Blog Archives

NZ domestic, Lois Daish

At Home in New Zealand: Houses History People  ed Barbara Brookes Bridget Williams Books, $49.95, ISBN 1877242047 Dave the dishwasher, who had recently moved to Wellington from a small town, was drying cutlery behind the counter of a café I…
Tagged with: , , , ,
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review, Sociology

All shook up, Charlotte MacDonald

Magnitude Eight Plus: New Zealand’s Biggest Earthquake Rodney Grapes Victoria University Press, $29.95, ISBN 0864733400 Poor Baron Von Alzdorf, owner of Wellington’s largest brick building, a hotel, was the township’s only casualty in the earthquake which struck at 9.17 pm…
Tagged with: , , , ,
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review, Science

Turning the pages, Keith Maslen

A Book in the Hand: Essays on the History of the Book in New Zealand ed Penny Griffith, Peter Hughes and Alan Loney Auckland University Press, $39.95, ISBN 1869402316 These fifteen essays, based on papers given at the first New…
Tagged with: , , , , , ,
Posted in Essays, History, Literature, Non-fiction, Review

The two cultures, Ray Henwood

As a science undergraduate in the mid-1950s I was aware of C P Snow’s attempts to awaken people to the problem of the two cultures. Perhaps my growing interest and work in theatre had given me an edge over my…
Tagged with: , ,
Posted in Imprints

Extraordinary eyes, Vivienne Jepsen

Love in the Land of Midas Kapka Kassabova Penguin, $29.95, ISBN 0140298797 I have to say, at the outset, that I enjoyed reading Kapka Kassabova’s second novel. It’s a good story, told in such a way as to keep the…
Tagged with: , , , ,
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

The thinking person’s romance, Dennis McEldowney

The Beetle in the Box: a love story Chris Else Vintage, $24.95, ISBN 1869414527 Anyone who has sat on the selection panel for a writer’s fellowship knows that the worst thing applicants can do is include a bald précis of…
Tagged with: , , , ,
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

Flying with the godwit, Rupert Glover

Wings of the Nation: A History of the New Zealand National Airways Corporation, 1947-78 Peter Aimer The Bush Press, $49.95, ISBN 0908608861 Wings of the Nation is subtitled A History of the New Zealand National Airways Corporation, 1947-78, but it…
Tagged with: , , , ,
Posted in Biography, History, Non-fiction, Review

Electoral debrief, Ruth Laugesen

Left Turn: The New Zealand General Election of 1999 ed Jonathan Boston, Stephen Church, Stephen Levine, Elizabeth McLeay & Nigel S Roberts Victoria University Press, $39.95, ISBN 0864734042 Up the hill from Parliament, a clutch of Victoria University’s political scientists…
Tagged with: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review

The inside story, Stuart Murray

Where’s Waari? A History of the Maori through the Short Story ed Witi Ihimaera Reed Publishing, $29.95, ISBN 0790007355 “Here then are 28 stories,” writes Witi Ihimaera in his introduction to this anthology, “– 28 scenes if you like –…
Tagged with: , , , ,
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Māori, Review, Short stories

Live and let learn, Jim Collinge

Learning our Living: a teaching autobiography Charmaine Pountney Cape Catley, $29.95, ISBN 0908561865 For many people a teaching autobiography might not seem an exciting prospect. Charmaine Pountney, however, is no ordinary teacher. This book is an account of nearly 60…
Tagged with: , , , ,
Posted in Autobiography, Education, Non-fiction, Review
Search the archive
Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
Filter by Categories
Architecture
Art
Autobiography
Awards
Biography
Byline
Children
Comment
Contents
ebooks
Economics
Editorial
Education
Essays
Extract
Fiction
Gender
Graphic novel
Health
History
Imprints
Language
Lecture
Letters
Letters
Literature
Māori
Media
Memoir
Music
Natural History
Non-fiction
Obituaries
Opinion
Pacific
Photography
Plays
Poem
Poetry
Politics & Law
Psychology
Religion
Review
Science
Short stories
Sociology
Sport
War
YA Reviewers
Young adults
Recent issues: subscriber-only access

    Subscribe to NZ Books to access the issues above

    Search by category