Louisa Kasza celebrates the arrival of a “terrifying talent” – Annaleese Jochems, the young author of a novel about an Auckland princess who falls in lust with a gorgeous woman fitness instructor. Baby, the debut novel from the rudely 23-year-old Annaleese Jochems, signals the arrival of a terrifying talent. It exists in the world of … Read more
The Spinoff Review of Books salutes the unbylined New Zealand Herald correspondent who filed this fantastically arse-licking report from the election campaign trail on November 7, 1935. During the present election campaign probably no man connected with politics has been busier than the Minister of Finance, Mr Coates, who, after a week of campaigning, is now in … Read more
Steve Braunias reports from the 2017 Going West festival – held for the first time, and forever, he hopes, in Henderson. There were writers of distinction all over the place at the 2017 Going West literary festival held in the weekend but the star of the show was Henderson. The annual event has been staged in Titirangi for … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores on land. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 Sleeps Standing: A Story of the Battle of Orakau by Witi Ihimaera and Hemi Kelly (Vintage, $35) Publisher’s blurbology: “During three days in 1864, 300 Maori men, women and children fought an Imperial army and captured the imagination of the world…Instead of following … Read more
Holly Walker reviews a moody, gothic novel set in the brooding countryside of the Wairarapa. There’s something about the Wairarapa. Big skies. Beautiful old villas. Close-knit communities, with a pointy edge of small town meanness. There’s also something about the dying days of 1999, that strange, tense moment before we ticked over into the 21st … Read more
‘The book is the catalyst, the key.’ An essay by Scarlett Cayford about the secret society of book clubs. When I moved to London, I joined a book club. It was an easy decision to make – I wanted to meet new people, I’m terrible at most team sports, and I have a lot of … Read more
What does adolescence look like in New Zealand? Bloody teenagers. Always having a good time despite the deep boringness of New Zealand life. A new book on the history of Kiwi adolescence shows teenagers having fun in boring towns where they attend boring schools and get boring jobs; over 230 snapshots, plus writings taken from … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in Auckland and Wellington. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy (Hamish Hamilton, $38) “Roy is good at titles”: pretty much the nicest thing our reviewer Marion McLeod had to say about this sprawling mess. 2 Strange Beautiful Excitement: Katherine Mansfield’s Wellington 1888-1903 … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookshops in the English-speaking world. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 Good Sons: A Novel of the Great War by Greg Hall (Mary Egan Publishing, $32) “Greg Hall says his first novel is the perfect tribute to family members with strong Oamaru links who fought during World War 1. Mr Hall, … Read more
New verse by Sophie van Waardenberg. unhatched egg/two girls at easter we are helping to cut down the trees they say. we know what the hills will look like when we have finished. they will have burn scars like we have on our wrists from clumsiness, from baking. the dog tastes a hundred empty … Read more
An essay by Finlay Macdonald on a typically brilliant and impossible to categorise work of biographical art by the late James McNeish. A journalist friend of mine once fell foul of the establishment so badly that he was forced to leave the country. It was an unhappy time, and he later suggested he’d like to … Read more
To conclude our week-long series on Greymouth writer Peter Hooper: two poems by his former student Jeffrey Paparoa Holman, from his new collection of verse, Blood Ties. Poem for John Pule: the last days of Peter Hooper Stoned on Waiheke on Pule’s grass that was a surprise: “Well, yes and no, Jeff, … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in the English-speaking world. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Hit & Run: the NZ SAS in Afghanistan & The Meaning of Honour by Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson (Potton Burton, $35) Hager, in an interview with Vice: “I feel confident that one way or another, they [the government] haven’t … Read more
All week this week we revisit the life and writing of Greymouth author Peter Hooper (1919-91). Today: an excerpt from Hooper’s 1990 book Shade of the Mugumo Tree, a tender account of his journey to Kenya to visit Julius Kitivi, whom he sponsored through the Save the Children Fund. The two became close friends during … Read more
All week this week we look at the life and writing of Greymouth writer and conservationist Peter Hooper (1919-91). Today: a memoir by Hooper’s longtime friend and editor Brian Turner, taken from his speech at the launch in the weekend of Pat White’s biography. Peter Hooper is a name that is seldom mentioned when NZ … Read more
