Blog Archives
Controversial still, John O’Leary
A Communist In The Family Elspeth Sandys Otago University Press, $40.00, ISBN 9781988531601 Families are complicated things. Members don’t necessarily agree with one another, or even like one another; relationships can be strained, or snapped, then re-made across the years.…
Tagged with: Elspeth Sandys, Issue 128, John O’Leary, Otago University Press, Summer 2019
Posted in Memoir, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Memoir, Non-fiction, Review
“New Zealand’s leading public historian”, Tom Brooking
Making History: A New Zealand Story Jock Phillips Auckland University Press, $45.00, ISBN 9781869408992 Jock Phillips has written an engaging memoir of his challenge to his father’s Anglophile and Eurocentric view of history, and transition from an academic to a…
Tagged with: Auckland University Pres, Issue 128, Jock Phillips, Summer 2019, Tom Brooking
Posted in History, Memoir, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in History, Memoir, Non-fiction, Review
Diplomat, translator, academic … Ken Ross
From Cairo To Cassino: A Memoir Of Paddy Costello Dan Davin Cold Hub Press, $25.00, ISBN 9780473474485 Paddy Costello’s forte was Russian scholarship. Dan Davin’s was academic publishing. Each acquired other formidable reputations by which they are better known to…
Tagged with: Cold Hub Pres, Dan Davin, Issue 127, Ken Ross, Paddy Costello, Spring 2019
Posted in Memoir, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Memoir, Non-fiction, Review
The Hutt Valley takes Manhattan … Murray Bramwell
Book Of Cohen David Cohen Steele Roberts, $30.00, ISBN 9780947493882 Book Of Cohen is a singular volume with multiple objectives: “This was always going to be a work by one Cohen (that would be me) on another Cohen (that would…
Tagged with: David Cohen, Issue 127, Murray Bramwell, Spring 2019, Steele Roberts
Posted in Essays, Memoir, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Essays, Memoir, Non-fiction, Review
A view of the inner cemeteries, Reuben Johnson
Mind that Child: A Medical Memoir Simon Rowley with Adam Dudding Penguin, $35.00, ISBN 9780143771982 We can Make a Life: A Memoir of Family, Earthquake and Courage Chessie Henry Victoria University Press, $35.00, ISBN 9781776561940 Dr Simon Rowley is a…
The light, fantastic toe, Jennifer Shennan
Limbs Dance Company – Dance for All People, 1977–1989 Marianne Schultz Marianne Schultz in conjunction with DANZ, $40.00 ISBN 9780473407698 This book about Limbs, New Zealand’s brightest modern dance troupe, in its heyday in 1980s Auckland, is dedicated “for Sue…
With thanks, Jane Westaway
Memory Pieces Maurice Gee Victoria University Press, $35.00, ISBN 9781776562077 Anyone who has taken even a passing interest in Maurice Gee’s long career must be aware that his childhood has been the ongoing imaginative source of his fiction, and that…
Tagged with: Issue 124, Maurice Gee, Summer 2018, Victoria University Press
Posted in Memoir, Non-fiction
Posted in Memoir, Non-fiction
Patchwork, Lisa Warrington
These Two Hands: A Memoir Renée Mākaro Press, $38.00, ISBN 9780994137845 These Two Hands is the memoir of a woman’s life which is simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary. Born in Napier in 1929, Renée has lived through tumultuous times, both in…
Tagged with: Issue 124, Lisa Warrington, Mākaro Press, Renée, Summer 2018
Posted in Memoir, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Memoir, Non-fiction, Review
“A kind of undressing”, Elspeth Sandys
Dear Oliver: Uncovering a Pākehā History Peter Wells Massey University Press, $40.00, ISBN 9780994143 Peter Wells is a wonderful writer, and this is almost a wonderful book. Writing a family memoir (or, as the author calls this particular memoir, Uncovering…
Tagged with: Elspeth Sandys, Issue 123, Massey University Press, Peter Wells, Spring 2018
Posted in Memoir, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Memoir, Non-fiction, Review
Tracing trauma, Jane Westaway
Driving to Treblinka: A Long Search for a Lost Father Diana Wichtel Awa Press, $45.00, ISBN 9781927249406 How do human beings survive horror? The answer seems to be that they do and they don’t. Some part of them is crushed…