Recent reviews

Due to my serious lack of ever updating my blog (and my feeling that no one reads it anyway), here are the links to my reviews over the past year. All books provided by Booksellers NZ, and all links below are to their blog.

Te Ara Puoro – A journey into the world of Maori music, by Richard Nunns with Allan Thomas

Barefoot Years, by Martin Edmond

The Healthy Country? A History of Life and Death in New Zealand, by Alistair Woodward & Tony Blakely

One Life: My Mother’s Story, by Kate Grenville

Forged From Silver Dollar, by Li Feng

Two Pedants: Season One, by Sean Molloy

While some were heavy hitting, making me check my values and life choices, others made me smile and chuckle to myself.

My highlight so far was definitely One Life: My Mother’s Story by Kate Grenville, from whom I will leave you with this golden advice:

"What other people did was up to them. Your job was to live - as richly and honestly as you could - your one life."

Until next time,

K xx

Book Review: Rough on Women: Abortion in 19th-Century New Zealand, by Margaret Sparrow

Originally published on the Booksellers NZ website.

I had several people ask ‘Why would anyone volunteer to read this book?’, during the course of reading it. It took me longer than usual to read; after reading about two deaths from apparent poisoning, the last thing I wanted to move on to was the heading ‘Kate’s death – wielding a whalebone?’ Following the success of Abortion Then & Now: New Zealand abortion stories from 1940 to 1980, Margaret Sparrow has created a thorough and, at times, harrowing account of New Zealand abortions in the 1800s.

No leaf has been left unturned in this book, covering abortion laws and practice in the 19th century, through to real and bogus doctors, and even self-abortion. Using any and every resource available to her, Sparrow has created a book full of real women and their real stories. With a fleeting reference to Minnie Dean, Sparrow explores the limited choices available to women, and the extremes to which they went after having an unwanted child. These included child farming, adoption, and infanticide. The latter provides a wealth of examples of women charged with murdering their own child – these women were often sent to gaol or a lunatic asylum.

The concept of helping others comes through several times in the book. Whether they were doctors turned abortionists, a neighbour being friendly, or an employer helping their domestic servant, these people faced imprisonment, as did the woman, if caught. Chemists played an integral part in the process too, often as the first port of call to provide “patient-friendly abortion services.”

While this book covers 19th century New Zealand (as expected), Sparrow devotes a chapter to ‘Lessons from history’. She takes the time to look closely at the history of the legislation surrounding abortion, and is critical of the our current laws – “New Zealand’s current laws are no better than those of the 19th century in preventing or controlling abortions, and this is not surprising.” Reading this sentence didn’t surprise me either; during university I remember one article of a student couple’s attempt to get an abortion on the grounds of simply not being ready or wanting the child. Why should a woman be forced to lie when simply she doesn’t want a child? And for exceptional cases? The argument of ‘what is an exceptional case’ will erupt, of course. But as Sparrow reminds the reader: “That rape should not be a ground for abortion is a shameful infringement of human rights.”

So why did I elect to review this book? Because, quite simply, it’s an important issue, and I believe we don’t talk about it enough. If you’d like a hard-hitting, thought-provoking, and all together gripping read, I cannot recommend Rough on Women more. Sparrow’s critical stance and outspokenness in this field makes me smile and hope that we will have a serious change for the better in the foreseeable future.

Rough on Women: Abortion in 19th-Century New Zealand

by Margaret Sparrow

Victoria University Press

ISBN 9780864739360

Book review: City of Lies – Love, Sex, Death and the search for truth in Tehran, by Ramita Navai

Originally published on the Booksellers NZ website.

“Let’s get one thing straight: in order to live in Tehran you have to lie. Morals don’t come into it: lying in Tehran is about survival.”

Searing words form a harrowing reality, giving the reader an excellent basis to start an exceptional book. British-Iranian journalist Ramita Navai tells the real-life stories of eight protagonists in City of Lies – Love, Sex, Death and the search for truth in Tehran. The sycamore-lined Vali Asr Street is the central setting, while the stories span over years.

Navai has created a remarkable non-fiction book. Her choice of stories may make the reader think they’re reading a collection of fiction short stories. Every now and then I remembered that these were true stories, throwing me in to disbelief and I found myself researching the author and book to ensure that these weren’t made up.

The Tehran in City of Lies is one made of gangsters, housewives, terrorists, and schoolgirls. Following extensive research and interviews, Navai has been able to bring the reader in to the world of an Iranian-American terrorist who has been given an important task, a schoolgirl finding love in an unexpected place, and a basiji making a life-changing decision.

