Recent titles from Victoria University Press include…

20 Years of Garrick Tremain
Garrick Tremain
Humour
ISBN 978 1 86966 229 5
New Holland
$29.99

In this ‘best of’ collection from one of New Zealand’s leading political cartoonists, Garrick Tremain offers an hilarious perspective on some of the most notable – and most ridiculous – moments in New Zealand politics and popular culture from the last two decades. From the wine box enquiry to Tana Umaga’s infamous handbag incident, and featuring a cast of memorable characters from Muldoon to Bush, Tremain’s talent at finding the funny in everyday life is up there with the very best. A tireless wry wit has seen his career flourish with multiple newspapers publishing one of his cartoons seven days a week for many years, firmly securing his position as New Zealand’s most widely published political cartoonist. Now in semi-retirement, Tremain has whittled down his commitments to one cartoon a week which appears in the Sunday edition of the Otago Daily Times.

***

Acid Song
Bernard Beckett
Fiction
ISBN 978 1 877460 11 1
Longacre Press
RRP $29.99

It’s election day in contemporary New Zealand. From a staffroom argument about a playground fight, to a young father’s confrontation with a teenage burglar, to a woman film director’s footage of a campus protest, to a skinhead riot in Christchurch, to an hour’s dancing at an inner city club: in every context, issues of race, politics and ethics push up viciously against each other.
    At the core of this simmering twenty-four hours is a piece of scientific research from a well respected academic which appears to link IQ to race. Should he have gone public with it? How should he have framed his announcement? What is a scientist’s duty to society? Will the knowledge bring any social good? Are the calls of racist a knee-jerk reaction?
    This is a tightly constructed, clever, darting novel that cuts to and fro between a varied but clearly delineated cast of characters who are linked by chance, career, circumstances. It confronts one of the most controversial contemporary debates in our society head on, and asks some direct, uncomfortable questions.

***

A Continent on the Move: New Zealand Geoscience into the 21st Century
Ian Graham (Chief Editor)
GeoScience
ISBN 978 1 877480 00 3
Craig Potton Publishing
RRP $49.99

From the early European explorer-geologists to today’s university-trained geoscientists, researchers have been attracted to New Zealand as one of the world’s best ‘natural laboratories’ to study active Earth processes. Genera¬tions of geoscientists have developed an increasing understanding of what makes New Zealand geologically unique and why. Highlights of this research, including many discoveries of global significance, are presented in this book in over eighty snap-shot articles that are integrated into themed chapters with overviews.
    A Continent on the Move explains what makes New Zealand tick geologically, and illustrates the ways that geoscience research can make this country a better place in which to live. It is written in a scientifically literate but accessible style with numerous illustrations and quality design making it attractive to a wide range of readers.

***

A Field Guide to Auckland
Ewen Cameron, Bruce Hayward & Graeme Murdoch
Exploration & Adventure
RHNZ Godwit
RRP $45

The Auckland region has a wealth of features of natural and historic interest. From volcanic cones to fossilised forests, from marine reserves to bird sanctuaries, from pa sites to historic buildings, there are dozens of sites within easy distance of the city that tell the story of the region’s natural and historic heritage. A Field Guide to Auckland is a handy and informative guide to over 140 easily accessible places to visit, from Wellsford and Mangawhai in the north to the Waikato River and Miranda in the south, as well as the islands of the Hauraki Gulf. Overviews of rocks and landforms, plants and animals, and history are followed by site-by-site descriptions, grouped geographically: North, North Shore, West, Central, South and Islands. Each site has information on how to get there, facilities, and a detailed interpretation of features of interest. Illustrated with over 250 colour photographs, informative maps and diagrams, this innovative book will encourage Aucklanders and visitors to explore the numerous attractions the region has to offer.

***

Albatross: their world, their ways
Tui De Roy, Mark Jones & Julian Fitter
Nature
ISBN 978 1 86953 624 4
David Bateman Ltd
RRP $69.99

This book is a celebration of these amazing creatures and a call to ensure their future survival. It features photographs by award-winning wildlife photographer Tui De Roy, the latest writing and research by leading international experts and a factual natural history section with detailed information on each albatross species.

***

Amber
Deborah Challinor
General Fiction
ISBN 978 1 86950 732 9
Harper Collins
RRP $24.99

New to paperback, bestselling historical novelist Deborah Challinor brings us the stunning sequel to Kitty.
    The richness of details in Amber is enhanced by Deborah’s meticulous research. Deborah used contemporary newspaper reports and published diaries and letters of people involved in the Northern War, various sources describing the weapons and uniforms of Imperial soldiers at the time, and traditional weapons and haka of Maori.

***

As If Running on Air: the Diaries and Journals of Jack Lovelock
edited by David Colquhoun
foreword by Peter Snell
Non-fiction
ISBN 978 1 877333 76 7
Craig Potton Publishing
RRP $49.99

Previously unpublished diaries and journals illustrated from Lovelock’s albums.
In the 1930s the New Zealander Jack Lovelock was one of the world’s best-known athletes. In 1933 he broke the world record for the mile. At the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games he won a gold medal and broke the world record for the 1500 metres. When he retired, a leading sports writer lamented the end of a golden age of mile racing.
Throughout his running career Lovelock kept journals and diaries. Other athletes have collected photo¬graphs, clippings and memorabilia, and many have kept training diaries, but few, if any, have had the inclination to write about their sport quite as he did.
While much has been written about Lovelock, until now his journals and diaries have never been published. As If Running on Air reproduces his journals from late 1931 to the end of 1935 and extracts from his 1936 training diary. An entry appears for every race. Some are brief, little more than notes; others are eloquent and reflective. Collectively they constitute a unique record of a sporting life in the 1930s and offer insights into just what it took to make a world champion.

***

AUP New Poets 3
Janis Freegard, Katherine Liddy, Reihana Robinson
Poetry
ISBN 978 1 86940 416 1
Auckland University Press
RRP $24.99

This third volume of AUP's new occasional series, AUP New Poets, will appeal to many readers. Each poet is distinctive.

Janis Freegard wrote her first poems during a childhood that traversed England, South Africa and Australia, eventually fetching up in Whangarei. Her poetry often veers towards the surreal. Her Alice Spider character first appeared while Janis was studying botany in Auckland and has haunted her ever since. Janis also writes fiction, once winning the BNZ Katherine Mansfield Award. She shares her Wellington home with an historian and a small colony of weta.

Katherine Liddy lives in Vancouver selling fibre-optic cable. In this collection of poems, ‘Artefacts Exhibiting Love’, she braves the space between grand mental interiors and relatively flat physical exteriors. Her influences include fellow New Zealand poets Kay McKenzie Cooke and Richard Reeve.

Reihana MacDonald Robinson writes, ‘A poem is an egg, no two ways about it. If found in time, a blow reveals rich delight waiting to be cooked; if found too late a rotten aroma may tug a poem by the nose.’ Either way, the sense, the romance and the ambiguity of words are vital to Robinson’s Pacific island exposés. These poems dance between brutality and beauty, speak the lingo of contemporary loss and love.

***

Beak of the Moon
Philip Temple
Fiction
ISBN 9781869506773
Harper Collins New Zealand
RRP $29.99

First published in 1981, this anthropomorphic saga of the mountain kea was the bestselling novel of the year and an instant classic that remains unique in New Zealand literature. It is a cautionary allegory, comparable in many ways to internationally renowned works such as Watership Down but with a distinctly local setting beautifully wrought with the author’s profound knowledge of the New Zealand mountain environment.
Philip Temple drew heavily on personal observations of kea while climbing in the Southern Alps when he first wrote Beak of the Moon. When he undertook revision of the book, Temple says he bore in mind research that had been undertaken since its first publication and took into account new knowledge of kea nesting and mating behaviour. But most of the novel has stood the test of time.

***

Blood Line
Michael Green
Fiction
ISBN 978 1 86941 980 6
RHNZ Arrow
RRP $34.99

When a pandemic strikes, members of the Chatfield family possess a crucial advantage. Guessing that their relatives on the other side of the world might also have escaped the devastating virus, and knowing that for their ultimate survival they must increase their gene pool, two members of the family's New Zealand branch embark on a perilous journey in a small yacht. The community they find on the other side of the world is a very different one, based on the rule of fear. Not only does it look impossible to take anyone back to New Zealand, but it may also be impossible for them to escape themselves.
A compelling, suspense-filled read with surprise twist after surprise twist.

***

Can We Help It If We’re Fabulous?
Peta Mathias
ISBN 13 9780143008040
Penguin
RRP $35.00

Television presenter, author and bon vivant, Peta Mathias’s life has been anything but dull. Recounting her own life lessons, Can We Help It If We’re Fabulous? has ten top topics: Fashion, Food, Relationships, Music, Travel, Beauty, Work, Sex, Happiness and of course, Men – that will encourage and inspire readers to reinvent, spice-up, embrace and celebrate the lives they have.
    Peta also delves into the lives of psychologists, plastic surgeons, sex therapists, hairdressers, doctors and singers — and discovers what a woman needs to make her happy, independent and successful.

***

Doubtless: New and Selected Poems
Sam Hunt
Poetry
ISBN 978 1 877333 81 1
Craig Potton Publishing
RRP $29.99

Old favourites and new poems from New Zealand’s best-loved performance poet
Sam Hunt is New Zealand’s best-known poet. For almost 40 years he has been writing, reading and performing poetry, touring New Zealand constantly and reading his poems in pubs, theatres, schools and many other venues. No other poet in New Zealand has managed to make a living by performing their poems, and it says much about the affection with which Sam is regarded in New Zealand that he has continued to do this for so long.
It is well over ten years since a new collection of Sam’s poems has appeared and over 15 years since a volume of selected poems was published, so the publication of Doubtless is very timely. It includes new work as well a comprehensive selection of his best poems from the last 40 years, all of which are currently unavailable in print.

***

Etiquette for a Dinner Party
Sue Orr
Short Stories / Fiction
ISBN 978 1 86979 007 3
Random House
Price: $29.99

This stunning debut collection observes a subtle unravelling of social etiquettes. Often hopeful, always moving, these darkly quirky stories demand the reader's attention beyond the final page. Etiquette for a Dinner Party showcases the breadth of this new writer's talent – from the oh-so-recognisable and desperate efforts of a homesick tourist to enjoy the 'perfect' holiday, to the descent into madness of a lonely high-country farmer. Varied and accomplished, this book is entertaining, stimulating and original.

***

Every Day's a Good Day
William Pike
Non-fiction
ISBN 13: 9780143304197
Penguin
RRP $25.00

William Pike, a 22-year-old school teacher from Auckland, came to the attention of the nation on 25 September 2007 when, while tramping on Mt Ruapehu, he was critically injured during a volcanic eruption.
    William was trapped inside the hut, surrounded by mud and rocks and in freezing temperatures, while his friend went for help. When the rescue team arrived he was suffering from such severe hypothermia he was not expected to survive. Defying the odds, William then spent two months in Waikato Hospital, at first fighting for his life as his kidneys and liver shut down, and then in slow, steady recovery. But, despite having had his lower right leg amputated, just barely keeping his left leg and facing yet more reconstruction surgery, William is philosophical about his life-altering injuries. He is determined to return to Mt Ruapehu within the next year to complete the six-day tramp that was cut short by the eruption.

***

Explorers Whalers & Tattooed Sailors
Gordon Ell and Sarah Ell
Non-fiction
Random House
RRP $34.99

This collection of first-hand accounts, drawn from early writings and out-of-print books, allows the first Europeans to visit this country to tell their own stories of exploration, risk and adventure. Abel Tasman and Joseph Banks write of their first encounters with this new land, followed by missionaries, traders, whalers and sealers, Regency bucks, gentlemen scientists and entrepreneurs keen to explore its possibilities. Told in their own words, these stories bring to life a young country yet to come under British rule.

***

God's Messenger: J.F. Riemenschneider and Racial Conflict in
19th Century New Zealand
Dr Peter Oettli
History
ISBN 978 1 86969 320 6
Huia Publishers
RRP $55

A new biography of the North German missionary Rev. J. F. Riemenschneider (1817 – 1866) who settled in the Taranaki region in the first half of the nineteenth century, based on a thorough reading of all original documents by and about him. The book places him into the historical and social context, which not only illuminates his life and work, but throws new light on aspects of nineteenth century New Zealand history.
    The book outlines Riemenschneider’s upbringing in North Germany, his arrival in New Zealand and setting up of a missionary station in Taranaki, rifts between the missionary and his people, his exile from Taranaki and setting up in Otago

***

Grandpa Gave Us Chocolate at Bedtime
Penny Attiwill, illustrations by Sean Roche
Gift/Humour
ISBN 978 1 86966 216 5
New Holland Publishers
RRP $19.99

They say that the great thing about grandparenting is being able to hand the grandkids back afterwards. But if you’ve been looking forward to a bit of freedom in your autumn years, forget about it! Parents these days think nothing of dumping the brats on you for a week while they swan off on holiday, leaving you to deal with the complications of modern pushchairs, ultra-high-decibel screams, feeding picky appetites, endless cleaning and mending, child-proofing your home…

***

Growing Organic – Green tips for the New Zealand gardener
Phillippa Jamieson & Nick Hamilton
Gardening
ISBN 978 1 86966 224 0
New Holland Publishers
RRP $29.99

The popularity of organic gardening continues to rise as people increasingly want to control the quality and freshness of the food that they eat. And organic gardening isn’t just about creating delicious healthy food for the table; it’s also about nurturing nature. Specially tailored to New Zealand’s growing conditions, Growing Organic is a handbook of eco-friendly and health-aware gardening techniques for sowing and growing fruit, vegetables and herbs, and much more. From selecting tools to propagation, crop rotation, watering, weed and pest control, all the essentials are here. Learn how to make handy apparatus for the toolshed, and how to attract wildlife to your garden.

