Books

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The Friday Poem: ‘Boyhood’ by Art Nahill

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Dolly-mania, new Murakami, and a brilliant local debut. 

The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending November 22

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An interview with the acclaimed journalist ahead of his appearance in Aotearoa.

‘Everything is becoming a culture war’: Jon Ronson on conspiracies and cycleways

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The acclaimed crime novelist on the words that make her shudder, having seven books on the go at once and more.  

‘I’ll try any synonym under the sun’: Jacqueline Bublitz’s crimes against language

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What caused a whole French village to hallucinate?

The case of the cursed bread: An excerpt from Una Cruickshank’s The Chthonic Cycle

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The Friday Poem: ‘FREE TRAMPOLINE’ by Sophie van Waardenberg

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Featuring the Booker Prize winner for 2024, and further evidence of the impact of book festivals on sales. 

The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending November 15

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Winnie-the-Pooh's little T-shirt represents a moral 'grey area', according to the man in charge of Gloriavale's lengthy banned books list. 'What do we gain from it?'

The case for reading books about animals wearing clothes

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Novelist Carl Shuker on the books he’s loved from childhood to now, and the new release everybody should read.

‘Effortless-seeming genius’: Carl Shuker’s favourite reads and other stories

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Two authors of an extraordinary new book on the history of Māori art discuss how they approached it, and why.

Toi Te Mana: The landmark indigenous history of Māori art has arrived

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The Friday Poem: ‘COLD EROTICA’ by Loretta Riach

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A new le Carré, a book on how to get wild in Wellington, and a sumptuous local cookbook marks the start of the summer reads.

The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending November 8

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Vic Books closed down in January 2023, but its website and Twitter handle have risen from the dead. What's going on?

What’s up with the curious resurrection of a beloved Wellington bookstore?

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An A to Z of iconic books matched with iconic holiday locations.

The ultimate holiday reads: An alphabetical guide

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The author and founder of Kiwi Christmas Books on unknowingly meeting a 'stone-cold genius', the book everyone should read and more.

‘No idea I was in the presence of genius’: Sonya Wilson on her life in books

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There's little to like about figures like American politician Vivek Ramaswamy, but there is a lot to learn.

A new novel imagines a New Zealand version of the conservative South Asian grifter

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The Friday Poem: ‘THE THING IS’ by Johanna Cosgrove

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The onward march of Intermezzo, a bundle of new releases, and Wild Robot.

The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending November 1

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Fancy some paranormal activity with your pint? Here's where to go.

These are New Zealand’s most haunted pubs

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We asked a handful of New Zealand writers for some recommended Halloween reading. Here's what they said. 

Writers pick their favourite scary stories for the spooky season

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A cat and mouse thriller that's worth putting your phone down for. 

Review: The Day of the Jackal is a riveting and ridiculous ride

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Treasury says the recession will be deeper and last longer than predicted.

Hold the roosters, no economic dawn yet

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Can a united front hold through to election time?

This week three parties stood together – can they withstand the storm to come?

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'Five words to describe my financial personality? Bills paid, time to shop.'

The cost of being: A clothes-mad 20-something who walks everywhere

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'The best TV performance of the year is by an actor most British viewers won’t recognise, in a production that most won’t see.'

‘Deserves a Bafta’: After the Party premieres in the UK to five-star reviews 

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Two new surveys show a dramatic shift in New Zealanders' drug use habits – and there has been a sharp discount in prices. 

Drugs are getting cheaper and easier to find in Aotearoa

New verse by Auckland writer Courtney Sina Meredith.

The Spinoff Review of Books is proudly brought to you by 

The Spinoff

BooksOctober 19, 2018

The Friday Poem: ‘1’ by Courtney Sina Meredith

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