Blog Archives
Just looking, thanks, Julia Millen
Going Up, Going Down: The Rise and Fall of the Department Store Helen B Laurenson Auckland University Press, $34.99, ISBN 186940341X Before TV and 24-hour on-tap entertainment, department stores provided escapism on a grand scale. Looking back to my childhood,…
Tagged with: Auckland University Press, Helen B Laurenson, Issue 72, Julia Millen, Summer 2005
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review, Sociology
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review, Sociology
The Gee-spot, Roger Robinson
Blindsight Maurice Gee Penguin, $34.95, ISBN 0143020234 Alice Ferry, narrator and co-protagonist of Maurice Gee’s new novel, is a mycologist – an expert on fungi. That is, her professional life is devoted to studying spongy, fragile, morbid life-forms that lurk…
Tagged with: Issue 72, Maurice Gee, Penguin, Roger Robinson, Summer 2005
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
On display, Stuart Murray
Making Ends Meet: Essays and Talks 1992-2004 Ian Wedde Victoria University Press, $39.95, ISBN 086473503 In the title essay of this wonderful collection, originally given as a talk on issues of research and archiving at the National Library of New…
Tagged with: Ian Wedde, Issue 72, Stuart Murray, Summer 2005, Victoria University Press
Posted in Essays, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Essays, Non-fiction, Review
Love and damage, Margie Thomson
A Short History of Paradise Norman Bilbrough Penguin, $28.00, ISBN 0143020358 Kissing Shadows Renée Huia, $34.99, ISBN 1869692039 How often can one say of local fiction, and mean it, that it’s an absolute delight to read? Known as a writer…
Tagged with: Huia, Issue 72, Margie Thomson, Norman Bilbrough, Penguin, Renée, Summer 2005
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Poem — John O’Connor
Rex purveyor of tall tales & veteran of Gallipoli, the Western Front. carpenter & model maker, smoker of ‘roll-yr-owns’, thin as a rake, he grew only asparagus for an anaemic looking wife who loved the races & left him &…
The ones that didn’t get away, David Hill
How to Catch a Fish Kevin Ireland Awa Press, $24.99, ISBN 0958253862 How to Drink a Glass of Wine John Saker Awa Press, $24.99, ISBN 095823582X Discussing Aldous Huxley’s On the Margin in his 2002 biography of that now untrendy…
Tagged with: Awa Press, David Hill, Issue 72, John Saker, Kevin Ireland, Summer 2005
Posted in Essays, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Essays, Non-fiction, Review
Making it, Bernadette Hall
A Box of Bees Emily Dobson Victoria University Press, $17.95, ISBN 0864735103 As It Was in the Beginning Stu Bagby Steele Roberts, $19.95, ISBN 1877338540 Raw Places John Horrocks Steele Roberts, $19.95, ISBN 1877338451 Who can deny the bliss of…
Tagged with: Bernadette Hall, Emily Dobson, Issue 72, John Horrocks, Steele Roberts, Stu Bagby, Summer 2005, Victoria University Press
Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review
Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review
Kiwi ways of dying, Abby Letteri
Last Words: Approaches to Death in New Zealand’s Cultures and Faiths ed Margot Schwass Bridget Williams Books, $29.99, ISBN 1877242349 The primary school my daughter attends has one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse populations in the New Zealand…
Tagged with: Abby Letteri, Bridget Williams Books, Issue 72, Margot Schwass, Summer 2005
Posted in Non-fiction, Review, Sociology
Posted in Non-fiction, Review, Sociology
The quality question, Chris Else
Posted in Comment