Blog Archives
Lucky dip, Nelson Wattie
After Bathing at Baxter’s: Essays and Notebooks Gregory O’Brien Victoria University Press, $39.95, ISBN 0864734182 Structurally, as the subtitle suggests, this is a mixed bag, but on most pages most readers will find a sentence or two, a paragraph, an…
Tagged with: Gregory O’Brien, Issue 55, Nelson Wattie, Spring 2001, Victoria University Press
Posted in Essays, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Essays, Non-fiction, Review
Super-seded? Susan St John
Rewarding Service: A history of the Government Superannuation Fund Neil Atkinson University of Otago Press, $39.95, ISBN 1877276227 It is hard to disagree with the opening lines of this book: “In The past three decades superannuation has become one of…
Tagged with: Issue 55, Neil Atkinson, Otago University Press, Spring 2001, Susan St John
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review
Chord and discord Laurence Jenkins
A Life Set to Music, the Autobiography of Edwin Carr, New Zealand Composer Edwin Carr Blanchard Press, $42.95, ISBN 0473078511 With the recent death of Douglas Lilburn, this country was reminded that the vanguard of creative artists, those who first…
Tagged with: Blanchard Press, Edwin Carr, Issue 55, Laurence Jenkins, Spring 2001
Posted in Autobiography, Music, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Autobiography, Music, Non-fiction, Review
Less than kind, Elizabeth Webby
Kin of Place: Essays on 20 New Zealand Writers C K Stead Auckland University Press, $39.95, ISBN 1869402723 When invited to review this new collection of critical essays by C K Stead, I initially demurred on the grounds of my…
Tagged with: Auckland University Press, C K Stead, Elizabeth Webby, Issue 55, Spring 2001
Posted in Essays, Literature, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Essays, Literature, Non-fiction, Review
A fierce inwardness, Peter Wells
I got on the bus the other day, and there was only one seat left. I sat down beside a young woman. She had a book open on her lap, and she was leaning her head against a rain-teared window.…
Poem – Leonard Lambert
In the Garden Place, amoroso Coming in from every boxed and metal thing I stumbled on this courtly crowd – I was on my best behaviour, hope it showed. Down every aisle I nodded, noted every winning smile –…
Irony and automata, Bill Sewell
Husk Chris Price Auckland University Press, $21.95, ISBN 1869402669 I suppose it’s as true to say that you shouldn’t judge a book by its title as by its cover. Certainly, when it comes to some otherwise admirable collections of New…
Tagged with: Auckland University Press, Bill Sewell, Chris Price, Issue 55, Spring 2001
Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review
Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review
Rescue mission, Nicholas Reid
A Fair and Just Solution – a History of the Integration of Private Schools in New Zealand Rory Sweetman Dunmore Press, $34.95, ISBN 0864694148 Once upon a time there were, theoretically, two school systems in New Zealand. There were state…
Tagged with: Dunmore Press, Dunmore Publishing, Issue 55, Nicholas Reid, Rory Sweetman, Spring 2001
Posted in Education, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Education, Non-fiction, Review
Obituary — Harry Orsman
Harry Orsman (1928 – 2002) In his fine eulogy at Harry Orsman’s funeral, Stuart Johnston considered the meanings we might take from “character”. He unravelled the word so that it extended far beyond the way we usually use it, and…
Whizzbangs and big bangs, Fleur Beale
Follow the blue Brigid Lowry Allen & Unwin, $19.95, ISBN 186508400X Letters from the Coffin Trenches Ken Catran Random House, $16.95, ISBN 1869415094 The Sleeper Wakes David Hill Puffin, $15.95, ISBN 0141313242 The High Wind Blows David Hill Puffin, $15.95,…
Tagged with: Allen & Unwin, Brigid Lowry, David Hill, Fleur Beale, Issue 55, Ken Catran, Puffin, Random House, Spring 2001
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review, Young adults
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review, Young adults