Blog Archives

Reds under the bed, Redmer Yska

The Sixth Man: The Extraordinary Life of Paddy Costello James McNeish  Vintage, $34.99, ISBN  9781869418915 James McNeish’s masterly life of Paddy Costello tells how, in the summer of 1953, this Paris-based New Zealand diplomat escorted National PM Sid Holland around…
Tagged with: , , , , ,
Posted in Biography, History, Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review

Cubist McCahon, Roger Blackley

Colin McCahon: The Titirangi Years, 1953-1959 Peter Simpson Auckland University Press, $49.95,  ISBN 9781869403898 A half-century ago, the literature of New Zealand art fitted on a single shelf, or – with a full collection of the periodical Art in New…
Tagged with: , , , ,
Posted in Art, Biography, Non-fiction, Review

Fertile ground, Alison Gray

The New Zealand Family From 1840: A Demographic History Ian Pool, Arunachalam Dharmalingam and Janet Sceats (eds) Auckland University Press, $50.00,  ISBN 9781869403577 A demographic history of the New Zealand family? Well, that’ll be a short, sad story. Everyone knows…
Tagged with: , , , , , ,
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review, Sociology

Renavigating the past, Bernie Kernot

Maori Peoples of New Zealand: Nga Iwi O Aotearoa Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand David Bateman, $49.99, ISBN 9781869536220 National encyclopedias bear some resemblance to national exhibitions in the way they sum up and present knowledge relevant to…
Tagged with: , , ,
Posted in History, Māori, Non-fiction, Review, Sociology

Obituary — Meg Campbell

Meg (Aline Margaret) Campbell (1937-2007) Meg Campbell died at home in Pukerua Bay on November 17 2007, 24 hours before the launch of her sixth collection, Poems Adrift (Te Kotare Press). Meg Campbell’s poems have typically reflected on her often…
Tagged with: , , ,
Posted in Obituaries

Faith and works, Linda Burgess

Women with a Mission: Rediscovering Missionary Wives in Early New Zealand Cathy Ross Penguin Books, $39.95, ISBN 0143020501 Be careful what you leave behind you. That unflattering photo could well be the one chosen for your obituary (should you be…
Tagged with: , , , ,
Posted in Gender, History, Non-fiction, Review, Sociology

Invaluable taonga, Paul Wolffram

Nga Moteatea: The Songs, Part 4: Collected by Apirana Ngata, translated by Hirini Moko Mead Jenifer Curnow and Jane McRae (eds)  Auckland University Press, $22.50,  ISBN 9781869403867  This is the final instalment in the series of Nga Moteatea: The Songs,…
Tagged with: , , , , , ,
Posted in Māori, Music, Non-fiction

Absolutely commercially, Jenny Robin Jones

Logan Campbell’s Auckland: Tales from the Early Years R C J Stone Auckland University Press, $45.00,  ISBN 9781869403935 Wellington: Biography of a City Redmer Yska Reed, $44.99, ISBN 0790011077 Auckland illuminated through stories of the past; Wellington reconstructed through careful…
Tagged with: , , , , , , ,
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review, Sociology

No ordinary son, Janet Hunt and Michael Morrissey

Biographer Janet Hunt and writer Michael Morrissey attend Hone Tuwhare’s tangi.   In death, seen obliquely as he lay on the satin bed of his coffin, he was not himself. Oh, it was Tuwhare all right: there was the familiar…
Tagged with: , , , ,
Posted in Comment

Spot on the sun, David Hill

The Transit of Venus Marilyn Head (ed) Awa Press, $24.99, ISBN 978095826972 A few years back, I had to review a self-published New Zealand novel. It was seriously rotten, and I wrote that it “tried to be bad, bold and…
Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Non-fiction, Review, Science
Search the archive
Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
Filter by Categories
Architecture
Art
Autobiography
Awards
Biography
Byline
Children
Comment
Contents
ebooks
Economics
Editorial
Education
Essays
Extract
Fiction
Gender
Graphic novel
Health
History
Imprints
Language
Lecture
Letters
Letters
Literature
Māori
Media
Memoir
Music
Natural History
Non-fiction
Obituaries
Opinion
Pacific
Photography
Plays
Poem
Poetry
Politics & Law
Psychology
Religion
Review
Science
Short stories
Sociology
Sport
War
YA Reviewers
Young adults
Recent issues: subscriber-only access

    Subscribe to NZ Books to access the issues above

    Search by category