Blog Archives
The decent society, John Pagani
The Bolger Years 1990-1997 Margaret Clark (ed) Dunmore Publishing, $37.95, ISBN 9781877399336 I have to confess to having taunted Margaret Clark in the past for her incuriosity. A few years ago she demanded in a newspaper answers and explanations from…
Tagged with: Autumn 2009, Dunmore Publishing, Issue 85, John Pagani, Margaret Clark
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review
Poem – Peter Bland
The Gift You love the new land truly you love it you pile up year upon year until belonging happens and before you know it the old land drifts into myth which you visit disguised as a child the…
Poem – Nicholas Reid
Once to the Rocks “Once to the rocks,” said Bill and took a dive as neat and arc-like as a well-cast line.– He left no ripple. I blundered behind with belly-flop and splashes, awkwardly. So in his element, smooth…
Movement is all, Paula Green
Magnetic South Sue Wootton Steele Roberts, $24.99, ISBN 9781877448232 Spark Emma Neale Steele Roberts, $24.99, ISBN 9781877448195 The Propaganda Poster Girl Amy Brown Victoria University Press, $25.00, ISBN 9780864735744 The World’s Fastest Flower Charlotte Simmonds Victoria University Press, $25.00, ISBN…
Tagged with: Amy Brown, Autumn 2009, Charlotte Simmonds, Emma Neale, Issue 85, Paula Green, Steele Roberts, Sue Wootton, Victoria University Press
Posted in Literature, Poetry
Posted in Literature, Poetry
A straight left to the nose, Spiro Zavos
From Poverty Bay to Broadway: The Story Of Tom Heeney Lydia Monin Hodder Moa, $39.99, ISBN 9781869711252 You play rugby and a host of other sports that have a greater or lesser degree of body contact in them. But you…
Tagged with: Autumn 2009, Hodder Moa, Issue 85, Lydia Monin, Spiro Zavos, Tom Heeney
Posted in Biography, Non-fiction, Review, Sport
Posted in Biography, Non-fiction, Review, Sport
Steadfast, Dougal McNeill
Collected Poems 1951-2006 C K Stead Auckland University Press, $59.99, ISBN 9781869404185 The American critic Lionel Trilling, writing in the early 1960s of his experience teaching what we would now call modernist literature, felt unsettled by the ease with which…
Tagged with: Auckland University Press, Autumn 2009, C K Stead, Dougal McNeill, Issue 85
Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review
Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review
St Barbara might help, Les Cleveland
The Gunners: A History of New Zealand Artillery Alan Henderson, David Green and Peter Cooke Penguin Books, $65.00, ISBN 9780790011417 Specialists and artillery buffs will find much in this 528-page detailed treatment of weaponry, military organisation, administrative entanglements, the problems…
Tagged with: Alan Henderson, Autumn 2009, David Green, Issue 85, Les Cleveland, Penguin Books, Peter Cooke
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review, War
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review, War
Where the boys are, Penelope Todd
Whale Pot Bay Des Hunt HarperCollins, $18.99, ISBN 978869507305 The River Runs David Hill Mallinson Rendel, $18.00, ISBN 9781877423222 Violence 101 Denis Wright Penguin Books, $18.95, ISBN 9780143304036 These three books with male protagonists each cover, to varying extent, bullying,…
Tagged with: Autumn 2009, David Hill, Denis Wright, Des Hunt, HarperCollins, Issue 85, Mallinson Rendel, Penelope Todd, Penguin Books
Posted in Children, Literature, Review
Posted in Children, Literature, Review
Age-old contracts, Elizabeth Caffin
A Year to Learn a Woman Paddy Richardson Penguin Books, $28.00, ISBN 9780143010029 Misconduct Bridget van der Zijpp Victoria University Press, $30.00, ISBN 9780864735751 The Rehearsal Eleanor Catton Victoria University Press, $30.00, ISBN 9780864735812 A woman around 40, now on…
Tagged with: Autumn 2009, Bridget van der Zijpp, Eleanor Catton, Elizabeth Caffin, Issue 85, Paddy Richardson, Penguin Books, Victoria University Press
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Sweet and upbeat, Paula Morris
The 10pm Question Kate De Goldi Longacre Press, $29.99, ISBN 978977460203 “Every family has a secret,” says Alan Bennett, “and the secret is that it’s not like other families.” For Frankie Parsons, the clever, neurotic hero of Kate De Goldi’s…
Tagged with: Autumn 2009, Issue 85, Kate De Goldi, Longacre Press, Paula Morris
Posted in Literature, Review, Young adults
Posted in Literature, Review, Young adults