July 2008

The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton $30.00 VUP.

Role-playing, reputation and the manipulation of identity combine with astute social observation in this stunning debut. A high school fails to cope with a student-teacher sex scandal and becomes a noxious breeding ground for gossip and insinuation. Meanwhile, a drama group works on their version of events. This is a compelling novel in which the lines between performance and reality are far from clear cut. Buy now

The Bolger Years edited by Margaret Clark $32.99 Dunmore Press.

A collection of memories of the political career of Jim Bolger, by people who worked with him before and during his two turbulent terms as Prime Minister of the National Government, between 1990 and 1996. Buy now

New New Zealand Poets in Performance edited by Jack Ross $44.99 AUP.

Like the previously published Classic and Contemporary volumes, this poetry anthology comes with a CD of the featured poets reading their work. This time the focus is on poets such as Tusiata Avia, Jenny Bornholdt, James Brown, Glenn Colquhoun, Anna Jackson, Andrew Johnston, Gregory O'Brien, Chris Price and others who made their names in the 1980s and later. Buy now

The Frangipani is Dead: Contemporary Pacific Art in New Zealand 1985-2005 by Karin Stevenson $60.00 HB HUIA.

Focusing on a very specific time period, Stevenson gives an understanding of the issues and other inspirations of artists at the heart of the contemporary Pacific art movement. She places the movement in the broader social context of the time - encompassing the massive economic and political changes, in particular the increasing determination and prominence of Pasifika and Tino Rangitiratanga groups. Buy now

The Pages by Murray Bail $45.00 HB Text.

Bail's first novel since Eucalyptus brings together the surviving brother and sister of a reclusive philosopher, the philosopher sent to their sheep station to assess his papers and her psychologist friend who accompanies her on the trip. Buy now

The Garden of Last Days by Andre Dubus III $36.99 Heinemann.

When her babysitter is hospitalised, April decides she can't let her three-year-old daughter stay home alone, so lets her watch videos in the office while she works. But her work is as a stripper, and tonight she has a particularly rich - and unnerving - customer. Angry, drunk AJ, who has been thrown out of the club, is another volatile part of the unhappy situation. A novel full of pathos and anguish from the author of The House of Sand and Fog. Buy now

The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway $36.99 Heinemann.

A weapon so powerful it makes your enemies literally "Go Away" has resulted in a fractured world, where a group of mismatched geek-mercenaries try to protect the borders of the Livable zone - and their own sanity. A hugely entertaining story involving ninjas, mimes, politics, pirates and an energetic storyline that will keep you guessing. Buy now

Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh $38.99 John Murray.

Aboard the Ibis, heading for the Opium Wars across the Indian Ocean, a group of misfits come adrift from their various cultural heritages and form their own family of sorts. Indians and westerners, sailors and stow-aways, they come to view one another as "jahaj-bhais" or ship-brothers, and a curious floating dynasty is born. Buy now

The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters edited by Charlotte Mosley $34.99 HarperCollins.

Between them, the six Mitford sisters were socialites and homebodies, agitators and apologists - and they covered the political spectrum from the communist Jessica to the fascists Unity and Diana. The letters they wrote to one another display their shared qualities of wit and passion, and illuminate both their personal fortunes and the rapidly changing world they lived in. Buy now

Blood River by Tim Butcher $29.99 Vintage.

Disregarding warnings that his plan to recreate Stanley's expedition into Africa is suicidal, Butcher sets out - alone. His eventual remarkable success is over-shadowed by the heart-breaking stories of the Congo which he uncovers along the way. Buy now  

1434: The Year A Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance by Gavin Menzies $36.99 Random House.

Menzies contends that the Renaissance was not due to a revival of interest in ancient civilizations, but instead emerged as a result of a new Chinese influence in Europe. Buy now

The Bolter by Frances Osbourne $37.99 Virago.

Idina Sackville, the inspiration behind Nancy Mitford's "Bolter" character, led a life that scandalized her contemporaries. Leaving her millionaire husband and their young son, she ran away to Africa with another man. A restless spirit, she went on to divorce five times. Idina's behaviour was deemed so outrageous that her identity was kept secret from Osbourne, her great-granddaughter. Buy now

When You Are Engulfed in Flames

The Last Fish Tale: The Fate of the Atlantic and Our Disappearing Fisheries by Mark Kurlansky $37.99 Jonathan Cape.

Gloucester, Massachusetts is one of the few coastal towns whose economy is still primarily based on fishing at sea. One of America's oldest sea ports, fishermen have worked out of it since the Vikings first landed. But increasingly efficient boats and the related pollution and over-fishing threaten this way of life. Kurlansky, however, believes there's reason for hope, as scientists, government regulators and fishing communities grapple together with the challeges of sustainability. Buy now