Appreciation

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The best photos of the Queen and her dogs

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A semi-fictional memoir by Jackson C. Payne, son of the late Bill Payne, ex-con, winner of the 1993 Sargeson Literary Fellowship, author of a classic book about New Zealand gangs, and writer in residence at the Alhambra in Three Lamps.

The son of the famous writer

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You need this book in your life, right now, this instant. Steve Braunias recommends a New Zealand classic.

Book of the week: a guide to the hot pools of New Zealand

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Alex Casey talks to Task Keddy and Harry Dickinson of Shortland Street fame, on how the progressive soap consistently challenges middle New Zealand. 

‘When it’s going well you can get away with a fuck tonne’: Shortland Street’s Blue and Gerald on bringing LGBTQIA to Ferndale

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FFS! It's Xmas Eve, and you still haven't done your Xmas shopping? We identify 10 kinds of readers and match them with 10 books published in 2016 guaranteed to bring pleasure and that.

Last-minute Xmas shopping crisis solved: 10 books for 10 kinds of people in your life

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You've seen all the other best-of books lists and as the saying goes: they're shit! Yean nah this is the only one you need, as the Spinoff's team of democratic experts bring together memoir, history, survivor's stories, boxing, shops and other subjects from real life.

Best books of 2016: the 20 best books of non-fiction

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New Zealand literature! What is it, who reads it, and why does it exist? Some or none or all of these questions are about to be answered in the first annual Spinoff Review of Books literary awards!!!

Best book, best old author, best hair – it’s the first annual Spinoff Review of Books literary awards!!!

Leonard Cohen at the Arena in Geneva, 27 October 2008

So Leonard Cohen has died. It is, says Simon Wilson, the end of the Bacchanal.

Suddenly the night has grown colder

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One of the year's best books is End of Watch, by the great master of readable fiction, Stephen King. Steve Braunias recalls an appointment with the author in London.

The shining, sort of thing: Steve Braunias meets Stephen King

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A tribute to writer Russell Haley by Ian Wedde.<br />
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Russell Haley 1934–2016: An appreciation by Ian Wedde

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Steve Braunias runs deep surveillance on the judges of the 2017 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.

Writers! Have you fucked up your chances of winning a prize by having a row or something with a judge?

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Linda Burgess examines the case of American novelist Cathleen Schine, who seems more famous for leaving New Yorker critic David Denby for another woman than she does as a writer who is adored by Meg Worlitzer and Alison Lurie.

Why Cathleen Schine is the best literary novelist you’ve never heard of

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Steve Braunias leads a special Spinoff investigation into fresh claims that 1971 was the greatest year in music ever.

Book of the Week: Was 1971 the greatest year in the history of New Zealand music?

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An excerpt taken from the introduction to Dad Goes to the Movies (1941), a World War II diary edited and published by Auckland writer Jaq Tweedie, the daughter of serviceman Les Tweedie.

The Monday Excerpt: ‘Dad told me once he thought the RSA were a bunch of fools who just liked to drink and brag’

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A tribute to the great illustrator Peter Gossage by whanau member and author Paula Morris.

Rhymes with sausage: A tribute to Peter Gossage, by Paula Morris

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Harry Potter fan Charlotte Graham reviews Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Harry Potter and the cursed script: An expert assesses the new adventure

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We conclude our special week-long look at the work of fiction master Don DeLillo with a piece written exclusively for the Spinoff by  Jesse Kavadlo, Professor of English and Humanities at the Maryville University of St Louis in Missouri, and president of the Don DeLillo Society.

DeLillo Week: A message from the Office of the President (of the Don DeLillo Society, in St Louis, Missouri)

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Every day this week we look at the work of maybe the world's greatest living writer - Don DeLillo. Today: Thom Shackleford appraises the master's latest novel, Zero K.

DeLillo Week: The world we may soon wake up to, as warned in Don DeLillo’s latest novel

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Every day this week we look at the work of maybe the world's greatest living writer - Don DeLillo. Today: a long, brilliant conversation about the master, between Tom Moody, the head of the US fiction bureau at the Spinoff, and Thom Shackleford, who has great hair.