The stories reveal a Tehran riddled with political, religious, social, and sexual contradictions. In one story, following her first encounter as a prostitute “she did not feel dirty or degraded. Just scared of God”. Navai doesn’t shy away from any topic throughout the book, and an open-mind from the reader is required. The ending of at least one story left me shocked, a ringing in my ears. Just be prepared. “This was the new Tehran, where tradition and class are blended together and trumped by money.”

Navai provides a short autobiography at the end of the book, which sheds further light on her relationship with Tehran. A glossary appears also, and is accompanied by her sources divided by chapter. The sources provide excellent information for the reader, but I suggest waiting until you complete all the stories before reading them.

With an excellent mixture of stories, characters, and settings that Navai has managed to track down and document, City of Lies is a must-read for any person interested in astonishing stories of human survival.

City of Lies – Love, Sex, Death and the search for truth in Tehran
Written by Ramita Navai
Published by Weidenfield & Nicholson
ISBN 9780297871316

Book review: Thorndon, by Kirsty Gunn

Originally published on the Booksellers New Zealand blog.

I've mentioned previously I much prefer to read non-fiction over fiction – there’s something that sparks interest for me when I know what I'm reading is a true story. Delight came to me when I realised the slightly-smaller than an A5 book I’d been given to review intertwined fact and fiction perfectly. Excellent way to kill two birds with one stone. 

Published by Bridget Williams Books as part of the BWB Texts series, Kirsty Gunn’s memoir Thorndon Wellington and Home: My Katherine Mansfield Project stands proudly alongside other great New Zealand authors including Claudia Orange and Maurice Gee.

Thorndon beautifully recounts Gunn’s time in Wellington having been awarded a Randell Fellowship. Gunn comes home to the city she grew up in and swore to never return to, having set up camp in Scotland and London. "A couple of years ago I came 'home' to Wellington. I came at first alone, and then I brought my daughters with me."

Whether you know Wellington well or could care less about the city, Gunn’s account of her time spent as a Fellow here resonates with all who despise the place they grew up in. Her two daughters are able to attend the same school she did, create the same memory of the Zig-Zag stairs, and remember the way horizontal rain is created by wonderful winds.

Alongside her wonderfully written and easy to read account of Wellington, Gunn has intertwined quotes and extracts from Mansfield, as well as from biographies. A selected bibliography is included for any person looking for the place to start their Mansfield readings. Alongside these, Gunn's own stories she wrote while here sit perfectly. As a non-reader of modern fiction, I found these simply delightful to read.

Gunn has produced a simple yet effective book in Thorndon. She tells her own story, which could have been a rather dull subject, in a real and relatable way. I, for one, don't find myself particularly attached to the small town I grew up in, but something resonates with me every time I go back there. Gunn's account draws my thinking back to the words I wrote in that town, and makes me long to visit soon.

"Coming or Going. Leaving or returning. Whether dark or light, north or south, present or past… The words themselves are real. As I have written before, as I continue to write… The words themselves bring us home."

Book Review: I am Malala, by Malala Yousafzai

Originally published on the Booksellers New Zealand blog.

While some will have known her name before 2012, Malala Yousafzai has become a household name after she was shot in the head at point-blank range by the Taliban. Malala writes a rather powerful prologue detailing what she remembers and has been told about the shooting, titled ‘The Day My World Changed’, which I read on the bus on the way to work. The gunman asks a crowded school bus “Who is Malala?”, and she is shot. Tears welled in my eyes as I read the final line of the prologue “Who is Malala? I am Malala and this is my story”, and I struggled to continue reading in such a public arena, and so recommend reading this is a more private place.

Split into five parts, I Am Malala is a well-written, insightful memoir. It is full of powerful, and often harrowing, stories. Not only does it tell the story of Malala’s early life, her family and community, and her being shot, but it also tells Pakistan and the Swat Valley’s history, her family’s new life in Birmingham, and the struggles she still meets.

Malala tells the reader of her love for her father, but a few pages later, talks of walking out in the street and seeing the bodies the Taliban have left as warnings, with notes such as “Do not touch this body until 11am or you will be next” left on them. Malala recounts a trip to Abu Dhabi and feeling as if so many men were around her, “I told myself, Malala, you have already faced death. This is your second life. Don’t be afraid – if you are afraid you can’t move forward.”

She also is careful to remind the reader that she was not the only person shot that day, and tells how she misses her best friend Moniba. She explains that her new life is hard, “But like my mother I am lonely … The girls at school here treat me differently. People say ‘Oh, that’s Malala’ – they see my as ‘Malala, girls’ rights activist’.”

