Work in progress Recently I listened to the now former New Zealand cricket representative Danny Morrison saying some uncomplimentary and patronising things about the cast-off captain, Lee Germon. The reason? Danny’s just published his autobiography, written in conjunction with an adoring…
Memories of Muldoon Bob Jones Canterbury University Press, $39.95, ISBN 0 908812 69 8 Prime ministerial careers usually end in failure: it occurs to few to leave when they are on top. Sir Robert Muldoon’s time as Prime Minister was brought…
The Dictionary of New Zealand English: New Zealand words and their origins ed H W Orsman Oxford University Press, $150.00, ISBN 0 19 558347 7 It is nearly 20 years since I and a number of fellow conference-goers spent an…
Children’s books The long history of story has inevitably established the effectiveness of traditional patterns. Among the 1997 crop of picture books, though illustrators often choose modern styles, most texts are structured traditionally, giving circularity in a promised repeat performance or…
Palaces in the Sky: a year among Tibetans Ted Reynolds Godwit Publishing, $29.95, ISBN 1 86962 000 3 You’re a Brave Man: a Kiwi odyssey in the Himalayas Elizabeth Harding Random House, $27.95, ISBN 1 86941 302 4 Ted Reynolds’…
Return to Sender Wira Gardiner Reed, $24.95, ISBN 0 140 25676 8 Nga Pepa a Ranginui — The Walker Papers Ranginui Walker Penguin, $29.95, ISBN 0 7900 0460 7 All festivals are acts of collective myth-making, chances for a nation to…
Vows: Nuns and Priests Speak Out Denis Edwards Penguin, $24.95. ISBN 0 140 27159 7 This small book represents two trends apparent in recent publishing. One is the vogue for oral history — Vows consists of edited interview material, the voice…
Bible and Society: A Sesquicentennial History of the Bible Society in New Zealand Peter J Lineham Daphne Brasell Associates/Bible Society in New Zealand, $34.95, ISBN 0 908896 46 8 The production and distribution of the Bible is perhaps the quintessential…
Summer diversion
A quiz by Harry Ricketts and Hugh Roberts Summer’s here and we thought you might enjoy a diversion. We started out with an orthodox quiz (“who wrote…?”) but then we decided that the only thing more tedious than being asked…
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