DeLillo Week: Probably the most brilliant literary conversation ever recorded in New Zealand, as two men of letters discuss Don DeLillo

Every day this week we look at the work of maybe the world's greatest living writer - Don DeLillo. Today: Thom Shackleford walks through five of the best of the master's novels.

DeLillo Week: A bluffer’s guide to the masterpieces of maybe the world’s greatest living writer

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A cheap tent, overnight lows in the single digits and a four-legged friend for company – what could possibly go wrong?

I survived a night camping with my dog

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Exclusive: New messages released under the OIA show Rainbow acknowledged he 'didn't get the HRC job' – then suddenly he did. 

‘I didn’t get the HRC job’: Stephen Rainbow’s Human Rights Commission appointment just got weirder

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Day two of one man's foolish attempt to travel from the bottom of the country using only public transport.

The longest commute, day two: Joel makes it to Dunedin

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Home Education: On the road with the Rasmussens

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Price hikes, disappearing products and sourcing struggles – could this be the new normal for the chocolate industry?

Nobody panic, but we’re in the midst of a global chocolate crisis

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A white woman’s account of backpacking through southeast Asia? Groundbreaking. 

My Greatest Trip: Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos

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'Five words to describe my financial personality? Irresponsible but a great budgeter.'

The cost of being: A uni tutor who spends on vapes, samosas and the odd night out

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And everything else you need to know about timings, where and what to watch in our user’s guide to the Trump v Harris big day(s).

When will we know the US election results in New Zealand?

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The PM says he'll work with whoever wins the White House, but the trade minister has previously expressed concern over higher tariffs.

Todd McClay, trade, and the spectre of Trump

FFS! It’s Xmas Eve, and you still haven’t done your Xmas shopping? We identify 10 kinds of readers and match them with 10 books published in 2016 guaranteed to bring pleasure and that.

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 (Auckland University Press, $45) by Anthony Byrt

FOR SOMEONE WHO LIKES THREE HUNDRED YEARS OF UTTER DEPRAVITY

 (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, $50) by Simon Sebag Montefiore

FOR SOMEONE WHO DOESN’T MIND YET ANOTHER REFERENCE AT THE SPINOFF TO THE LATEST BOOK BY STEVE BRAUNIAS AND IS IN FACT GLAD OF THE REMINDER TO GO AND BUY THIS BEAUTIFUL AND HAUNTING COFFEE TABLE BOOK

 (Luncheon Sausage Books, $40) by Steve Braunias and Peter Black

FOR SOMEONE WHO NEEDS INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO POACH AN EGG

FOR SOMEONE LIKELY TO ENJOY A VERY CLASSY NOVEL ABOUT SEXUAL POLITICS SET IN SUBURBAN LOS ANGELES (NAMED AS THE SPINOFF’S BEST NOVEL OF THE YEAR)

FOR MUM LIKELY TO BE  TOTALLY CAPTIVATED BY AN EPIC NOVEL ABOUT FAMILY LIFE SET IN NZ FROM THE 1950s TO THE PRESENT (NAMED AS THE SPINOFF’S BEST NZ NOVEL OF THE YEAR)

FOR DAD WHO BELIEVES THAT IF HE WASN’T SADDLED WITH A MORTGAGE AND A FAMILY THEN HE’D BE ABLE TO WANDER THE EARTH AND HANDLE HIMSELF JUST LIKE JACK REACHER

FOR A KID WHO LIKES HORSEY NOVELS; FOR A KID WHO PREFERS CRAZY FASHIONISTA NOVELS

 (HarperCollins, $19.99) by Stacey Gregg; 

FOR SOMEONE WHO WILL BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO SETTLE FOR THE NEW JOHN GRISHAM

Hodder & Stoughton, $37.99) by John Grisham

The Spinoff

AppreciationDecember 24, 2016

Last-minute Xmas shopping crisis solved: 10 books for 10 kinds of people in your life

Non-fiction

Fiction

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AppreciationDecember 24, 2016

Last-minute Xmas shopping crisis solved: 10 books for 10 kinds of people in your life

Non-fiction

Fiction

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