Have you ever wondered what life in France is really like? Is it all garlic and fabulousness? Berets and croissants? What do they do with bidets? Do they really eat horses? In this quirky little book, Piu Marie Eatwell reveals the truth behinds 45 myths about France and its citizens. The author lived in France […]
■ REVIEW: The Eat Horses Don’t They?
French idioms … and bidets Read Post »
Eighteen essays by chiefly Australian and Kiwi scientists detail what is happening as our planet gets warmer and examine both political and ethical issues. It is certainly an eye-opening read as there are impacts on our food and water supplies as well as on the spread of infectious diseases. How is our health being affected
■ REVIEW: Living in a Warmer World
Climate debate heats up Read Post »
After penning books on everything from proverbs to music, Max Cryer has now turned his attention to man’s best friend. Cryer is a bloke who knows a lot of things about a lot of things, and in Every Dog Has Its Day he comes up with (more or less) 1000 interesting and often odd facts
■ REVIEW: Every Dog Has Its Day
Sniffing out dog facts Read Post »
Someone has to be the best, the fastest, biggest, brightest, smallest or some other -est word, and the good folk at Guinness have made it their mission to bring us every single one of them. Proclaiming itself to be “officially amazing” (with those very words emblazoned across the front cover), this book is packed full
■ REVIEW: Guinness World Records 2014
Another year of records still good value Read Post »
Advertising plays a big role in our memories of growing up and this book looks at how New Zealand’s advertising industry has grown up with us. Subtitled “tall tales from the legends of New Zealand advertising”, this is a look back at the history of advertising in New Zealand and the often larger-than-life characters who
■ REVIEW: Sell
Fascinating trip down memory lane of advertising Read Post »
For the James Bond fans out there, the news that William Boyd was planning to pen a followup Bond novel was probably pretty exciting and, for the most part, he has delivered something that stacks up quite favourably against Ian Fleming’s original books. This story takes place in 1969 and, while it spans three continents,
■ REVIEW: Solo
Plot a little out there at times – but it’s Bond Read Post »
Kiwi writer Bruce Ansley has followed up his tribute to the legendary Mesopotamia high country station with another collaborative celebration of New Zealand’s beauty. This time Ansley has teamed up with photographer Jane Ussher to the the story of our coastline. The photographs are – of course – beautiful: how could they not be when
■ REVIEW: Coast
It’s our place … and it’s beautiful Read Post »
(Reviewed with help from Seymour and Norman) Kiwis tend to fall into two categories when it comes to our furry, feathered and/or scaled friends: we are either pet-owners or poorly adjusted human beings who are incapable of forming real, meaningful relationships and doomed to a life of loneliness and social ineptitude. OK, perhaps that is
This massive tome will likely be the biggest book you’ll buy this year and if you are going to spend $75 on a book, what could be better than an anthology of all that New Zealand literature has to offer? And at first glance, this nearly 1200 page monster looks to be good value, with
Journalist Jane Tolerton helped set up the World War I Oral History Archive back in 1987, and using those interviews, she has compiled a fantastic book. It’s hard to imagine just what it was like to be a New Zealand soldier during World War I, but these stories, told in the soldiers’ own words, offer
■ REVIEW: An Awfully Big Adventure
Humour, heartbreak of war Read Post »
