Blog Archives

Long shot, Russell Campbell

Shot in New Zealand: The Art and Craft of the Kiwi Cinematographer Duncan Petrie Random House, $55.00, ISBN 9781869417918 Shot in New Zealand is a handsomely produced survey of the work of 12 New Zealand cinematographers, ordered alphabetically from Warwick

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Posted in Media, Non-fiction, Review

For their own good, Eric Medcalf

Unreasonable Force Beth Wood, Ian Hassall, George Hook with Robert Ludbrook Save the Children New Zealand, $25.00,  ISBN 978047313095 Unreasonable Force documents the campaign leading to the repeal, in June 2007, of Section 59 of the 1961 Crimes Act. Section

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

Up the line to death, Edmund Bohan

March to the Sound of the Guns Ray Grover Longacre Press, $34.99, ISBN 9781877460012 Ray Grover’s extremely well written novel March to the Sound of the Guns traces the harrowing years of the First World War, and the years immediately

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Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review

In or out, Hugh Roberts

Dream Boat: Selected Poems Tony Beyer HeadworX, $34.99, ISBN 9780473126520 Making Lists for Frances Hodgkins Paula Green Auckland University Press, $24.99,  ISBN 9781869404024 Mr Maui’s Monologues  Peter Bland Steele Roberts, $24.99, ISBN 9781877448270 In Continents  Richard Reeve  Auckland University Press,

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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

The mystery writer, Murray Bramwell

Ngaio Marsh: Her Life in Crime Joanne Drayton HarperCollins, $59.99, ISBN 9781869506353   Whatever it was that impelled Ngaio Marsh, at the age of 36, to purchase six exercise books and a handful of pencils and go back to her

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Posted in Biography, Non-fiction, Review

Murder most foul, Bernard Carpinter

Cemetery Lake Paul Cleave Random House, $34.99, ISBN 9781869418908 The Ringmaster  Vanda Symon Penguin Books, $28.00, ISBN 9780143008347 The Devils Are Here Cam Stokes Cape Catley, $29.99, ISBN 9781877340192 Christ Clone David McLeod Random House, $35.99, ISBN 9781869419592 Christchurch is

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

Treasure in Stevenson’s Pacific, Roger Robinson

Robert Louis Stevenson: Sophia Scarlett and Other Pacific Writings Robert Hoskins (ed) AUT Media, $25.99, ISBN 9780958282925 “Samoa was susceptible of no ‘style’, ” complained Henry James, cantankerous about his friend Robert Louis Stevenson’s decision to live in the faraway Pacific,

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Posted in Literature, Review, Short stories

Whisper and shuffle, Elspeth Sandys

Adam’s Ale Bronwyn Tate Brava Publications, $30.00, ISBN 9780473133986 Reading a novel written while the author was dying and published posthumously, is, inevitably, an experience tinged with sadness. I knew Bronwyn Tate only slightly, but I admit I’ve been unable

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

Ruck on, Chris Knox

The Swinging Sixties: When New Zealand Changed Forever Graham Hutchins HarperCollins, $49.99, ISBN 9781869506537 Missed opportunities – don’t you just hate them? I was a little apprehensive about The Swinging Sixties, given that Graham Hutchins was primarily known for his

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Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review

Darts and sledgehammers, Sue McCauley

Two Little Boys Duncan Sarkies Penguin Books, $28.00, ISBN 9780143020912 Acid Song Bernard Beckett Longacre Press, $29.99, ISBN 9781877460111 Girlie Gillian Ranstead Penguin Books, $28.00, ISBN 9780143010005 “I thought it was one of those boys’ books,” said a friend when

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
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