Blog Archives

Contributing to the tribal record, Jane McRae

Kati au i konei compiled by Te Ahukaramu Charles Royal Huia Publishers, $24.95 This book contains texts, translations and explanatory notes for 15 waiata from Ngati Toarangatira and Ngati Raukawa. It is written in Maori and English, illustrated with photographs

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Posted in Māori, Music, Non-fiction, Review

Better at a distance, Gerry Webb

My History, I think Stevan Eldred‑Grigg Penguin Books, $29.95 “Neither autobiography nor yet fiction, this fascinating document traces the workings inside the mind of a leading writer”, says the blurb. The sad fact is that the workings of this writer’s

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Posted in Autobiography, Non-fiction, Review

Skin and bones, Tom Beard

Skinning a Fish Kevin Ireland Hazard Press, $19.95 The cover illustration ‑ a cold blue etching of a grotesque deep‑sea fish screwed to a ragged knife ‑ is a spare and disturbing image that hints at a hard edge to

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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

Unequal contract, Margaret Wilson

The Vision And The Reality: Equal Employment Opportunities in the New Zealand Workplace Janet Sayers and Marianne Tremaine (eds) Dunmore Press, $42.95 For those of us who teach and research in subjects that discuss the practice and theory of equality

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Posted in Gender, Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review, Sociology

At odds with liberal times, Michael Laws

Catholic Girls Jane Tolerton Penguin, $24.95 Jane Tolerton’s new book is a series of interviews with 17 Catholic-educated women ranging from lawyers and businesswomen to politicians and other entertainers. Tolerton’s premise for these nostalgic reminiscences is that “the Catholic women

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Posted in Non-fiction, Religion, Review, Sociology

It will all happen again, Brian Gaynor

Lost Property: The Crash of ’87…and the aftershock Olly Newland HarperCollins, $19.95 The mid‑1980s ‑ Allan Hawkins and Equiticorp, Fay and Connor slogging it out in Fremantle, Chase Corporation and mirror‑glass buildings, Bruce Judge, share clubs and investment seminars, Bob

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Posted in Economics, History, Non-fiction, Review

Over‑respecting the person, Tony Bellette

Frances Hodgkins: Paintings and Drawings Iain Buchanan, Michael Dunn, Elizabeth Eastmond Auckland University Press, $79.95 Do we have any right to claim Frances Hodgkins? Famous expatriate artists, to be regarded as properly belonging to their land of birth, normally continue

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Posted in Art, Non-fiction, Review

Reviled, Iain Sharp

Poor Behaviour Bill Payne Secker & Warburg, $24.95 The Duration of a Kiss Peter Wells Secker & Warburg, $24.95 I wonder what Bill Payne and Peter Wells make of each other. Simultaneous publication by Reed’s new Secker & Warburg imprint

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

Tall tales and truths from an underrated writer, Judith Holloway

Dead Man’s Head Jack Lasenby McIndoe, $18.95 There is a special category of books written about the world of children which are, on the whole, written for children to read (or to have read to them) but whose themes, originality

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Posted in Children, Literature, Young adults

Women among the puritans, Heather Murray

A Barbarous Tongue Marilyn Duckworth Vintage New Zealand (first pub Hutchinson & Co, 1963), $24.95 Fooling Marilyn Duckworth Hazard Press, $9.95 Marilyn Duckworth stands alone in New Zealand fiction, occupying a lofty and lonely spot few others have had the

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Posted in Fiction, Literature
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