Blog Archives

Gavin McLean: Diverse and shorter reviews

The Great New Zealand Fossil Book: Pictures of Ancient Life in an Evolving Land Ron Brazier, Ian Keyes and Graeme Stevens, DSIR Geology and Geophysics, Wellington, 1990, $49.95 On Shaky Ground: a Geological Guide to the Wellington Metropolitan Region Graeme

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Posted in History, Natural History, Non-fiction, Review, Sociology

Sidewinder as demon, Bernie Steeds

Sidewinder Alistair Campbell, Reed Books, Auckland, 1991, $24.95 Readers first meet Sidewinder about half way through Alistair Campbell’s 1989 novel The Frigate Bird. The novel’s narrator — a Cook Islands-born writer prone to rather extreme flights of fancy — is living in

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

Changing women’s lives, Rosemary du Plessis

Springs in My Heels: Stories About Women and Change Alison Gray, Bridget Williams Books, Wellington, 1991, $27.95 Ladies a Plate: Change and Continuity in the Lives of New Zealand Women Julie Park (ed), Auckland University Press, Auckland, 1991, $29.95 Both

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Posted in Gender, History, Non-fiction, Review

Two sisters and a witch, Rebekah Palmer

The Word Burners Beryl Fletcher, Daphne Brasell Associates, Wellington, 1991, $19.95 Finding Out Elspeth Sandys, Vintage New Zealand, Auckland, 1991, $24.95 The night-witch is invoked early in The Word Burners. The main character, Julia, tells her children of a lonely witch who lived

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

Catherine Healy: Giving sex workers a voice

Working Girls Jan Jordan, Penguin, Auckland, 1991, $29.95 In 1987 when the Prostitutes Collective was established largely in response to the AIDS pandemic, it was necessary to turn to overseas experience for guidance. It was all very interesting reading about

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Posted in Gender, Health, Non-fiction, Review, Sociology

Lighthouses illuminated, J H Sutherland

Leading Lights: Lighthouses of New Zealand Anna Gibbons, photographs by Grant Sheehan, Hazard Press, Christchurch, 1991, $44.95 Just after Easter 1990, the keepers were withdrawn from The Brothers Lighthouse in Cook Strait, the last New Zealand light to be de-manned and

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Posted in History, Non-fiction, Photography, Review

Acceptance of diversity, Claire-Louise McCurdy

Parker and Hulme: A Lesbian View Julie Glamuzina and Alison J Laurie, New Womens Press, Auckland, 1991, $24.95 Does anyone in New Zealand at the time not remember Parker and Hulme, the two Christchurch girls who murdered the mother of

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Posted in Gender, History, Non-fiction, Review

From the marae to modernism: the buildings in which we live, Pam Wilson

New Zealand Architecture from Polynesian Beginnings to 1990 Peter Shaw, photographs by Robin Morrison, Hodder & Stoughton, Auckland, 1991, $59.95 ‘New Zealand’s European-derived architectural history may be short but it should be accorded the same respect we now give as a

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Posted in Architecture, History, Non-fiction, Pacific, Review

Publisher Profiles 2: Bridget Williams Books, Fiona Kidman

‘I have a commitment to social justice and equality. I don’t believe there should be poverty in New Zealand like there is now. That’s the social background to my publishing’, says Bridget Williams. The publishing office of Bridget Williams Books

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Posted in Imprints

Jonathan Else: Welcome to a new series

Nigel Brown Gregory O’Brien, Random Century, Auckland, 1991, $33.95 Gretchen Albrecht Linda Gill, Random Century, Auckland, 1991, $33.95 (New Zealand Contemporary Artists series) On the strength of these first two titles, anyone wishing to know more about New Zealand painting

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Posted in Art, Biography, Non-fiction, Review
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