Books

Fosterling

Posted 4:03am Tuesday 26th April 2011 by Feby Idrus

Author: Emma Neale. Publisher: Vintage (3/5) Dave—there’s no such thing as yetis.” But what if there were? And how would we react? These are the questions behind Emma Neale’s new novel Fosterling. Bu, the main character, is found in a remote forest after falling and Read more...

Wicked – The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

Posted 4:01am Tuesday 26th April 2011 by Stephen Fairweather

Author: Gregory Maguire. Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers (5/5) When I finished reading Wicked at 2.30am the other morning, I felt like a gold seeker panning a river and finding the mother lode. Not that I suggest good novels are as rare as gold nuggets, but this book will move you in ways Read more...

Blood Safari

Posted 5:37am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Ilka Fedor

Author: Deon Meyer. Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks (2.5/5) Deon Meyer is apparently “the best crime writer in South Africa” according to the review on the back of this book.  Set in the “lowveld” near Kruger National Park in South Africa, Blood Safari is Read more...

The Yiddish Policemen’s Union

Posted 5:35am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Leah Hamilton

Author: Michael Chabon. Publisher: Fourth Estate (4/5) The Yiddish Policemen's Union is a great tongue-in-cheek book about two homicide detectives who set out to solve a rather interesting murder. Meyer Landsman, homicide detective #1, is a recently divorced, scrawny alcoholic who doesn't sleep. Read more...

Day Walks of New Zealand – Canterbury and Kaikoura

Posted 4:34am Monday 4th April 2011 by Stefan Fairweather

Author: Mark Pickering. Publisher: Penguin (3/5) Most New Zealanders take it as a given, if not a birthright, the access we have in this country to a plethora of walks (aka tramps for the newbie foreign students reading this). But it would be interesting to ask somebody, say in Read more...

Master of Reality

Posted 4:31am Monday 4th April 2011 by Johnny Panadol

Author: John Darnielle. (4/5) Master of Reality is part of the long-running 33 1/3 series, in which each new entry is written by a different author about classic album of their choosing. John Darnielle has written his tribute to the Black Sabbath album in the form of a diary kept by a sixteen-year Read more...

The Human Mind

Posted 4:11am Monday 28th March 2011 by Sarah Maessen

Author: Robert Winston. Publisher: Bantam Books (4/5) The Human Mind captivates the reader with the characteristically informative, entertaining and fascinating style Robert Winston has become renowned for. The moustachioed presenter of the TV series “The Human Body” this time focuses Read more...

One Day

Posted 4:08am Monday 28th March 2011 by Eve Hermansson

Author: David Nicholls. Publisher: Hodder & Staughton (3/5) The relationship between Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley begins the way many do in the fine institution we call university: an attempted hook-up following a drunken party. It’s the Eighties, the two have just graduated and the future Read more...

Bloodlines

Posted 3:01am Monday 21st March 2011 by Pippa Schäffler

Author: T.K. Roxborogh. Publisher: Penguin Books (3.5/5) “Do not feel guilty that you do not love me like her. Our union will be another story, Fleance. I will be a good wife and an excellent queen”.     With this, the reader of Bloodlines is immediately propelled Read more...

The Bed of Procrustes

Posted 2:59am Monday 21st March 2011 by Kari Schmidt

Author: Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Publisher: Penguin Books (NZ) (3/5) The outer aesthetic appeal of The Bed of Procrustes is equal to that of its content. A short book, charmingly presented (with a classical sculpture adorning its cover), it consists of chapters on various aspects of living Read more...