All week this week we look at the life and writing of Peter Hooper (1919-91), a Greymouth author who won the national book award in 1986 for a profound, exciting novel set on the West Coast after an apocalypse. He’s now a largely forgotten name in New Zealand letters, but a new biography provides a vivid reminder … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in the English-speaking world. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 Hit and Run: The New Zealand SAS in Afghanistan and the Meaning of Honour by Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson (Potton & Burton, $35) “The New Zealand Defence Force appears to have destroyed the journalistic reputations of Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson”: Ian … Read more
George Saunders’ Lincoln in the Bardo is the year’s most talked-about novel, and there’s much excitement that the author will appear at the Auckland Writers Festival in May. Wyoming Paul reviews what may be a masterpiece. A year into the Civil War, a tormented President Lincoln visits his 11-year-old son’s crypt in the cemetery. He holds … Read more
An excerpt from The Special Patient, Auckland writer Aimee Inomata’s true story of how her partner was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity and sentenced to seven years in a mental health unit. What happens, she asks, if your psychosis is substance-induced, a temporary insanity, and you have to live out your … Read more
The weekly best-seller chart at the Unity Books stores in Auckland and Wellington. AUCKLAND STORE 1 This Building Likes Me: The Work of John Wardle Architects (Thames & Hudson, $150) by John Wardle Architects & Justine Clark Architects! Ugh. 2 Swing Time (Hamish Hamilton, $37) by Zadie Smith “It covers racism, sexism, inequality, class divides, … Read more
Buddy Mikaere reviews the historical recount of New Zealand’s wars and political climates in The Great War for New Zealand: Waikato 1800 – 2000 and the messages it has for the future. I went to a small country primary school in South Waikato and one year we re-enacted the Battle of Pukehinahina/Gate Pa on the … Read more
The weekly best-seller chart at Unity stores in Auckland and Wellington, for the week just ended: November 4 AUCKLAND STORE 1 City House, Country House (Godwit, 485) by John Walsh and Patrick Reynolds City houses, country houses. 2 Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow (Harvill Secker, $40) by Yuval Noah Secker “The old trope … Read more
New verse by Auckland writer Amanda Kennedy. When Lorelai broke the curtain rail I was sitting in the kitchen talking to my sister When Lorelai broke the curtain rail. She ran in to announce her crime, trailed off behind her mother to the scene awaiting sentencing, her husky little voice going sorry, sorry, … Read more
Marion McLeod reviews a new biography of the great novelist Beryl Bainbridge – which reveals that she wrote an unpublished manuscript inspired by the Parker-Hulme murder in Christchurch. This is the first full-length biography of Beryl Bainbridge, the brilliant Liverpudlian novelist, born a decade before the Beatles, died 2010. I’m leaving the birth date vague: … Read more
New verse by poet Michael Hall. Tip Top Bread The sound that a loaf of bread makes when it hits the supermarket floor – is the sound of a heart breaking. No one really hears it, though a few nearby in the aisle might see the person picking, to stoop it up. Then trying to … Read more
The weekly best-seller chart at Unity stores in Wellington and Auckland, for the week just ended: October 28 WELLINGTON STORE 1 Murdoch: The Political Cartoons of Sharon Murdoch (Potton & Burton, $40) by Sharon Murdoch The smash-hit cartoon book by the 2016 Canon Media Awards cartoonist of the year who was born in Invercargill, worked … Read more
Charlotte Grimshaw on the selfie novels of acclaimed English writer Rachel Cusk. Rachel Cusk’s previous novel, Outline, was a narrative experiment that followed her divorce memoir Aftermath. The author’s voice – her world view – was so strident and solipsistic in Aftermath that she was accused of being a “brittle little narcissist.” In Outline, Cusk … Read more
Is there any such thing as privacy in the age of social media and smart phones? Exciting new YA thriller novelist LJ Ritchie talks to author Nicky Hager about the realities – and unjustified fears – of state surveillance. LJ Ritchie: One question that often comes up in discussions on surveillance is, “If I’m not doing anything wrong, why … Read more
The weekly best-seller chart at Unity stores in Auckland and Wellington, for the week just ended: October 21 AUCKLAND STORE 1 Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow (Harvill Secker, $40) by Yuval Noah Harari “The epic, widely celebrated Sapiens gets the sequel it demanded – a breathless, compulsive inquiry into humanity’s apocalyptic, tech-driven future”: … Read more