The Better Part Meg Campbell Hazard Press, $21.95, ISBN 1877161276 Postscripts J C Sturm Steele Roberts, $19.95, ISBN 1877228354 It would be remiss of this reviewer not to note that these two women poets, who have their own growing reputations,…
Haunt Bronwyn Bannister Otago University Press, $24.95, ISBN 1877133841 Between Black and White Eirlys Hunter Vintage, $24.95, ISBN 1869414284 I find that when reading a first novel I often flick to the little publisher logo on the spine. I acknowledge…
The Beetle in the Box: a love story Chris Else Vintage, $24.95, ISBN 1869414527 Anyone who has sat on the selection panel for a writer’s fellowship knows that the worst thing applicants can do is include a bald précis of…
Gone Surfing: The Golden Years of Surfing in New Zealand, 1950-1970 Luke Williamson Penguin, $34.95, ISBN 0140298908 Over the past few years I’ve spent a considerable amount of surfing time sitting on various beaches, board beside me, wondering why I’d…
Talking Pictures: Selected Poems Riemke Ensing HeadworX, $26.95, ISBN 0473068044 The cover of Riemke Ensing’s latest collection sends mixed typographic signals. You read Selected Poems first, at the top; but it’s in italic, and grey, so it defers to the…
Southern Capital Christchurch: Towards a City Biography 1850-2000 ed John Cookson & Graeme Dunstall Canterbury University Press, $39.95, ISBN 0908812876 Christchurch Changing Geoffrey Rice Canterbury University Press, $29.95, ISBN 0908812531 Christchurch is my home city. My heart and my brain…
City of Reeds Tina Shaw Penguin Books, $24.95, ISBN 014029791X City of Reeds, Tina Shaw’s third novel, is a large and accomplished work. It’s an example of a relatively new departure in New Zealand fiction: the story-telling novel. This sort…