We conclude our week-long examination of the poet James K Baxter, and a new book of his letters, with an essay by the poet’s great-grandson Jack McDonald about his Nana, Baxter’s wife, the author and Māori leader Jacquie Sturm. “I was minding a four-year-old great-grandson, and we went down to the beach. We made a … Read more
All week this week the Spinoff Review of Books revisits the great poet James K Baxter. Today: John Newton reviews a new book of Baxter’s letters, in which he calmly reveals he raped his wife. For the rival heavyweights of New Zealand poetry, recent years have brought a boxed-set bonanza. James K Baxter’s Complete Prose (VUP, … Read more
All week this week the Spinoff Review of Books revisits the great poet James K Baxter, on the occasion of a new book of letters. Today: CK Stead remembers Baxter, in this extract taken from his memoir in progress, South-East of Everywhere. Early in 1966 the Otago University Students’ Association invited me to Dunedin. I was to be there for … Read more
All week this week we revisit the great poet James K Baxter on the occasion of a new book of his letters. Today: a selection of the letters written in 1969, dealing with his experiences at the Jerusalem commune in Whanganui, and a crash-pad in Grafton in Auckland. To Robin Dudding, Christchurch Dear Bob, After the middle … Read more
New poetry (untitled) by Wellington writer Gregory Kan. I thought that the things I loved were places I could always go back to but the spaces between things become places themselves and threaten to swallow me whole. I thought that knowing in just the right way would be enough to … Read more
The only published and available best-selling book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 best-seller list recorded every week at at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 Samoan Queer Lives by Dan Tualapapa McMullin and Yuki Kihara (Little Island Press, $35) Edited and written by fa`afafine, who share … Read more
All week this week we feature tangata whenua writings to mark Waitangi Day. Today: “Everything we know about urban Māori is probably wrong”, writes Morgan Godfery, in his review of a new study by Bradford Haami. The first urban Māori were probably eighteenth century Sydneysiders. Until 1912, a laneway near the Australian Heritage Hotel, a … Read more
All week this week we feature tangata whenua writings to mark Waitangi Day. Today: Vincent O’Malley reviews a new history of the battle of Gate Pā. Head up Cameron Road, one of Tauranga’s main arterial routes, a few kilometres out of the city centre and you drive over one of New Zealand’s most important historical sites. … Read more
All week this week we feature tangata whenua writing to mark Waitangi Day on Wednesday. Today: in this extract from a book of essays, Morgan Godfery wonders exactly what the point is of New Zealand bowing to a monarch “of a rain-soaked island off the north-western coast of the European mainland”. One of my earliest memories is, for … Read more
New poetry by Oscar Upperton. Cross dresser I am a pious woman. I watch as the men leave for war. I rake the garden over with my hands. War visits on the roof of the church. She sits like a great owl, hooting. I turn my face away. I pray, Lord I pray. … Read more
The only published and available best-selling book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 best-seller list recorded every week at at Unity Books’ stores in Willis St, Wellington and High St, Auckland. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Normal People by Sally Rooney (Faber, $33) Let’s all go round to Leah McFall’s house and force her to … Read more
AUT diet researcher George Henderson beholds the new weight-loss bible by 5:2 diet superstar Dr Michael Mosley – and declares it a triumph, with its “relaxed, considered, co-operative, mindful, repeatable, and hopefully enjoyable approach.” Disclaimer: This is a review of a book that supplies strong medical advice about diet. If you’re interested in it but … Read more
The full list, with mild critique, of the 2019 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards longlist. O’Sullivan is a tough sonofabitch and the favourite to take the crown but he’s up against big hitters. Kidman has experience, stealth, and the popular vote. Jones goes in hard and doesn’t let up. Makereti has to be taken seriously and you can never … Read more
Cat Connor of the Writers Plot Bookshop in Upper Hutt backgrounds the birth and development of New Zealand’s only bookstore devoted exclusively to Kiwi authors. One day three years ago I grumbled about the lack of support for Kiwi authors and voiced this discontent at my writing group. We talked about how we’d never see our … Read more
