Blog Archives

Letter from Auckland, Iain Sharp

For dedicated literati, there’s no better place in Auckland to gulp down a cappuccino or hot chocolate than the Kerouac Deli in Vulcan Lane. It’s just a stone’s throw from Unity Books and the Queen’s Ferry, which are respectively the

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Posted in Comment

More polemic than analysis, Barrie Macdonald

Tu Galala: Social Change in the Pacific David Robie (ed), Bridget Williams Books, Wellington, and Pluto Press, Annandale, Australia, 1992, $39.95 At one level David Robie, a journalist well-versed in political and environmental conflicts in Oceania, has succeeded in bringing

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Posted in Non-fiction, Pacific, Review, Sociology

Effective writing, Gavin McLean

Check it Out: a Guide to Effective Writing Margaret McLaren, Longman Paul, Auckland, 1991, $12.95 In many ways, this slim paperback is a more useful book than the latest truncated New Zealand Style Book, since its advice on matters such

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Posted in Literature, Non-fiction, Review

Reminiscences, Gavin McLean

Dreamscape 1 John Summers, Pisces Print, Christchurch, 1991, $45 Second-hand booksellers are a breed apart, either mute chainsmoking social misfits concerned only with turning dog-eared Mills and Boons into cash, or erudite but loquacious to the point of distraction oil

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Posted in Biography, Non-fiction, Review

What’s wrong with the new right? Alison Glenny

Superwoman where are you? Social Policy and Women’s Experience Celia Briar, Robyn Munford, Mary Nash (eds), Dunmore Press, 1992, $39.95 Women and Education in Aotearoa II Sue Middleton and Alison Jones (eds), Bridget Williams Books, 1992, $34.95 The sweeping changes currently

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

Approaches to Writing, Ian Gordon

Committed to Print J E Traue, Victoria University Press, Wellington, $24.95 The Common Writer Robert Neale, Oxford University Press, Auckland, $29.95 Real Writing Rachel McAlpine, GP Publications, Petone, $24.95 These three books approach the craft of writing from three very different

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Posted in Literature, Non-fiction, Review

A poet’s story, Kevin Ireland

Curved Horizon: An Autobiography Ruth Dallas, University of Otago Press, MacIndoe, 1991, $29.95 I have only ever met Ruth Dallas once, and briefly, so I have no idea of what she is like to talk to, but she always comes

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Posted in Autobiography, Non-fiction, Review

Very Much a ‘Wellington’ piece? Janet Wilson

Janet Wilson discussed Phil Mann’s ‘The Poverty Trap’ with Rev Dr Penny Jamieson, Bishop of Dunedin. Dr Jamieson has recently served on the People’s Select Committee which enquired into the effects of benefit cuts, and other aspects of the National Government’s

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Posted in Non-fiction, Review, Sociology

Believable magic and poignant realism, Celia Dunlop

See Ya, Simon David Hill, Mallinson Rendel, 1992, $19.95 Under the Rotunda James Norcliffe, Hazard Press, 1992, $14.95 David Hill’s exceptional first novel for younger teenagers shows all the assurance one would expect from this former high school teacher and

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Posted in Children, Fiction, Literature, Review

Autobiography through journalism, Rachel Lawson

Hidden Places: a memoir in journalism Michael King, Hodder and Stoughton, 1992, $27.95   Rachel Lawson reviews Michael King’s new book and discusses his work with him. Michael King has established his reputation through exploring what it means to be a

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Posted in Memoir, Non-fiction, Review
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