***

Hard Cases
Brian Bruce
True Crime
ISBN 978 1 86941 977 6
Random House
Price: $36.99

Did David Tamihere murder the Swedish tourists on his own? Who killed Kirsty Bentley? Why has the man who murdered Kayo Matsuzawa not been arrested? Is John Barlow innocent? And are mass murderers like David Gray natural-born killers? Or do we create them?
    Award-winning author and documentary maker Bryan Bruce combines his skills as an investigative journalist with his training as a social scientist and logician to re-examine some of the most debated and perplexing cases of our time. His clear-eyed investigations take the reader beyond the fascination with stories of true crime and spares no one in his pursuit of the truth. Did the police get the right man? Did they bungle some investigations, or – worse – did they make decisions that undermined the integrity of our policing and our justice system? The cases Bruce explores in this gripping collection reveals deep and disturbing flaws that lead him to a conclusion that challenges us all: Are we willing to learn from the hard cases in this book and make changes to our criminal justice system? Or are we happy to live with a status quo that sometimes lets evil prevail?

***

Images of Dignity: Barry Barclay and Fourth Cinema
Dr Stuart Murray
Non Fiction / Film
ISBN 978 1 86969 328 2
Huia Publishers
RRP $50

Images of Dignity is the first major study of the films of Barry Barclay, one of the most important film makers in New Zealand cinema history, and a major indigenous film maker world-wide. It analyses all Barclay's film and television work, including the groundbreaking Tangata Whenua television series and the feature films The Neglected Miracle, Ngati, Te Rua, The Feathers of Peace and The Kaipara Affair, establishing him as a figure who has made a radical contribution to New Zealand's understanding of both Maori community and the bicultural present. The book also draws parallels between Barclay's work and that of other indigenous filmmakers and activists working in the last 20 years. Barclay is a formally innovative film maker, especially in his blending of documentary and feature elements, and the study displays the ways in which such innovation works with ideas of narrative and of the image to comment upon New Zealand's history of cultural relations and its social present.

***

Into the Wider World: A Back Country Miscellany
Brian Turner
Non Fiction / General

ISBN 978 1 86962 142 1
RRP $44.99

Brian Turner is one of this country's best known and best-loved poets and also one of its most determined conservationists. In this beautifully illustrated anthology he brings together both old and new essays, columns, articles and poetry that concentrate on the wild places and outdoor pursuits he loves and of which he is such an unabashed, articulate and passionate champion.

***

Last Stand In Singapore
Graham Clayton
Military / War
ISBN 978 1 86979 033 2
Random House
RRP $36.99

This gripping history has been written using the diaries, letters, photographs and personal reminiscences of members of 488 Squadron, who were based just outside Singapore City and valiantly kept planes in the air against Japanese attacks until just before the city was overwhelmed.
    The story of their day-to-day life at a time of crisis, their hard work and their valour is eye-opening. The remaining ground crew were granted passage on one of the last ships to leave the island, when the Japanese were just 1 kilometre from the city centre. The ship had accommodation for 23 passengers, yet there were approximately 3000 people crammed on board. The overcrowding was the least of their worries…

***

Made in New Zealand
Nicola McLoy
Humour
ISBN 978 1 86979 018 9
Random House
RRP $19.99

Were Ches and Dale real people? Is a Swanndri named after a waterproof water bird? Why not Lemon & Thames? Does Speights really stand for Superb P*** Enjoyed In Great Hotels Throughout Southland? And what's so odd about Oddfellows? In the same way that Kiwis don't think about the origins of our placenames, the names of many of the products we buy and the shops we buy them from are a mystery to us.
    This appealing, whimisical book is a light social history in the style of Whykickamoocow. Instead of placenames it delves into the stories behind some of New Zealand's iconic products, stores and brands.

***

Martin Bosley Cooks
Martin Bosley
Cookery/Wine
ISBN 978 1 86979 035 6
Random House
RRP $45.00

When the redoubtable Lois Daish retired last year as the Listener's food writer, many thought the pages would never be the same again. Her successor, celebrated Wellington chef Martin Bosley, has given them a new lease of life. Bosley is the owner-chef of the Port Nicholson Yacht Club restaurant on Wellington's toney Oriental Bay waterfront. Wellingtonians have known how fabulous it is for years and its profile went national last year when it won the coveted Cuisine magazine Restaurant of the Year Award. Fine dining his restaurant might be, but Bosley's Listener cooking columns are far from stiff and starchy. He loves using seasonal produce and his columns are chatty, informative, witty and endearing. He's a campaigner against battery-farmed hens and a champion of what he calls our "food revolution". His recipes are straightforward, packed with flavour, and very approachable.
    This book brings together recipes from his columns as well as 20 new ones - 90 in all - in a sparklingly packaged book that will become a mainstay on recipe book shelves throughout the land.

***

Mummy Doesn’t Do It Like That
Penny Attiwill, illustrations by Sean Roche
Gift/Humour
ISBN 978 1 86966 215 8
New Holland Publishers
RRP $19.99

Fatherhood, eh? It begins with a bang, but it’s not long before that twinkle in your eye has turned into bags under your eyes and you’re whimpering for a good night’s sleep. This wonderfully subversive book finds the humour in all of the little things that fill a new dad’s days: from coping with your pregnant wife’s wild hormonal mood swings to trying to look knowledgeable about contractions, dilation, and building that flat-pack playpen. Using pithy text and charming 1950s-style illustrations, Mummy Doesn’t Do it Like That takes a wry look at the mystery of fatherhood and will leave you chuckling.

***

My Father’s Shadow: A Portrait of Justice Peter Mahon
Sam Mahon
NZ Non-fiction, Biography
ISBN 978 1 877460 17 3
Longacre Press
RRP $39.99

Described often as ‘a man for all seasons’, Justice Peter Mahon, is perhaps best remembered for his part in the Erebus inquiry: a commission of inquiry into the worst air disaster in New Zealand – the crash of Air New Zealand’s DC10 aircraft on the slopes of Mount Erebus in Antarctica with the loss of 257 lives.
    Sam Mahon’s portrait of his father is a wonderful account of this remarkable New Zealander, ‘a stalwart advocate for the protection of individual liberties.’ The author was 25 years old when his father died: many believe Mahon’s death was accelerated by a ruthless government and desperate airline officials. Others point to the ever present cigarette. But which ever, Peter was a father Sam hardly knew: My father communicated best from a distance, in an exchange of letters, and even then we had to work to find him between the lines.

***

New Zealand Rugby Lists
John McCrystal & Steve Barnett
Sport, Games/Leisure
ISBN 978 1 86979 004 2
Random House
RRP $29.99

A miscellany of rugby trivia for the footy equivalent of trainspotters (and let's face it, there are thousands and thousands of them). Ranging from the weird to the drop-dead serious, the lists include: ACC's top rugby injuries, animals on the field, best rugby grounds 2nd or 3rd div, best-ever NZ fifteen, biggest gates, black days – eg 1981, broken limbs that changed the course of history, cases of rugby prowess used as criminal defence, famous/infamous yellow and red cards, most common medical operations for rugby players, famous ops (eg Jones's knee), curiosities from early years (eg Munroe's stick), famous altercations, great excuses for losing, greatest moments (according to 10 players), hazardous moves, international incidents, jokes, literary masterpieces centred on the oval ball, most valuable collectables, nicknames, odd team names, scandals and conspiracy theories, streakers and much much more. It's every rugby fan's dream book, a way to while away the hours immersed in rugby arcana.

***

Rare Wildlife of New Zealand
Rod Morris & Alison Ballard
Natural History
ISBN 978 1 86941 912 7
Random House
RRP $49.99

This handsome book is a companion volume to Beautiful Birds Of NZ. It contains 100 New Zealand endangered species of all kinds – plants, birds, insects, fungi, mammals. Organised by habitat – forests, gardens, islands, wetlands, high country, and sea and shore, it gives an important snapshot of the critical state of the wildlife in our country.
    Beautifully photographed with accessible and informative text, this is a stunning book to have. At the same time, it contains many surprises: among our most endangered species are kiwi, tuatara, flax, grasshoppers, hebes, crabs, dolphins and many other New Zealand icons.

***

Rugby Skills, Tactics and Rules
Revised and Updated
Tony Williams & Frank Bunce
Sport
ISBN 978 1 86953 715 9
David Bateman Ltd
RRP #39.99

This dynamic, highly illustrated book provides a straightforward discussion of the key components of the game of rugby. Completely revised and updated, the book provides a thorough overview of player strategies and the basic laws of the game. It is an ideal reference for players and coaches at all levels looking for sound advice on the basics of the game of rugby.

***

Snapper: New Zealand’s Greatest Fish
Sam Mossman
Marine
ISBN 978 0 9582829 6 3
AUT Media
RRP $59.99

Like the kiwi and the kauri, snapper – tamure – holds a special place in the hearts of many New Zealanders. It’s our iconic fish, and is celebrated by writers, photographers, scientists, historians, artists, divers, chefs and keen anglers, in this inspiring book by well-known fisherman and author Sam Mossman.
    From the Far North to the West Coast of the South Island, Snapper gives fascinating insights into the life story and history of these remarkable fish, the beauty of the places they are found, and the people who catch or study them from boats, off the shore, or in the water, either for enjoyment, a living, or to put fresh kaimoana on the table. From the unique place of the tamure in the Maori world, the experiences of the early Europeans, the art featuring them, the commercial history and recreational methods old and new, to the latest scientific research,
    Snapper is not just for fishers: it is a collector’s cache of places, characters, nostalgia, yarns, facts and photos about New Zealand’s most popular fish.

***

Snow Business: Sixty Years Skiing in New Zealand
Ralph Markby
Non-fiction
ISBN 978 1 877460 06 7
Longacre Press
RRP $44.99

Snow Business chronicles the history of a sport that has exhilarated New Zealand skiers for over 60 years. Ralph Markby, a skier who first buckled up a pair of homemade wooden skis in 1944, traces the rise of ski culture in New Zealand along with the sport’s development – from the emergence of skiclubs after WWII to the expansion of commercial ski-fields, and the steady improvement and advances in equipment.
    The author well remembers the days when skiers had to trudge uphill on foot for every run, and here he tells the stories of the skiing pioneers who laid the ground work for the skifield developers who followed them. The development of each skifield was not only costly and risky it also involved the adventurous spirit and drive of those dedicated to fight against all odds.

***

The Dangerous Book for Boys, NZ Edition
Conn and Hal Iggulden
General Non Fiction
ISBN 9781869507091
Harper Collins
RRP $49.99

In today’s over-protective and risk-averse culture for children, one book reminds us how to have fun, how to have adventures and how to dream of conquering the world – in other words, how to be a ‘boy’ again. That book is The Dangerous Book for Boys. Fully updated with New Zealand content, but maintaining the universal themes of exploration, how-to and adventure, this book is perfect for every Kiwi boy (and girl) from eight to eighty.

***

Survive: Remarkable Tales from the New Zealand Outdoors
Carl Walrond
Survival
ISBN 978 1 86953 716 6
David Bateman Ltd
RRP $29.99

Humans cannot survive more than three minutes without air; more than three hours exposed to extreme low-temperature; more than three days without water; more than three weeks without food. These are the general laws of survival, but some people defy the odds. Using true tales of survival, including high-profile cases such as the Rose Noelle, and the soldiers who died on Ruapehu while a Japanese tramper came off the mountain after being lost for days and asked for a cigarette; Carl Walrond investigates what determines whether a person faced with a live-or-die situation will survive.
    A gripping read looking at why things happened the way they did; analysing what went right and what went wrong, highlighting the psychology of survival and the mental processes that come into play when people are bewildered, stressed and desperate. This book seeks to demonstrate wider truths about survival in New Zealand.
    When the odds are against you, would you survive?

***

The Life and Death of Laura Friday, and that of Pavarotti her Parrot
David Murphy
Fiction
ISBN 978 1 86950 700 8
Harper Collins New Zealand
RRP $26.99

This is the story of John Fitzgerald “Fitz” Kennedy’s search for the meaning of love.
Fitz dreams of becoming a writer, and falls under the spell of author Splint Macramé, creator of pulp-fiction hero and private detective Troy Weeks. His education is completed by local philosophers who meet at Murray’s Barber Shop, including Big Andy, ballerina-footballer George, Merv the Mink the Shakespeare-quoting used-car salesman and of course the medical-expert-***-barber, Murray.
While working for the Bullock Telegraph, Fitz loses his first scoop and his heart to Frankie Wilton, the scheming femme fatale sent to cover the story for the London tabloids.
Revenge is sweet when he turns her into Laura Friday, a professional assassin, whose parrot, Pavarotti, distracts Laura’s victims with snatches from Abba songs as Laura stabs them in the back.
Fitz’s first novel about Laura Friday and Pavarotti becomes an overnight success and that’s when the fun begins…

***

The Mad Keen Wine Buff's Road Trip
Phil Parker
Non-fiction
ISBN 978 1 86941 955 3
Random House
RRP $34.99

Another in Random House’s successful ‘Mad Keen...Road Trip’ series, wine tour expert Phil Parker has designed a series of 40 weekends among the vines in New Zealand’s magnificent wine regions, with The Mad Keen Wine Buff’s Road Trip. Wine buffs and even those with not much knowledge at all about wine but who like to drink it, can sniff, sip and slurp to the hearts’ content. With well-considered itineraries for visits within regions and sub-regions, maps, recommendations for where to stay, where to eat, what to do when you’re not wine-tasting and hilarious illustrations by ace cartoonist Chris Slane, this book is the mad keen wine buff’s indispensable guide to this country’s host of fantastic wineries.

