Blog Archives
Trainland: How Railways Made New Zealand Neill Atkinson Random House, $39.99, ISBN 9781869419059 I’ve always loved trains. A job in Timaru once in the days of steam had me driving regularly to Oamaru. North of the Waitaki River the main…
Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy Lynley Dodd Mallinson Rendel, $30.00, ISBN 9781877423147 Beginner writers often think that writing a picture book must be easy. But a story – any story – needs drafts and more drafts before it is ready…
Being Maori-Chinese: Mixed Identities Manying Ip Auckland University Press, $45.00, ISBN 9781869403997 Many of the nearly 5,000 people who claim Maori-Chinese ancestry in Aotearoa New Zealand have a similar genealogy or whakapapa. During the 1920s and 1930s a Chinese man…
Gerry Evans (1937-2008) One-time seaman, wharfie and union leader, writer Gerry Evans of Wellington jokingly asked that his ashes be scattered in Karori Library. Born in Wales, he went to sea as a 16-year-old, and didn’t begin writing until 1994,…
Shadow of the Mountain Anna Mackenzie Longacre Press, $18.99, ISBN 9781877460005 Smashed Mandy Hager Random House, $18.99, ISBN 9781869419424 Gool Maurice Gee Puffin, $19.95, ISBN 9780143304005 Each of these kidult novels tells a compelling story in a tightly written yet…
Tagged with:
Anna Mackenzie,
Issue 83,
James Norcliffe,
Longacre Press,
Mandy Hager,
Maurice Gee,
Puffin,
Random House,
Spring 2008
Posted in
Fiction,
Literature,
Review,
Young adults
Book Self C K Stead Auckland University Press, $38.99, ISBN 9781869404123 It isn’t in the spirit of the age that a Goethe will still attract his Eckermann, or a Dr Johnson his Boswell. A companion free of all other commitments,…
Saltskin Louise Moulin Black Swan, $27.99, ISBN 9781869419608 Ribbons of Grace Maxine Alterio Penguin Books, $35.00, ISBN 9780143006442 Acts of Love Susan Pearce Victoria University Press, $29.99, ISBN 9780864735652 Three first (or at any rate, first published) novels, all by…
Tagged with:
Anne Else,
Black Swan,
Issue 83,
Louise Moulin,
Maxine Alterio,
Penguin Books,
Spring 2008,
Susan Pearce,
Victoria University Press
Posted in
Fiction,
Literature,
Review
Margot Schwass pays tribute to Ruth Dallas who died earlier this year. Silent bush, rain-soaked paddocks, solitary farmhouses hunkered down beneath black macrocarpas …. The landscapes so intensely reflected in the work of the late Ruth Dallas are very recognisably…
Caging Skies Christine Leunens Vintage, $27.99, ISBN 9781869419578 Remember Me Derek Hansen HarperCollins, $34.99, ISBN 9780732287160 Miss Me a Lot Of Louise Wareham Leonard Victoria University Press, $30.00, ISBN 9780864735553 In New Zealand Books Autumn 2008, Elizabeth Caffin writes that…
Tagged with:
Beryl Fletcher,
Christine Leunens,
Derek Hansen,
HarperCollins,
Issue 83,
Louise Wareham Leonard,
Spring 2008,
Victoria University Press,
Vintage
Posted in
Fiction,
Literature,
Review
The Big Picture: A History of New Zealand Art from 1642 Hamish Keith Godwit, $49.99, ISBN 9781869621322 I have thought for a long time that a series on the history of art in New Zealand would make for good television…
Championing the local, Margot Schwass
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