Blog Archives

Shocks and conversations, Mark Williams

The Friday Poem: 100 New Zealand Poems  Steve Braunias (ed) David Bateman, $25.00, ISBN 9780473450281 Short Poems of New Zealand Jenny Bornholdt (ed) Victoria University Press, $35.00, ISBN 9781776562022 Two new poetry anthologies: one featuring beautifully composed small poems selected…
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Posted in Literature, Poetry

The unnerving detritus of what was, Jane Westaway

The Shops Steve Braunias and Peter Black (photographer) Luncheon Sausage Books, $40.00, ISBN 9780908689941 Once upon a time, I met people who owned a shop. I was young and impressionable and, on my first visit, was dazzled by a window…
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Posted in Essays, Non-fiction, Review

Chalk and cheese William Brandt

The Many Deaths of Mary Dobie: Murder, Politics and Revenge in Nineteenth-century New Zealand David Hastings Auckland University Press, $40.00, ISBN 9781869408374 The Scene of the Crime: Twelve Extraordinary True Stories of Crime and Punishment Steve Braunias HarperCollins, $37.00, ISBN…
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Posted in History, Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review, Sociology

No getting away from the man, Linda Burgess

Civilisation: Twenty Places on the Edge of the World  Steve Braunias Awa Press, $36.00, ISBN 9781877551352 Steve Braunias is one of our very best writers. How does he do it, wonders the reviewer, as within a sentence Braunias moves from…
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Posted in Essays, Non-fiction, Review

Strictly for the birds, Steve Braunias

Charles Fleming’s Cape Expedition Diary: Auckland Islands, 1942-43 Mary McEwen McEwen Associates, $40.00,  ISBN  0473113848 Strange to think that the welcome swallow – a common sight everywhere in the North Island, and absent only in Fiordland and parts of Southland…
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Posted in History, Natural History, Non-fiction, Review

Cock-a-doodle-do Jane Westaway

Roosters I Have Known Steve Braunias Awa Press, $30.00, ISBN 9780958275057 When my kids were small, we kept a bantam rooster called Mr Wingspan. The name was meant to be ironic, but what Mr Wingspan lacked in stature he more…
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Posted in Essays, Non-fiction, Review

On a wing and a prayer, Christine Johnston

How to Watch a Bird  Steve Braunias Awa Press, $24.99, ISBN 9780958262965 Steve Braunias is preaching to the converted in the case of this reviewer, who lives within cooee of native bush and shallow water. I can admire white-faced herons…
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Posted in Natural History, Non-fiction, Review

Herons, dogs, lorikeets, Kim Griggs

Fool’s Paradise Steve Braunias Random House, $24.95, ISBN 1869414837 Sit Joe Bennett Hazard Press, $19.95, ISBN 1877270105 From the Heart Helen Brown HarperCollins, $24.95, ISBN 1869503996 According to Phillip Lopate, editor of The Art of the Personal Essay, the personal…
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Posted in Essays, Non-fiction, Review
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