New Zealand Books

New Zealand has produced a disproportionately high number of the world's most successful romance writers. In this collection of 15 interviews, writers such as Daphne Claire, Robyn Donald, Susan Napier, and the late Essie Summers talk openly about their personal lives as well as their careers, telling us how they have become published authors and what they think their writing means to others as well as to themselves.

"Reliable - Enjoyable - User-friendly

10th Edition

Like the great New Zealand wines he writes about, Vic Williams just gets better and better.

The Penguin Good New Zealand Wine Guide for 2001-2002 is better than ever, crammed with completely new tastings and ratings for hundreds of wines. Red, white, rose, dessert and sparkling wines are all listed by variety. And keep your eye out for the famous little penguin awarded to the outstanding wine in each category.

*At-a-glance ratings
*Up-to-date wine show awards
*2001 vintage review
*Wine and food combinations
*Cellaring times
*Recommended retail prices
*Glossary"

This review refers to the hardcover edition. I read this book shortly after "Passion is a Fashion: The Real Story of the Clash" By P. Gilbert. See my review for that item. Both books are at the same excellent high standard - informative, detailed, captivating and well-researched.

This book traces the development of the Brisbane (Australia) music scene from the early 70s to late 90s. Detailed histories and interviews are provided with founders of Triple Zed radio station, Saints, Leftovers, Powderfinger, Regurgitator and Savage Garden. Being a punk fan, it's the review of the punk bands that interest me most.

The Saints' early years are discussed, leading up to their three recorded albums and their successful 1977 UK tour. It is interesting to read how the right-wing Bjelke-Petersen Queensland Government created an environment of fear, suscipicion and paranoia. Indirectly, this gave The Saints a reason for being - they could address political themes in their lyrics - and put them ideologically on a par with contemporary UK acts such as The Pistols and The Clash. The author is able to explain The Saints' music extremely well and clearly link it into the broader social and political context of 1970s Queensland.

We understand (after reading this book) why 1970s southern states bands such as ACDC, Cold Chisel and The Angels wrote about typical rock and roll subjects while Queensland bands such as The Saints and Leftovers took on political issues in the manner of their UK contemporaries. The book helps us to see how this was not just a quirk of fate, but that a different political climate in Queensland led to more politicised music there.

I also enjoyed reading about 70s cult act The Leftovers, clearly at the extreme, lunatic end of the punk spectrum. It appears they were anarchistic punks in the mould of The Pistols. The discussion of the history, life and times of The Leftovers is highly entertaining. History seems to have erased them from the memories of most modern music fans outside Queensland but it's interesting to learn of their history and influence.

Overall the book is extremely well researched. The way the author places paragraphs of quotes (usually 4-8 lines long and indented) from key scene identities in at appropriate places of the text narrative is effective. Generally it addes to rather than disrupts the reading experience. Over 100 people were interviewed for the book (see appendix at back) - a huge feat which clearly shows the effort, planning and dedication that went into the creation of this story.

I strongly recommend this book. And I would love to be able to obtain a CD version of The Leftovers' original recordings (2 A sides and 2 B sides).

"Playlunch: Five Short New Zealand Plays," edited by Christine Prentice and Lisa Warrington, brings together pieces that were commissioned for the Lunchtime Theatre series at New Zealand's Otago University. All of these plays were first performed between 1991 and 1994 at the university's Allen Hall Theatre. The plays are as follows:

"The Private War of Corporal Cooper," by John Broughton: about the wartime correspondence between a soldier and a nun. "The Rosenberg Sisters," by Michaelanne Forster: about a pair of elderly Jewish sisters in New Zealand who remember when, with their third sister, they had been a World War II-era singing group. "An Illustrated Death of Eddie Fivetrees," by Simon O'Connor: about the relationship between a girl and her eccentric neighbor. "Tiggy Tiggy Touch Wood," by Renee: opens with a strange exchange between Missy and the childlike Tiggy; as the play progresses, their shocking, painful backstory is revealed. And finally, "Chook Chook," by Fiona Farrell: four actors portray hens in a large chicken coop.

This is a very diverse group of plays that ranges from the comic to the tragic, from the surreal and allegorical to the realistic. "Playlunch" is a superb celebration of both New Zealander creativity and the short play genre; I would recommend this book for college courses, for reading groups, or just for individual reading.

This book is a comprehensive survey of the social problems that face indigenous artists in Pacific. Focusing on Australia, the book extends its discussion to New Zealand, other islands of the Pacific, and Canada. It also provides exposure to artworks that are often marginalized by contemporary art historical discourse.

I was asked to catalogue and research a Maori greenstone collection recently, and read through all that was available at the library and online. This book is very short with few photographs (Te Papa's museum books are gorgeous for photography) but it is very densely packed with information, and worth more than the rest of the coffeetable books for detail.

This volume is one that has been extensively researched and must rate as one of the best works on the Moa. Most species are covered and there is a lot of detail on distribution plus a variety of photographic and sketch representations of remains ie; bones, mummified 'bits and pieces' and egg shards. A lot of very detailed analysis of archaeological digs, as well as accounts from Maori records adds a lot of credibility to this excellent scientific report.

For a man with no formal study of economics this book simply destroys the paradigms of the educated sheep who believe in monetary control of inflation.

Yet another inspired tome.

Don't leave home without it.

Having read Sylvia's book Teacher for an education class years ago, I used it when teaching my own young son who has Down syndrome how to recognize words. Today he happily reads maps, newspapers, and books about sports. Also, my first grade class was the subject of my thesis for my Master's degree in Reading and I used Ms Ashton-Warners method, among others. My students,"normal", surpassed any class I had taught in not only reading, but writing skills. I was amazed. We can use more able students or older students to work with younger ones or have volunteers come in and work with children using Sylvia's methods which involve starting the children with "organic vocabulary"--words of their own chosing that have real meaning to them.
This method is inexpensive since we develop our own books and materials. It is a joy to use. Creativity is enhanced. Read first the book Teacher, which describes how Sylvia taught Maori children in New Zealand.

In this major new contribution to a rapidly expanding field, the authors offer an integrated analysis of the wave of management reforms which have swept through so many countries in the last twenty years. The reform trajectories of ten countries are compared, and key differences of approach discussed. Unlike some previous works, this volume affords balanced coverage to the 'New Public Management' (NPM) and the 'non-NPM' or 'reluctant NPM' countries.