Blog Archives

Flights of fancy, Diane Hebley

Sting Raymond Huber Walker Books, $16.99, ISBN 9781921150890 The Strange and Diverting Story of The Loblolly Boy: A Fantasy Novel Involving Enchantment, Mystery, one Garden Gnome and a Wombat’s Bottom James Norcliffe Longacre Press, $19.99, ISBN 9781877460258 Return for the…
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Posted in Children, Literature, Review

What sustains, Stella Ramage

Mrkusich: The Art of Transformation  Alan Wright and Edward Hanfling Auckland University Press, $99.99, ISBN 9781869404376 I had a sort of epiphany the first time I saw a painting by Piet Mondrian. Prior to this my Mondrian experience had been…
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Posted in Art, Non-fiction, Review

Anti-brain fade, Bernard Beckett

Anti-brain fade Self-confessed geek Bernard Beckett is seduced by the history of science Asked to write on a “book that means a lot to you”, I knew I’d write about non-fiction, and indeed a piece of science writing. I am…
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Posted in Imprints

Prizes and short shrifts, Murray Bramwell

Prizes: Selected Short Stories Janet Frame  Vintage, $34.99, ISBN 9781869791131 His Best Stories  Witi Ihimaera Raupo, $ 30.00, ISBN 9780143010906 Essential New Zealand Short Stories  Owen Marshall (ed) Vintage, $40.00, ISBN 97818697791285 There is something unexpectedly but suitably upbeat about…
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Posted in Literature, Review, Short stories

East and west, Kim Griggs

Under the Osakan Sun  Hamish Beaton Awa Press, $34.99, ISBN 9780958275026 A Long Slow Affair of the Heart  Bruce Ansley Longacre, $34.99, ISBN 9781877460210 If this review were a competition, there should have been no contest – a young first-time…
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Posted in Memoir, Non-fiction, Review

Huddle and glut, Michael Hulse

Further Convictions Pending: Poems 1998-2008 Vincent O’Sullivan Victoria University Press, $35.00,  ISBN 9780864736062 In “Being here”, the first of the 44 new poems in this generous book, Vincent O’Sullivan states explicitly for the first time an important position: It has…
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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

Civilisation safe, Hilary Stace

Parliament’s Library: 150 Years  John E Martin Steele Roberts, $59.99, ISBN 9781877448430 Freedom to Read: A Centennial History of Dunedin Public Library  Mary Ronnie Dunedin Public Libraries and the Dunedin Public Library Association $40.00, ISBN 9780473134624 In these uncertain times…
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Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review

A dollop of literary life, Sue McCauley

Beside the Dark Pool Fiona Kidman Vintage, $37.99, ISBN 9781869790592 Such a seductive title for a memoir, hinting at murky depths of angst, turmoil and scandal. The stuff we hope, in fact expect, to find in the autobiography of a…
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Posted in Memoir, Non-fiction, Review

Strength and integrity, Graeme McIndoe

Long Live the Modern: New Zealand’s New Architecture 1904-1984 Julia Gatley (ed) Auckland University Press, $64.99, ISBN 9781869404154 In this unashamedly celebratory volume, Julia Gatley has exercised a judicious eye in selecting and describing virtuoso architecture from all eras. Long…
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Posted in Architecture, Non-fiction, Review

Voicing, Harry Ricketts

The Rocky Shore Jenny Bornholdt Victoria University Press, $25.00,  ISBN 9780864735805 The Rocky Shore is Jenny Bornholdt’s ninth volume of poems, published over the last 20 years. Its six extended sequences, “Confessional”, “The Rocky Shore”, “Willow”, “Fitter Turner”, “A Long…
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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review
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