Blog Archives
Issue 126 | Winter 2019
Volume 29 | Number 2 | Issue 126 | Winter 2019 Stephanie Johnson: Carl Shuker, A Mistake John McCrystal: Owen Marshall, Pearly Gates: A Novel Victor Rodger: John Broughton, Oscar Kightley and Erolia Ifopo, Gary Henderson, and Carl Nixon,…
Shocks and conversations, Mark Williams
The Friday Poem: 100 New Zealand Poems Steve Braunias (ed) David Bateman, $25.00, ISBN 9780473450281 Short Poems of New Zealand Jenny Bornholdt (ed) Victoria University Press, $35.00, ISBN 9781776562022 Two new poetry anthologies: one featuring beautifully composed small poems selected…
Tagged with: David Bateman, Issue 126, Jenny Bornholdt, Mark Williams, Steve Braunias, Winter 2019
Posted in Literature, Poetry
Posted in Literature, Poetry
Earnest but elusive, Hannah Newport-Watson
Under Glass Gregory Kan Auckland University Press, $25.00, ISBN 9781869408916 It’s common to talk about the “emotional landscape” of a book. Gregory Kan’s second poetry collection Under Glass transforms that figure of speech into something more – yet not entirely…
Tagged with: Auckland University Press, Gregory Kan, Hannah Newport-Watson, Issue 126, Winter 2019
Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review
Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review
Articulating an alternative, Julienne Molineaux
Government for the Public Good: The Surprising Science of Large-scale Collective Action Max Rashbrooke Bridget Williams Books, $50.00, ISBN 9781988545080 This is an optimistic book that aims to re-set the narrative on collective action and, in particular, how we discuss…
Tagged with: Bridget Williams Books, Issue 126, Julienne Molineaux, Max Rashbrooke, Winter 2019
Posted in Economics, Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review
Posted in Economics, Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review
And on the strangest sea, Paul Moon
New Zealand and the Sea: Historical Perspectives Frances Steel (ed) Bridget Williams Books, $60.00, ISBN 9780947518707 Ocean: Tales of Voyaging and Encounter that Defined New Zealand Sarah Ell Penguin Random House, $70.00, ISBN 9780143772675 Most histories of nations tend to…
Tagged with: Frances Steel, Issue 126, Paul Moon, Penguin Random House, Sarah Ell, Winter 2019
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review
Finding the way back, Nicholas Reid
Now When it Rains – A Writer’s Memoir Jeffrey Paparoa Holman Steele Roberts, $35.00, ISBN 9780947493776 A boy needs a father, but things can go badly wrong if the father is not good at fathering. This seems to be one…
Tagged with: Issue 126, Jeffrey Paparoa Holman, Nicholas Reid, Steele Roberts, Winter 2019
Posted in Media, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Media, Non-fiction, Review
Galling truth, Megan Dunn
Kaitiaki o te Pō: Essays John-Paul Powley Seraph Press, $35.00, ISBN 9780994134592 I am in two minds about John-Paul Powley’s Kaitiaki o te Pō – this is a good essay collection, even really good. But goodness is also Powley’s Achilles…
Tagged with: Issue 126, John-Paul Powley, Megan Dunn, Seraph Press, Winter 2019
Posted in Essays, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Essays, Non-fiction, Review
Pressing on, James Hollings
Lasting Impressions: The Story of New Zealand’s Newspapers, 1840–1920 Ian F Grant Fraser Books, in association with the Alexander Turnbull Library, $69.50, ISBN 9780994136046 At a time when journalism is in crisis, with collapsing revenues and governments and elites indifferent…
Tagged with: Alexander Turnbull Library, Dr James Hollings, Fraser Books, Ian F Grant, Issue 126, Winter 2019
Posted in Media, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Media, Non-fiction, Review
Heroic lives, Bruce Babington
Whatever it Takes: Pacific Films and John O’Shea 1948-2000 John Reid Victoria University Press, $60.00, ISBN 9781776562114 Many years ago, I was invited by the New Zealand Film Archive to try to order the mass of material in its John…
Tagged with: Bruce Babington, Issue 126, John Reid, Victoria University Press, Winter 2019
Posted in Art, History, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Art, History, Non-fiction, Review
Playing at home, John McCrystal
Pearly Gates: A Novel Owen Marshall Vintage, $38.00, ISBN 9780143773153 “Pride goeth before a fall”, so the proverb runs, “and an haughty spirit before destruction”. The prideful one in Owen Marshall’s latest novel is Pat Gates, universally known as “Pearly”.…
Tagged with: Issue 126, John McCrystal, Owen Marshall, Vintage, Winter 2019
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review