Blog Archives

Remembering, John Horrocks

Under the Dundas Street Bridge Peter Olds Steele Roberts, $20.00, ISBN 9781877577833 Chords and Other Poems Sam Hunt Craig Potton Publishing, $30.00, ISBN 9781877338181 Voicetracks: Poems 2002-2012 Jan Kemp Puriri Press/Tranzlit, $32.50, ISBN 9780908943388 Like Paul McCartney singing “Remember” at

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

Pressing on, David Eggleton

On Song: Stories behind New Zealand’s Pop Classics Simon Sweetman Penguin Books, $65.00, ISBN 9780143568162 Any anthology is a work of exclusion, constructed to emphasise or establish a particular narrative. In the case of anthologist Simon Sweetman’s On Song: Stories

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , ,
Posted in Music, Non-fiction, Review

Pity about the people

An excerpt from Too Many Cooks, a novel by Renée.  Belle Vista was beautifully located on top of a hill looking out over Wellington Harbour. There were three pine trees artfully placed around the hill so the view wasn”t too

See more ›

Tagged with: , ,
Posted in Extract

Not just a matter of mutton, Vincent O’Malley

New Zealand’s London: A Colony and its Metropolis Felicity Barnes Auckland University Press, $50.00, ISBN 9781869405854 Far From “Home”: The English in New Zealand  Lyndon Fraser and Angela McCarthy (eds) Otago University Press, $45.00, ISBN 9781877578328 On the day that

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , , , , ,
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review

Vanished world, Dale Williams

Buller’s Birds of New Zealand: The Complete Work of J G Keulemans Geoff Norman Te Papa Press, $150.00, ISBN 9781877385889 Kids in a sweet shop. Nineteenth-century naturalists given a brand new country to play in gobbled up the apparent endless

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , , ,
Posted in History, Natural History, Non-fiction, Review

No eureka moment, Mark Derby

The Making of New Zealanders Ron Palenski Auckland University Press, $45.00, ISBN 9781869407261 In these febrile times a passing mention of New Zealand in US media can provoke a front-page response from our own. So it’s instructive to discover that

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , ,
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review

Unicorn in the cabbage patch, Desmond Bovey

Aesop’s Kiwi Fables: Paintings  Ray Ching David Bateman, $50.00, ISBN 9781869538453 I spotted Ray Ching’s new book, Aesop’s Kiwi Fables, in our local post office-cum-bookstore. I stopped buying picture books some time ago; they have become so glossily tempting that

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , ,
Posted in Art, Non-fiction, Review

Eye-witness, Francis McWhannell

William Colenso: His Life and Journeys by A G Bagnall and G C Petersen Ian St George (ed) Otago University Press, $65.00, ISBN 9781877578151 When it was first published in 1948, A G Bagnall’s and G C Petersen’s William Colenso:

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Biography, History, Non-fiction, Review

Unbuttoning, Nadine France

Magnificent Moon Ashleigh Young Victoria University Press, $28.00, ISBN 9780864737632 This Hill, All It’s about is Lifting it to a Higher Level Vaughan Gunson Steele Roberts, $20.00, ISBN: 9781877577840 Three Days in a Wishing Well Kerrin P Sharpe Victoria University

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

Cloaks and generic proper nouns, David Hill

A Necklace of Souls R L Stedman HarperCollins, $25.00, ISBN 9781775540069 Ghosts of Parihaka David Hair HarperCollins, $25.00, ISBN 9781869509233 Cattra’s Legacy Anna MacKenzie Longacre, $20.00, ISBN 9781775533184 Phantom of Terawhiti Des Hunt HarperCollins, $20.00, ISBN 9781869509545 Whenever I’m taking

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review, Young adults
Search the archive
Search by category