Blog Archives

Cracking up, David Cohen

Taming the Tiger: A Personal Encounter with Manic Depression Michael Morrissey Polygraphia, $39.00, ISBN 9781877332968   Sing No Sad Songs Sandra Arnold Canterbury University Press, $35.00, ISBN 9781927145067   Michael Morrissey’s account of his long encounter with mental affliction begins

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Posted in Autobiography, Memoir, Non-fiction, Review

Songs not lost, Nepia Mahuika

Nga Moteatea: An Introduction/He Kupu Arataki Jane McRae and Heni Jacob (trans) Auckland University Press, $34.99, ISBN 9781869404901   Jane McRae’s Nga Moteatea: An Introduction is a small book that seems longer because the comprehensive Maori translation by Heni Jacob

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Posted in History, Māori, Music, Non-fiction, Review

Problems with experts, Brian Easton

The New Zealand Tax System: New Zealand Taxes in Comparative Perspective  Rob Salmond Institute of Policy Studies, $30.00, ISBN 9781877347450   The New Zealand Economy: An Introduction  Ralph Lattimore and Shamubeel Eaqub Auckland University Press, $34.99, ISBN 9781869404895   To

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Posted in Non-fiction, Review

Tracing ancient footprints, Brent Southgate

Digging Up the Past: Archaeology for the Young and Curious David Veart Auckland University Press, $39.99, ISBN 9781869404659   When I was about seven years old, I started a museum. It stood in our garden shed, and consisted of bones,

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Posted in Non-fiction, Review, Science

The cult of celebrity, Linda Burgess

Mike McRoberts: Beyond the Front Line  Mike McRoberts HarperCollins, $39.99, ISBN 9781869509392   Scrim: The Man with a Mike  William Renwick Victoria University Press, $50.00, ISBN 9780864736956   “I like to think I have my father’s courage and humour, and

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Posted in Autobiography, Biography, Non-fiction, Review

When worlds collide, Jeffrey Paparoa Holman

Guns and Utu: A Short History of the Musket Wars Matthew Wright Penguin Books, $42.00, ISBN 9780143565659 From the time the first accounts of New Zealand’s native inhabitants began to reach Europe, Maori pugnacity and military prowess have featured high

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Posted in History, Māori, Non-fiction, Review, War

Literary litmus tests, Siobhan Harvey

Dark Jelly  Alice Tawhai Huia, $30.00, ISBN 9781869694760   The Desolation Angel Tim Wilson Victoria University Press, $35.00, ISBN 9780864736482   Bird North and Other Stories Breton Dukes Victoria University Press, $35.00, ISBN 9780864736901   More than any other literary

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Posted in Literature, Review, Short stories

Grappling with the world, Jill Holt

Dirt Bomb Fleur Beale Random House, $19.95, ISBN 9781869795467   The Bridge Jane Higgins The Text Publishing Company, $26.00, ISBN 9781921758331   Calling the Gods  Jack Lasenby HarperCollins, $24.99, ISBN 9781869509484   These three novels shortlisted for the senior fiction

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Posted in Literature, Review, Young adults

Boy germs, Eirlys Hunter

The Flytrap Snaps Johanna Knox and Sabrina Malcolm (illus) Hinterland Press, $22.00, ISBN 9780473179960   Just Jack Adele Broadbent HarperCollins, $19.99, ISBN 9781869508869   Super Finn Leonie Agnew Scholastic, $19.50, ISBN 9781869439996   The Puffin Books of my childhood carried

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Posted in Children, Literature, Review, Young adults

A corroded utopia, Don Aimer

Unions in Common Cause: The New Zealand Federation of Labour 1937-88 Peter Franks and Melanie Nolan (eds) Steele Roberts, $39.99, ISBN 9781877577338   Reconstructing New Zealand’s Labour Law: Consensus or Divergence Gordon Anderson Victoria University Press, $50.00, ISBN 9780864736574  

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Posted in Politics & Law, Review
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