New Zealand/Aotearoa Recent Picks

November 2004

Click on the underlined title links to check the item's availability in our catalogue.

	Stonefish by Keri Hulme. (2004) "The scallops arranged in the spider lambis were succulently decadent. A bottle of rare wine had been reduced to its essence and sprinkled over the raw bodies, and rough salt, and finely-chopped redware. The flush of the shell echoed visually the wine and the seaweed, and although there were but five scallops, they were truly sweet meat. The slices of mild green pepper were almost transparent, and the tangled artfully with shreds of young daikon, and pressure-steamed fragments of ti. Hot and crisp and oil-melting, a challenging blend. And the tea, as always, was Black Dragon Tea, a hint of smoky coolness in the steam, and a consummation in the mouth. People died just to get it to these islands she had learned. She could think of worse reasons to die..'" (Huia)
	The wonder country : making New Zealand tourism by Margaret McClure. (2004) "This is the story of tourism in New Zealand from 1870 through to the end the twentieth century, written with an eye to pleasure as well as information. Government was the prime mover especially in the early days and McClure follows the development of the major tourist sites and landmark hotels - Rotorua, The Hermitage, Waitomo, The Chateau, and Milford. Later she describes the Centennial Exhibition, the establishment of the National Film Unit, the Tourist Hotel Corporation and Air New Zealand. Activities like taking the waters, skiing, fishing and climbing are as important in this story as places and institutions. The book is full of enterprising and encouraging characters and stylish parts are played by Zane Gray and the lady mountaineer." (Randomhouse)
	Gilbert Mair : Te Kooti's nemesis by Ron Crosby. (2004) "Gilbert Mair: Te Kooti's Nemisis, profiles one of the most prominent Pakeha men of early colonial New Zealand. Gilbert Mair is best known as a soldier. He commanded the No. 1 Arawa Flying Column, with whom he spent several years in hot pursuit of the elusive Te Kooti. However, Mair was a many-faceted character: he was also a surveyor, land purchase agent, government interpreter, farmer, collector and botanist. He also possessed a knowledge of te reo and tikanga that was unrivalled among Pakeha. One of the first people to visit Mt Tarawera after the disastrous eruption of 10 June 1886, Gilbert Mair played a significant part in organising relief for victims of the disaster. He was present at Parihaka in 1881, belatedly awarded the New Zealand Cross in 1886, and in 1902 was appointed the first superintendent of the Maori Councils of New Zealand." (Reed)
	At home: a century of design. (2004) "Taking the first decade of the twentieth century as its starting point, At Home joins the story of the New Zealand house just at the point when its inhabitants begin to ask whether a distinctive, uniquely New Zealand house might be possible. It then charts the way in which imported movements, fashions and styles in twentieth-century architecture and design were adopted, or adapted, by New Zealanders to create a house environment whether international in its style or an attempt at something more distinctly local. At Home goes behind the scenes of architectural history to look at the way 20th century New Zealanders lived in environments created for them by architects, designers and craftspeople united in the pursuit of the contemporary New Zealand home." (Randomhouse)

How to watch a game of rugby by Spiro Zavos. (2004)
"Spiros Zavos, a first-generation Greek New Zealander, saw his first rugby test at Wellington's Athletic Park when he was twelve years old and was struck with a lifelong passion for 'the perfect game'. In How To Watch a Game of Rugby he sets out to convince non-believers that rugby is the world's greatest game. This amusing and enlightening book will enchant not only keen rugby fans, but readers who don't know a fly half from a fullback - yet..." (Cover)

Eight days a week : the Beatles' tour of New Zealand 1964 by Graham Hutchins. (2004)
"A nostalgic look at eight tumultuous days that rocked New Zealand. The 1960s revolution ha arrived. For teenagers of the time , it was the most exciting week of their lives. Teachers were ignored and parents defied as thousands of young people devised ingenious ways of seeing their idols. The visit of the Fab Four is remembered through the reminiscences of eyewitnesses, and through a mass of photographs and memorabilia that illustrates the text. The author also assesses the long-term impact the Beatles made on New Zealand music and society at large. This is an ideal souvenir of one of the most remarkable weeks in New Zealand's history." (Cover)

Remembering : writing oral history edited by Anna Green and Megan Hutching. (2004)
"Traditionally viewed with scepticism by historians, oral history today is increasingly recognised for its ability to expand our insights into aspects of the past inaccessible through other evidence and for its potential to reinterpret historical narratives. This book, edited by two experienced oral historians, provides both sophisticated and general analysis of the complex ways in which oral history works and a rich collection of specific case studies." (Cover)

A life's sentences by Gordon McLauchlan. (2004)
"In this unusual book long-time columnist and comtroversialist Gordon McLaunchlan tracks his life and times, writing about language and change, and about New Zealand media, culture and literature. Some of the highlights are McLaunchlan's insightful and incisive observations on how our use of language is deteriorating, on falling media standards, especially television, and on politics and politicians - from the inside. More a memoir than an autobiography, A life’s Sentences features this fine writer at his very best." (Cover)

Cloud farm : high on Banks Peninsula by Jane Chetwynd. (2004)
"This is a captivating account of seduction. A city woman is unaccountably smitten by the desire to have her own piece of bush, to the point where she resigns as a professor of public health at the Christchurch School of Medicine and takes on an isolated Banks Peninsula property. Cloud farm is 165 acres of gorse-ridden, cloud-shrouded hillside 2000 feet above sea level. The house hasn't been lived in for sixty years and the rats have been having a ball. Jane Chetwynd's steady progress in the face of obstacles is impressive. Cloud Farm will appeal to anyone who has ever nursed a dream where the odds seem impossible." (Cover)

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