***

The Oarsome Adventures of a Fat Boy Rower
Kevin Biggar
Non-fiction
ISBN 1869790219
Random House
RRP $39.99

The Oarsome Adventures of a Fat Boy Rower traces Kevin’s unlikely journey from couch potato to world record holder by completing the Trans-Atlantic rowing race in 2003.
Unconventional, hilarious and controversial, this is a story about a man going through a quarter life crisis and coming out the other side.
    It’s a story of the ups and downs of preparation, the fierce rivalry with the reigning Atlantic race champions, and how bad jokes, show tunes and German accents get two strangers across the Atlantic.
    There is a fair bit about rowing as well!

***

What’s Happening to Our Girls?
Maggie Hamilton
ISBN 13 9780670072323
Viking
RRP $35.00

In a few short years our girls have become vulnerable – not just teen girls, but also young girls and baby girls. They are being forced to grow up faster than ever before. What a twelve year old girl experienced at seven is not what a seven year old girl is now struggling with. Many of the guidelines we offer girls no longer apply, or are contradicted by messages from media and advertising telling girls how to look, think, behave and feel. Over two years Maggie Hamilton interviewed girls, teachers, school counsellors, psychologists, and law enforcement and medical personnel to get an insider's view on what girls are experiencing at present, from birth to the teenage years.
    Informed, revealing, compassionate and at times shocking, What's Happening to Our Girls? is a book for parents and all those who want to better understand and support girls.

Baxter Basics
James K Baxter
Poetry
ISBN 978 1 877448 18 8
Steele Roberts
RRP $29.99

In 1954 James K Baxter became a teacher and began writing poems for children. Here for the first time in one volume are the Baxter Basics – a New Zealand classic. Baxter Basics were originally published in 1979 as six poems in separate booklets: Rain, I’m a Tree, The Tree House, The Seagull, The Ships and The Firemen. They remain some of the finest examples of children’s poetry produced in this country.  
    With their delightful original illustrations by the celebrated Lynley Dodd, Judith Trevelyan, Dawn Johnston and Ernest Papps this volume is a must have for kiwi kids and adults alike.

***

Before Your Teenagers Drive you Crazy, Read This!
Nigel Latta
Non-Fiction/Parenting
ISBN 978 1 86950 7 138
HarperCollins
RRP $26.99

By popular demand, New Zealand’s most popular parenting writer has drawn on his extensive experience in family therapy and working with the country’s most difficult teenagers to write the book that will save the sanity of parents everywhere. Once you’ve negotiated the terrors of toddlerdom and the perils of primary school you think you’ve got a pretty good handle on this parenting thing – then along comes Mother Nature with her horrible hormones and suddenly you’re so far behind square one you’re starting to wonder if this raging bundle of contradictions screaming at you was switched in the night by evil aliens.
    With his now trademark humour and pragmatic common sense approach, Nigel debunks the politically correct nightmare of perfect parenting and argues for sanity first – yours – and reclaiming the ground parents have lost in the great ‘I’m my child’s best friend’ debacle.

***

Certain Words Drawn
John Reynolds
Art
ISBN 978 1 86962 149 2
Random House
RRP $70.00

John Reynolds is one of New Zealand’s most significant and admired contemporary artists. An Arts Laureate, his Cloud was last year a centrepiece of the Sydney Biennale, at which he was New Zealand’s representative, a rare honour for a New Zealand painter. Certain Words Drawn brings together examples of his recent work and practice in a stunning book designed by Arch MacDonnell of InHouse Design. Magnificently packaged, this book is a limited edition of 1500 copies only, each numbered and signed by the artist.

***

Cholas in Bowlers
Journey to Bolivia
History
Jane Mundy
ISBN 978 1 877437 02 1
Exisle Publishing
RRP $37.99

In the middle of Jane Mundy’s 59th year, many years divorced and contentedly single, she signed up for a course to become a volunteer support worker for newly arrived refugees. There she met the man of her dreams. Less than six months later she packed up her life and took off with him to the other side of the world – Bolivia! She hardly knew Graham and she had barely heard of Bolivia, but somehow it felt exactly right.
    Cholas in Bowlers paints a vivid picture of life in Bolivia, a nation with a turbulent political history and the highest indigenous population of any South American country.
    “Nothing is slick here, nothing fancy, nothing glossed up for tourists, what you see is what you get, unadorned. Throughout the country it’s as though the people are indifferent to the ways of the world and determined to do things in their own unique style.”

***

Chronicle of Stone #1 Scorched Bones
Vincent Ford
Fiction
ISBN 978 1 86943 830 2
Scholastic NZ Ltd
RRP $18.99

On the continent of the Americas, in the early stages of modern man’s development, one tribe invented the Clovis point – a stone arrowhead combined with a throwing stick that would be the equivalent of the invention of the nuclear bomb many hundreds of years later. The technology changes the balance of power within the scattered tribes and ensured that not only the fittest would be able to kill the enormous Mammoths – and avoid starvation.
    This is the first in a trilogy that follows the adventures of twins Souk and Trei as they break with their tribe’s traditions and set out to find the technology they have heard so much about.

***

Echo and Hush
VM Jones Illustrated by Scott Tulloch
Childrens
ISBN 978 1 86950 690 2
HarperCollins Publishers (NZ)
RRP $19.99

Echo and Hush are sheepdogs, who live on a High Country sheep station, with Kerry the farmer and Ngaire, his wife. Echo is a header dog, with a loud bark that echoes through the hills and brings the sheep together in the muster. Hush is an eye dog, whose silent commands work best in the yard.
    Award-winning author VM Jones combines her magic touch with words in a creative partnership with Scott Tulloch, whose superb illustrations evoke the stunning beauty of the New Zealand high country, to tell a very special story about friendship and overcoming challenges.

***

Elwyn’s Dream
Ali Foster, illustrated by Viv Walker
Conservation
ISBN 978 1 869790 06 5
Random House
RRP $19.99

Charming true story of takahe conservation.
    This charming, gently humorous story tells of the imaginative and persistent Elwyn Welch of Mount Bruce near Masterton who used his bantam hens to raise takahe chicks in the 1950s. Eventually Elwyn’s farm became the foundation of Pukaha/Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre.

***

Everything Talks
Sam Sampson
Poetry
ISBN 978 1 86940 411 6
AUP
RRP $24.99

Everything Talks is AUP’s first collection of poetry by up-and-coming Auckland poet Sam Sampson. Organised in sections (‘An Arena of Reflected Caches’, ‘Mirror Mirror’, ‘Orpheus at Whatipu’, ‘Frisson’, ‘The Dirty Monk’, ‘The Deep End’), Everything Talks has a resonant overall cohesiveness; the poems are original and contradictory: earthy, cryptic, exquisite in turn.
    Sampson has an ear for the lilting phrase, and his poems - ‘attuned to the day’s inflections’ – have a gentle ebb and flow, which is often echoed visually by the way the poems are laid out upon the page.

***

Face It
Denis Martin
Children’s (10-15)
ISBN 13: 9780143318408
Puffin
RRP $19.95

A gutsy adventure book for boys (and girls) aged 10–15, set in the Marlborough Sounds. Two teenage boys and a girl are left alone on an island in the Sounds, which is soon invaded by some gangsters with guns. The plot involves political activism, the trials of relationships and friendships, humour, death, kidnapping, capture, escape, survival against the odds. This is a gripping, un-put-downable story where each chapter ends with a cliffhanger, culminating in a suitably dramatic final climax.

***

Famous
Kate Langdon
Fiction
ISBN 978 1 86950 562 2
HarperCollins Publishers (NZ)
RRP $24.99

Famous follows one year in the life of 33-year-old Samantha Steel, a self-confessed SPG (Single Professional Girl) living in the heart of Auckland City. She works as a ‘suit’ for one of the city’s leading advertising agencies and is happy with her life exactly the way it is – no emotional ties, no relationship hang-ups, plenty of money, great parties and designer clothes to boot.
    That is, until a highly enjoyable one-night-stand goes horribly pear-shaped, when she accidentally bonks someone famous…

***

Fieldays
Susan Pepperell / Waikato Times
Non Fiction / General
ISBN 978 1 86979 028 6
Random House
RRP $24.99

In collaboration with The Waikato Times this book covers the history of the phenomenon that is the Fieldays. It looks at the origins, how it evolved, key players, royal family involvement, competitions, inventions, themes, international growth/exposure, rural bachelor competition, AgArt wear, economic benefits, the organisation today and the future.
    Written by Susan Pepperell, Assistant Editor at The Waikato Times, and full of excellent photographs taken by Waikato Times photographers, this is a lively memento of an important institution in the farming calendar.

***

From Afterwit to Zemblanity – 100 endangered words brought to life
Simon Hertnon
General & Reference
ISBN 978 1 86966 193 9
New Holland
RRP $24.99

Though our ‘information age’ is drowning us in words – most notably through the rapid rise in popularity of the blog – our collective vocabulary seems to be growing ever more impoverished. So here is a collection of rare and neglected words that, if reintroduced, will help breathe much-needed life, savour and vitality back into the English language and will delight anyone keen to enrich their verbal repertoire.

***

Gool
Maurice Gee
Children’s
ISBN 978 0 14330 400 5
Puffin
RRP $19.95

Sixteen years have passed since Pearl from Company and Hari from Blood Burrow defeated the tyrant Ottmar. Now their children, Xantee and Lo, face an even more dangerous foe. Hari lies dangerously ill with a fragment of a strange creature wrapped around his throat, draining his life. The beast is called Gool, meaning Unbelonger. It is one of many, destroying the mountains and jungles of the world. Somewhere a hidden mother nourishes her Gool brood – the children must find and destroy her to save Hari and the world they know.
    Gool is the sequel to Maurice Gee's bestselling Salt.

***

Growing Great Girls
Ian & Mary Grant
Family Life/Chi
Random House
ISBN: 1869418956
RRP $36.99

After the huge success of Growing Great Boys, comes this companion title focusing on girls. There are many issues today to challenge girls and their parents.
    Throughout the text Ian and Mary also address these topics: the delightful side of girl-culture as well as the negative side; the special challenges of our current culture – the rise of the brainless bimbo; girls and success – those things which impact a girl's likelihood of success; girls and friendships; girls and self-esteem – character is more important than curves; fun and communication – girl-style; preparing for puberty; building blocks for a meaningful life; mentoring a girl; and lots more.

***

How to Make a Piupiu
Leilani Rickard
ISBN 978 0 14300 945 0
Raupo
RRP $30.00

This highly illustrated book gives step-by-step instructions on how to make your own piupiu, the traditional Maori flax skirt. Experienced Rotorua weaver Leilani Rickard covers everything you need to know – from customary uses of harakeke or flax, to the simple tools you will need to finish the garment.

***

Intensive Care & Daughter Buffalo
Janet Frame
Fiction
ISBN 978 1 86941 961 8
Random House
RRP $34.99

Extending from World War I to an imagined twenty-first century, Intensive Care (first published in 1970) highlights the appalling treatment of the physically and mentally sick. Tom Livingstone, young and wounded in the trenches of Flanders, must learn the value of life and subsequently the value of death. In a futuristic world, the autistic Milly Galbraith has been deemed substandard and faces elimination. In this hypnotic novel, Janet Frame explores the harshness of humankind and makes a plea for us to restore humanity.
 
Having touched on the reality of death in Intensive Care, Frame's next novel, Daughter Buffalo (published in 1972), gives the theme centre-stage. Dr Talbot Edelman is obsessed with it, making his speciality Death Studies and experimenting on his pet dog. In the streets of New York, he meets up with an old poet, Turnlung, who fearlessly contemplates his own death. Visiting Central Park Zoo together, they see a baby buffalo, a daughter Turnlung is keen to adopt. This exploration of death becomes a fascinating and funny novel that revels in the linked mysteries of language and life.

***

Josh: Flying Kiwi!
Andy McGechan
Biography/Sports
ISBN 978 1 86950 620 9
HarperCollins
RRP $35.99

There wouldn’t be many Kiwi sportsmen who could pick a glossy magazine from the shelf of any bookstore in Western Europe and see his own face grinning back at him from the cover.  Josh Coppins is one Kiwi who fits that bill. The boy from Motueka is currently one of the fastest motocross people on the planet. Runner-up in the 2002 and 2005 world championships, Coppins would have been the undisputed 2007 world champion if not for a disastrous accident.
    Now it’s time to tell the full story and Josh: Flying Kiwi!, written by award-winning New Zealand journalist Andy McGechan and the first biography ever written about a Kiwi motocross rider, does just that. A friend of Josh Coppins’ family, he has known Josh since his teens and had covered his rise to international stardom since the beginning.

