Light Readings Fiona Farrell Vintage, $24.95, ISBN 1869414578 It is perhaps a commonplace to note that at no point in history have we relied so heavily on the written word, or been such avid readers: of e-mail, junk mail, the…
Len Lye: A Biography Roger Horrocks Auckland University Press, $49.95, ISBN 1869402472 Len Lye himself ensures his biography is a ripper of a read. While biographer Roger Horrocks studiously clocks and chronicles the events and years of a long, ever-colourful…
Islands of Intimacy, Love Poems 1970-2000 Denys Trussell Addenda, $22.95, ISBN 0958218617 The Albatross is Dead: Sixty Sonnets Peter Dane Hudson Cresset, $22.95, ISBN 0959789456 Dark Out of Darkness Guyon Neutze Steele Roberts, $24.95, ISBN 1877228109 b.1943 G J Melling…
Whistle Blower: Abuse of Power in the Church: A New Zealand Story Louise Deans Tandem Press, $24.95, ISBN 1877178780 How dangerous men think and how to stay safe for life Brent Sanders Random House Australia, $24.95, ISBN 0091842093 Touchy Subject:…
Kaput! Stevan Eldred-Grigg 1stBooks Library, $50 approx, ISBN 1587215543 Before me I have a postcard of a 1952 poster published by the Office of Information of the German Democratic Republic. A Berlin working woman stands behind a pile of bricks, ruined…
Tom’s Letters. The Private World of Thomas King, Victorian Gentleman Margot Fry Victoria University Press, $39.95, ISBN 0864733917 One of many challenges facing the biographer of 19th Century New Zealanders can be the lack of intimate letters or diaries. The vagaries…
Intimate Stranger: reminiscences of Dan Davin ed Janet Wilson Steele Roberts, $29.95, ISBN 1877228249 Before I start on the book, I will allow myself a grumble about the cover. This shows in the foreground a highlighted profile of Dan, characteristically…
The Falling: A Memoir Alan Loney Auckland University Press, $29.95, ISBN 1869402502 The simplest way to begin unwrapping the gift of this book is to start with the title: The Falling: A Memoir. Notice the first word, the definite article:…
Independence and after, Colin James
“Nothing is more important to a country,” one-time Australian Treasurer and Prime Minister Paul Keating told the Knowledge Wave conference in August, “than the way it thinks about itself.” Right now, this country, barely a nation, thinks it is small, far-away…
Posted in Comment