Wild South, Hunting and Fishing the Southern Hemisphere, by Peter Ryan (Bateman, RRP $40) Written from the heart, this beautifully produced book is a must-have for hunting enthusiasts, both practising and armchair. He doesn’t exactly detail how he’s managed it, but Peter Ryan has done a fair amount of hunting and fly fishing in...
Screw You Dolores, by Sarah-Kate Lynch (Random House NZ, RRP $30): In the first book in her “Wicked Approach to” series, author Sarah-Kate Lynch tackles the tricky subject of happiness. Life can be a bit of a roller-coaster and while most of us dream of finding Mr or Mrs Right, winning the lottery, developing...
Dead People, by Ewart Hutton (Blue Door, RRP $35): I missed the first book in this new series by Ewart Hutton but will be tracking it down while I await the next in the series. Detective Sergeant Glyn Capaldi is half Welsh and half Italian. And, according to the back cover of the book,...
Crisis: One Central Bank Governor and the Global Financial Crisis, by Alan Bollard with Sarah Gaitanos (Auckland University Press, RRP $35): There’s no denying the global economy is in pretty bad shape and the forecasts for where it’s heading go from one extreme to the other. However, there are few people as well qualified...
A Treacherous Paradise, by Henning Mankell (Harvill Secker, RRP $38): Best known as author of the chilling Kurt Wallander crime novels, Henning Mankell has certainly opted for a change of pace with his latest novel. A Treacherous Paradise is a complex and powerful historical novel set in early 20th Century Sweden and Mozambique. Based...
After Liff, by John Lloyd and Jon Canter (Faber and Faber, RRP $29): Subtitled “the new dictionary of things there should be words for”, this little hard-covered gem picks up where The Meaning of Liff left off back in 1983. That original book was written by John Lloyd and the late Douglas Adams of...
I Am Pilgrim, by Terry Hayes (Bantam Press, RRP $38): Award-winning screenwriter Terry Hayes has made an undoubtedly successful move from writing for the viewer to writing for the reader. Hayes has an impressive track record: he trained as a journalist, then worked in newspapers and produced a radio programme in Australia before writing...
The Mighty Totara: The Life and Times of Norman Kirk, by David Grant (Random House NZ, RRP $45): Norman Kirk was the first politician I was truly aware of as a kid. I remember as a tender wee seven-year-old, seeing the mountain of a man on the news, the first famous person beyond Basil...
The Stig: The Untold Story, by Simon du Beaumarche (Ebury Press, RRP $38): Some say he naturally faces magnetic north and has two sets of knees. He is, of course, The Stig. Forget that frilly wannabe Austin Powers, the true international man of mystery is the elusive and enigmatic Top Gear test driver The...
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