Blog Archives

Dancing to his own tune, Jane Westaway

Ghost dance Douglas Wright Penguin, $39.95, ISBN 0143019031 It’s tempting, when looking to praise a good book from someone who has made their mark in another sphere, to damn them with the feint praise of “natural writer”. As if their…
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Posted in Art, Autobiography, Non-fiction, Review

The unexpected past, Jenny Robin Jones

What Happen Then, Mr Bones? Charlotte Randall Penguin, $28.00, ISBN 0143019171 With her three previous novels, Dead Sea Fruit, The Curative and Within the Kiss, Charlotte Randall has developed a voice clearly identifiable in New Zealand literature. In What Happen…
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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

If it’s claggy, it must be Wellington, Kim Griggs

Auckland: The city in literature ed Witi Ihimaera Exisle Publishing, $34.95, ISBN 0908988362 Dunedin: The city in literature  ed Christine Johnston Exisle Publishing, $34.95, ISBN 0908988451 Christchurch: The city in literature ed Anna Rogers Exisle Publishing, $34.95, ISBN 0908988427 Wellington:…
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Posted in Literature, Review

Rebuilding the wharenui, Simone Drichel

Whanau II Witi Ihimaera Reed, $29.99, ISBN 079008939 For someone who describes himself as “a person who always reflected what other people wanted”, Witi Ihimaera has made an impressive career out of doing the exact opposite. Once every decade or…
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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

Our biggest brashest city, Diane Brown

Auckland before the Harbour Bridge Graham Stewart Grantham House, $69.95, ISBN 1869340868. Almighty Auckland? ed Ian Carter, David Craig and Steve Matthewman Dunmore Press, $34.95, ISBN 0864694520 History is big these days but it wasn’t when I was young. My…
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Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review, Sociology

We were just 17, if you know what I mean, Rosemary McLeod

Eight Days a Week: The Beatles’ Tour of New Zealand 1964  Graham Hutchins Exisle Publishing, $34.95, ISBN 0908988559 Big Smoke: New Zealand City People in the ’60s and ’70s  John Daley Random House, $39.95, ISBN 1869621085 Says Graham Hutchins, “Beatlemania…
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Posted in History, Music, Non-fiction, Review, Sociology

Across the great divide, Harvey McQueen

Apes Road: Poems Since 1997 Rob Jackaman Hazard Press, $21.95, ISBN 1877270245 Working Voices John O’Connor & Eric Mould Hallard Press, $24.95, ISBN 0864770480 In his essay “The Narrow-Columned Middle Ground”, Australian Les Murray explores a myth: We tend nowadays…
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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

Lifting the lid of the national box, Stevan Eldred-Grigg

The Penguin History of New Zealand Michael King Penguin, $29.95, ISBN 0143018671 A Short History of New Zealand Gordon McLauchlan Penguin, $29.95, ISBN 0143019082 One day at the start of the 21st century, happening to be staying in a hotel…
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Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review

Over there, Tony Simpson

New Zealand and the Second World War  Ian McGibbon Hodder Moa Beckett, $40.00, ISBN 1869589548 A Fair Sort of Battering: New Zealanders remember the Italian Campaign ed Megan Hutching HarperCollins, $40.00, ISBN 1869505050 The Desert Railway  Brendan Judd Penguin, $29.95,…
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Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review, War

Poem – Michael Harlow

Question      i. m. robert lax   What would you do If you happened on a woman who whistled all too wildly in her father’s house Met up with a hen who crowed as stridently as a cock, convinced she made…
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Posted in Poem
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