This autobiography was written with British journalist Christina Lamb. While reading this book, a friend asked how much I thought was written by Yousafzai herself. Books co-written with an author, or in this case one of the world’s leading foreign correspondents, often raises this question. However, with all the world knows about Malala Yousafzai, it’s hard to imagine she would let someone else completely write her own story.

The book is also littered with wonderful photos that give great insight in to Malala’s world; in the end, she is just a girl wanting to learn. The dedication, comprising of simple 16 words, made me stop and think hard about what I was about to read: “To all the girls who have faced injustice and been silenced. Together we will be heard.”

In a move that is probably not all that surprising, in November this year, I Am Malala has been banned by Pakistani education officials from private schools. They claim the book does not show enough respect for Islam and have called her a ‘tool of the west’. The president of the Pakistani private schools association is quoted as saying “Everything about Malala is now becoming clear. To me, she is representing the west, not us.” No doubt she will have taken great offence to these comments, but then again her interview on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart shows how amazing she is. Definitely worth a watch.

It is hard to believe this young woman, the youngest person to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, shortlisted for Time magazine’s Person of the Year, who spent her birthday in the United Nations making one of the most powerful speeches ever to be uttered, is only 16. If this is her story up to 16 years of age, there is no doubt in the world’s view that Malala Yousafzai will change this world for the better.

I am Malala: The Girl who stood up for Education
by Malala Yousafzai
Published by Little, Brown
ISBN 9780297870920

Book Review: How to Sail A Boat, by Matt Vance

Originally published on the Booksellers New Zealand blog. 

Having grown up in Taupo, people make assumptions around my upbringing. They ask how often I went skiing, if I enjoy fishing, and how much time was spent on boats out in the lake. The answers to these are very few times, no I don’t, and not much at all. The extent of my sailing knowledge is when I capsized the tiny boat I was sailing for the first time at Kawau Island on school camp at 12. And this remains the extent of my sailing knowledge, as author Matt Vance points out “If you are now aboard and quickly leading through these pages to find out how to tack your boat, you are in trouble.” Rather than teach the reader how to literally sail a boat, Vance has created a fundamental guide to the body and soul of sailing.

Divided into sections ranging from ‘I see the sea’, ‘A most dangerous book’, and ‘Solo’, the thirteenth edition to Awa Press’s Ginger Series does not disappoint. Vance uses stories of his own sailing experiences to take you deep in to his sailing mind and manages to create vivid images of the ocean, even when on land. “My favourite time to think about boats is during meetings.  When I’m asked to contribute I have to be careful not to blurt out ‘Lee-oh’ or ‘She’s dragging’ in case I get taken the wrong way.” He takes you below deck in ‘The Rat Effect’ to share in the less than pleasant experiences aboard Siward, where the theory that too many sailors aboard a boat “the rat effect takes over: past a certain critical density, rats in a cage go berserk.”

“Just occasionally you may find a boat that is the love of your life. It will have many things, but most of all it will have indefinable beauty.” Vance’s relationship with Siward could be compared to the courting of a fine woman from a very strict father, however, in this case the father still actually owned the yacht and Vance made constant attempts to buy her off him. Slowly he wore the owner down, being allowed privileges over the years, and his persistence eventually finally paid off with while the owner selling some of his soul to allow Vance to buy some of his back.

The section ‘Sailors’ was a particular favourite, giving an insight in to Vance’s views of the different types of sailors. There are, he explains, two types of mariners: tinkerers who enjoy working on their boats and engines but don’t enjoy sailing, and the small minority who have been “over the horizon”, which Vance clearly falls in to. On top of this, he notes that 90% of boats are rarely sailed, merely given maintenance every year or so, and the true sailors equate to about half of the remaining 10%. The section ends with the tale of a lovely couple (husband in white pants and wife in a sailor’s felt cap) declaring over chardonnay “Of course we wouldn’t keep our boat here. The cruising in Marlborough Sounds is far superior”. Deafening silence follows.

The book closes with a list of ‘Dangerous Books’ every budding sailor should read, and a very detailed glossary for all those readers who, like me, had no clue of the definition of some of Vance’s stunning words. There is no need to have an in-depth knowledge or sailing or boats to enjoy. This simple sentence sums up Vance’s life as a keen sailor and loving member of many families both related and not, and in itself is a succinct summary of this book: “‘Where’s your family?’ chirped the smallest. I pointed to the yacht. Heraclitus was right: some things had changed. I smiled. I wept.”

How to Sail a Boat
by Matt Vance
Published by Awa Press
ISBN 9781877551857

Book Review: Children of the Jacaranda Tree, by Sahar Delijani

I have awaken. Just filling in my backlog of reviews, will have an update here today or tomorrow.

