Blog Archives

Reinterpreting the old tales, Anne Else

Sasscat to Win Paula Boock, McIndoe Publishers, $16.95 Adoption in some form has long been a staple of story-telling for the young – especially where it concerns a goosegirl or a ploughboy who are brought up by peasants, but turn

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Young adults

Living on the edge, Brett Mason

He Tangi Aroha: A Cry for Love Apirana Taylor, Huia Publishers, $29.95 The Eye of the Everlasting Angel  Noel Virtue, Vintage, $19.95 1990. Lest we forget. 150 years. How could we forget? But it was a year no one seemed

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

Strength of character, Jenny Buist

Against the Tide Fleur Beale, HarperCollins (Tui), $12.95 A Time To Choose Jacqui Sutton Beets, HarperCollins (Tui), $14.95 At a time of high consciousness over whether the central characters of new teenage fiction are female or male it is encouraging to find

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Young adults

Charting life and death, Rebecca Simpson

Daisy and Lily Renée, Penguin, $24.95 The blurb on the back of Renée’s new novel, Daisy and Lily, announces that ‘Renée has created a world which is part biography, part elegy, part robust stand-up comedy, all leavened with lively good sense.’

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

Challenges, Marny Bradley

Nearly Seventeen: New Zealand Stories Tessa Duder (ed), Penguin, $19.95 These seventeen stories by New Zealand writers and one short play by Tessa Duder clearly focus on teenage girls. Each of the stories has girls as central to the story

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Posted in Literature, Review, Young adults

Feminist tissue, Kathryn Walls

Me and Marilyn Monroe Cathie Dunsford (ed), Daphne Brasell Associates Press, $32.95 Dr Cathie Dunsford, inspired by the female forms created by female sculptors, and convinced that women should be speaking out against the maltreatment of their bodies by the

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

Finale in the Alex quartet, Tim Mapplebeck

Songs for Alex Tessa Duder, Penguin, $9.95 The Rome Olympics are a perplexing memory for Alex, now returned to Auckland, to the routines and strictures of training for uncertain goals, and returned, too, to the confinement of life in the sixth

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Posted in Literature, Review, Young adults

The art of recording voices, David Clarke

Talking History: A Short Guide to Oral History Megan Hutching, Bridget Williams Books, $17.95 Talking History provides a valuable short reference book for those contemplating venturing into the fascinating art of oral history recording, and those who have already done

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Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review, Sociology

Remarkable riders, Anna Rogers

Roger Robinson and Anna Rogers review books that document ‘a little-discussed area of women’s endeavour’. Racing Women of New Zealand Mary Mountier, Daphne Brasell Associates Press, $34.95 As a reviewer for this book, I am what could be described as

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Posted in Gender, Non-fiction, Review, Sport

Shaping the Women’s Book Festival for a future, Rachel Lawson

For most of us the Listener Women’s Book Festival appears without question each September. Women crowd to events all over the country to put a face to their favourite authors, ask tricky questions about their lives and characters, and splash

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Posted in Opinion
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