A Handbook for Mounting Very Small Scientific Expeditions Last week I was invited to Lake Tekapo School to meet four children’s authors who were on their annual Storyline Tour. The Storylines Children’s Literature Charitable Trust of New Zealand aims to inspire children to enjoy the magic of books, especially books created for them by New Zealand writers and illustrators. One of the authors was Juliette MacIver famous for her Marmaduke Duck books. I say famous, but I wasn’t familiar with Marmaduke Duck. Well, Juliette did such an amazing performance reading Marmaduke Duck and Bernadette Bear that from now on the...
As a bookseller it is always tempting to reach for the next exciting new publication, forcing many great books from previous years to remain at the bottom of the reading pile. One such book was Small Things Like These, by Irish author Claire Keegan. This novella was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2022 but several locals finally convinced me to read it. I was not disappointed. The book is set in 1985 in a small Irish town. Bill Furlong is a coal merchant and lives a modest but comfortable life with his wife and five daughters. There were...
AMERICAN MOTHER, by Colum McCann with Diane Foley Bloomsbury, $38.99 The American mother of this memoir is Diane Foley, mother of American journalist James (Jim) Foley, who was kidnapped in northern Syria and murdered by ISIS in a public beheading that would ricochet in a video around the world. The book is written by Irish author Colum McCann who captures Diane Foley’s voice in a very authentic way. What motivated my interest in this book was that I wanted to know how a mother copes when one of her children is held in captivity in a brutal place...
THE WOMEN, by Kristin Hannah Macmillan, $37.99 It’s 1965 in California and this story about Vietnam war nurse Frankie McGrath starts with Frankie’s brother, Finley, leaving for Vietnam. Her father is very proud of Finley, as all the men in the family are “war heroes”. Frankie decides that women can be heroes too, and she signs up as an army nurse and leaves for Vietnam. Through Frankie’s eyes the reader learns about the overwhelming chaos and destruction of war, the human tragedy, and the trauma experienced by the soldiers and the medical staff. Nothing is glossed over. As...
In January booksellers often breathe a sigh of relief. They may have made a few costly mistakes when they did book buying for the Christmas season, but in January they can take a break from the barrage of new book releases and evaluate the stock that will stand the test of time. One such book will be Fungi of Aotearoa, a curious forager’s field guide. The publisher had underestimated how popular fungi and foraging are in New Zealand and the book was sold out within days of its publication in May 2023. They should have known better since our $50...
The joy of historical fiction is that what passes for leisure has an unintended educational side effect. The latest historical novel I read and am very excited about is The Women, by Kristin Hannah. Unfortunately, the book about a nurse in the Vietnam War, is not published until February, and it would be cruel to get you rushing to the library or the bookshop only to find it not available yet. However, there will be plenty other books by Kristin Hannah on the shelves with The Nightingale as one of her best-known historical novels. Most of her books feature strong,...
