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Obituary — Andrew Mason

Andrew Mason 1950-2009 Writer, editor and literary figure Andrew Mason died in Wellington on 11 January 2009. He was probably best known as literary editor of the New Zealand Listener, a position he held from 1981-1991, during the magazine’s heyday. He

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Posted in Obituaries

Laying down the law, Steven Price

The Modern Prosecution Process in New Zealand Philip C Stenning Victoria University Press, $50.00, ISBN 9780864735782 This might surprise you: this book is mostly not about trials. And rightly so. As Philip Stenning points out, our criminal justice system is

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Posted in Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review

With backpack and library card, Chris Maclean

Going Bush: New Zealanders and Nature in the 20th Century Kirstie Ross Auckland University Press, $39.99, ISBN 978186904246 If I have read about 50 pages and still not been drawn into an author’s world, then I usually put the book

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Posted in Natural History, Non-fiction, Review

Poem – Gregory O’Brien

On hearing, at the Oceanographic Museum, Monaco, the outcome of the New Zealand elections, November 2008   ‘The silvery Lookdowns (Selene vomer) disappear in the dazzling surface reflection as they slide through the water like blades … .’ Guide to the

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Posted in Poem

World-famous in New Zealand, Philip Temple

Heaphy Iain Sharp Auckland University Press, $64.99,  ISBN 9781869404215 The one-name title for this book confidently assumes this is someone we all know. After all, there can be only one Heaphy – Charles – because in the history of our

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Posted in Biography, Non-fiction, Review

The endurance of Sappho, Alan Loney

Alan Loney records his long-lasting admiration for the lute-playing poet. The persistence of the ancient Greek poet Sappho (c630-570 BC) in the literary imagination of the West is one of the most remarkable aspects of the poetic tradition. While many

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Posted in Imprints

The high ground, Simon Upton

Whose High Country? A History of the South Island High Country of New Zealand  Roberta McIntyre Penguin Books, $45.00,  ISBN 97801430084125 At the risk of irretrievably mixing one’s metaphors, it is dairy farmers who are today on the sheep’s back.

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Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review

Time out, Mark Houlahan

Chinese Opera Ian Wedde Victoria University Press, $30.00, ISBN 9780864735850 When a story by Ian Wedde called “Chinese Opera” was published in Sport 2, readers were informed that he expected to “finish Chinese Opera, his fourth novel, in 1989.” Nineteen

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

Troubled missionary, Paul Moon

God’s Messenger: J F Riemenschneider and Racial Conflict in 19th Century New Zealand Peter Oettli Huia, $55.00, ISBN 9781869693201 The lives of missionaries in 19th century New Zealand have tended to end up being documented in two forms. The first

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Posted in History, Non-fiction, Religion, Review

Sheering off, Michael Hulse

The Love School: Personal Essays Elizabeth Knox Victoria University Press, $33.00,  ISBN 9780864735928 Paremata, the childhood novella which followed her debut novel After Z-Hour, was my own first encounter with Elizabeth Knox’s writing. The copy she gave me is inscribed

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Posted in Essays, Literature, Non-fiction, Review
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