***

Just a Bang on the Head – Living with a Brain Injury
Rosie Belton
Self-help/Non-fiction
ISBN 978 1 877333 77 4
Craig Potton Publishing
RRP: $24.99

A dynamic New Zealand woman’s struggle to rebuild her life.
Rosie Belton was a high-achieving theatre director, producer and teacher, a casting agent and director, as well as a fully involved wife, mother of three and grandmother of six. But then a bang on the head changed everything. While dancing at a wedding, Rosie fell and hit her head, and subsequently had two cerebral haematomas, or brain bleeds. These have left her with a permanent brain injury that has turned her life upside down. Now unable to pursue her professional career, she struggles with permanent disorientation and dizziness, memory loss, extreme visual and aural sensitivity, constant tiredness, pain and difficulty controlling her emotions.
    Just a Bang on the Head offers a searingly honest and moving insight into the world of brain injury. The physical effects are clearly articulated, as are the emotional impacts – the often devastating effect on relationships, the huge sense of loss and grief as a previous life disappears, and the constant humiliation of being stymied in your everyday life. This is a brave book, a compelling story of loss, courage and the struggle to rebuild a new and meaningful life in the aftermath of a brain injury. It is essential reading for anyone dealing with a brain injury, their friends and family, health professionals and social workers.

***

Kakariki Series

Kakariki and the Kai
Kakariki and the Hangi
Kakariki and the Miti
Julia Sloane, illustrated by Kelvin Hawley
Childrens (4-7 years)
ISBN 978 1 86943 735 0
ISBN 978 1 86943 736 7
ISBN 978 1 86943 737 4
Scholastic
RRP $16.99

A series of three stories about a little Maori taniwha called Kakariki Green, who gets into all sorts of mischief, and introduces young readers to common Maori words and phrases on the way.
Includes glossary.

***

Losing the Plot in Opera: Myths and secrets of the world's great operas
Brian Castles-Onion
ISBN 978 0 908988 59 4
Exisle Publishing
RRP $30.00

The world of opera is a mystery to some and a comedy to others, but it is deadly serious to the people who live and breathe it. Opera conductor Brian Castles-Onion has seen opera from all sides and has decided to step back and reflect on the great operas and on the people who bring them to the stage. In this book he offers light-hearted accounts of some of the best-known operas, spiced with anecdotes and behind-the-scenes gossip, as well as his impressions of the famous stereotypes of the operatic world: emotional sopranos, bitchy tenors, incompetent choruses and rebellious orchestras.

***

Maraea and the Albatrosses (English and Maori Editions)
Patricia Grace
Children’s
ISBN 13: 9780143502661
Picture Puffin
RRP $18.95 (PB)
RRP: $30.00 (Cased Hard Back)

This beautifully presented children's picture flat tells the story of Maraea, an elderly Maori woman living in a coastal community. The site of the kainga is also next to an albatross colony, and there are close (and fabulously illustrated) links between the people and the birds. But people are drifting to the cities, and the community is falling apart. Soon only an aging Maraea is left on the clifftop, looking out to sea to welcome the birds. And soon even Maraea passes away. On the site of Marea's old sitting place on the clifftop, only a rock remains. But something is happening, the rock is moving and stirring. It bursts open, and a great albatross emerges, spreading its massive wings and soaring up into the sky .

***

Max’s Bath
Barbro Lindgren, illustrated by Eva Eriksson
Children's
ISBN 978 1 877467 04 2
Gecko Press
RRP $14.99

Max loves having a bath! He plays with all his toys in the tub, and tries to make a very reluctant Dog join in the fun.
This charming little book is full of drama, fun and humour. Max is an independent little character, bursting with energy and ideas. Young readers will be thrilled by his everyday play and his friendship with the faithful, but not always willing, Dog.

***

Max’s Wagon
Barbro Lindgren, illustrated by Eva Eriksson
Children's
Gecko Press
ISBN 978 1 877467 03 5
RRP $12.99

Max takes Teddy, Dog and all his toys on a wagon ride – but he’s in for a big surprise!
    This charming little book is full of drama, fun and humour. Max is an independent little character, full of energy and ideas. Young readers will love his everyday play and his friendship with Dog.

***

Mountain Men: Stories from New Zealand's High Country
Rachel Goodchild
Non Fiction, Photographic
ISBN 978 0 14300 751 7
Penguin
RRP $39.95

Taciturn, stoic and men of pure understatement – Mountain Men profiles 13 great men from the High Country of the South Island; men that have led interesting and diverse lives working on the land in this dramatic landscape.
    Rich with quirky characters and hair-raising experiences, Mountain Men will evoke memories of a more innocent time in New Zealand and remind many readers of their roots.  It is hard not to be taken in by each man's devotion to his land, his horse, his dog; there is something raw and strong about it.  Stunning portrait profiles and landscapes captured by John Bougen complete this magnificent package.

***

My Village: Rhymes from around the World
Collected by Danielle Wright, illustrated by Mique Moriuchi
Children's
ISBN 978 1 877467 10 3
ISBN 978 1 877467 11 0
Gecko Press
RRP $29.99 hardcover
RRP $21.99 paperback

A collection of nursery verses for young children as a companion book to traditional Mother Goose titles. From Iran to Iceland, Samoa to Switzerland, readers can delight in quirky, touching and funny verses from 22 different countries, brought to life by the artwork from exciting young UK illustrator, Mique Moriuchi.

***

Novel About my Wife
Emily Perkins
Fiction
Allen & Unwin
RRP $35.00

If I could build her again using words, I would: starting at her long, painted feet and working up, meticulously shading in every cell and gap and space for breath until her pulse just couldn’t help but kick back in to life. Her hip bones, her red knuckles, the soft skin of her thighs, her fine crackle of hair.
    Tom Stone, skinnyish, fortyish, English, is madly in love with his wife Ann, an Australian in self-imposed exile in London. Pushing forty and expecting their first child, they buy their first, semi-derelict house in Hackney. They believe this is their settled future, despite Tom’s stalling career and their spiralling money troubles.
    But Ann becomes convinced she’s being shadowed by a local homeless man whose presence seems like a terrible omen. As her pregnancy progresses she spends hours cleaning and reorganising the house, and sits up all night talking with a new feverish passion. As their child grows, so too does Tom’s sense of an impending, nameless threat. Their home appears beset with vermin, smells and strange noises. On the verge of losing the house, Tom makes a decision that he hopes will save their lives.
    Dark, sensuous and utterly compelling, Novel About My Wife is a taut, chilling novel about the need for escape and the perils of forgetting.

***

Odd Bird Out
Helga Bansch
Children's
ISBN 978 1 877467 08 0
ISBN 978 1 877467 09 7
Gecko Press
RRP $29.99 hardcover
RRP $18.99 paperback

Robert is different from all other ravens. He is a happy bird. But when he laughs and tells jokes, the other birds don’t like it at all. Nor do they like his colourful clothes and they hold their ears when he tries to sing.
    Unhappy, Robert is forced to leave home. Far away, he sings and dances and tells his terrible jokes, and eventually he finds friends who enjoy him as he is, and even join in.

***

Old Wellington in Colour – from 100-year-old picture postcards
Hugh & Susan Price
History
ISBN 978 1 877448 24 9
Steele Roberts
RRP $29.99

Old picture-postcards of Wellington strike a soft spot because many of the views are recognisable despite the hundred-year gap, offering a glimpse of a half-familiar past.
The charm and distinctive look of these pictures comes from their delicate colouring. They started life as black and white prints and were transformed by skilled European printers.

***

Pacific Auckland Photographs
Evotia Tamua
Photography
ISBN 9781877484018
Little Island Press
RRP $35.00

A photographic essay on Pacific Island lifestyles in greater Auckland.
Sections include:  festivals, markets, sport, at work, at home, community and family events – weddings, etc. 

***

Paddy the Wanderer [Extended Edition]
Dianne Haworth
Children’s Non Fiction
ISBN 978 1 86950 712 1
HarperCollins Publishers (NZ)
RRP $26.99

The endearing true story of an Airedale who captured the public imagination throughout New Zealand during the Great Depression, Paddy the Wanderer was published in 2007 and became an instant number one bestseller.
    After its publication, award-winning journalist and author Dianne Haworth was swamped with reminiscences and new stories of Paddy’s life that just had to be told. HarperCollins are delighted to publish Paddy the Wanderer Extended Edition, filled with historical maps and photographs and more adventures about the Airedale who wandered into our hearts and became a legend in New Zealand history.

***

Paper Cranes: A Mother's Story of Hope and Determination
Cheryl Koenig
Non-fiction
Exisle Publishing
RRP $37.99

At the age of twelve, Cheryl Koenig’s son Jonathon was involved in a horrific car accident. He was given very little chance of survival, and when he did miraculously pull through, doctors predicted that due to his extremely severe traumatic brain injury, he would most likely never walk, talk or even eat again. Cheryl refused to accept this prognosis and set out on a relentless and ultimately successful quest to save her son and prove the medical profession wrong. Her fervent hope that he would one day be well again was poignantly expressed by his many schoolfriends who filled their school prayer room with hundreds of handmade paper cranes, symbols of hope and healing.

***

Playing For Keeps
Denis Martin
Children’s (10-15yo)
ISBN 978 0 14330 305 3
Puffin
RRP $19.95

Rikkers is a witness to the fishing boat explosion that kills Pip's father. Although he tries to be a friend to Pip, she is grieving and makes it quite clear she wants to be alone. Stunned by her hostility, Rikkers seeks advice from Charlie, an old friend of his Dad's – but Charlie is strangely guarded about the explosion and doesn't believe it was an accident. Rikkers is slowly drawn into the lives of Pip and her mother, and finds himself on the receiving end of some aggressive intimidation by a group of men who think the two kids know the whereabouts of a drug stash. It is a world of intimidation, violence – and maybe even murder.
    Once again Martin delivers a great novel for teens with vivid imagery, menacing characters, bombs, drug trafficking, murder and general brutality – not to mention a bit of romance!

***

Polynesian Festival Photographs
Evotia Tamua
Photography
ISBN: 978-1-877484-00-1
Little Island Press
RRP $35.00

A pictorial record of more than a decade of the Auckland Secondary  Schools’ annual Polynesian Festival. This work is divided into three  sections: backstage, performance and audience. 

***

Spiders
Bill Fairweather
Nature
ISBN 9 780 14300 944 3
Raupo
RRP $19.95

This full-colour book/pocket guide aims to be the beginner's guide and photographic reference to the fascinating, but little understood, world of spiders in New Zealand.

***

Stardust and the Daredevil Ponies
Stacy Gregg
Children's
ISBN 9780007245161
HarperCollins
RRP $14.99

Issie has landed her dream job – handling horses on a real film set! And with a group of frisky palominos to deal with, Issie asks her friends at pony club to help out too. But it's not just the horses that play up on set – what is spoilt actress Angelique's problem? Could this be Issie's chance for stardom...?
    Join talented young rider, Issie, on another action-packed adventure from the Chevalier Point Pony Club.

***

Surviving Breast Cancer
Carolyn Weston
Health
ISBN 978 1 86941 975 8
Random House
RRP $24.99

Each year, more than 2000 New Zealand women are diagnosed with breast cancer.
    Journalist Carolyn Weston went for a mammogram almost on impulse, after the Kylie Minogue case hit the headlines, and was devastated to receive the news that she did have breast cancer. At first it seemed like the end of the world, but as her treatment progressed she met and heard about many women who had not only survived, but had gone on to make incredibly positive changes to their lives as a result. She found these accounts so uplifting that she decided to create a book of such stories, to give hope to other sufferers.
    The New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation is supporting this book and intends giving copies to women who receive such a diagnosis next year.

***

That Slippery Slope
Kate Langdon
Fiction
ISBN 978 1 86950 498 4
HarperCollins
RRP $24.99

Helen McGregor may be 29, but she’s nowhere near ready for thirty.
    She’s single, her job at the local newspaper is driving her crazy and, worst of all, luck just doesn’t seem to be on her side. She’s unlucky in love, unlucky with dogs and incredibly unlucky in outdoor pursuits.
    Struggling from one very funny escapade to the next, she manages to misplace her stepmother’s prized poodle, falls off a gin palace into the Pacific Ocean, dates a serial farter and appears in an extremely embarrassing episode of a prime-time television show.

***

The Last Great Adventure of Sir Peter Blake
Alan Sefton
Adult Non Fiction
ISBN 978 0 14300 894 1
Penguin
RRP $30.00 PB

This captivating book follows the late Sir Peter Blake – legendary yachtsman and adventurer – on his final, ill-fated voyage. It tracks him and his dedicated team on the blakexpeditions exploration vessel Seamaster to the environmental pulse points of the planet as they look to generate greater awareness of the need to take better care of our world.
    Drawn from the logbooks kept by Sir Peter, and edited by his colleague and close friend Alan Sefton, this book relives that last, fateful voyage and at the same time celebrates both Sir Peter's passion and concern for the world in which we live.

***

The Propaganda Poster Girl
Amy Brown
Poetry
ISBN 978 0 86473 574 4
VUP
RRP $25.00

What emerges from this collection, without ever leaning on the familiar modes of confession, is a compelling self-portrait. Where other young poets might have found only feelings, Amy Brown finds images and scenes to carry the burden of disclosure. Rather than endless interiors, there’s a palpable, recognisable world in the work. This is a thoughtful, mature and provocative collection.

***

The Seven Stars of Matariki
Te Huihui o Matariki
Toni Rolleston-Cummins, illustrated by Nikki Slade-Robinson
Children’s
ISBN 978 1 86969 327 5
ISBN 978 1 86969 330 5
Huia Publishers
RRP $18 each

A contemporary myth of love, magic and adventure that celebrates Matariki and tells the story of how Matariki/the Pleiades star cluster came into being in Maori legend.
    Two separate books with the same story and illustrations: one in te reo Maori – Te Huihui o Matariki and the other in English – The Seven Stars of Matariki.