This review was originally posted on the Booksellers New Zealand blog.

Book Review: Children of the Jacaranda Tree, by Sahar Delijani

This book is available from bookstores now.

Based on the childhood experiences of the author, Sahar Delijani’s debut follows Neda, Omid and Sheida – the Children of the Jacaranda Tree. Delijani creates an intricate story, spanning years and set mostly in the city of Tehran during and after the revolutionary war, but also in Iran’s Evin Prison, and Turin, Italy.

While a work of fiction, the novel is based on the experiences of Delijani and her parents, who were imprisoned in Evin during the ‘80s. The Q&A on her website gives some great insight in to her life and the story behind her writing Children of the Jacaranda Tree. As one character says in the novel, “It is all one big prison, Sheida. We are all in one big prison.”

Generally I’ll pick non-fiction over a novel, however the ‘based on real events’ element of Delijani’s novel gave me hope that I’d find something to really enjoy. Delijani creates characters that are easy to empathise with, although I’m never great with names and having many characters with similar names meant I had trouble keeping them all straight.

To its credit, Children of the Jacaranda Tree is easy to read and (based on the large font and borders) not very long. The novel is divided in to sections, each following the children at some point in time during the novel’s 1983 to 2011 span. Each section felt like a short-story in itself, rather than a complete novel, leaving the story disjointed, and I found it hard to get back in to the story if I’d put it down during a section. While Delijani has a talent for writing, to me there felt to be a lack of depth to each sentence. Throwing long words in to sentences that are already full of too many adjectives made for awkward and over-written paragraphs. There are poignant quotes that come from the novel, which brought the ‘real life’ feeling back for me; “Childhood slips away when death settles in.” Slightly depressing, but the reality people were faced with, not only in Iran, but the world over.

I don’t want to put anyone off reading Children of the Jacaranda Tree. Google the book and you’ll find many reviews from people who dearly loved it. If you want a heart-felt story, set during a truly interesting and harrowing time in history, do take the time to check out this debut. No doubt we’ll be seeing more from Sahar Delijani.

Link to Q&A on author’s website

Children of the Jacaranda Tree

by Sahar Delijani

Published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson

ISBN 9780297869030

'Full Throttle' book review

It's been a very long while since my last post. Working full time takes its toll on doing other things. But here's a review, and I'm just starting a new book too. I'm hoping to get some more writing done in these cold winter months. For now, enjoy.

Book review:

Full Throttle by John Caldwell & Trish McLean with Paul Little

 

I don’t think I’ve seen or read a flipbook since I was in intermediate. This isn’t a criticism; with two slightly different covers, Full Throttle is a refreshing change to the auto/biography genre, especially in an Australasian setting.

Full Throttle gives the life stories of CEO’s Trish McLean and John Caldwell, and the history of Retailworld Resourcing, in New Zealand and Australia. Despite being New Zealand’s second largest employer, RWR acknowledges that retail often gets a bad rap, and provides an excellent service to find excellent employees for high-quality jobs in New Zealand, Australia, and The UK. Through John’s story especially, you can see where a career in retail can take you, especially after the childhood he had.

As a flipbook, you read Trish’s story, flip the book over, read John’s story, and then read their joint story of building the business and brand of RetailWorld in the middle. The book uses a mix of first and third person, which I personally didn’t enjoy (I prefer first person), but there really isn’t anything wrong at all with it, just my own crazy reading habits.

Being a business thriving to one hit dramatically by the Global Financial Crisis, RetailWorld morphed into a franchise to survive. And is still going strong today. Trisha and John managed to pull through, despite some incredibly tough times, and tell a story that really shows what amazing working relationships (especially with the bank) can do.

“If you go from running one café to owning 10 cafes, you are no longer someone who runs a café. You are a business owner and you have to step up to that role. We are now franchisors; we are not recruitment people any more.”

The section about the business itself contains really great information for anyone looking into launching a start-up, or just generally interested in the world of business. The section has ‘take-aways’ at the end chapter, giving tips and hints Trish and John have discovered during their time together.

One thing I really did enjoy throughout Full Throttle is the sheer love both Trish and John show for their business and the people who help them do their job each day. I’ve always worked in really great retail stores, but I’m aware of debacles that can happen within the industry, and it’s refreshing to see people in charge of finding high-end management are actually fantastic at their jobs.

My one major criticism of the book is really only one based on my own background in publishing – the final draft needed a really, really good proofread. I’m distracted easily by hyphens and en dashes used interchangeably, a lack of a fullstop, or basic grammatical mistakes. But this doesn’t take away from what is, in essence, a really interesting story that you may not have necessarily picked up off the shelf.

