Articles in ‘Books’

A South Auckland author who mixes sci-fi with satire has released his fifth book, tackling the topics of the day including corporate culture, immigration, environmental concerns and the election of Donald Trump. · Keith Fenwick of Totara Park, Manurewa, said his books – following the exploits of a Northland farmer named Bruce who is abducted by aliens - are “a bit like The Hitchhiker’s Guide meets Guardians of The Galaxy.” In the latest book in…

This debut novel by local author Kirsty Powell is highly recommended. · The Strength of Eggshells is the story of Kate, a six-foot-tall rural girl with an uncertain heritage. It is firmly set in New Zealand, and the locations in the story (including Kingseat, Waikaretu and Clarks Beach) are instantly recognisable and vividly described. · Seeking answers to her past, Kate sets off on her motorbike to find out what happened to her grandmother…

Reviewed by Josie Laird. A mystery within a family saga which stretches across a century, involving an aristocratic family in England and the escape of various family members and retainers to New Zealand. · Pamela, Lady Scawton, discovers a body on her estate. Police find a half-complete letter addressed to her son, the new Lord Charles, and an unusual stone. Yet the dead man is unknown to either of them. Police identify him as a New…

Reviewed by Josie Laird. The flood stories of different indigenous people all over the world bear striking similarities. There was a flood, nearly 11,000 years ago. Only a few select people survived and then a group of ‘gods’, fair-skinned, tall and blonde or red-haired, appeared to help resurrect civilization. These myths occur in Egypt, Japan, the Andes and Easter Island, with no explanation of how they came to be so alike. · In The Missing…

Gretchen Albrecht CNZM is one of our most prominent painters. In a significant new book published by Massey University Press this month, art historian Luke Smythe surveys her career and assesses her work and practice, confirming her status as a pioneer of abstraction in this country. · Smythe, who teaches art history at Monash University in Melbourne, has had a long engagement with Gretchen Albrecht, putting him in a unique position to appraise…

May is shaping up to be all about Frances Hodgkins, with a major show at the Auckland Art Gallery and two new books. Finding Frances Hodgkins, published this month by Massey University Press, is by well-known curator Mary Kisler. The book is part of The Frances Hodgkins Project — a landmark endeavour focused on the major touring exhibition Frances Hodgkins: European Journeys, which opens on 4 May 2019. · Celebrated as one of the leading lights…

John Scott is a legend in New Zealand architecture circles. A regional modernist who mostly practised in Hawke’s Bay, his life’s works of houses, churches and community buildings have attained near mythical status since his early death in 1992. Despite being so well regarded and so ground-breaking, his practice has never been well documented. · This handsome new book is determined to address that gap. It is quite an enterprise in itself.…

Philip Simpson is an acclaimed botanist, who lives with his wine scientist wife Wendy Parr on a rugged limestone hillside overlooking Golden Bay. The couple’s home is at the end of a gravel road, close to where Philip was born at the north end of Abel Tasman National Park – the subject of his latest book Down the Bay. Philip’s parents had a nursery and farm, and he grew up propagating plants, taking cuttings and helping with the grafting. ·…

Annette Lees grew up in Whakatane and now lives with her family in the Waitakere River valley, close to Bethells Beach. A wild swimming enthusiast from childhood, she has just written a book that celebrates our national obsession with water – Swim: A year of swimming outdoors in New Zealand. Annette’s book chronicles her year-long odyssey to swim every day – without a wetsuit! – all over New Zealand. · With a university degree in ecology and…

Many of us dream of living in a tiny house. Small, compact buildings that offer an appealing way to live more sustainably, providing smart, energy-efficient housing at low cost – one solution to meeting the challenge of New Zealand’s housing shortage and the financial shackles of long-term debt. People from all walks of life are now choosing to downsize; either to reduce debt or free up capital for their retirement. Others are doing it for…