***

The Silence of Fear
Denis Martin
Teenage Fiction
ISBN 13: 9780143303954
Puffin
RRP $19.95

A heart-thumping, action-thriller for teens that will compel readers to keep turning the pages until the very end.
    Greg and his friends, Pip and Rikkers, 'borrow' a dinghy from a boat yard to go out joyriding one night. On their return they stumble upon a group of men stealing expensive equipment from the boat yard and flee in fear, luckily unnoticed (or so they think). Not wanting to get in trouble for their own misdemeanour, they decide not to go to the police about what they've seen. However a few weeks later, during a similar robbery at another boat yard, someone is murdered. By this time Greg and Rikkers have discovered who the members of the gang are - it includes kids from school and a terrifying tattooed bikie known only as BP. Unfortunately for Greg, BP has realised that Greg knows more then he should. This menacing figure is determined to teach him to mind his own business.

***

The Terrible Night
Paula Green, illustration Chris Grosz
Children’s Fiction
ISBN 978 1 86979009 X
Random House
RRP $18.99

It's parent/teacher night at school and Miss May sits alone in Room 28 looking out at the dark and stormy night.
     A beautiful cat comes to visit and together their imaginations run wild. They create all sorts of much worse scenarios than the terrible night outside.
    Full of wonderful words, references to much loved children's books, mad adventures and happy endings, The Terrible Night is a fun read for children and adults alike.

***

The Year of the Shanghai Shark
Zhi Hong Mo
Fiction
ISBN 978 0 14300 893 4
Penguin
RRP $28.00

Hai Long is a teenager living in the Chinese city of Dalian. It's the year of the SARS epidemic in China. This is a modern China that's eye-catchingly contemporary.
    This is also the year in which Hai Long leaves school to learn the unlikely trade of his uncle. 'Uncle' has many books, but he's actually a highly successful professional pick-pocket who specialises in robbing dazed foreigners – Koreans and Japanese as well as Europeans – and makes special trips to Beijing for the purpose. As we meet a series of colourful characters in Hai Long's life and hang out with him and his mates, we also watch the teenager being trained in the ways of the pick-pocket.

***

Transported
Tim Jones
Fiction
ISBN 978 1 86941 984 7
Random House
RRP $27.99

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan…
a half-day holiday decree

A well-known poet pursues his elusive muse; a Kiwi makes himself indispensable in Oz; a revolutionary fast-food franchise revs up Russia's economy; a racing-car driver is airborne; temperate Otago exports its kiwifruit worldwide; a Frenchman called Foucault puts in the hard yards at an antipodean dairy farm - all while water laps at our feet, our homes, our lives…

***

Working with David: Inside the Lange Cabinet
Michael Bassett
Non-fiction
Hachette Livre
RRP $59.99

David Lange was like no other politician. While he was seriously overweight when he entered Parliament, he had a silver tongue that could usually amuse, often captivate, and sometimes disconcert people. A Labour Party that had been in the doldrums since the death of Norman Kirk warmed to him. A radical minority on the party’s executive, however, disliked his humour and his resistance to their agendas.
    Drawn from Bassett’s huge collection of caucus and cabinet notes, plus official papers, Working with David is a collaborative and authoritative account of one of New Zealand’s most extraordinary political figures.

***

World's Weirdest Animals
Matt Roper
Nature
ISBN 0143008269
Penguin
RRP $14.95

A collection of the fifty most unbelievable, bizarre and the downright scary animals that inhabit this world. From the Naked Mole Rat to the Blobfish to the Assassin Bug, this is the stuff of nightmares!

A Birthday in the Life of Ozzie Kingsford
Val Bird, illustrated by Rebecca Cundy
Junior fiction
ISBN
RHNZ
RRP $19.99

‘7.45am, Saturday the 1st of December. My mother tells me that at three minutes to four o’clock this afternoon I will have lived in this world for exactly eleven years. “Oh, my goodness, you were such a cute baby,” she sighs, then reaches out a hand and ruffles my hair. “I wonder what went wrong.” Fact: I DO NOT LIKE MY NAME. I did not choose my time of arrival on this earth, but unfortunately (for me) I turned out to be the first-born male child of my generation. The original Oswald Devon Kingsford was my great-great-great-great-grandfather. He was a famous explorer. During the course of his exploits, he kept a journal. After sailing in ships, trekking across deserts, climbing great mountains and discovering lost tribes – he dropped down dead, deep in the Amazon jungle, but not until he wrote this final entry in his journal: I beg thee. Do not let my name die with me – My last request is that the first born male child of each generation shall carry my name into the future.’

Guaranteed to have both children and adults chuckling, this junior fiction title is aimed at 9 to 12 year-olds. It is funny, clever and well paced, featuring cute line illustrations by Val Bird’s daughter Rebecca Cundy, a highly successful graphic artist.

***

Allyson Gofton's After Work Cook Book
Gofton Allyson
Cooking
ISBN 978 0 14300 895 8
Penguin
RRP $30.00

Allyson Gofton's After Work Cookbook is for busy people who enjoy creating delicious meals, but don't have hours to spend in the kitchen. Full of versatile ideas to minimise last-minute cooking panic, the After Work Cookbook will make every night's meal a pleasure.
    A compilation of Allyson's celebrated recipes from the Next magazine, plus new recipes and photographs.
    An introductory chapter lists essential items to keep in your cupboard, fridge and freezer to ensure you always have a nutritious meal at hand even after the most hectic day at work. This is followed by chapters on beef and lamb, chicken, fish, pork, almost vegetarian and dessert. Each of the 90 recipes is easy-to-follow, quick to prepare and full of flavour while still being healthy.

***

A Sandwich Short of a Picnic
Felicity Price
Fiction
ISBN
RHNZ Black Swan
RRP $27.99

A warmly humorous novel about an engagingly vulnerable woman who belongs to the Sandwich Generation – sandwiched between the demands of a career, elderly parents, teenagers and a marriage that is on the skids.  Running from one crisis to another, Penny Rushmore misses the signs that her husband is about to leave her for a sexy younger woman, and is left bouncing between shoe shops and dreams of revenge. But how far should she go? And how will she find the time? She has no time for work-life balance, no time to read the manuals on coping with difficult teenagers and an increasingly dotty mother, and she especially has no time for breast cancer. But there’s nothing like the big C to help sort out what’s really important. When life hangs in the balance, decisions about whether to splurge on designer shoes, lose unwanted kilos or find a new fella suddenly don’t seem so important any more… until He turns up, that is.

***

A Short History of Photography
Harvey Benge
Non-fiction
ISBN
RHNZ Godwit
RRP $44.99

While looking through his contact sheets in 2007 Harvey Benge noticed that one of his pictures reminded him of a Friedlander, another of an Atget, yet others of a Tillmans, a Baldessari and an Adams... Picking them out, he decided to make what leading UK photography critic Gerry Badger describes in his opening essay as an ‘anthology’ of contemporary photography featuring some of its biggest names. The result is a sharply curated and perfectly formed collection of intriguing, beguiling and seductive images, sure to delight the photography aficionado and newcomer alike.
 
***

Been There, Read That – 
Stories for the Armchair Traveller

edited by Jean Anderson
Travel anthology

ISBN 978 0 86473 572 0
Victoria University Press
RRP $30
  
“Travel the world, from Austria to Vietnam, without leaving your favourite armchair!
The whole world—without carbon miles. It’s time we had books like this.” —Bill Manhire
Been There, Read That: Stories for the Armchair Traveller is a fascinating collection of short stories from around the world. Some of the authors are well known in their native language, others are relative newcomers; for many, this is the first time their work has appeared in English. In every case, the translators invite you to share the pleasures of their art: encountering a new voice, connecting with another culture, seeing the world through very different eyes.

***

Being Maori-Chinese: Mixed Identities 

Manying Ip
Non-fiction
ISBN 978 1 86940 399 7
Auckland University Press
$49.99

This book uses extensive interviews with seven different families to explore historical and contemporary relations between Maori and Chinese. A full chapter is given to each family which is explored in depth often in the voices of the protagonists themselves. It provides a unique and fascinating insight into cross-cultural alliances between Asian and indigenous peoples, revealing a resilience which has endured persecution, ridicule and neglect and offering a picture of NZ society which challenges the usual Pakeha-dominated perspective. Today’s Maori-Chinese, especially younger members, are increasingly reaffirming their multiple roots and, with a growing confidence in the cultural advantages they possess, are playing important roles in New Zealand society.

***

Book Self: The Reader as Writer and the Writer as Critic
C. K. Stead
Literary criticism
ISBN 978 1 86940 412 3
Auckland University Press
$39.99

For more than forty years, Karl Stead has been New Zealand’s leading literary and cultural critic. Whether writing about Christianity or a trip to Croatia, Stead always brings a clear personal point of view, a strong analytical bent, and a witty pen to his work. In this latest collection of critical writing he takes the reader on a personal journey, from his earliest discovery of poetry as a young man to his experiences on the literary trail over the last few years. And he takes us on a trip through literary history, from Katherine Mansfield and T. S. Eliot to Michael King and Elizabeth Knox. For the first time, Stead includes in this book a series of journal extracts that allow readers closer to the mind of the writer. "Here the ego is exposed – not quite naked, but now and then with its shirt off," writes Stead. In Book Self we see a great New Zealand critic at work – a writer with strong personal views about other writers and a deep commitment to the role of role of criticism in literary life.

***

Caging Skies
Christine Leunens
Fiction
ISBN
RHNZ Vintage
RRP $27.99

Caging Skies is a gripping, masterful novel seen through Johannes’ eyes, laying bare the darkest corners of the human soul. As an avid member of the Hitler Youth in the 1930s, Johannes discovers that his parents are hiding a Jewish girl called Elsa behind a false wall in their large house in Vienna. Johannes’ initial horror turns to interest, then love and obsession. After the death of his mother and disappearance of his father he soon finds he is the only one aware of Elsa’s existence in the house, the only one responsible for her survival. Both manipulating and manipulated, Johannes dreads the end of the war and the prospect of losing Elsa. His solution is to create the illusion that Hitler won. Trapped by his lies, the couple have a relationship ranging through passion and obsession, dependence and indifference, love and hate.
 
***

The Carver and the Artist: Maori Art in the Twentieth Century
Damian Skinner
Art
ISBN 978 1 86940 373 7
Auckland University Press
$89.99

This exciting book charts the growth and development of the Maori modernist art that emerged from the rapid urbanisation of Maori in the mid twentieth century and the complex transition of Maori cultural and social structures from a rural to an urban setting. It is a story of the conflict between tradition and innovation – two seemingly incompatible but not always opposing positions that were the source of a great upswelling of creativity. Artists like Arnold Wilson, Para Matchitt, and Selwyn Muru constructed a Maori art that reacted against the customary culture and attempted to respond to the modern world in which they lived. The book includes a rich selection of reproductions of Maori modernist art many of which are of brilliant works not widely known and often from the artists’ own collections.

***

Come and See
Joy Cowley photographs by Terry Coles
Spirituality
ISBN 978 0 47313 191 3
Pleroma
RRP $25.00

A series of profoundly simple reflections based on passages from the New Testament. These well-loved Christian stories are treated in such a way that the reader is startled into recognising that these are our stories today.

***

Common Ground: An uncommon true story of flowers, friendship and gardens
Janice Marriott & Virginia Pawsey
Non-fiction
ISBN 978 1 86950 680 3
HarperCollins Publishers (NZ)
RRP

Two very different women who garden two very different properties meet at a school reunion after nearly 40 years. Their passion for gardening and writing, and the realization that they are both dealing with unexpected deaths, rekindles their friendship and they begin writing to each other.
    The letters in Common Ground follow the friends’ gardens and lives through a whole year.
    Poignant and beautifully written, Common Ground has the makings of a classic in the canon of writing about gardening and about lives lived thoughtfully with a sharp edge of humour.   

***

Dinner’s on the Table: Food for Families to eat together
Jan Bilton
Cooking
ISBN 978 1 86953 712 8
David Bateman
RRP $24.99

Leading food writer Jan Bilton’s latest cookbook provides meals for the whole family to enjoy. With many books to her name, thousands of inches of food writing columns to her credit and many dinners on the table, Jan knows the meals New Zealanders enjoy most. In Dinner’s on the Table she selects a combination of flavours including Asian, Mexican, Pacific, and Mediterranean cooking for New Zealand families to prepare and enjoy together. The book is divided into simple sections for easy-style cooking: one-dish, grills, stir-frys, oven dishes, microwave cooking and slow-cooker meals.

***

Dynamic Breathing: Managing Your Asthma Using the Bradcliff Breathing Method
Dinah Bradley and Tania Clifton-Smith
Non-fiction
ISBN
RHNZ
RRP $34.99

This book is the asthma sufferers indispensable companion. Roughly one person in seven experiences asthma at some time in their life. This fresh and original book looks at aspects of living with asthma in a unique and comprehensive way.  In recent years asthma patients may have been well informed about their drug management, but less emphasis has been placed on physical coping skills and the importance of the correct use of the muscles for breathing.  In Dynamic Breathing for Asthma, two internationally recognised experts on breathing pattern disorders take you through a step-by-step breathing retraining process, which can help you to reduce medications, reduce stress levels, exercise comfortably and, most importantly, breathe effectively.

