New Zealand (504)

Sing No Sad Songs

ISBN: 9781927145067

Author: Sandra Arnold    Publisher: Canterbury University Press

At the age of 22 Rebecca Arnold, an art student from Greendale in Canterbury,was diagnosed with a rare and vicious cancer. Thirteen months later this vibrant an...


At the age of 22 Rebecca Arnold, an art student from Greendale in Canterbury,was diagnosed with a rare and vicious cancer. Thirteen months later this vibrant and talented young woman was dead, her family left to cope with a tidal wave of grief and loss. Sing No Sad Songs is a heartbreaking yet beautifully composed memoir by Rebecca’s mother, Sandra Arnold. It is a haunting story of bereavement, survival, courage and acceptance, as well as a tender account of a close mother-daughter relationship cut far too short. The story begins with the family’s move to live in Brazil for a year, during which time we get to know Rebecca and her family, and watch her blossom into womanhood in this colourful and challenging environment. Her subsequent decline and death are all the more shocking in contrast. This moving and compelling memoir is neither sentimental nor voyeuristic. It is a restrained telling of a personal journey – ‘the map I have constructed for myself’ – that is ultimately powerfully redemptive.


Bind: paperback


Pages: 220


Dimensions: 175 x 228 x 20 mm


$35.00
Every Morning, So Far, I’m Alive

ISBN: 9781988531618

Author: Wendy Parkins    Publisher: Otago University Press

Every morning, so far, I’m alive is about what it’s like to live in a world where shaking a stranger’s hand, catching a taxi or touching a door handle are...


Every morning, so far, I’m alive is about what it’s like to live in a world where shaking a stranger’s hand, catching a taxi or touching a door handle are fraught with fear and dread. This memoir charts the author’s breakdown after migrating from New Zealand to England: what begins as homesickness and career burn-out develops into depression, contamination phobia and OCD. Increasingly alienated from all the things that previously gave her life meaning and purpose – family, work, nature, literature – the author is forced to confront a question once posed by the young Virginia Woolf: ‘How is one to live in such a world?’ In this fiercely honest memoir Wendy Parkins, a former English professor, explores what it means to belong and feel at home, and how we are shaped by our first environments, both familial and physical. Describing the gradual process of recovery – as well as its reversals – it shows that returning to health can be about rediscovering how we came to be who we are, without becoming trapped by our narratives of origin. Like coming home, recovery is never quite what we expect it to be, however much we long for it. Beautifully written, intensely moving and threaded with self-deprecating humour, Every morning, so far, I’m alive is about claiming the right to tell our own story and learning to embrace the risks that the messy unpredictability of life always entails.


Bind: paperback


Pages: 220


Dimensions: 150 x 230 mm


$35.00
Time To Sing Before The Dark

ISBN: 9780473451288

Author: Helen Bascand    Publisher: The Caxton Press

Flight, song, darkness and light, history, fable and furniture. From the botanist to the birdcage, from rescue to ruin, Helen Bascand's fifth poetry collection ...


Flight, song, darkness and light, history, fable and furniture. From the botanist to the birdcage, from rescue to ruin, Helen Bascand's fifth poetry collection charts a tilting world with her customary elegance, wit and intelligence.


Bind: paperback


Pages: 94


Dimensions: 170 x 240 mm


Publication Date: 01-12-2018


$24.95
Why Dance

ISBN: 9781642556957

Author: Roger Booth    Publisher: Roger Booth

Autobiography of New Zealand dance legend Sir Jon Trimmer, whose timespan and durability as a performer is unique in world ballet. The first part, a narrative, ...


Autobiography of New Zealand dance legend Sir Jon Trimmer, whose timespan and durability as a performer is unique in world ballet. The first part, a narrative, follows Jon’s journey - The fledgling years of New Zealand Ballet founded by Poul Gnatt Training at London’s Royal Ballet School International performance with Sadler’s Wells, Australian Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet Dancing alongside Dame Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev A career with Royal New Zealand Ballet, and his knighthood The second part gives a whole quota of tips for emerging dancing, including dancing for males, retaining fitness, character dancing, and ways of making a career out of dance.


Bind: paperback


Dimensions: 165 x 230 mm


Publication Date: 30-06-2018


Tags: Biography   New Zealand
$39.99
Hey Woolfie Welcome To The World

ISBN: 9780473457754

Authors: Ray Woolf, Roger Booth    Publisher: Booth Woolf Publications

Ray Woolf - Singer, actor and television host • Ray came to New Zealand as a 17-year old pop singer from London • He joined the wave of young New Zealanders...


