October Highlights 2010

It is entirely possible to immerse oneself in the glories of European art without having to travel to the Louvre, the Uffizzi, the Tate or the Frick. That's because New Zealand's public art galleries are richly studded with works collected by benefactors over the last 150 years and generously gifted to the nation. Many are infrequently seen and the richness of the collections often goes unacknowledged. In this outstanding book, respected curator Mary Kisler delves into the storerooms and reintroduces our historic art treasures (and... read more

New Zealand has a remarkable maritime history and many of us have a close relationship with the sea that surrounds us. No sooner had the first European settlers arrived in Auckland than they held a regatta to celebrate, and the first pure racing/pleasure yachts were built from the 1880s onwards, by the famous houses of Logan and Bailey. More than 100 years later, many of these masterpieces are still going strong, and their remarkable life stories of success, neglect and restoration tell a story of New Zealand's history. Renowned ya... read more

Through an informative and entertaining mix of hard facts, history, and accounts of the daily and seasonal routines of kakapo and their minders, Alison Ballance brings together these threads to describe the natural history of the bird and tell the inspiring story of the Kakapo Recovery Programme.

New Zealand Art is a reduced version of the major survey of our national museum's art collection Art at Te Papa, 2009.

A breath of fresh air when he was introduced to Test cricket on the Australian tour of 2001-02, Shane Bond gave New Zealand a rare fast-bowling option until his tragic defection to the rebel Indian Cricket League in 2008 - a defection forced upon him, many believe, by the self-serving intransigence of New Zealand's cricketing administrators. For a period of six years, Bond was one of the most feared bowlers in world cricket. The quickest New Zealander to reach 50 one-day international wickets, including a national best of 6 for 2... read more

In the world of New Zealand children's books, the name Joy Cowley engenders enormous respect and affection. She has published dozens and dozens of children's trade books of all kinds, such as the Mrs Wishy Washy series, the award-winning Shadrach trilogy and Hunter. And she has written literally hundreds of readers for the international educational book market. She is constantly in demand as a guest performer and speaker all over the world, but particularly in the US. Joy has also written a tantalisingly small number of very fine a... read more

Not simply a collection of recipes, this book is a culinary journey around New Zealand, discovering regional ingredients, both traditional and modern. Each chapter represents one of our 17 regions and explores three or four ingredients particular to that area, along with recipes using those ingredients. Stunning 'scene setting' photographs introduce each chapter. There are recipes to suit every taste and occasion, including a simple potato salad using Otago Jersey Bennes, barbequed Marlborough crayfish, Canterbury lamb shanks and a... read more

Louis Armstrong was the greatest jazz musician of the twentieth century and a giant of modern music culture. He knocked the Beatles off the top of the charts, wrote the finest of all jazz autobiographies - without a collaborator - and created collages that have been compared to the art of Romare Bearden. The ranks of his admirers included Johnny Cash, Jackson Pollock and Orson Welles. Offstage he was witty, introspective and unexpectedly complex, a beloved colleague with an explosive temper whose larger-than-life personality was to... read more

The extraordinary personal story of the Scottish woman who became a global superstar overnight One year ago, a modest middle-aged woman from a village in Scotland was catapulted to global fame when the YouTube video of her audition for Britain’s Got Talent touched the hearts of millions all over the world. From singing karaoke in local pubs to live performance with an eighty-piece orchestra in Japan’s legendary Budokan Arena and a record-breaking debut album, Susan Boyle has become an international superstar. This as... read more

K2 is the world's second-highest mountain. 'The Savage Mountain', as it's often called, is regarded by climbers as far more challenging than Everest. When 11 men perished on the slopes of K2 in August 2008, it was one of the single deadliest events in Himalayan climbing. Yet none of the surviving Western climbers could explain precisely what happened. Their memories were admittedly fogged by exhaustion, hypoxia, and hallucinations. The truth of what occurred lies with four Sherpa guides who were largely ignored by the mainstream me... read more

Anthony Reynolds' fascinating and detailed biography draws on scores of new interviews conducted with Cohen's band members past and present, his business associates, editors, friends, fans, producers, colleagues, enemies and peers.