All in all, a fantastic and engaging read for anyone interested in the world of business, or just looking to read about two interesting and totally different lives that came together to create a recruitment agency which still thrives today.

Full Throttle
by John Caldwell & Trish McLean with Paul Little
Published by RWR IP Partnership
ISBN 9780473228279

Originally published on the Booksellers NZ blog

'This is How You Lose Her' review.

So I wrote a review for The Lumière Reader. Usually I review for Booksellers NZ, and usually I stick to non-fiction because it's just what I really like. But I starting volunteering for Lumière, and when asked to review a book of short stories, I figured, why not? So This is How You Lose Her by Junot Díaz was given, I read, and I reviewed. And I found it harder than I expected. But it was finished, and it was published yesterday.

And here it is:
 

This is How You Lose Her

 

Pulitzer Prize winner Junot Díaz on the power of love.

 

Take a professor from MIT, one who has previously won a Pulitzer Prize and was the recipient of a Genius grant, give him five years, and what will he produce? A collection of short stories based around the universal—and unexpected—theme of love, and an annoying feeling of wanting to know how much of this is based on his own life.

 

It’s been five years since Junot Díaz’s last book, the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, and only his third book overall. The character of Yunior introduced in his first book, Drown, serves as the narrator in Oscar Wao, and Diaz has stuck with him again for This Is How You Lose her.

 

Comprising of nine equally fantastic stories, Yunior tells us about the power and impossibilities of the love he’s experienced. Yunior is a character we should hate; everything he does just makes us want to yell at him. And yet I sympathised with him, despite the voice in my head saying “he’s a dick.” Although the opening of the book sets up what is to come over the collection of stories, there’s still some great surprises to come. Yunior explains in the opening story, ‘The Sun, the Moon, the Stars’: “I’m not a bad guy. I know how that sounds—defensive, unscrupulous—but it’s true. I’m like everybody else: weak, full of mistakes, but basically good. Magdalena disagrees though.” And sure, we probably shouldn’t be rooting for him—after all, he makes the same mistakes over and over—but as Yunior tries so hard to make things right, we can’t help but side with the underdog.

 

What struck me about This is How You Lose Her is the way Yunior lets us into his life as though you’ve been talking smack with him for years. “You know how it is,”, he says, as if nudging us in the arm after explaining his actions. Suddenly we’re complicit in Yunior’s crimes. But not just his crimes: his father’s, his brother’s. But then he turns, and Yunior bares his soul by imagining the relationship between his father and mistress in New Jersey while the rest of the family are back in Dominican Republic; and then again through the love/hate relationship with his brother. This intimacy Díaz creates makes us want to keep turning the pages, to find out whose crimes you’ll discover this time, and who’s going to be hurt.

 

This intimacy is fuelled by the changing narratives between stories. Díaz alternates between first- and second-person narrative seamlessly and without hesitation. I was in the shoes of Veronica when Yunior relays their love back to her in ‘Flaca’; I was Yunior in ‘Miss Lora’, trying to figure out if getting involved with an older lady is a smart idea, and then there I am again, the cheater, in ‘The Cheater’s Guide to Love’—I don’t want to be, but it’s too late.

I used the word unexpected to describe this theme of love because as we read, Yunior guides us through different types of love. And these aren’t just his female conquests; as the blurb explains, it’s about “passionate love, illicit love, fading love, maternal love.” Diaz’s characters are human in a wonderfully tragic way, from his descriptions of them, through to the way love makes them act. Yunior introduces us to Pura in ‘The Pura Principle’, and explains that she’s Dominican, “As in fresh-off-the-boat-didn’t-have-no-papers Dominican,” and so she ends up in New Jersey with a kid, free-loading off anything she can sink her claws in to. ‘The Cheater’s Guide to Love’ gives us Elvis, the committed-to-his-family best friend of Yunior who’s sleeping with anything else that moves on the side. While I’m not saying this is how the whole world acts, Díaz captures something real about these characters, which begs the question how many of these people feature, or have featured, in Díaz’s own life.

After such a defensive opening and the realistic characters that feature, the nagging question of what’s real and how much is dramatised is there. Yunior takes us into his life, makes us a real part of it. But how much of it is a fictional character’s life, or the author’s? Yunior has been referred to a quasi-autobiographical character, after first appearing in the early 1990s. Recently in an interview with the New York Times, Diaz stood for the duration of the interview due to major back surgery; in ‘The Cheater’s Guide to Love’, Yunior discovers he has a serious back problem. The more I researched Díaz, the more parallels I began to draw, and the more I needed to know what was real and what wasn’t. But after finishing the book, that feeling went away. While reading This is How You Lose Her, everyone’s going to make up their own mind about Díaz and Yunior, and their relationship. I like to believe it’s mostly real; I doubt I’ll ever really know. And ultimately, everyone’s going to come away from these stories knowing something more about themselves, their lives, their friends. I have.

