Blog Archives
Obiturary — Allen Curnow
Allen Curnow (1911-2001) When did a wind of the extreme South before Mix autumn, spring and death? (“Elegy on My Father”, Allen Curnow, 1949) I cannot remember when I first encountered Allen Curnow’s poetry. It seems to have been…
Poem – Nick Williamson
Margaret’s Roses Christmas Day and Uncle Frank is glued to the Queen’s Speech. Her pigeon voice glides over oceans and out of the fraying mouth of a wireless. She wishes us well stuck at far-flung corners of the Commonwealth…
Perils and blessings, Charlotte Yates
“Imprints” I have three Joni Mitchell albums in my collection – The Hissing of Summer Lawns, Blue and Heijira. They have acted as both a personal and a professional musical resource. They’ve become albums I return to, not exclusively but…
The uses of memory, Louise O’Brien
Little Moon Emma Neale Vintage, $24.95, ISBN 1869414756 Little Moon, Emma Neale’s second novel, following the success of Night Swimming in 1998, is an account of the troubled childhood and adolescence of a young woman growing up in New Zealand.…
Tagged with: December 2001, Emma Neale, Issue 51, Louise O’Brien, Vintage
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
The courtyard jungle, Kerry Carman
Life (and death) in a Small City Garden Philippa Swan Godwit, $24.95, ISBN 1869620798 In the vast and varied field of literature, gardens and writing are a classic pairing. Well-told stories of personal experience are few and far between, grist…
Tagged with: December 2001, Godwit, Issue 51, Kerry Carman, Philippa Swan
Posted in Autobiography, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Autobiography, Non-fiction, Review
Words for music perhaps, Nick Bollinger
Love This Life: Lyrics 1978-2001 Neil Finn Allen & Unwin, $35.00, ISBN 1865085081 Lyrics without melody Mahinarangi Tocker Street Women Press, $19.95, ISBN 0473074427 I have always been a passionate pop fan, but never a great lover of the printed…
Tagged with: Allen & Unwin, December 2001, Issue 51, Mahinarangi Tocker, Neil Finn, Nick Bollinger, Street Women Press
Posted in Literature, Music, Non-fiction, Poetry, Review
Posted in Literature, Music, Non-fiction, Poetry, Review
Elliptical documentaries, Paola Bilbrough
A Stone Seat and a Shadow Tree Adrienne Jansen Inkweed, $19.95, ISBN 0473072556 The best poems in Adrienne Jansen’s A Stone Seat and a Shadow Tree have a lucid simplicity to them. The most compelling are those about beginnings and…
Gains and pains, Brian Gaynor
World Famous in New Zealand: How New Zealand’s Leading Firms Became World-Class Competitors Colin Campbell-Hunt et al Auckland University Press, $39.95, ISBN 1869402499 The reforms initiated by Sir Roger Douglas in 1984 gave New Zealand businesspeople a wonderful opportunity to…
Tagged with: Auckland University Press, Brian Gaynor, Colin Campbell-Hunt, December 2001, Issue 51
Posted in Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Non-fiction, Review
Out of the picture, Lydia Wevers
Lady Travellers: The Tourists of Early New Zealand Bee Dawson Penguin Books, $39.95, ISBN 0141004150 Lady Travellers is a successor to Bee Dawson’s Lady Painters, which appeared in 1999, and makes me wonder if there’s a series planned – Lady…
Tagged with: Bee Dawson, December 2001, Issue 51, Lydia Wevers, Penguin Books
Posted in Gender, History, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Gender, History, Non-fiction, Review
Off the map, Tim Beaglehole
The Merchant of the Zeehaen: Isaac Gilsemans and the voyages of Abel Tasman Grahame Anderson Te Papa Press, published in association with the Royal Netherlands Embassy and the New Zealand-Netherlands Foundation (Inc), $49.95, ISBN 0909010757 The origins of this fascinating…
Tagged with: Abel Tasman, December 2001, Grahame Anderson, Issue 51, New Zealand-Netherlands Foundation (Inc), Royal Netherlands Embassy, Te Papa Press, Tim Beaglehole
Posted in Health, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Health, Non-fiction, Review