This picturesque little country we live in could have been custom-made to fill postcards: from the soaring mountains to the flowing rivers to even the sheep, most of it looks pretty good through a camera lens. And while there are plenty of people out there who reckoned postcards were on their way out with the […]
In the world of motorsport, Bruce McLaren did it all: he was a driver, creator, designer, engineer, constructor and even a team owner. On top of all that, when he took top honours in the 1959 United States Grand Prix he became the youngest driver to ever win a Formula 1 race, at the tender
McLaren proved Kiwis can fly Read Post »
A stunning collection of photographs of Central Otago from artist Grahame Sydney provides a new perspective on the beautiful and varied landscape of the region. Over the last decade, since shifting to live in the heart Central Otago, Sydney has captured the unique beauty, austerity and seasonal extremes of the region known to the first
Artist’s book simply stunning Read Post »
This massive 624-page beast of a book looks a little daunting at first glance but don’t let the size of the thing put you off. New Zealand has a diverse range of very talented people who have produced some amazing poetry, both in the past and right now. This diverse talent is celebrated in 99
Size doesn’t matter … even in poetry Read Post »
All the emailing and texting going on these days must make it hard for the budding stamp collectors out there, which is really a shame. When I was a kid, bills arrived with stamps on the envelopes, as did birthday cards and Christmas cards, letters from pen pals. Now, bills have prepaid numbers and the
The stories behind our stamps Read Post »
This latest book by Glyn Harper is one that brings home the trauma, hardship, heartache and horror of living through, and with, a war. Glyn Harper is the Professor of War Studies at Massey University and has already written and edited a comprehensive collection of books on New Zealand’s military history. This time he has
Soldiers’ letters bring home horror Read Post »
If you’ve ever had to explain one of those special Kiwi terms to someone online, or to a visitor from overseas, this might be the perfect book for you. Tony Deverson is a man who knows words – he is the senior editor of the New Zealand Dictionary Centre at Victoria University and taught in
Kiwi lingo in one book Read Post »
It is an astonishing fact of modern media that a Facebook site set up by a guy opposing Double Down burgers one month could, the next, persuade 50,000 Kiwis to urge the banning, unread, of a soon-to-be-published book. That site has now been removed and the book is out, available at Whitcoulls and doubtless other
Chilling narrative of tragic family dysfunction Read Post »
Love him or hate him, Marc Ellis is the perfect choice to pen a guide to Kiwi blokes, being such a good Kiwi bloke himself. This book is 248 pages of silliness that takes the reader on a guided tour of the Kiwi bloke species, in all his many guises: from the Ginga to the
A fun guide to the Kiwi bloke Read Post »
This is the fourth book in the Detective Sam Shepherd murder mystery series and I’m pleased to report that they just get better and better. I have read two of the other three (Overkill, the very first book, is still on my “must-track-down-and-read” list) and each time the main character becomes more and more believable
A ripper of a series Read Post »
