Blog Archives

Crockery and bad language, Jock Phillips

Disputed Histories: Imagining New Zealand’s Pasts Tony Ballantyne and Brian Moloughney (ed) Otago University Press, $49.95, ISBN 1877276161 This immensely stimulating volume began life as a tribute to Erik Olssen on the occasion of his retirement from Otago University. The

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Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review

Poetic hair, C K Stead

C K Stead recalls encountering Rupert Brooke’s The Complete Poems. During WWII my sister Norma, two and a half years my senior, acquired a “pen-friend” in Rugby, England. I don’t recall the friend’s name, but we sent her family food

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Posted in Imprints

Lost writers revisited, Elizabeth Webby

Maoriland: New Zealand Literature 1872-1914   Jane Stafford and Mark Williams Victoria University Press, $39.95, ISBN 0864735227 In this excellent reassessment of an important phase of New Zealand’s literary and cultural history, Jane Stafford and Mark Williams challenge previous views

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Posted in History, Literature, Māori, Non-fiction, Review, Sociology

Heroics, Ken Catran

Best and Bravest: Kiwis Awarded the Victoria Cross Glyn Harper and Colin Richardson HarperCollins, $17.99, ISBN 1869505239 Soldier in the Yellow Socks: Charles Upham, Our Finest Fighting Soldier Janice Marriott HarperCollins, $19.99, ISBN 1869505697 War Zones Helen Beaglehole Steele Roberts,

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Posted in Children, Fiction, History, Literature, Non-fiction, Review, War

In the jaws of Moloch, Les Cleveland

On My Way to the Somme Andrew Macdonald HarperCollins, $35.00, ISBN 11869505549 Galatas 1941 Lynn McConnell Reed, $39.99, ISBN 0790010496 In the Face of the Enemy Glyn Harper and Colin Richardson HarperCollins, $35.99, ISBN 1869505220 The Big Show Alison Parr

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Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review, War

Disputed territory, W K Hastings

Sexuality Down Under: Social and Historical Perspectives Allison Kirkman and Pat Moloney (eds) Otago University Press, $39.95, ISBN 1877372102    Books of essays presenting breadth without sacrificing depth are rare, and their editors must be prepared for bracing confrontations with

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Posted in Essays, Gender, Non-fiction, Review, Sociology

Old novelists never die, John McCrystal

Guthrie Wilson: Soldier, Writer, Educator Julia Millen First Edition, $34.95, ISBN 1877391638 A stroll past the literature shelves of the “reference-only” section of a public library is a sobering experience for a writer, for there engraved on the spines of

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Posted in Biography, Non-fiction, Review

Casual labour, Paula Morris

Paula Morris spurns “fulltime-writer” status Next time you wander into a bookshop and start rowsing, turn directly to the author’s brief biography – possibly on the back cover, or a few pages into the book. If the novel in question

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Posted in Comment

Circulation wars, James Hollings

He Pitopito Korero no te Perehi Maori: Readings from the Maori-language Press  Jenifer Curnow, Ngapare Hopa and Jane McRae (eds) Auckland University Press, $39.99, ISBN 1869403592 Colonial Discourses: Niupepa Maori 1855-1863 Lachy Paterson Otago University Press, $39.95, ISBN 1877372269 Friends,

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Posted in History, Māori, Media, Non-fiction, Review
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