It takes some seriously great writing to get me interested in fiction, and without a doubt everyone needs to be following Junot Díaz. But have a Spanish to English translator within reach while you read—it helps.

 

Original source of the review: http://lumiere.net.nz/index.php/this-is-how-you-lose-her/

He's a rather facinating man, Díaz. Professor of Creative Writing at MIT, only written three books, two of which are novels, and still one of the biggest up-and-coming names in fiction.

I've been helping at Lumière with some proofreading and transcribing too. Check out the site, it's pretty choice.

I'm currently working on another review at the moment for Booksellers, will have it up in the next few weeks.

K.

'Secrets and Treasures' book review

Yes, it's been a while. Much to tell and less time to do it in. But for now, a review.

From the original post by Booksellers NZ, book review: Secrets and Treasures: Our Stories Told Through the Objects at Archives New Zealand

This book is in bookstores now. 

Just so it’s out there, I love history. Always have, always will. The teacher always made the difference for me when studying any subject and this book is no different. Secrets & Treasures is written like Ray Waru is standing with you, talking and teaching you about every detail he picked up in the short time he had at Archives New Zealand, while holding up amazing photos to accompany his words.

The book itself is simply beautiful, to compliment the outstanding work inside. Waru has done a huge amount of research, and has said in interviews the idea started with the tapes from the Erebus disaster (a topic which takes up eight pages of this almost 400 page book). The book is split in to five parts plus an introduction, and covers a huge range of topics, from the little-known Declaration of Independence of 1835, to the creation of New Zealand’s own currency in 1935, to the complaints the film censor received about The Life of Brian.

Part 4 ‘The Black Museum’ is the section that sucked me in the most. As the name suggests, it’s full of the secrets your grandma probably remembers but never wanted to tell you. These include the Crewe Murders, the Parker-Hulme murder and Amy Bock the ‘male bride’. My favourite part from the section is the story of The Bones in the Box. The first page is dominated by a photo of a seemingly harmless box, which, of course, contains bones. More correctly, the cranium of Francis Roy Wilkins. The story of Wilkins is hugely interesting and shrouded in mystery – his murder in 1947 is still unsolved. Creepy.

Waru’s writing is really quite flawless; it flows easily, making what could have been a very dry and uninteresting book into something that makes you keep wanting more. Although I wouldn’t put it in to the ‘coffee table book’ genre, it is something you can pick up and just flick through. Pick a page and start reading, or as I did, start at the beginning and read right the way through.

Waru doesn’t overbear you as the reader with information; he’s picked up some of the key moments from New Zealand’s history, and carefully written about them in such a way you just want to keep turning the pages. He’s not long winded – he knows what he wants to say, and does so in a timely fashion.

To go along with Waru’s text is some stunning photography. All of the new shots were taken by David Sanderson, an employee of Archives New Zealand, and an amazing photographer in his everyday life. There is a fantastic YouTube clip of Sanderson explaining how the cover image was shot. It’s definitely worth a watch (click on the link, do it), I don’t have a huge interest in photography, but it totally blew my mind learning the ways you can use a camera if you know how.

Although the text stands really well on its own, there’s no way this book would work without the images. Sanderson’s ability to capture something beautiful in the axle that supposedly weighed down the body of Harvey Crewe, or a reel canister filled of scenes literally cut from film reels, is really remarkable.

The depth and manner of Secrets & Treasures make it a definite must for every home around New Zealand. Waru’s words with Sanderson’s photos make it easy to read from cover to cover, or just to pick up and flick through when it’s sitting on your table. I can think of at least five people I would definitely buy this for at Christmas, it should be on everyone’s list. I haven’t even begun to cover what the book contains in this review. Trust me, it’s worth a look.

New Zealand history may not span over a huge number of years, but the depth of history we have discovered and have documented is amazing for a small country. And this book shows off a really small part of it incredibly well. Waru said on Radio New Zealand he believes there’s easily a series of books to be written about the items hidden away in the depths of Archives New Zealand. I believe it’s something that should be invested in – people often perceive history books to be dry and boring, but Secrets & Treasures throws that theory out of the water. Plus, every day history is made, so there’s always going to be material for the books. There’s no end to it.

  

Secrets and Treasures: Our Stories Told Through the Objects at Archives New Zealand

by Ray Waru

Published by Random House

ISBN 9781869796891

Review book supplied by Random House NZ via Booksellers NZ.

