN 1877333522 Once upon a time, under the fluffy Waikato clouds out west of the unlovely Huntly, was a place called Rotowaro…
Speaking Truth to Power: Public Intellectuals Rethink New Zealand Laurence Simmons (ed) Auckland University Press, $45.00, ISBN 9781869403799 I was thrilled to be asked to review this book. You see, I am a bit of a public intellectual myself, yet…