Blog Archives

What we make of it, Penelope Todd

E-publisher Penelope Todd foresees a complementary future for print and digital. When an invention appears that radically threatens our comfortable habits and suppositions, our instinct is to clutch at the old and mistrust the new. We like our books: the…
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Posted in Comment, ebooks

A life of relative freedom, Penelope Todd

The Open World   Stephanie Johnson Vintage, $38.00, ISBN 9781869797836   The Open World was my introduction to Stephanie Johnson’s substantial body of work. This is a complex novel, not easy to consider as a whole, or to sum up in…
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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

Between fate and destiny, Isa Moynihan

  Island Penelope Todd Penguin Books, $30.00, ISBN 97801432023810   Islands are a potent source of allegorical story-telling. Think of Lord of the Flies, The Tempest, Robinson Crusoe and, more recently, the television series Lost. Penelope Todd’s Island is set…
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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

Where the boys are, Penelope Todd

Whale Pot Bay Des Hunt HarperCollins, $18.99, ISBN 978869507305 The River Runs David Hill Mallinson Rendel, $18.00,  ISBN 9781877423222 Violence 101 Denis Wright Penguin Books, $18.95, ISBN 9780143304036 These three books with male protagonists each cover, to varying extent, bullying,…
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Posted in Children, Literature, Review

Skewed unforgettable normalities, Catharina van Bohemen

At the End of Darwin Road – A Memoir  Fiona Kidman Vintage, $34.99, ISBN 9781869419448 Muck: A Memoir Craig Sherborne Victoria University Press, $30.00,  ISBN 9780864735683 Digging for Spain: A Writer’s Journey Penelope Todd Longacre Press, $29.99, ISBN 9781877361968 “The…
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Posted in Memoir, Non-fiction, Review

Strangers and journeys, Norman Bilbrough

Hideout Lorraine Orman Longacre Press, $18.99, ISBN 9781877361814 Teresa Moran Soldier Ken Catran Lothian Books, $19.99, ISBN  9780734409638 Zillah Penelope Todd Longacre Press, $18.99, ISBN 9781877361739 Losing it Sandy McKay Longacre Press, $18.99, ISBN 9781877361746 These four young adult novels…
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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review, Young adults

Salt and vinegar, Penelope Todd

Humming  Rachel McAlpine Hazard Press, $29.99, ISBN 1877270970   The Black Madonna  Tina Shaw Penguin, $28.00, ISBN 0143019880 Two books by New Zealand women: one is a full-immersion Kiwi experience, the other set in Germany and America, and bears no obvious…
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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

All aboard for Planet Teenage, Brigid Lowry

Deep Fried Bernard Beckett and Clare Knighton Longacre Press, $18.95, ISBN 1887361119    Box Penelope Todd Longacre Press, $16.95, ISBN 1877361127    Sil Jill Harris Longacre Press, $18.95, ISBN 1877361143 Elizabeth Knox recently entered the realms of young adult fiction with her…
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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review, Young adults

Full lives and f words, William Taylor

Malcolm and Juliet Bernard Beckett Longacre Press, $18.95, ISBN 1877135941 Out of Tune Joanna Orwin Longacre Press, $18.95, ISBN 1877135909 Coming Back  David Hill Mallinson Rendel, $16.95, ISBN 0908783868 Dark Penelope Todd Longacre Press, $18.95, ISBN 1877135968 On a Good…
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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review, Young adults

Torch under the duvet, Eirlys Hunter

Red Dog in Bandit Country – A true story Bill Redding (as told to Fleur Beale) Longacre Press, $16.95, ISBN 187713581X Watermark Penelope Todd Longacre Press, $16.95, ISBN 1877135836 Thunder Road Ted Dawe Longacre Press, $18.95, ISBN 1877135879 Two of…
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Posted in Literature, Review, Young adults
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