'This is Not the End of the Book' review

From the original post on the Booksellers blog, book review: This is Not the End of the Book

This book is in bookstores now.

“We are living in a changing, moving, renewable, ephemeral world, at exactly the same time that, paradoxically, we’re living longer and longer lives.” Jean-Claude Carrière.

As a publishing student, I’m hugely interested in the format publications take, and where the future will take us. My family got a Windows computer when I was 8, and since then I’ve never been without one around. From that point in 1998, the technology has changed so dramatically, it’s hard for anyone to guess where it’s going to go next. Now take a look at the print book – it has existed, more or less, in some form since the invention of the printing press.

This is Not the End of the Book  is a series of conversations between Italian novelist Umberto Eco (U.E.) and French screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière (J-C.C.), and curated by French writer and editor Jean-Philippe de Tonnac (J-P DE T.). Split in to chapters, the book holds a range of subjects, with the chapter titles being quite fun, from ‘The book will never die’, to ‘In praise of stupidity’ to the much more sentimental ‘What will happen to your book collections when you die?’ Held in their homes, I imagine three older men, sipping whiskey and discussing the finer points in life. And to them, these points are books.

Combined, Eco and Carrière boast a book collection of around 90,000 titles, including over 3,000 rare and ‘ancient’ books. While pangs of jealousy fill my mind, one can’t help but let them boast; they deserved it. And that’s how the rest of book went for me: pangs of jealousy amongst what one could perceive as bragging about amazing lives lived. By lives, I mean theirs, as well as all the others these men are schooled on, from ancient civilisations to their families. On the odd occasion I would read a sentence out to my partner, he would say “I really don’t care, they just sound pretentious and annoying”, or something along those lines. I didn’t see it has pretentious or boastful, I view this book simply as old friends discussing days gone by.

When I say days gone by, I mean way, way gone by. Eco and Carrière cover every era they can talk about, which between them goes from the modern era to Renaissance Italy to the lost library of Alexandria. They talk through the years, reminding people that words have been written on some surface for ages, from rocks to papyrus to Gutenberg with his printing press. They have a very fascinating conversation about ancient civilisations and how, when posed with the threats of other nations, they maintained their culture.

J-C.C. points out, “…All of the great civilisations asked themselves the same question: what to do with a culture under threat? How to save it? And what to save?” With U.E. replying, “…it is easier to save scrolls, codices, incunabula and books rather than sculptures or paintings.” I am always in awe that we know so much about so long ago, thanks to the forward thinking of these people.

Despite their love of the book, both are aware of the changing nature of technology. When thrown the question from J-C.C., “Your house is on fire – what would you save first?” U.E. replies, “…the first thing I would save is my 25-gigabite hard drive, which contains all my writing from the last thirty years.” I have no doubt nowadays everyone would also be grabbing their electronic devices, however U.E. goes on to note if he had time he’d grab his oldest books – naming one from 1490. I think my oldest book dates back to the 1960s…

For those that are worried that the book may die, don’t despair, and for those that really do believe that it will, I truly believe you’re wrong. So do Eco and Carrière; read this book, it reminded me that the book has been around in some format or another for so long, that it will always exist – in some format or another.

“Cinema, radio and even television have taken nothing from the book – nothing that is couldn’t afford to lose.”

This is Not the End of the Book

by Umberto Eco and Jean-Claude Carrière

Published by Vintage

ISBN 9780099552451

Review book supplied by Vintage, Random House via Booksellers NZ.

Book review, the second.

From the original post on the Booksellers blog, book review: The Hungry Heart.

This book is in stores now and is a finalist in the New Zealand Post Book Awards. 

“In winter, the milk freezes in the pantry, and the water in the bedroom.” William Colenso.

As I write this, these words ring a truth for me and others I know – student living, not all it’s cracked up to be.

When Booksellers NZ asked me to review a book from the New Zealand Post Book Awards shortlist, I immediately jumped to the non-fiction –my favourite genre. There I saw The Hungry Heart, and vaguely recognised the name Colenso. Intrigued, I requested, and was given.

Most know William Colenso as the missionary that protested the Treaty of Waitangi (he interrupted Hone Heke as he moved forward to sign), was kicked out of the church for fathering an illegitimate (‘interracial’) son, and for causing controversy when a new high school wanted to be named after him in Napier. In The Hungry Heart, Peter Wells mentions all of these things, while piecing together and creating a truly fascinating and detailed biography of Colenso.