***

ella and ob
Sarah Johnson illustrated by Jenny Cooper
Fiction
ISBN 9781869438173
Scholastic
RRP $14.99

Bella and her father live in a house that is falling down with negligence. Ever since her mum (a staunch environmentalist and recycling fanatic) went missing, her dad has lost the will to do very much, not even take Bella to school each day. One night Bella hears a strange sound in the hall. Upon investigation she finds a pink shoe decorated with an immense pink feather, stumbling around the hall. It turns out to be a ghost, and the visible shoe is because, in the ghost world, that is the part that is missing. Together Bella (or ella) and the ghost Bob (or ob – the ‘B’ is silent) set out to solve the mystery of the missing mum.

***

Facing The Music: Charles Baeyertz and the Triad
Joanna Woods
Non-fiction
ISBN
Otago University Press
RRP $45.00

Facing the Music is the biography of a man and a magazine. The man, Charles Baeyertz, was a brilliant and fearless critic who founded and edited one of New Zealand’s most successful cultural magazines, the Triad. The magazine, which ran from 1893 to 1927, was quite as extraordinary as its founder and constitutes a unique chronicle of New Zealand’s cultural life for over three decades. As New Zealand’s first commercially viable arts magazine, the Triad stood head and shoulders above its contemporaries, running thunderous reviews, laced with biting wit, on many well-known musicians, artists and writers.
    In her book, Joanna Woods brings to life one of the most colourful figures of our cultural past and paints a vivid picture of the golden Liberal era, when many world famous performers, singers and musicians took to the stage in New Zealand. Meticulously researched and rich in entertaining detail, Facing the Music is also compelling evidence of the vigour and diversity of New Zealand’s cultural life during a long-neglected period. A tantalising glimpse of a previously unexplored world.

***

In Continents 

Richard Reeve
Poetry
ISBN 978 1 86940 406 2
Auckland University Press
RRP $24.99

In his third collection, poet Richard Reeve examines a litany of historical contexts, from the violence of Tiberius and Edward III to the death of James Cook’s Polynesian companion, Tupaia, to counterpoint the habitual barbarity, selfishness and stupidity of humans with our potential. In Continents contrasts grace with atavism, imaginative transcendence with the determinative structures of biology, culture and belief. Humans, the clever ape, live and die in age-old continents, but behave incontinently. At the collection’s core is the role of poetry as revelation of the ethical horizon of human existence, and how as a species we wilfully neglect to act in accordance with this revelation. In a close-to-home example, the collection also reflects on the environmental conflict presently raging in Otago-Southland concerning the giant wind farms proposed by Meridian, TrustPower and other generators. Ironically, Reeve suggests that areas of great and remote natural beauty have fallen victim to technology symbolising a would-be corporate revolution towards greener methods of energy. In Continents uses deft and concentrated language to bridge the gap between ideas and objects, and confirms Reeve’s reputation as a unique and innovative voice in New Zealand poetry.

***

KiwiSaver Max: How to Get the Most Out of It
Mary Holm
Non-fiction
RHNZ
RRP $16.99

Mary Holm’s first KiwiSaver book was an instant bestseller. This new book assumes a certain amount of foreknowledge and sets out the many ways in which individuals can maximise savings and tax advantages, in the process supporting friends and families through making KiwiSaver deposits or setting up accounts. It covers the types of KiwiSaver schemes that have emerged since the government first announced the system, including those for people who want ultra-safe growth, risky but spectacular growth and growth based on ethical investments.  
 
***

Kiwis in Conflict – 200 years of New Zealanders at War
Chris Pugsley, Buddy Mikaere, Nigel Prickett, Laurie Barber, Rose Young
Non-fiction
ISBN 978 1 86953 708 1
David Bateman Publishers
RRP $39.99
 
Kiwis in Conflict is a rich and fascinating account of the impact of war through the eyes of those involved, using photographs, paintings, letters and diaries from the Auckland Museum’s permanent collection. Five leading New Zealand historians have contributed to this major work, and the new edition has the latest information on New Zealanders as peacekeepers in the Pacific, the Middle East and Afghanistan, including the awarding of the Victoria Cross to Corporal Bill “Willie” Apiata.
    Buddy Mikaere tells the story of the New Zealand Wars from a Maori perspective, and the impact this had and is still having on Maori communities. Nigel Prickett contrasts this with European perceptions. Laurie Barber examines New Zealand’s first experience of fighting for the Empire in the Anglo-Boer War. Chris Pugsley continues this story into the First and Second World Wars. It is a tale of learning about war the hard way, by bitter and costly experience. Rose Young examines the defence of New Zealand and the total mobilisation of our society to meet the Japanese threat. Chris Pugsley takes the story of conflict into the postwar years, including peacekeeping operations from Korea in the 1950s to the present day.

***

Landings
Jenny Pattrick
Fiction
ISBN
RHNZ Black Swan
$27.99

Having sold almost 90,000 copies of the Denniston Rose trilogy, Jenny Pattrick is one of our most successful novelists. Jenny’s much-awaited new novel, Landings, may well do for the Whanganui River what she did for the tiny coal mining settlement of Denniston on the South Island’s west coast. The Whanganui River at the turn of the twentieth century is a busy thoroughfare, taking sightseers through the spectacular landscape by paddle steamer and acting as highway for the sparse scatterings of settlements along its twisting length. The people who have made it their home are a diverse collection, from Samuel Blencoe, trying to forget his past life as a convict, to the hoteliers at Pipiriki, the nuns at Jerusalem, the Maori families, the Chinese market gardener and the farmers, like Danny and Stella, trying to tame the wild bush. There’s also Bridie, the strange, silent girl, who haunts the banks of the river where the accident occurred that robbed her of her mind. Like the tributaries that trickle down the mountains and join the mighty river, so the lives of these people come together in this vivid and moving tale of a stunningly unique place.

***

The Magpies
Denis Glover and Dick Frizzell
Poetry
ISBN
RH NZ Godwit
RRP $19.99

Denis Glover’s iconic New Zealand poem ‘The Magpies’ is illustrated by Dick Frizzell to create a beautiful gift edition that every New Zealand family needs to own. The delightful refrain ‘Quardle ardle oodle ardle wardle doodle’ is well loved in New Zealand poetry, as are Dick Frizzell’s illustrations for this book. It won the Russell Clark award for illustration in 1988.  
    Originally published in 1987, this book remains as fresh and original today as it was then. This is the true mark of a New Zealand Classic. Denis Glover (1912-1980) is one of NZ’s most well-known poets. Dick Frizzell is a highly successful artist.

***

Managing Chronic Illness: reclaim health and well-being
Veronica Latham
Health
ISBN 978 1 86953 706 7
David Bateman Publishers
RRP $29.99
    
When faced with a long-term or permanent illness such as depression, hepatitis or epilepsy, asthma or diabetes, it is difficult to know how to cope. Managing Chronic Illness clearly shows that it is possible to have a chronic condition and to be well! Sympathetic, effective and informative, the book provides practical advice on steps you can to take to reclaim your health and take control of your life again.
    The book also looks at caring for children with chronic illness, the pros and cons of natural therapies, understanding diet and nutrition and numerous other tips on how to live a healthier life. Clear accessible charts provide useful New Zealand website addresses and an extensive bibliography lists further reading.

***

March to the Sound of the Guns
Ray Grover
Fiction
ISBN 978 1 877460 01 2
Longacre
RRP $34.99

‘March to the Sound of the Guns is the story of ordinary New Zealanders trapped in the most horrible of wars, where the only response is to live or die with quiet heroism. The events of Gallipoli, the Somme and Passchendaele need no dressing up. Ray Grover takes us into the trenches, through the mud holes, into the face of enemy fire, not with clashing armies but with individuals the reader knows from their pre-war lives. The writing is strong, elegant, witty, restrained, the characters well-rounded and likeable, while the research underpinning pre-1914 life in New Zealand and the events of the war is heroic in its scope and depth. March to the Sound of the Guns is a triumphant amalgam of scholarship and story-telling, and is likely to be judged our best war novel yet.’ —Maurice Gee

***

Old Drumble
Jack Lasenby
Children’s fiction
ISBN 978 1 86950 674 2
HarperCollins Publishers (NZ)
RRP $16.99

Old Drumble is the humorous and heartwarming story of Jack Jackman, a young boy who wants to be a stock drover, set in the small Waikato township of Waharoa in the 1930s. Jack has a wonderful, warm relationship with his parents and with an old family friend, Andy the Drover, who each week drives a mob of sheep or cattle through the main street with the help of his dog, Old Drumble, and his horse, Nosy.
    All three become the boy’s close friends over the long, hot summer holidays, and each week Andy tells Jack an even more amazing story of how Old Drumble has saved the day yet again, with each adventure becoming more and more absurd. A Baron Munchausen of the sheep mob, Andy’s yarns are delightful, funny and quixotic — and in the hands of a master storyteller like Jack Lasenby, a passionate advocate of children’s literacy, the result is pure magic.

***

Piggity-Wiggity Jiggity Jig
Diana Neild illustrated by Philip Webb
Picture book
ISBN 9781869438746
Scholastic
RRP $16.99

When Piggity-Wiggity complains to his dad about the length of his name, Dad explains that he and his wife felt that their large family of four boys and four girls was missing something. When Piggity-Wiggity came along, they were so delighted that they wanted to give him an extra-special, musical, heroic sort of name. Piggity-Wiggity goes to sleep well satisfied with the explanation for his extraordinary name.

***

Rita Angus: An Artist's Life
Jill Trevelyan
Non-fiction/Biography
ISBN
Te Papa Press
RRP $69.99
 
Rita Angus (1908–70) was one of New Zealand’s most loved and respected artists. Landscapes and portraits such as Cass, Central Otago, and Rutu have become national icons. But until now, Angus’s life has remained a mystery.
     In this fascinating book, Jill Trevelyan (editor of Toss Woollaston: A Life in Letters) paints a vivid picture of Rita Angus the person – curious and forthright, staunchly pacifist and feminist, and wholly dedicated to her art. Stunning artworks, personal photographs, and insightful letters help bring Angus’s colourful and complex story to life.
     Jill Trevelyan is co-curator of the exhibition Rita Angus: Life and Vision, which opens at Te Papa in July 2008 before travelling to other main centres of New Zealand.

***

Settlers: New Zealand Migrants from England, Ireland and Scotland 1800–1945
Jock Phillips & Terry Hearn
Non-fiction
ISBN 978 1 86940 401 7
Auckland University Press
RRP $39.99

This book explores the question of who were New Zealand’s Pakeha ancestors. It presents and interprets the findings of a major statistical analysis of immigrants from the United Kingdom over a century and a half drawn from death registers and shipping records. It looks at such issues as the geographical origins of the founding ancestors, their occupational and class background, their religions and their values. Did our forefathers and mothers come from particular areas of Britain, did they tend to practise certain occupations, were they Catholics or Protestants, working people or aristocrats? Using individual examples of immigrants and their families, vividly depicted in the many illustrations, this book makes a significant contribution to understanding the origins of New Zealand identity.

***

Short Fat Chick to Marathon Runner
Kerre Woodham & Gaz Brown
Non-Fiction
ISBN 978 1 86950 670 4
HarperCollins Publishers
RRP

A chance phone call from her pr agency proved to be the catalyst – Kerre was going to ‘get her life back’. The Marlborough-based company, Regal Salmon, were keen to put a high profile 35 years plus person through a physical fitness training programme. The end goal would be the Auckland Marathon and for completing the marathon, $5000 would go to the runner’s charity of choice.  Kerre seemed like the obvious candidate.  
    Short Fat Chick to Marathon Runner documents Kerre’s life-changing journey to get fit and stay fit while eating what she wants and still fitting into a size 12 dress. The story is littered with hilarious tips from never running in a g-string to Vaseline and bananas and ‘carb loading’ on champagne the night before a big run. With insightful comments and fitness training tips from her Gaz, Kerre tells it like it is and takes the reader on a journey of self-discovery and self-discipline, for those of us who aren’t superwoman.

***

Shrapnel & Semaphore: A Signaler's Diary from Gallipoli
compiled by Jan Chamberlin
Non-fiction
ISBN 978 1 86966 201 1
New Holland Publishers
RRP $39.99

In the late 1990s Bill Leadley’s granddaughter, Jan Chamberlin, spent many months researching her family archives in order to be able to put her grandfather’s diary covering the ANZAC landing on Gallipoli in context. Shrapnel & Semaphore is the result and it is an amazing story of courage, faith and service based on a series of diary entries written by Lance-Corporal Walter Edmund (Bill) Leadley covering the period 25 April 1915 through to 8 December, and from 25 March 1916 to 9 September prior to serving at The Somme where he was seriously wounded and invalided out. The fascinating and frequently harrowing narrative is supported by family and archive photographs.
    Soon after his return to New Zealand in 1917, Bill Leadley became involved in the Canterbury Returned Soldiers’ Association and went on to invest an enormous amount of time and effort over the next 25 years – on both a professional and personal basis – helping to rehabilitate injured fellow servicemen. In a subsequent chapter to the diaries themselves Jan Chamberlin records his dedication to the RSA.

***

Swings + Roundabouts
edited by Emma Neale
Poetry
ISBN
RHNZ Godwit
RRP $36.99

More than eighty of the finest poems on parenthood, Swings + Roundabouts is an endearing, intelligent and accessible anthology by editor Emma Neale. Her approach was to bring together wonderful poems by New Zealand and international poets that are both highly readable and significant. Beautifully packaged, this volume features stunning photographs of babies and children by well-known photographer Mark Smith.  

