New Zealand Books

I have read this book for planning our trip to N.Z. and the rating applies to only this aspect. We hope that our actual experience will confirm the numerous recommendations. The area maps are very helpful, but additional, separate maps of the full area of the North and South islands would improve the overall orientation. It took me until the very last page of the book (281) to locate Christchurch!
A minor point (page 181): "It is not the largest wooden building in the southern hemisphere, although that claim is often made; the largest is the Todaiji Temple in Japan." The author does not appear to be aware of the fact that Japan is in the northern hemisphere .... !?

I spent about three months in New Zealand earlier this year and found this guide great to have around. I would certainly purchase it only in addition to a more detailed and thorough guidebook for New Zealand (I went with Rough Guide to New Zealand, which I found very detailed and helpful), as it doesn't give you nearly the amount of detail on places to stay and eat and visit as one of those guide books does.

However, for planning scenic drives, it's excellent. We were able to modify its suggestions and itineraries to fit our interests and time constraints- this was made very easy by the detailed maps. I would agree that an overall map of the North and South Island would come in handy, but the detail provided in the numerous smaller maps was much appreciated all the same.

The author goes in detail over several places of interest, and many places that I'm sure I would have missed if they hadn't come up in the guide. It was easy to read, the directions are easy to follow, and it thoroughly added to my experience of New Zealand. A great buy if you are planning a driving holiday through that gorgeous country!

The Fire-Raiser, by Maurice Gee, was originally published in New Zealand in 1986, and has just been reissued in paperback in the U.S. by Houghton Mifflin. It's a suspense story, set during World War I in a small town in New Zealand. A "fire-raiser" has been burning down empty buildings. As the story begins, the arsonist is looking to graduate to burning buildings containing living creatures. Four local children figure out who the criminal is, but have trouble convincing the authorities, and find themselves in danger. A caring teacher, Mr. "Clippy" Hedges, tries to help the kids, especially one boy who is homeless. Clippy is a bit distracted, however, because the woman he loves, a German expatriate who teaches piano, is in danger, too. Anti-German fever runs high in the town, stoked by a bombastic politician, and Frau Stauffel becomes a convenient target.

I had some trouble getting into this book at first, but soon became gripped by the story, especially by the plight of Frau Stauffel. She had so little recourse - a German woman, living in New Zealand, with no family to care for her, as xenophobia ran amok. (Post 9-11 treatment of Muslims shows the timelessness of this storyline.) Fortunately the piano teacher had Mr. Hedges, and the four plucky children, to protect her.

I enjoyed the dynamics of the relationships between the four children, two working class siblings (the baker's children), the pampered but plucky daughter of the mayor, and the Huck Finn-like Phil, eking out a parentless existence. And I agree with the Kirkus Review quoted on the back cover that it "brings an entire community vividly and believably to life". We see the town politics and class struggles, but also the people working together to fight the arsonist's fires and to raise money for the Belgian Relief Fund. The children are in a patriotic play together, forced into it by a bossy teacher of the breed that keeps small towns running. Everyone in town attends, even the arsonist.

My only quibble with the book is that I found that the omniscient narration (from which the reader could also see the arsonist's perspective), kept the children a bit at a distance. At times this felt like a novel written for adults that happened to feature some children, rather than a book written for children. But overall it's a well-written story, and a window into early World War I New Zealand. The madness of the arsonist, the caring by Mr. Hedges for his students and Frau Stauffel, the rivalry of the children, and the violent behavior of the town's young men, are all, for better or worse, timeless. Recommended for middle grade fans of historical fiction and atmospheric mysteries (such as A Drowned Maiden's Hair or the Enola Holmes mysteries), and for adult readers of British mysteries.

This book review was originally published on my blog, Jen Robinson's Book Page, on June 8, 2007.

The television series honoured the book as a salute to fine storytelling. Mystery, mayhem, humour and lessons to be learned from the setting whether it is small town New Zealand in the past or small town somewhere else in the present... a childhood adventure with plenty of thrills for young readers. Perfect bedtime serial!

The itinerant in the Kiwi poet Diana Bridge has been a sharp observer, assimilating well the culture and perceptions of the lands of her travel. Accompanying her bureaucrat husband to his postings in India (for five years in the mid nineties) and now in Taiwan, Bridge, like any other sensitive Westerner in awe of the Oriental has not remained untouched by the magic the Indian subcontinent evokes.

Indian themes, be it the lazy splendour of those engraved on the ancient walls of temples, the woman as she lives her existence or the pain of the itinerant as he moves from place to place find reflection in 'The Girls on the Wall'.