As well as their revealing accounts, the author has gained access to hours of previously unpublished interviews with Cohen as well as video archive recordings from several decades. The book also includes an authoritative summary of every Cohen album, with insights and recollections supplied... read more

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The living embodiment of The Beatles, a musical juggernaut without parallel, Paul McCartney is undoubtedly the senior figure in pop music today. In this authoritative biography, journalist and acclaimed author Howard Sounes leaves no stone unturned in building the most accurate and extensive profile yet of music's greatest living legend. He is one of the biggest stars that has ever existed, the only key member left from the unquestioned 'biggest band of all time'. But despite the almost unprecedented press coverage he has received... read more

It's been a long journey for Maurice Micklewhite - born with rickets in London's poverty-stricken Elephant & Castle - to the bright lights of Hollywood.With a glittering career spanning more than five decades and starring roles which have earned him two Oscars, a knighthood, and an iconic place in the Hollywood pantheon, the man now known to us as Michael Caine looks back over it all.Funny, warm, honest, Caine brings his insider's view of Hollywood (where there's neither holly nor woods). He recalls the films, the legendary sta... read more

At forty years old, a successful writer, husband and father, no longer toiling on offshore drilling rigs, was Paul Carter happily nestled in the cotton wool of suburban life enjoying the fruits of his labour? Was he f**k! With his manic life left far behind and the perfect opportunity to take it easy stretched before him what else would a middle-aged, bike-obsessed, man want? Yes, that's right, he'd want to be the first guy to ride around Australia on an underpowered experimental motorcycle that runs on used cooking oil, wouldn't h... read more

Joe Hunter's devil is Luke Rickard, a killer who has stolen his identity and committed a vicious double murder. His motive? Revenge. His method? A blade. His mission? Kill anyone Hunter holds dear. It is a deadly duel of wits that takes Hunter from the streets of Miami to the squalid barrios of Colombia to the jungle hideaway of a drug baron. And brings him face to face with his past. Revenge is a dish best served cold and Joe needs a cool head if Rickard is not to cut and run. CUT AND RUN the fourth high-octane adventure for Joe H... read more

From the bestselling author of A Woman of Substance comes an explosive novel about one woman's journey to success. Annette Remmington is a London art consultant and private dealer at the top of her game. When a rare and long lost Rembrandt finds its way into her hands -- and sells in a frantic and high profile auction, she is at the pinnacle of her career and becomes the most talked about art dealer in the world. Marius Remmington is Annett's husband. For twenty years, Marius has groomed her into the international art star that s... read more

One cold morning in December, in a small rural town on the Swedish coast, Ake Melkersson is on his way to work when his car breaks down. Luckily he spots a garage nearby, but as he approaches he realises something is wrong. The owner of the garage lies dead, sprawled on the ground, his lower body crushed where a car has repeatedly driven over him. The murder investigation is led by Inspector Christian Tell who is something of a lone wolf. But he has very few clues to go on and the deceased's wife is out of the country on holiday. T... read more

Winner of the 2010 Man Booker Prize.

'He should have seen it coming. His life had been one mishap after another. So he should have been prepared for this one'. Julian Treslove, a professionally unspectacular and disappointed BBC worker, and Sam Finkler, a popular Jewish philosopher, writer and television personality, are old school friends. Despite a prickly relationship and very different lives, they've never quite lost touch with each other - or with their former teacher, Libor Sevick, a Czechoslovakian always more ... read more

For twenty-five years, a solitary American novelist has been writing at the desk she inherited from a young poet who disappeared at the hands of Pinochet's secret police; one day a girl claiming to be the poet's daughter arrives to take it away, sending the writer's life reeling. Across the ocean, in the leafy suburbs of London, a man caring for his dying wife discovers, among her papers, a lock of hair that unravels a terrible secret. In Jerusalem, an antiques dealer slowly reassembles his father's study, plundered by the Nazis fr... read more