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.…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Posted in Health, Memoir, Non-fiction, Review

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…
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Posted in Art, Memoir, Non-fiction, Review

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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Posted in Memoir, Non-fiction, Review
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