A lyrical collage of this very Indian and Chinese experience as she interacted with the diverse cultures, the collection of verses or call it simply lines are divided in three sections --'The girls on the wall', Unbidden images' and 'Closing the Border'. Although the poet distinguishes between the different sections in terms of theme, a closer look reveals a common 'Indian' thematic thread throughout the entire narrative.

In 'The Pattern', the introductory 'narrative' in the second section, the poet confesses to being "beguiled by the spaces, held by the symmetry of this and each tradition" but not before questioning "Would she rather have purdah?/ Behind the chadar or a jali / you feel safe/ from the way a man/ will shout in your face."

'Heartbeat of Siva' in the first section depicts the fascination with the mighty lores of the blue-skinned Indian God. The lines sound magical and lyrical even to Indian ears: The only unguarded thing about him/ is the sound of his heart, /leaping/ massive and unconstrained/ in the great sea cave/ below her ear./ She, small scale,/ perfectly/ subordinate,/ furled into his side.

Issues of spirituality, love, gender, even displacement and identity are subtly interwoven into the tapestry of soft lines, elegant turns of phrase and simple imagery. Thus the poet at times "longs for you/ as one longs for an ending" or mourns the "turning away" perhaps from a place or is it just a season. "Parting is still a tremor/ at the eyelid's edge" --could it ever get more poignant?

The itinerant in the Kiwi poet Diana Bridge has been a sharp observer, assimilating well the culture and perceptions of the lands of her travel. Accompanying her bureaucrat husband to his postings in India (for five years in the mid nineties) and now in Taiwan, Bridge, like any other sensitive Westerner in awe of the Oriental has not remained untouched by the magic the Indian subcontinent evokes.

Indian themes, be it the lazy splendour of those engraved on the ancient walls of temples, the woman as she lives her existence or the pain of the itinerant as he moves from place to place find reflection in 'The Girls on the Wall'.

A lyrical collage of this very Indian and Chinese experience as she interacted with the diverse cultures, the collection of verses or call it simply lines are divided in three sections --'The girls on the wall', Unbidden images' and 'Closing the Border'. Although the poet distinguishes between the different sections in terms of theme, a closer look reveals a common 'Indian' thematic thread throughout the entire narrative.

In 'The Pattern', the introductory 'narrative' in the second section, the poet confesses to being "beguiled by the spaces, held by the symmetry of this and each tradition" but not before questioning "Would she rather have purdah?/ Behind the chadar or a jali / you feel safe/ from the way a man/ will shout in your face."

'Heartbeat of Siva' in the first section depicts the fascination with the mighty lores of the blue-skinned Indian God. The lines sound magical and lyrical even to Indian ears: The only unguarded thing about him/ is the sound of his heart, /leaping/ massive and unconstrained/ in the great sea cave/ below her ear./ She, small scale,/ perfectly/ subordinate,/ furled into his side.

Issues of spirituality, love, gender, even displacement and identity are subtly interwoven into the tapestry of soft lines, elegant turns of phrase and simple imagery. Thus the poet at times "longs for you/ as one longs for an ending" or mourns the "turning away" perhaps from a place or is it just a season. "Parting is still a tremor/ at the eyelid's edge" --could it ever get more poignant?

Within the stories of this collection, which the author considered "immature," there is some great descriptive prose around German characteristics and perspective which can even be said to live on in present Germany. Most impressive is Mansfield's gift in rummaging about in the German psyche. While some of the stories may seem melodramatic, e.g., "The Child-Who-Was-Tired," there are some very entertaining moments in which the author thoughtfully pulls out themes that include sycophancy, overbearance, resignation, mediocrity, selfishness, vanity, truculence, and compunction. For those who love German history and German culture, this is an essential volume.

New Zealander Katherine Mansfield (nee Kathleen Beauchamp), one of the key modernist authors linked to the so-called Bloomsbury set, said of this, her first commercially published work: 'It was a bad book, but the press was kind to it.'

Well, maybe it's not as bad as she says - and certainly it's a must-have for anyone who's interested in her work - but, when you get right down to it, this is a bunch of stories, the theme of each one of which is "All Germans are stupid and the first person singular Anglophile narrator (Miss Mansfield) is a wonderfully civilised smart ass for pointing it out!"

Well, okay if you say so, Miss Mansfield . . . I don't think! And neither do you, I suspect - not in your literary heart of hearts. Because it's the original date of publication of the book which gives us a clue regarding the kindness that was shown to it by the press: 1912 - just two years before WWI broke out, thanks in part to press jingoism . . . and to anti-German propaganda in bad books like this one.

great information on new zealand cities and points of interest,historical & commercial. excellent itineraries with photography to give you a true sense of the trip, including physical requirements. recommend it highly for a first-time visitor!