An essay in praise of Amazon by Kirsty Wright, a Southland erotic romance author who is ‘killing it’ thanks to sales generated by the online empire. Sarah Forster’s story in The Spinoff, headlined “In Which Amazon Goes to War with NZ Bookstores”, suggested Amazon is the enemy, taking money away from local brick and mortar … Read more
The only best-selling books chart published and available in New Zealand is the weekly top 10 chart recorded at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 The Fast 800 by Dr Michael Mosley (Simon & Schuster, $35) We look forward to AUT diet researcher George Henderson’s review next week at The Spinoff Review … Read more
New poetry by Wellington writer Carolyn DeCarlo. Winter Swimmers We are not swimming pools, our faces never submerged in water long enough to breathe, never dipped below the surface, eyes absorbing the chlorine and urea flushing milky pink. We do not share the sunblock, our fingers wet and greasy … Read more
Catherine Robertson’s latest novel What You Wish For has raced to the top of the best-seller charts – but what she really, really wants is to win a prize for being funny. There’s a writing prize I really want to win. When I say really, I mean reallyreallyreallyreally ad infinitum. It’s the Comedy Women in … Read more
Ashleigh Young talks about her feelings as she steps into her new role as poetry editor at The Spinoff Review of Books. Last week I read some poems from Gregory Kan’s poetry collection Under Glass (forthcoming in March with Auckland University Press). I tried to describe them to a friend, and said, “They’re amazing” in about … Read more
Young and emerging writers, rejoice! The dear old Spinoff Review of Books unveils a new writer-in-residence award – open only to those tender of age and prodigious of talent. Young and emerging writers in New Zealand get a pat on the head now and then, a little bit of praise, limited exposure, sod-all money, and not a … Read more
Welcome back to Papercuts, our monthly books podcast hosted by Louisa Kasza, Jenna Todd and Kiran Dass. It’s 2019 and we’ve been reading like mad over the summer break. In this episode we talk about reading resolutions, predict the Ockhams longlist, go through our summer reading piles, talk Marie Kondo’s approach to hoarding books, and … Read more
Wendyl Nissen, in an extract from her new book of household tips, advises natural ways to kill the worst thing about summer – flies. Flies drive me absolutely nuts and, unfortunately, with hens come flies. Up north the flies are especially bad in the heat of March and I must confess that after putting out … Read more
Steve Braunias reviews the latest cookbook by Nadia Lim, and declares it a plate of two halves – half-dumb, half-divine. Bizarre cookbook. A large portion of Fresh Start, Feel Good! by Nadia Lim and her Fresh Start team appears to be the work of a first-class moron. You can lead a horse to water, but you … Read more
George Henderson reviews a rock memoir by Wayne Kramer, leader of the MC5, a 60s band who advocated “Dope, rock and roll, and fucking in the street.” “We have developed organic high-energy guerrilla bands who are infiltrating the popular culture and destroying millions of minds in the process” – John Sinclair, White Panther Party Programme, … Read more
The Monday Extract: Dutch émigré artist Theo Schoon was an anti-Semite and a shithead in so many ways, but he was also a brilliant artist who recognised the beauty and power of Māori art at a time when few Pākehā gave it a second thought. His biographer Damian Skinner reckons with a ghastly genius. In the summer … Read more
Linda Burgess on the biggest-selling, most-loved book of summer: Becoming, the memoir by Michelle Obama. Celebrity memoirs are usually written by someone else. I’m fairly sure this isn’t the case with Becoming. There’s a lengthy list of people to thank in the book’s acknowledgements (“Many of my former staff helped confirm critical details and time … Read more
‘The world is divided into two principles: order and chaos. Order is male and chaos is female.’ Danyl Mclauchlan investigates the strange philosophy of number one best-selling author and thinker Jordan B Peterson, author of 12 Rules for Life. This article was originally published on February 8, 2018 Professor Jordan B Peterson is having a moment. I’d … Read more
Spinoff writer Madeleine Chapman co-wrote basketball star Steven Adams’ autobiography. She tells how she wrote the book alongside an athlete she’s known since they were both teenagers. Warning: contains a lot of food. This post was originally published 24 July 2018. I knew of Steven Adams before I met him. A common situation now but … Read more
Jesse Mulligan reviews the new cookbook by Jamie Oliver. His calm and measured verdict: It stinks. This post was originally published 1 November 2018. I made three dishes from this cookbook and they all stank. One of them was the pot-roasted cauliflower, a recipe pushed hard in the Jamie Cooks Italy publicity materials, and one … Read more