***

Why I Hate School by Michael Fatarsky
Kris Stanhope
Fiction
ISBN 9781869438715
Scholastic
RRP $16.99

Michael is not happy, and he is keeping a list – a list of all the reasons he hates school. When the teacher sees him writing so avidly, she is impressed, and so is Michael.
    But when he is paired with one of the reasons he hates school (Sharon Cramshaw) to do a project on families, he finally comes to realise that the real reason he hates school is nothing to do with school, it’s all to do with something in his past.
    Simply yet powerfully told, the story looks at the tragedy of Michael’s brother’s death, and the links to how he is feeling about today. Includes the complete, unabridged, entertaining list of reasons why Michael hates school – a laugh-out-loud addition to a strong story.
    The first 10 reasons:
1.    I hate ordering lunch because everyone knows what you get.
2.    I hate ordering lunch because the pies are always cold.
3.    And the pizzas.
4.    And the noodles.
5.    I hate when people order lunch and then don’t eat it.
6.    I hate when all the lunch orders come to class and mine is missing. I bet they do it on purpose.
7.    I hate ordering lunch because you have to stand in a long line and wait.
8.    Why are the stupid lunch ladies so grumpy? Anyone could do their job.
I hate that.
9.    I hate when people order lots of lunch and then share it with their friends.
10.  I hate ordering lunch because it’s stupid. I just bring lunch from home.
    
***
Willy’s Mum
Scott Tulloch
Children’s picture book
ISBN 978 1 86950 682 7
HarperCollins Publishers (NZ)
RRP $18.99

While Willy’s endearingly nutty dad had to agree that the way he was described in Willy’s first book was thoroughly accurate, he always claimed there was more to Willy’s mum than meets the eye. While she’s very, very sensible, she doesn’t have a very good memory, for instance she never seems to remember that she already has a wardrobe full of shoes and is always buying new ones. When Willy looks doubtful, Dad pulls out the family photo album and we see a very different Mum, with a few weak spots!
    In another heartwarming tale of family fun, Willy finds out more about his Mum – who may not be perfect, but is Dad’s perfect partner. If you enjoyed Willy’s Dad, then make way for his mum – and another hilarious look at the life of an endearing toddler who has less than ordinary parents and a lot to frown about.

***

Winning the Money War
Lisa Dudson
Non-fiction
ISBN
RHNZ
RRP $27.99

The Money Man show was one of the highest-rating reality shows on TV during 2007. A second series is scheduled for April 2008, perfect timing for this book, which combines the Money Man’s take-no- prisoners, parade-ground tactics with easy-to-digest (and then apply) financial advice. Winning the Money War is accessible, brightly packaged, engaging and packed with the sort of information that people who have money burning holes in their pockets need, to get their financial issues sorted. 

January and February is usually a slow time for publishing: the big buy-in that caused the frenzy at Christmas and the holidays is now over; wholesalers and retailers are holding their purses a little more tightly to their chests; besides, we're all just testing the waters of the new year. With this in mind it's an encouraging start to the year, some fantastic books have hit the bookstore shelves. You should check them out!

THE LIST…

A Good Handful: Great New Zealand Poems About Sex
edited by Stu Bagby
Poetry
ISBN 978 1 86940 403 1
Auckland University Press, with assistance from Creative NZ
RRP $27.95

In A Good Handful, 63 poets talk frankly about sex from every angle, showing sex can be funny (Karl Stead’s “tree in my trousers”) and disturbing (Rachel McAlpine’s “frightened poem about my breasts”). It can be ordinary (“The sex life of the sheep / is at best perfunctory”, Anne French explains) or extraordinary (“Ah, fantastica!” Lauris Edmond exclaims). It can be lusty (Brian Turner’s “eat me and keep me alive”) or tender (Anne Kennedy’s “whole autumn boiled down to a single bite”). It can be metaphorical (James K. Baxter’s “your mouth was the sun”) or practical (“should a courier / hand be sent down and under?”, asks Louis Johnson).
    With an impressive selection of NZ poets, established and new, this is a collection to own! Read more about this book in Latest News.
 
***

Annabelle Cooks Healthy
Annabelle White
Cooking
ISBN 978 0 14300 882 8
Penguin
RRP: $30.00

Annabelle Cooks Healthy is Annabelle White's latest collection of recipes bringing you more great cooking in the tradition of Best Recipes, Simply the Best and Annabelle Cooks.
    Light and refreshing breakfast ideas, brunch suggestions, inspired lunch ideas, afternoon pick-me-ups, and fresh and vibrant dinners and desserts. All presented in Annabelle's easy, can-do style using the latest appliances to save time and energy in the kitchen.

***

Changing Skies
Bruce Purchase
Biography / Non-fiction
ISBN 978 1877448 29 4
Steele Roberts
RRP $34.99

New Zealand-born actor Bruce Purchase has played in them all. A Thames boy, Bruce won a scholarship to study acting in England and has been based there ever since. His memoir starts with Sir Laurence Olivier and breezes through colourful and candid anecdotes, always fascinating, often funny. In between times he discovers an unexpected  gift for painting, and endures a personal crisis that splinters his life forever. Bruce’s stories and his cast of characters – many stars of stage and screen, from Roman Polanski and Franco Zeffirelli to Princess Alexandra, Noel Coward, Richard Chamberlain and Sir Ian McKellen – provide an intimate insight into an actor’s life richly lived, on and  off the stage.
    Vivid, funny writing style, teeming with gossip with an introduction by TV’s Poirot, David Suchet

***

Christ Clone
David McLeod
Fiction
ISBN 978 1 86941 959 2
RHNZ Black Swan
RRP $34.99

Michael Malone is a broken man. Once a respected priest, husband and father to a beautiful daughter named Mary, he now spends most of his time in a Los Angeles bar, drinking to drown the memory of the past. The unfortunate chain of events he is so desperate to forget began years before with the abduction of his daughter, and resulted in the loss of his wife – and his faith. From behind the bar, a TV news item brings his terrible memories flooding back. Malone embarks on a renewed quest to find his daughter, unaware of the extraordinary things that lie ahead.
      Across town, Simon Travis, a  wealthy businessman, issues a global challenge to all biotechnology corporations: clone Jesus Christ. As precious artefacts – the spearhead reputed to have been used to stab Jesus on the cross, a piece of the cross itself, and the shroud of Turin – go missing from churches and private collections around the world, three scientific groups start their top-secret experiments.
 
***

The Clever Girl's Fix It Guide
Sue Hall
Non-fiction
ISBN 978 0 14300 748 7
Penguin
RRP $19.95

This practical illustrated guide is packed with clear instructions on how to deal with just about every domestic situation, including the odd crisis, not just at home, but also on the road. With this handy guide for reference, in no time the reader will be able to clear a blocked sink, replace a fuse, change a tyre, choose the right nail for a repair job, use a power tool and remove marks on the carpet.

***

Dragons’ Bane
Linda McNabb
Children’s fiction
ISBN 978 1 86950 655 1
HarperCollins
RRP $18.99

The eagerly awaited return of Toby, the Dragon’s Apprentice, by popular demand, sees Linda McNabb re-visit the scene of her first award winning novel, and answer all the fans who have been asking what happened next for the dragon Klel, and Toby, his apprentice.
Toby has been living in Dragon Valley for a year – but things aren’t going as expected. When he uses his magic, disastrous things happen. Gates to other worlds are beginning to open on their own and the entire valley is in danger of being destroyed. The sorcerers and dragons blame Toby and he is banished – but still the valley crumbles. The only solution is to find a missing dragonstone that was stolen many years ago. While the dragons search for the stone (and the thief) the valley’s magic begins leaking into all the worlds outside.
As the dragons sicken Toby is desperate to find a place to belong, and heartbroken to think he is the cause of the valley’s destruction. And when he finds the true identity of his father, things suddenly get much worse.

***

First Hundred Words in Māori
Non-fiction
ISBN 978 1 86969 304 6
Huia Publishers
RRP $20.00

A companion to 2006’s First Thousand Words in Māori, this book is a must-have for all New Zealand households. Big, brightly-coloured pictures engage young learners and are accompanied by clear illustrations, with the Māori word underneath. This encourages the direct association of the word with the object, making it easy to learn and reinforce meanings.
    There is also a guide to pronunciation and counting.

***

I Want more Sugar
James McNaughton
Poetry
ISBN 978-1-877448-26-3
Steele Roberts
RRP $19.99

James McNaughton grew up in Wellington, where he received an MA in creative writing. He has taught at universities in New Zealand and Asia and currently works for a Korean publishing company. McNaughton’s draft blurb: Seven years in the making, after the critically acclaimed and controversial cosmic cult classic The Stepmother Tree (Darius Press 2001), comes the long-awaited thesis to that dark antithesis: I Want More Sugar. Where once McNaughton sought to expand the boundaries of the real through depth- charges to the subconscious, he now animates a political and personal landscape charged by the lightning rods of Neruda, Lorca and William Blake. McNaughton shows us a vivid mosaic stretching from the occident to the orient and back again; from the shadows cast by international politics and consumer culture to light and colour and their metaphysical origins.
    James McNaughton’s poetry is a rich and descriptive interpretation of everyday moments. Written during his travels in India, Japan and Korea, these poems explore the sometimes surreal nature of modern life, the colour and beauty we may see and celebrate in the ordinary.

***

Katherine Mansfield's Short Stories
Katherine Mansfield
Fiction
ISBN 978 1 86941 983 7
RHNZ Vintage
RRP $34.99
 
Virginia Woolf claimed that Mansfield's writing was 'The only writing I have ever been jealous of.'
      Widely considered one of the best short-story writers of her period, Katherine Mansfield is celebrated for her sensitive and subtle treatment of human behaviour. Satirical, psychologically deep, unabashed and candid about sex, pregnancy and social issues, her stories adopted a fresh style and new narrative techniques. She drew on and evoked the New Zealand landscape from her childhood, as well as her travels in Europe and time in England.
      This is a complete collection of her finished stories taken from her five books: Bliss, The Garden Party, The Doves' Nest, Something Childish and In a German Pension.

***

Kaupapa
New Zealand Poets, World Issues
edited by Hinemoana Baker and Maria McMillan
Poetry
ISBN: 978-0-9582873-0-2
Visit kaupapa
RRP $25.00

Edited, selected and introduced by writer and musician Hinemoana Baker and activist and writer Maria McMillan, this stunning anthology features new, established and award-winning poets including Bill Manhire, Tusiata Avia, Airini Beautrais, Michele Amas, Jenny Bornholdt, CK Stead, James Brown and Roma Potiki. Speaking to the tradition of waiata tawhito, war poetry, redemption songs and resistance, Kaupapa showcases what happens when our poets take on the world.

***

Marathon Woman
Kathrine Switzer
Non-Fiction – Sport and Leisure
ISBN 978 0 78671 967 9
HarperCollins
RRP $39.99

Proclaimed as ‘the most important running book of the last 10 years,’ by Marathon & Beyond magazine, Marathon Woman is not really about running: it’s about overcoming the impossible and changing lives.
    Marathon Woman is the inspiring story about how one person really can make a difference, particularly if that person is Kathrine Switzer. It is an insightful, often funny and sometimes poignant social commentary as Switzer relates events of her life alongside one of the most turbulent eras in history: 1946–1984. 
    Best known globally as the first woman to officially register and complete the famous Boston Marathon in 1967, Switzer was physically attacked mid-race by the enraged race director simply because she was a female running in what was then considered an all-male event, in an all-male domain, in an era when women were considered incapable of running 42.2 kilometres. The galvanizing photos of this incident were flashed around the planet and have become one of Time-Life’s 100 Photos that Changed the World.

***

Miriam’s Talisman
Elenor Gill
General Fiction
ISBN 978 1 86950 702 2
HarperCollins
RRP $24.99

The sudden death of Miriam, mother of Hannah and grandmother of Chloe, has a deep effect on both women, and in ways neither could have foreseen.
    When Miriam’s will reveals she has left everything to Chloe, her legacy includes a distinctive silver amulet. Once Chloe puts it on, she begins to move in a shadowy world of deception and illusion, to the distress and concern of her family and friends. Sought out after her grandmother’s death by Iolair, a tall and intriguing stranger, Chloe encounters him again as she begins to unravel Miriam’s extraordinary legacy. Inevitably she finds herself a pawn in an ancient love story that has wreaked havoc in the lives of the women in her family. Will she be able to break its enchanting web… or will she become the spider?
    Magical, riveting, enchanting book… so beautifully written. I went back to reread some parts just to enjoy them again. —Barbara Erskine

***

Pony Club Secrets #3: Destiny and the Wild Horses
Stacy Gregg
Children’s fiction
ISBN 978 0 00724 518 5
HarperCollins
RRP $14.99

The third title in an exciting eight-part series for pony-loving girls by local journalist Stacy Gregg. With gymkhanas to win, rivals to defeat, mysteries to solve and ponies in danger to save – these books are perfect for all girls who love ponies. Issie and Blaze were hot favourites to win the Chevalier Point Pony Club dressage competition, but now they have to spend the summer on her aunt’s farm instead! When Issie finds out Blaze can go with her – and she’ll be helping to train horses for the movies – things start to look up.
    During her stay Issie overhears a conversation about plans to cull a group of wild ponies, and she is determined to find a way to save them. It’s lucky she’s made friends with her aunt’s handsome farm manager, and can call on her pony-club friends, because Issie is going to need all the help she can get…
    This is a gripping story, full of wonderful horsy detail that will have readers hooked all the way to the nail-biting finish.