This is a colorful book with lots of pictures about New Zealand. Its first couple of chapters include the history and culture of New Zealand are especially interesting. They were very useful for visitors to the Kiwi country. However, its lack of large street maps, area maps and detail route maps are disappointing as well as annoying. Although the front cover has an overview map of both the north & south island, I think it will improve the ease of reading and research if various level of district maps and street maps are provided, especially when a traveller was deciding which hotel/motel to book reservations and how far he/she needs to drive from one scenic spot to the next. Without this, it is disasterous for travel planning. Other things to include will be web sites for driving directions such as www.wises.co.nz etc. For a backpack traveller like me, I will even be willing to pay more if road maps/ street map of Auckland are included with the book (which some of the publishers are already doing).

For many years, learning institutions in New Zealand have told our national history from the perspective of the coloniser.

This book sets about to redress some of the 'facts' that we have hitherto accepted as truth.

It provides us with another 'truth' by which we can at least attempt to base an informed opinion.

This is a very important book for those who wish to study aboriginal voice and colonisation in the South Pacific

A very good history of NZ and early maori contact. But do not rely on this tome alone, as it is slightly one sided, on the maori view of issues, but in conjunction with "Making Peoples" by James Belich this work becomes a very useful resource.

I came at this book with an interest in Mansfield (and to a lesser extent Woolf) and was tired of the countless studies (chapters and essays) comapring the two. Needless to say, then, I approached this study with trepidation and assumed I would not think much of it. But what a surprise! Smith has done a terrific job with her research and has produced a study that towers over the others I've seen. The study smells of sweat and hard work. I put it alongside Sidney Janet Kaplan's and Patricia Dunbar's studies of Mansfield. It is one of the best.

I came at this book from the Mansfield camp and a little exhausted by all of the stale comparisons between Mansfield and Woolf. However, Smith's work is full of well-researched and thoughtful analysis. It's an amazing study--particularly of Mansfield, I think--and one that belongs on the same shelf as Kaplan's KM & THE ORIGINS OF MODERNIST FICTION and Dunbar's RADICAL MANSFIELD. Essential reading for Mansfield scholars and fans alike.

I reading it while waiting for my delayed flight at an airport and to my surprise during that waiting I learned a lot more about Australian history than I thought I could.
The book was very well written in 88 pages, including a further reading list, and at this length you would think it impossible to go into any depth about the history of any country. But I guess the author has achieved the almost impossible. This book is very accessible (you could finish it in an hour) and should be recommended to all first timers to Australia.

This book is literally a little history of Australia. To write the history of Australia in such short length necessarily means compromises in many areas. But the author has done the job well, albeit in the process he has to gloss over certain issues and events. But the way it is written draws the reader into wanting to find out more about Australia's history.

This, I find, is the real success of the book, in that it is able to make the reader that much interested in searching for other more comprehensive histories of Australia to further understand the complex and tumultous history of that vast continent. It leaves readers with a hunger for more. The content is brief but concise, and very well put across.

What more can one ask of of such a little book that is so big on content and style?

My family is from New Zealand thought I have always lived in Singapore (so naturally, I'm the only one to knit). I picked up this book while down there on holiday. Now a little creased from being loaned out around the family, this is a treasure. If you don't knit, it's a wonderful way of looking at New Zealand domestically for the last century - the archive photos are fascinating, the details packed in and always a real sense of love for the craft and respect for the many women (and few men) who knit.

If you do knit, it's great to read an entire book about other people who knit. No techniques,s ource ideas, just a lot of interesting and occasionally inspiring stories (The baby layette laid out to dry and eaten by a goat...)

Heather Nicholson writes fluidly and the extensive endnotes help for mroe reasearch - I visited a lot of museums there, armed with this book! It's a thick, interesting read and a great coffeetable book, like Knitting in America.

This is a very well-researched discourse about the history of knitting and spinning in New Zealand. The book takes you from the early days of the English and Scots settlement of the twin islands up to present day, and reveals how knitting fit into daily life.

A good portion of the book is devoted to war knitting, which was a major volunteer activity in World War I and somewhat less, but still important in World War II. The interesting theme that runs through "The Loving Stitch" is that of privation and shortages; knitting yarn was often hard to obtain. During rationing in World War II, baby yarn was almost impossible to get, yet people were limited in clothing coupons. What to do for a newborn who needs clothes and plenty of them? The ingenuity of the Kiwis who wanted or needed to knit was amazing--#8 fencing wire became needles, tapestry yarn (not rationed) patiently gathered until enough was available to make a vest. One enterprising young girl unraveled loosely-woven sugar sacks to make a child's sweater. All this is of course set against the ironic background that New Zealand is a world-class producer of wool. Yet raw wool was merely sent overseas to be spun into carpet and other wool, and the New Zealanders found that the finished product, knitting wool, was hard to obtain and expensive, too.

