Fran is in her mid-forties and having a weekend away with her husband and two adult daughters at the wedding of a family friend. She is the first person narrator and, as such, we can see the flaws in her thinking that take her a lot longer to discover for herself. It is soon obvious […]
■ REVIEW: Someone Else's Wedding
Secrets and judgements at weekend wedding Read Post »
English born artist Graham Young has put together a collection of his kiwi lifestyle works which is just fine. Nice. Pleasant. Any of the adjectives you can use to sum up something so inoffensive that doesn’t quite cross into being considered negative. Young’s showcase of a somewhat redundant skill idealises the dream of the Kiwi
■ REVIEW: Lazy Days
Idealised reality a touch ‘homogenised’ Read Post »
I’m done some travelling over the years but it’s fair to say that Mongolia wasn’t high on the list of destinations. Not for any particular reason, it’s more that it’s hard to imagine there being too much to see and do outside the cities. It seems as though it’s a country of epic landscapes. In
■ REVIEW: On the Trail of Genghis Khan
Author follows path laid out by Khan 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 »
Comedian David Walliams continues to show just what a talent he is in the world of children’s literature with his latest offering, Awful Auntie. We hear so much about the young-adult fiction genre these days, on the back of the likes of Suzanne Collins (the Hunger Games trilogy) and Patrick Ness (the Chaos Walking trilogy),
■ REVIEW: Awful Auntie
The good, the bad, and the fun Read Post »
As a disclaimer, let me just say that I’m probably not the target audience for New Zealand novelist and magazine columnist Sarah-Kate Lynch’s books, and the one of her books I have read didn’t really float my boat. However, Lynch’s latest book has made me more of a fan. Against her better judgment, Annie Jordan
This book has enabled me to tick the box on my summer reading bingo card (courtesy Invercargill Public Library), “a book by an author new to you”. It could add, “but will definitely read again”. Tatiana has been so badly behaved as a teenager and young adult that her beloved father has more or less
■ REVIEW: The Inheritance
A romping good read Read Post »
While Cross My Heart, the previous book in the Alex Cross crime series, was a wee bit disappointing, this latest offering (Hope to Die) manages to pull things back on track a little. Lawyer-turned-detective Alex Cross is being stalked and things seem hopeless when his entire family is taken by a psychotic genius. It’s not
■ REVIEW: Hope to Die
Patterson gets Alex Cross back on track Read Post »
The subject of this biography is an important figure in the settlement of Canterbury. He was the province’s first superintendent, a politician, a watercolourist and founder of the Christchurch Press. He was ahead of his time with such forward thinking ideas as plans to help the famine sufferers in Ireland, ideas for successful colonization, and
You have probably looked at the covers of dozens of cookbooks and thought “I could never make that”. Looking at the cover of Bluebells Cakery, at a six-tier pastel-coloured cake, decorated with delicate ribbon-ruffle icing I thought the same thing Only, I had a crack at it . . . for my daughter’s first birthday
■ REVIEW: Bluebells Cakery
‘Bluebells’ takes the cake Read Post »