As a publishing student, I was pleasantly surprised to read of Colenso’s added profession as a printer. He hand-set all 356 pages of the 1837 New Testament in Maori, and printed it on a press that required two waka lashed together to reach his house in Paihia – “It must have seemed as momentous as the arrival of the Trojan Horse inside the gates of Troy.” Colenso picked up the Maori language very quickly; this helped him create printed texts for Maori, as well as helping the job he actually came to do, be a missionary.

He also managed to create huge scandals in his life, and found himself in the middle of many confrontations, some verbal, others physical. I don’t want to ruin it for you, but Colenso was all over the place.

The remarkable thing I find about this book is Peter Wells’ ability to bring Colenso back so easily to a modern, and mostly commercial, audience. While reading, Wells involves you in every aspect – as he discovers more, you discover more about Wells’ life and journey to find Colenso, and about Colenso’s life. There are constant uses of ‘let’s’ – “Let’s look a little further…” Wells doesn’t mind reminding you that you’re reading about him writing about Colenso, the subtitle Journeys with William Colenso really does fit. You’re following Wells’ journey to find Colenso, who really was on his own life journey.

In the most basic way I can say it – I thought this book was fantastic. Wells has done an amazing job of research and writing to create it, and for that I thank him.

The one downfall is the physical weight – the book is filled with stunning photography, pictures, letters, all of which are printed on a lovely glossy and heavy paper to make each page stand out. I completely understand the need for this, but when it makes my bag weigh twice as much, I’m less likely to take it as my everyday book.

The book travels through all of Colenso’s life, focusing on his life in New Zealand since this is where he spent the majority of it. This is really the time that defined him; I have no doubt Colenso would agree with that. He had some serious highs and lows throughout his life, but without all of these, would New Zealand still know who William Colenso is today?

The Hungry Heart 
by Peter Wells
Published by Vintage, Random House NZ
ISBN 9781869794743 (Hardback)
ISBN 9781869794750 (Ebook)

Review book supplied by Vintage, Random House via Booksellers NZ.

First book review, oh the excitement.

A while ago I volunteered to start reviewing books for Booksellers NZ. My first assignment, you ask? Black Tide. Oh yes.  Here it is, and here’s the link to the original post by Booksellers.

I don’t think it’s a huge assumption to think everyone knows what the Rena oil disaster is; if not, there’s a chance you've been out of the country and not up to date with current events or you live under a rock.

Described as New Zealand’s worst maritime environmental disaster, the spill was caused by the grounding of MV Rena on the Astrolabe Reef off the coast of Tauranga on 5 October 2011. Black Tide: The Story Behind the Rena Disaster by John Julian tells of the ship’s history, the wreck, the first five days, and carries on through to explaining the city of Tauranga and the future of Rena.

Black Tide is an easy-flowing book and easy to read too; the writing style of John Julian creates a simple story that is straightforward to follow and understand. The two sections for photos are great quality and add to the story.

Julian goes in to great detail about the Rena and the surrounding disaster, it is clear he knows his stuff. He explains the history of the ship, built in 1990 and known as Zim America; each chapter begins with a quote, some directly in reference to Rena, others from difference sources and times but still on the topic.

My favourite is at the start of chapter six, The Reef (p.119): ‘It was the Law of the Sea they said. Civilisation ends at the waterline. Beyond that, we all enter the food chain, and not always right at the top.’ Hunter S. Thompson. Julian also gives decent histories at the beginning of chapters before launching in to the disaster itself. For example, a history of oil spills is given (p72). This attention to detail is great; he reflects on these spills while explaining elements of Rena too. However, I can’t help but get some impression of fleshing out. At 208 pages, Black Tide isn’t particularly long or short, but it did come out rather quickly.

Black Tide was released April 2012, after the ship split in half but before it stopped being a major issue for New Zealand (which is clearly still is). Over the first few months, the news was dominated with the event; slowly it’s been edging away from main news. However, the cost to taxpayers was just a headline around the country ($35mill), as well as the captain and navigation officer being jailed for seven months. By waiting for a few more months, these elements could have been included in, instead of attracting the feeling of a rush job to be the first book on the subject.

There were also a few minor mistakes in the texts, my favourite being on page 27, ‘…Prime Minister John , then transport…”. Not sure how ‘Key’ was missed out, considering the space isn’t quite big enough to write it in either.

The Rena disaster is no doubt a dark time for our environment. Although the book has the main points and looks deep into the disaster, instead of being mostly information one could find on the internet, I really feel that Black Tide could have benefited greatly by waiting for more of the story before being published.

Review book supplied by Hachette via Booksellers NZ.

Black Tide: The Story Behind the Rena Disaster by John Julian

Published by Hodder Moa

ISBN 9781869712709