What I found odd in this book were a couple of omissions and subjects only briefly touched one. One was the contribution to knitting by New Zealander Margaret Stove. She is contemporary, but this book does go up to present day, and including her would have been appropriate. I expected to see pictures of here handspun lace designs and perhaps a short section on how she learned handspinning (with a wheel and raw fleece donated by her sister so she, a schoolteacher on a limited budget, could clothe her family) . But Stove only merits a brief mention in the index. Other contemporary artists' knitting was pictured, so this omission seemed odd to me, especially because Mrs. Stove is well-known worldwide among handspinners.

The other deficiency was that Kiwicraft, which is a technique handrolling wool roving to make a thick and attractive yarn, was mentioned but the Kiwicraft yarns were not pictured. In general, the contribution and collaboration by Maori women was obliquely mentioned. While knitting and spinning is a Western contribution to New Zealand history, Kiwicraft was developed by a collaboration of missionaries and native women, and merited more illustration. It's unique to New Zealand. I wanted to know more and see more about it.

However, for a history of knitting, this is a fine addition to the library and is a fascinating insight into life in New Zealand.

This is one of the most astounding sea stories I've read. Captain Barnard's narrative is direct, simple and powerful. It really tells the story of a triple marooning--the only one I know. The introduction by Professor Dodge is a "must skip"--it is poorly written and dull. But once you get into Barnard's historic narrative, it is a compelling read. Captain Barnard's narrative begins just prior to the first days of the War of 1812. They set out upon a sealing expedition to the Falkland Islands. The Barnard family (his father is with him--also a sealing captain) is Quaker, and live a ways up the Hudson River. Once upon the Falkland Island, they set up operations (itself a remarkably interesting procedure). In the first few months of the expedition (it is supposed to last about a year or so) they see signal fires from a strange ship. It turns out to be a British ship bound from Australia to England. It has run aground on the Falklands. The Barnard family goes to the British ship's aid, knowing full well the United States is at war with the British. After the rescue (the British shipis ruined) Captain Barnard--in private--informs the British captain (there are British Marines on board) that their two countries are at war. Though they agree to neutrality during their difficulties, the Brits reneg! The British take the Barnard party prisoner--seize their ship and smaller boats, and in turn maroon Captain Barnard with two ordinary seamen on the Falkland Islands. Since few ships went to those islands then, their marooning was essentially a death sentence. The harsh winter was ahead of them. This outstanding narrative is of that marooning--and from this original marooning, things become even more complex. This is a unique read--a little known historic niche. Captain Barnard's narrative is impressive for its detail, composure and--a testimony to masterful seamanship plus mental and spiritual discipline. A must, must read.

This is one of the most astounding sea stories I've read. Captain Barnard's narrative is direct, simple and powerful. It really tells the story of a triple marooning--the only one I know. The introduction by Professor Dodge is a "must skip"--it is poorly written and dull. But once you get into Barnard's historic narrative, it is a compelling read. Captain Barnard's narrative begins just prior to the first days of the War of 1812. They set out upon a sealing expedition to the Falkland Islands. The Barnard family (his father is with him--also a sealing captain) is Quaker, and live a ways up the Hudson River. Once upon the Falkland Island, they set up operations (itself a remarkably interesting procedure). In the first few months of the expedition (it is supposed to last about a year or so) they see signal fires from a strange ship. It turns out to be a British ship bound from Australia to England. It has run aground on the Falklands. The Barnard family goes to the British ship's aid, knowing full well the United States is at war with the British. After the rescue (the British shipis ruined) Captain Barnard--in private--informs the British captain (there are British Marines on board) that their two countries are at war. Though they agree to neutrality during their difficulties, the Brits reneg! The British take the Barnard party prisoner--seize their ship and smaller boats, and in turn maroon Captain Barnard with two ordinary seamen on the Falkland Islands. Since few ships went to those islands then, their marooning was essentially a death sentence. The harsh winter was ahead of them. This outstanding narrative is of that marooning--and from this original marooning, things become even more complex. This is a unique read--a little known historic niche. Captain Barnard's narrative is impressive for its detail, composure and--a testimony to masterful seamanship plus mental and spiritual discipline. A must, must read.