Ray Woolf - Singer, actor and television host • Ray came to New Zealand as a 17-year old pop singer from London • He joined the wave of young New Zealanders in the likes of C’Mon and Happen Inn on New Zealand’s only television channel • He fronted Ray Woolf and the Avengers • He entertained a lot of us as a host of Play School television kids show • He broke new ground hosting Two on One, The Ray Woolf Show and The New Ray Woolf Show • He has appeared in a host of television dramas, including Shortland Street, Marlin Bay, and Nothing Trivial • He had a role in movies, including King Kong and The Insatiable Moon • He has starred in musicals, such as West Side Story and Blood Brothers • He’s still around as everyone’s favourite crooner • What a career! The book covers both Ray Woolf’s career highlights and his performing secrets.


Bind: paperback


Dimensions: 170 x 230 mm


Publication Date: 20-12-2018


Tags: Biography   Music   New Zealand
$39.99
A Colonist's Gaze : The Life of Charles Rooking Carter

ISBN: 9780992247584

Author: John E Martin    Publisher: Wairarapa Archive

This fascinating biography of Charles Rooking Carter connects the English Victorian world and colonial New Zealand, particularly Wellington and the Wairarapa. I...


This fascinating biography of Charles Rooking Carter connects the English Victorian world and colonial New Zealand, particularly Wellington and the Wairarapa. It also, through Carter’s colonial ‘gaze’ reflected in his writings, draws out the contrast between the old world of Europe and the new antipodean world.From humble origins in England, Carter emigrated to Wellington in 1850 where he worked as a builder, contractor and architect, becoming a foremost contributor to the town’s development of harbour reclamation and public buildings. In the Wairarapa he promoted the settlement of working settlers on the land, was acknowledged for his work by having the town of Carterton named after him, and founded a large estate on the Taratahi Plain. Elected to political office, he served the province of Wellington and the Wairarapa well, assisting in Wellington becoming the capital of New Zealand in 1865. When he returned to London he continued to promote New Zealand’s interests. Carter’s considerable legacy included his generous philanthropic support of Carterton, in particular the establishment of the Carter Home, his donation of the fabulous Carter Collection of books to the Colonial Museum (Te Papa), and his bequest to the Carter Observatory in Wellington.


Bind: paperback


Pages: 328


Dimensions: 170 x 240 mm


Publication Date: 28-10-2018


Tags: Biography   History   New Zealand
$39.50
When Running Made History

ISBN: 9781988503080

Author: Roger Robinson    Publisher: Canterbury University Press

‘A front-row seat to running’s most inspiring and historic moments, with New Zealand in a major role.’ Nick Willis MNZM, two-time Olympic medallist, New Z...


‘A front-row seat to running’s most inspiring and historic moments, with New Zealand in a major role.’ Nick Willis MNZM, two-time Olympic medallist, New Zealand record-holder 1500 m ‘Roger’s account of the global rise of women’s running is the best I’ve ever seen. I’m honoured that my win in the New York Marathon and Lorraine Moller’s in the Avon Marathon are central to his story.’ Allison Roe MBE, winner and record-breaker, Boston and New York City Marathons ‘Roger Robinson is uniquely placed to write this riveting memoir. Throughout the running revolution he’s been a world-class runner, commentator, broadcaster and writer. It is an insider’s view of running – intimate, persuasive and informative.’ Lloyd Jones, Hon DLitt, award-winning New Zealand novelist, Man Booker Prize finalist About The Book: Roger Robinson has been witness to many great moments in the history of running, and to those when running made history in ways beyond sport. As an excited child at the post-war London Olympics, an ardent spectator following the drama of Peter Snell and Murray Halberg at Rome, stadium announcer at the transformative Christchurch Commonwealth Games, TV commentator when Ben Johnson got busted, and more recently as a journalist reporting live on the Boston Marathon bombings, Robinson was there. In a unique cross-over of literature, history and autobiography, Robinson tells of running in Berlin at the moment of German reunification and in New York’s Central Park the day the Twin Towers fell; he is on the TV microphone for Kenya’s first major running victory; and has to find words to help a stadium crowd mourn for the lives lost in the Christchurch earthquake. ‘When Running Made History’ is a superb depiction of the modern running movement. It provides a compelling, close-up account of the American running boom, the defiant emergence of women’s running, the glorious dawn of Africa’s ascendance, the sport’s redefinition of ageing, and its important role in environmental conservation. Robinson lets us run alongside as history is made by Emil Zátopek, Abebe Bikila, Ron Clarke, Dick Tayler, Allison Roe, Paula Radcliffe, Nick Willis, Meb Keflezighi and 85-year-old superstar Ed Whitlock. Robinson brings to life the days when running shaped the world, and shows why so many millions love to run and why running is worth loving. About the Author: Roger Robinson, now Emeritus Professor, is remembered as an outstanding teacher of English at Canterbury and Victoria universities, and by a wider public as stadium announcer at the Christchurch and Auckland Commonwealth Games, and an acclaimed commentator for TVNZ. His books include ‘Katherine Mansfield: In From the Margin’, the ‘Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature’ and ‘Heroes and Sparrows: A Celebration of Running’.   Praise for the US edition of When Running Made History (Syracuse University Press, 2018): ‘Among the countless books on athletics and running that I have reviewed over the past 60 years, this seminal book is one of the very best. Readers will be enthralled by this eloquent, knowledgeable, humorous, poignant work by a wonderfully descriptive writer.’ Mel Watman, Athletics International, UK


