Blog Archives

Hymns, history and haemorrhoids, Janet Hughes

Three Regrets and a Hymn to Beauty Ian Wedde Auckland University Press, $22.00, ISBN 1869403495 Afternoon of an Evening Train Gregory O’Brien Victoria University Press, $21.99, ISBN 9864735014 Oooooo…..!!! Hone Tuwhare Steele Roberts, $24.95, ISBN 1877338699 Footfall Brian Turner Godwit,

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

What meets the eye, Ian Robertson

My Place  ed Glenn Busch, Bruce Connew with Uiga Bashford, Maria Buhrkuhl, Hanne Johnsen, Dean Kozanic, Tim Veling Canterbury University Press, $29.95, ISBN 187725729X Assume Nothing  Rebecca Swan Boy Tiger Press, $69.95, ISBN 0476004934 My Place is part of an

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Gender, Non-fiction, Photography, Review, Sociology

Her body falls and falls, Vivienne Jepsen

A Red Silk Sea Gillian Ranstead Penguin, $28.00, ISBN 0143019716 The Linoleum Room Katy Robinson Vintage, $26.95, ISBN 186941697X Her Body Rises: Stories & Poems Tracey Slaughter Vintage, $27.95, ISBN 1869417267 Ranstead’s, Robinson’s and Slaughter’s are all first books by

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

Going live to death, Michael Hulse

Lifted Bill Manhire Victoria University Press, $24.95, ISBN 086473509X Bill Manhire’s marvellous new collection of poems opens, as Creation reportedly did, in an amorphous state, awaiting the shaping of the Author. “Without Form”, taking its title from Genesis 1.2, declares:

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , ,
Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

No Hamlet, Barry Gustafson

My Life David Lange Viking, $49.95, ISBN 067004556X David Lange was no Will Shakespeare, and his memoir My Life is no Hamlet, Othello or Macbeth. Lange’s prose is distinguished by clever one-liners, not lengthy, self-revealing soliloquies. My Life does, however,

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , ,
Posted in Memoir, Non-fiction, Review

Calls for re-enchantment, Paul Morris

Celebrating the Southern Seasons: Rituals for Aotearoa Juliet Batten Random House, $34.95, ISBN 1869417348 Tohunga: The Revival of Ancient Knowledge for the Modern Era Samuel Timoti Robinson Reed, $49.99, ISBN 079001002X The election is finally over and we have a

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , , , ,
Posted in Māori, Non-fiction, Religion, Review, Sociology

Self-help or help yourself, Alice Te Punga Somerville & Tony Simpson

Pakeha and the Treaty: Why It’s Our Treaty Too Patrick Snedden Random House, $27.95, ISBN 186941683X I read Snedden’s Pakeha and the Treaty while diligently chomping my way through two books from a distinctly different genre: No More Clutter! and

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , , ,
Posted in History, Māori, Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review

Carnage on the coast, Paul Millar

Nine New Zealand Novellas  ed Peter Simpson Reed, $39.95, ISBN 0790009927 I’m not going to begin with a long, theorised discussion if the novella; there’s plenty of that around, and Peter Simpson’s introduction explores some of the key issues surrounding

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , ,
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review, Short stories

Not in Guatemala now, Linda Burgess

Ourselves in Primetime: A History of New Zealand Television Drama Trish Dunleavy Auckland University Press, $49.99, ISBN 1869403398 If Ourselves in Primetime were television, rather than a book about television, it would be tucked away on TV1 at 11.30pm. Or

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , ,
Posted in History, Media, Non-fiction, Review, Sociology

Erratic humanity, Roger Blackley

Nerli: An Italian Painter in the South Pacific Michael Dunn Auckland University Press, $79.99, ISBN I869403355 According to the traditional mythology of New Zealand art, the annus mirabilis of 1890 heralds the arrival of professionalism and modernism in the figures

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , ,
Posted in Art, Non-fiction, Pacific, Review
Search the archive
Search by category