Blog Archives
Magnificent obsession, Spiro Zavos
Graham Henry: Final Word Bob Howitt HarperCollins, $50.00, ISBN 9781869509736 Here is an heroic assertion. Graham Henry is the greatest coach in the history of rugby. His rivals for this title include Danie Craven, Carwyn James, Fred Allen and, possibly,…
Tagged with: Autumn 2013, Bob Howitt, Graham Henry, HarperCollins, Issue 101, Spiro Zavos
Posted in Biography, Non-fiction, Review, Sport
Posted in Biography, Non-fiction, Review, Sport
Letters — Issue 101
Congratulations The novelist, Alex Miller, who lives in Melbourne (the city where I mostly reside), said that “writing fiction is a dangerous occupation. It is an act of imagination that requires the writer to confront unclear aspects of the self;…
Walking upon ashes, Harry Ricketts
The Search for Anne Perry Joanne Drayton HarperCollins, $45.00, ISBN 9781869508883 So Brilliantly Clever: Parker, Hulme and the Murder that Shocked the World Peter Graham Awa Press, $42.00, ISBN 9781877651123 On 22 June 1954, in Victoria Park, Christchurch, 16-year-old Pauline…
Tagged with: Anne Perry, Autumn 2013, Awa Press, HarperCollins, Harry Ricketts, Issue 101, Joanne Drayton, Juliet Hulme, Pauline Parker, Peter Graham
Posted in Biography, History, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Biography, History, Non-fiction, Review
Glamorous facelift, Stella Ramage
Two Hundred and Forty Years of New Zealand Painting Gil Docking (with additions covering 1970-1990 by Michael Dunn and 1990-2010 by Edward Hanfling) David Bateman, $100.00, ISBN 9781869538040 Publishers presumably ask themselves some questions before undertaking a new book. What…
Tagged with: Autumn 2013, David Bateman, Edward Hanfling, Gil Docking, Issue 101, Michael Dunn, Stella Ramage
Posted in Art, History, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Art, History, Non-fiction, Review
The great sucking void, John McCrystal
Soon Charlotte Grimshaw Vintage, $38.00, ISBN 9781869799984 Ever since the 1999 publication of her first novel, Provocation, Charlotte Grimshaw’s writing has attracted a cloud of admirers and a liberal garnishing of awards. She is a novelist by instinct, if not…
Tagged with: Autumn 2013, Charlotte Grimshaw, Issue 101, John McCrystal, Vintage
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
The frozen continent, Janet Hunt
Science on Ice: Discovering the Secrets of Antarctica Veronica Meduna Auckland University Press, $60.00, ISBN 9781869405830 “Visiting this frozen landscape,” writes Veronica Meduna, “is to gain a fresh perspective on our world, almost like going to another planet and looking…
Tagged with: Auckland University Press, Autumn 2013, Issue 101, Janet Hunt, Veronica Meduna
Posted in Non-fiction, Review, Science
Posted in Non-fiction, Review, Science
Eminent people and unmade beds, Ann Beaglehole
My Life in Two Halves: A Memoir Betty Gilderdale David Bateman, $30.00, ISBN 978186953832 Before I Forget Jacqueline Fahey Auckland University Press, $45.00, ISBN 9781869405816 The Lost Woman Sydney Smith Text, $40.00, ISBN 9781921922480 Freud, who supposedly said that he…
Tagged with: Ann Beaglehole, Auckland University Press, Autumn 2013, Betty Gilderdale, David Bateman, Issue 101, Jacqueline Fahey, Sydney Smith, Text
Posted in Autobiography, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Autobiography, Non-fiction, Review
Pacific art on the world stage, Ian Lochhead
Art in Oceania: A New History Peter Brunt and Nicholas Thomas (eds) Thames and Hudson, $130.00, ISBN 9780500239018 When New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) opened its landmark exhibition Arts of the South Seas in 1946, the war in…
Tagged with: Autumn 2013, Ian Lochhead, Issue 101, Nicholas Thomas, Peter Brunt, Thames and Hudson
Posted in Art, Non-fiction, Pacific, Review
Posted in Art, Non-fiction, Pacific, Review