Blog Archives
With backpack and library card, Chris Maclean
Going Bush: New Zealanders and Nature in the 20th Century Kirstie Ross Auckland University Press, $39.99, ISBN 978186904246 If I have read about 50 pages and still not been drawn into an author’s world, then I usually put the book…
Tagged with: Auckland University Press, Autumn 2009, Chris Maclean, Issue 85, Kirstie Ross
Posted in Natural History, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Natural History, Non-fiction, Review
Poem — Gregory O’Brien
On hearing, at the Oceanographic Museum, Monaco, the outcome of the New Zealand elections, November 2008 ‘The silvery Lookdowns (Selene vomer) disappear in the dazzling surface reflection as they slide through the water like blades … .’ Guide to…
World-famous in New Zealand, Philip Temple
Heaphy Iain Sharp Auckland University Press, $64.99, ISBN 9781869404215 The one-name title for this book confidently assumes this is someone we all know. After all, there can be only one Heaphy – Charles – because in the history of our…
Tagged with: Auckland University Press, Autumn 2009, Iain Sharp, Issue 85, Philip Temple
Posted in Biography, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Biography, Non-fiction, Review
The endurance of Sappho, Alan Loney
Alan Loney records his long-lasting admiration for the lute-playing poet. The persistence of the ancient Greek poet Sappho (c630-570 BC) in the literary imagination of the West is one of the most remarkable aspects of the poetic tradition. While many…
The high ground, Simon Upton
Whose High Country? A History of the South Island High Country of New Zealand Roberta McIntyre Penguin Books, $45.00, ISBN 97801430084125 At the risk of irretrievably mixing one’s metaphors, it is dairy farmers who are today on the sheep’s back.…
Tagged with: Autumn 2009, Issue 85, Penguin Books, Roberta McIntyre, Simon Upton
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review
Time out, Mark Houlahan
Chinese Opera Ian Wedde Victoria University Press, $30.00, ISBN 9780864735850 When a story by Ian Wedde called “Chinese Opera” was published in Sport 2, readers were informed that he expected to “finish Chinese Opera, his fourth novel, in 1989.” Nineteen…
Tagged with: Autumn 2009, Ian Wedde, Issue 85, Mark Houlahan, Victoria University Press
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Troubled missionary, Paul Moon
God’s Messenger: J F Riemenschneider and Racial Conflict in 19th Century New Zealand Peter Oettli Huia, $55.00, ISBN 9781869693201 The lives of missionaries in 19th century New Zealand have tended to end up being documented in two forms. The first…
Tagged with: Autumn 2009, Huia, Issue 85, Paul Moon, Peter Oettli
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Religion, Review
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Religion, Review
Sheering off, Michael Hulse
The Love School: Personal Essays Elizabeth Knox Victoria University Press, $33.00, ISBN 9780864735928 Paremata, the childhood novella which followed her debut novel After Z-Hour, was my own first encounter with Elizabeth Knox’s writing. The copy she gave me is inscribed…
Tagged with: Autumn 2009, Elizabeth Knox, Issue 85, Michael Hulse, Victoria University Press
Posted in Essays, Literature, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Essays, Literature, Non-fiction, Review
Ex cathedra, Paul Morris
A Word in Season: Reflections on Spirituality, Faith and Ethics Richard Randerson Matai House, $19.50, ISBN 9780473136543 The Anglican Church in New Zealand, like the other major denominations, is split between its liberals and conservatives. This division is over how…
Tagged with: Autumn 2009, Issue 85, Matai House, Paul Morris, Richard Randerson
Posted in Non-fiction, Religion, Review
Posted in Non-fiction, Religion, Review
Walking with McCahon, Martin Edmond
In this extract from Dark Night, Martin Edmond retraces the steps of Colin McCahon, who, on April 11 1984, went missing in Sydney’s Royal Botanical Gardens and was not found again for 36 hours. I actually made the walk from…