Blog Archives

Words and deeds, Helen Watson White

The Political Years Marilyn Waring Bridget Williams Books, $40.00, ISBN 9781988545936 The cover of Marilyn Waring’s book The Political Years shows a telling photograph of the 1979 National Party caucus in the Beehive: row upon row of suited men, with…
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Posted in Autobiography, Non-fiction, Review

Believing you are a star, Nick Bollinger

Dead People I Have Known Shayne Carter Victoria University Press, $40.00, ISBN 9781776562213 Rock odysseys can start in obscure places. Shayne Carter’s began in Brockville, a state-housing suburb of Dunedin, a city at the southern end of a country that…
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Posted in Autobiography, Music, Non-fiction, Review

Reeling in the years, Bruce Babington

A Life on Film: I’m Taking this Bloody Car to Invercargill! Geoff Murphy HarperCollins, $40.00, ISBN 9781775540793 Okay, there was this guy Murphy back in the 1970s. Somehow, in near impossible conditions, he made three of the foundational feature films…
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Posted in Autobiography, Non-fiction, Review

From the sidelines, Michele A’Court

Dan Carter: My Story Dan Carter with Duncan Greive Upstart Press, $50.00 ISBN 9781927262382 Here’s a crazy idea – get someone who doesn’t give a toss about rugby to review the autobiography of the world’s greatest rugby union fly-half. Madness.…
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Posted in Autobiography, Non-fiction, Review, Sport

Telling our stories to ourselves, Chris Else

Jerome Kaino: My Story Jerome Kaino Penguin, $40.00, ISBN 9780143573562 Wildboy Brando Yelavich Penguin, $35.00, ISBN 9780143573159 The Good Doctor Lance O’Sullivan Penguin, $38.00, ISBN 9780143572510 How Bizarre Simon Grigg Awa Press, $38.00, ISBN 9781927249222 Lydia Bradey: Going Up is…
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Posted in Autobiography, Biography, Memoir, Non-fiction, Review

Eminent people and unmade beds, Ann Beaglehole

My Life in Two Halves: A Memoir  Betty Gilderdale David Bateman, $30.00, ISBN 978186953832  Before I Forget Jacqueline Fahey Auckland University Press, $45.00, ISBN 9781869405816 The Lost Woman Sydney Smith Text, $40.00, ISBN 9781921922480 Freud, who supposedly said that he…
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Posted in Autobiography, Non-fiction, Review

Raw surfaces of a mind, Elizabeth Smither

Your Unselfish Kindness: Robin Hyde’s Autobiographical Writings Mary Edmond-Paul (ed) Otago University Press, $40.00, ISBN 9781877578212   It’s natural in a densely-packed book to look at the photographs first. Robin Hyde was intensely interested in houses and rooms and their…
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Posted in Autobiography, Non-fiction, Review

Fresh frames, Lawrence Jones

Gorse is Not People: New and Uncollected Stories Janet Frame Penguin, $40.00, ISBN 9780143567707   The title story of this posthumous collection touches a memory almost 30 years old: in 1984 reading An Angel at My Table, the second volume…
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Posted in Autobiography, Literature, Non-fiction, Review, Short stories

Cracking up, David Cohen

Taming the Tiger: A Personal Encounter with Manic Depression Michael Morrissey Polygraphia, $39.00, ISBN 9781877332968   Sing No Sad Songs Sandra Arnold Canterbury University Press, $35.00, ISBN 9781927145067   Michael Morrissey’s account of his long encounter with mental affliction begins…
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Posted in Autobiography, Memoir, Non-fiction, Review

The cult of celebrity, Linda Burgess

Mike McRoberts: Beyond the Front Line  Mike McRoberts HarperCollins, $39.99, ISBN 9781869509392   Scrim: The Man with a Mike  William Renwick Victoria University Press, $50.00, ISBN 9780864736956   “I like to think I have my father’s courage and humour, and…
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Posted in Autobiography, Biography, Non-fiction, Review
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