Blog Archives

Strange Tookish yearnings, David Round

Shelter From the Storm: The Story of New Zealand’s Backcountry Huts Shaun Barnett, Rob Brown and Geoff Spearpoint Craig Potton Publishing, $80.00, ISBN 9781877517709 Our ancestors found no tropical paradise here; not even the long settled summers of the American…
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Posted in Natural History, Non-fiction, Review

Always something to behave about, Damien Wilkins

Damien Wilkins pays tribute to Barbara Anderson (1926-2013).   With her cultured Anglo voice (boarding school in New Zealand and years as a naval wife in England), her title (she was Lady Anderson following Neil’s knighthood), her height, elegance, beads,…
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Posted in Comment

Still flying, Harry Ricketts

Glass Wings Fleur Adcock Victoria University Press, $28.00, ISBN 9780864738875 Glass Wings is Fleur Adcock’s 13th collection. For close on 50 years, her poems have been praised for their sharp wit, classical clarity and conversational ease. Those qualities are again…
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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

Letters – Issue 102

A radical thought Here’s a radical thought for Chris Else (NZB, Autumn 2013). Perhaps a book reviewer might endeavour to say a couple of pertinent things about the book under review. If that book happens to be a major new…
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Posted in Letters

Sourcing the golden goose, Hugh Roberts

Elements of Modernism in Colin McCahon’s Early Work Gordon H Brown Art History Programme, Victoria University of Wellington, $15.00, ISBN 9780475122032 Toss Woollaston: Origins and Influence  Tony Green Art History Programme, Victoria University of Wellington, $15.00, ISBN 9771176304001 Colin McCahon…
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Posted in Art, Essays, Non-fiction, Review

A bit of fluff, Anne Else

A Woman’s Place Redmer Yska Penguin Books, $20.00, ISBN 97840143568087 A Woman’s Place is a small book in every sense. Penguin’s web page classes it as both “humour” and “gift book”. Though it does have pages and a cover, it…
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Posted in Gender, Non-fiction, Review

Slow, sure meaning, Hamish Clayton

Hamish Clayton reflects on The English Patient. “The first time she dreamed of him she woke up beside her husband screaming.” When I was 21, I wrote that line out dozens of times, by hand, into a battered school exercise…
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Posted in Imprints

Issue 102 | Winter 2013

Volume 23 | Number 2 |  Issue 102 | Winter 2013 Letters David Hill: R L Stedman, A Necklace of Souls; David Hair, Ghosts of Parihaka; Anna MacKenzie, Cattra’s Legacy; Des Hunt, Phantom of Terawhiti Damien Wilkins: “Always something to…
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Posted in Contents

Sleeping with a panda, Mary Roberts

New Zealand’s China Experience: Its Genesis, Triumphs, and Occasional Moments of Less than Complete Success Chris Elder (ed) Victoria University Press, $50.00, ISBN 9780864738470 In 1972 New Zealand recognised China: how quaint this now sounds. The echoes of those far-off…
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Posted in Non-fiction

Hooves of unicorns clattering, Eleanor Toland

The Disestablishment of Paradise Phillip Mann Victor Gollancz, $37.00, ISBN 9780575132627 The Last Sanctuary P S Mokha Tangerine Publications, $30.00, ISBN 9780987664655 Tropic of Skorpeo Michael Morrissey Steam Press, $30.00, ISBN 9780987663535 Fantasy and science fiction are genres often underrepresented…
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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
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