Bind: paperback


Pages: 328


Dimensions: 150 x 230 mm


Publication Date: 22-02-2019


$39.99
The Telegram

ISBN: 9780473462826

Author: Philippa Werry    Publisher: Pipi Press

Fourteen-year-old Beatrice Thomas lives with her widowed mother and younger sister Tilly in a small country town overshadowed by the events of World War One. Ma...


Fourteen-year-old Beatrice Thomas lives with her widowed mother and younger sister Tilly in a small country town overshadowed by the events of World War One. Many of the local boys, including Beaty's friend Caleb, are away fighting. When Beaty has to leave school, she gets a job as a telegram girl at the Post and Telegraph Office. It's a hard job, especially when she has to deliver news of war casualties. She must convince the telegram boys, and herself, that she's up to the task, at a time when women's roles were limited. Meanwhile, Caleb's letters turn darker as his initial enthusiasm fades and reality takes over. Rumours of peace start to spread, but Beaty continues delivering telegrams through the Armistice, the peace celebrations and the dreadful influenza epidemic. Soon she's running the Post Office almost single-handed. Then Caleb's letters stop arriving.


Bind: paperback


Pages: 288


Dimensions: 128 x 198 mm


Publication Date: 20-03-2019


$23.00
More of Us

ISBN: 9780473463496

Author: Adrienne Jansen    Publisher: Landing Press

Families, language, fear, loss, food and the victories that can come slowly. These are at the heart of this collection of poems by people who have come to New Z...


Families, language, fear, loss, food and the victories that can come slowly. These are at the heart of this collection of poems by people who have come to New Zealand as migrants or refugees. "More Of Us" provides a glimpse into the experiences of this diverse group of people, which includes those who made New Zealand their home decades ago, and newcomers still finding their feet. And here they all are, speaking in their own distinctive voices. The companion book to "All Of Us", a collection of poems published by Landing Press in 2018.


Bind: paperback


Pages: 92


Dimensions: 150 x 210 mm


Publication Date: 17-01-2019


$22.00
Shane Cotton - The Hanging Sky

ISBN: 9781877375255

Author: Justin Paton    Publisher: Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu

For twenty years, Shane Cotton has been one of New Zealand's most acclaimed painters. His works of the 1990s played a pivotal part in that decade's debates abou...


For twenty years, Shane Cotton has been one of New Zealand's most acclaimed painters. His works of the 1990s played a pivotal part in that decade's debates about place, belonging, and bicultural identity. In the 2000s, however, Cotton headed in a spectacular and unexpected new direction: skywards. Employing a sombre new palette of blue and black, he painted the first in what would become a major series of skyscapes vast, nocturnal spaces where birds speed and plummet. New York poet Eliot Weinberger meditates on Cotton's 'ghosts of birds'. Justin Paton plots his own encounters with Cotton's work, across six years in which the artist was 'finding space'. Geraldine Kirrihi Barlow confronts the haunting role of toi moko tattooed Maori heads in the paintings and in her own past. Meanwhile, IMA Director Robert Leonard argues that Cotton is a cultural surrealist exploring 'the treachery of images'.


Bind: hardback


Pages: 192


Dimensions: 300 x 395 mm


$49.99
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