***

Sons
Victor Rodger
Drama           
ISBN 978 1 86969 303 9
Huia Publishers
RRP $25,00

Sons explores a volatile, fractured extended family of Samoans, New Zealand-born Samoans, palagi, and afakasi (half caste), and a variety of family ‘legitimacies’. 
    Noah, a successful young afakasi man, goes to see his father after a ten year silence. During his visit he sees a photograph of his half brother, who he always knew existed but has never met. Ignoring the advice of his mother and grandmother, he delves into his unexplored Samoan heritage, leading to an explosive and emotionally gripping climax.

Christchurch-born Victor Rodger is a playwright of Samoan and Scottish descent. In 1998 his first play, Sons, won Chapman Tripp Awards for Best New Play and Best New Writer and in 2001 he won the Bruce Mason Playwright Award.

***

Successful Email Marketing 2nd Edition
Debbie Mayo-Smith
Non-fiction
ISBN 978 0 14301 902 2
Penguin
RRP $35.00

A follow up to Successful Email Marketing, this new book is a complete step-by-step 'hands-on' guide to lead people through the process of creating and using email marketing tools such as online newsletters etc. A practical, user-friendly guide to creating successful email marketing strategies – relevant to people in all sorts of business: anyone who wants to radically improve communication channels with their customers.

***

The Two Miss Parsons
Jill Marshall
Fiction
ISBN 97 8 014300 801 9
Penguin
RRP: $28.00

Cally is a solo mother in her thirties who has just been made redundant from her classy London marketing job. One day her nine-year-old daughter Paige announces that she wants to go to New Zealand to meet her father, Alan, who abandoned Cally when she became pregnant.
    Alan is told they're coming, but during the flight to Auckland, Cally finds herself sitting next to the lovely Simon, and they decide to continue their high-altitude flirtation when they reach New Zealand.
    But Paige has other ideas. Cally and Simon as a unit is definitely not in her grand plan. Paige plots to get her Mum and Dad back together, with help by email from her best friend Charlotte back in London. Cally, Simon and Alan are suddenly entwined in an unusual love triangle.

***

When Sun and Moon Collide
Briar Grace-Smith
Play (includes comprehensive teacher notes written by Jean Betts)     
ISBN 978 1 86969 316 9       
Huia Publishers
RRP $25.00

Isaac runs a tearoom in the middle of nowhere where he watches life and cars pass by his window each day. When two of his customers share a chance meeting, he finds himself embroiled in something very sinister.
    “Powerfully imagined and psychologically astute” —New Zealand Listener
     “…mix(es) the prosaic and poetic, the real and allegorical, the landlocked and astronomical…” —The National Business Review

Briar Grace-Smith [read her blog for NZBM here] is an award-winning writer of plays, scripts and short stories. Her first major play Ngā Pou Wahine won the 1995 Bruce Mason Playwriting Award and Purapurawhetū won Best New Zealand Play at the 1997 Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards. She was the recipient of an Arts Foundation Laureate Award in 2000 and a finalist for the 2002 Prize in Modern Letters. Her first feature screenplay The Strength of Water was shot in the Hokianga in August 2007. Briar is of Ngāpuhi descent.

***

Where Mountains Throw Their Dice
An insight into the kiwi climbing psyche
Paul Hersey
Outdoors / NZ non-fiction
ISBN 978 1 86966 191 5
New Holland
$29.99

There are regular reports in the media of mountaineering fatalities and costly rescues, and to some of us climbing may seem a selfish and crazy game in which victims have only themselves to blame. But to Dunedin climber Paul Hersey climbing is nothing less than a reason for living; even if – or perhaps even because – at the most life-affirming moments he may be just one step from ‘a tumble into the abyss’.
    In this fascinating book, which includes white-knuckle accounts of his own climbs in the South Island and the Italian Alps, Paul chats with some of New Zealand’s most experienced climbers, such as Bill McLeod, Lydia Bradey and Erik Monasterio, to find out why they are drawn to the mountains, and why, even after losing close friends, they keep returning to this place of ‘other-worldly limbo’.
    Accompanying the text are Paul’s spectacular photographs from his own climbs.

***

Which Native Plant Can I Grow Here?
Andre Crowe
Non-fiction / Gardening
ISBN 978 0 14301 896 4
Penguin
RRP $30.00

From the author of the best-selling Which Native? series comes this unique, visual, fail-safe guide to growing the right native plant in the right place. An ingenious system of symbols is used including the special back cover flap which gives readers additional information about selection, propagation, growing conditions, etc.
    Take the stress out of decision-making by using Andrew Crowe's quick method of identifying the plants that will add shape, colour and texture to your garden. Quick, reliable, enjoyable.

***

You Don't Need to Smack
Glen Stenhouse
Non-fiction / Parenting
ISBN 13: 9780143008675
Penguin
RRP $19.95

This is a practical, encouraging guidebook for parents and caregivers who want to learn more about effective, non-violent ways of parenting children. From toddlers to teenagers, You Don't Need to Smack offers workable solutions for dealing confidently with children's difficult behaviour, and also suggests how to prevent problems from occurring in the first place.
    Glen Stenhouse, a well-known child psychologist, maintains that you don't have to be an expert in order to be a good parent, but you do need to put simple, clear strategies in place in your home – and stick to them. Glen's advice has been tried and tested in thousands of homes and has proven its worth. This is essential reading for all parents and caregivers.

***

Here are some new releases from local publishers for the month of December. It is a sparse list: the Christmas books are out in the shops and publishers are busily organising their titles for next year. You'll find a few outdoor books, from walking guides for your backpack to coffee table books of New Zealand's amazing landscape, a definitive study of Moko and some chick lit for summer reading… Enjoy!

***

Bonkers
Michelle Holman
Fiction
ISBN 978 1 86950 679 7
HarperCollins
RRP $26.99

Bonkers is a very warm and funny love story, and is the next stage of chick lit at its best. After a head on collision between a glamorous sports car and a serviceable but very plain little car, a kind hearted angel does a swap in the anteroom to Heaven. As a result, the funny, loveable but very short and generously proportioned rugby-loving schoolteacher gets a second chance and finds herself in hospital in the body of a drop-dead gorgeous, tall and very glamorous philandering American wife. She has a very rich husband who looks as if he’s just stepped out of a Ralph Lauren catalogue, but for some reason he can’t stand her.

Definitely one for the girls to read with a box of chocolates.

The author, Michelle Holman, is a forty something wife and mother living in the Waikato. She hails from West Auckland, where she lived until til she did her OE at 17 – her husband still likes to point out her parents bought her a one way ticket. A registered nurse she has also been a Butlins holiday camp chalet maid, kibbutz worker and tissue transplant coordinator at the Coroner’s Officer in Auckland. She now manages community youth health projects in the Waikato. This is her first novel.

***

Inside New Zealand's National Parks
Eric Dorfmann
Non-fiction
ISBN 978 0 14300 695 4
Penguin NZ
RRP $49.95

This book is both an extraordinarily beautiful and stylish coffee-table book and an extremely useful reference about our National Parks, complete with maps, detailed information about walking tracks and accommodation, highlights and attractions, history of the parks and profiles of spectacular flora and fauna to look out for. Compiled with the backing of the Department of Conservation and written by wildlife ecologist Eric Dorfman, this book has drawn dozens of photographs and valuable information from DOC’s vast archives together to create the only book you will need on the subject.
New Zealanders and visitors alike love New Zealand’s most precious wilderness areas. Many of the famous walking tracks are now so popular places must be booked months in advance. All 14 of New Zealand's official National Parks are featured here in great detail.

***

Mau Moko
Ngahuia Te Awekotuki
Non-fiction
ISBN 978 0 67004 561 7
Viking NZ
RRP $65.00

In the traditional Maori world, the moko, or facial or body tattoo, was a sign of great mana and status. Male warriors wore elaborate tattoos on their faces and bodies; women took more delicate chin tattoos. After almost dying out in the twentieth century, Maori tattooing is now experiencing a powerful revival, with many young Maori wearing the moko as a spectacular gesture of racial pride.

Mau Moko is probably the most magnificent book ever produced about the moko, from pre-European times to the present day. It examines the use of tattooing by traditional and contemporary Maori and links it to other aspects of Maori culture. Gender issues are considered along with tattooing techniques both old and new. The book features case studies of modern Maori who have made a personal decision to be tattooed, the role and status of the tattooers, and exploitation of the moko in popular culture around the world by figures such as rock singers and football players.

Mau Moko is superbly enhanced by paintings, photographs and drawings from traditional times and by new colour photography by Becky Nunes commissioned for the book.

***

The Answer
How nature can help you when life seems too hard
Lindsey Dawson
Inspiration
ISBN 978 0 47312 435 9
Out Loud Press
distributed by Adenda Publishing
RRP $19.99

Feeling stressed, harassed, lost or stuck on your path in life? Here’s the perfect inspirational book for you (or an ideal gift for an extra-busy friend). In a world going mad, where ‘natural’, ‘green’ and ‘fresh’ are the concepts we’re all turning to for a sense of ease, The Answer is a lovely book of nature images with a brief story (just a few lines per page) that begs to be browsed by all those whose lives need un-frazzling.

***

Trade Me Success Secrets 2nd Ed
Michael Carney
Non-fiction
ISBN 978 0 95826 343 6
Activity Press
distributed by Adenda Publishing
RRP $34.99

In this easy-to-understand guide to the country's most popular virtual destination you'll read about many of Trade Me's top buyers and sellers, their winning tips and techniques and the stories behind their successes.

It’s been hailed as an excellent, comprehensive resource for novices and experienced users alike. This new edition is expanded and updated and includes comprehensive new information on the hottest areas behind Trade Me’s phenomenal continuing growth – property, cars and jobs.

"…a great resource for traders – it includes a tremendous amount of research and effort. It covers everything you need to know about the website – from getting started through to growing your own thriving Trade Me business."—Trade Me founder, Sam Morgan

***

Tramping in Fiordland
The most popular tracks in New Zealand’s south-west wilderness
Marios Gavalas
Outdoors
ISBN 978 1 86966 153 3
New Holland Publishers
RRP $29.99

A great untamed mosaic of deep-watered glacial lakes and fiords, towering peaks and bush-clad valleys, Fiordland has a unique appeal among New Zealand’s wilderness areas, and the walks that lace its remote regions attract thousands of visitors each year. Marios Gavalas’s meticulously researched guidebook leads the reader on seven tracks, all located in or near Fiordland: the Greenstone/Caples, Hollyford, Tuatapere Hump Ridge, Kepler, Milford, Rees/Dart and Routeburn. An introductory section describes the topography, geology, climate, botany and history of the region, and deals with the technical aspects of tramping, including mountain safety and hut etiquette. Each walk description has a map of the route and gives all the interval timings, distances, track conditions and other essentials that the walker might need, as well as notes on special points of interest. Sixteen pages of the author’s photographs complement the text.

***

Vineyard Visits: 150 of New Zealand’s Best
Peter Janssen
Non-fiction
ISBN 978 1 86950 666 7
HarperCollins
RRP $26.99

In essence, this is a simple book written to meet a previously unidentified niche in the tourism guidebook market, providing an accessible and handy small guidebook to vineyards and wineries and the visitor experience.

Wine tourism is a growing subset of both the domestic and international travel market in New Zealand, and following the highly successful Lord of the Rings Location Guidebook model, we have sent seasoned local traveler and uninformed wine drinker Peter Janssen a nationwide mission. Not to write a book for wine buffs about varieties, but to write about vineyards and wineries open to the public and describe and rate the visitor experience. Along the way he’s gathered snippets of fascinating local information and wine knowledge to make this a Wine 101 course for those who don’t care too much about the finer points of the vintage but want to enjoy a pleasant visit to an interesting and enjoyable location as part of their holiday and some good food and wine when they get there.

***

Volcanic and Thermal New Zealand
Trevern & Anna Dawes
Non-fiction
ISBN 9780670071623
Viking NZ
RRP $29.95

The spectacular beauty of New Zealand’s volcanic and geothermal regions is captured by Trevern Dawes in this great scenic tourist book, showcasing the unique landscapes of the North Island geothermal region with stunning photography. This well-priced hardback is the perfect tourist impulse buy or gift purchase.

***

The response to our New Releases has been so positive that we're continuing… There is a great mix of fiction for children, including the timely: Grandma Joins the All Blacks; juvenile fiction from Stacy Gregg, who will be blogging for us this month; new fiction from Paul Shannon; some great non-fiction: Ka Taoka Hakena: Treasures from the Hocken Collections; and, to celebrate time in the garden: Get Fresh: how to grow delicious vegetables and herbs in New Zealand.

Happy reading!

Catastrophic Events in Pre-Historic New Zealand and Their Impact on Maori Coastal Communities
Bruce McFadgen
Science
ISBN 978 1 86940 390 4
Auckland University Press
RRP $49.99
 
New Zealand's Polynesian settlers arrived in a land prone to violent geological disruption by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis. Their settlements, spread around the coast, were particularly vulnerable to these catastrophic events. Hostile Shores is an authoritative, groundbreaking study of the effects of these events on the coast and its people up until European contact. Evidence from Maori oral tradition, anthropology, archaeology, demography, geology, history and vulcanology combine in a unique coherent analysis. Essential reading for anyone living within 300 metres of the shoreline of New Zealand.
 
The author
Bruce McFadgen is an archaeologist who previously worked for the Department of Conservation and the New Zealand Historic Places Trust. He is the author of more than 70 scientific papers, and is known in particular for his work on radiocarbon calibration. He has been a member of the New Zealand Institute of Surveyors since 1968. In 2003 he was awarded the J D Stout Fellowship to work on this book.