NONFICTION
1 One Last Question, Prime Minister by Barry Soper (HarperCollins, $39.99)
Political memoir; a review in ReadingRoom is forthcoming from the former press secretary to David Lange, turned olive oil magnate, Ross Vintiner.
2 He Told Us by Chris Wilson & Michal Dziwulski (Allen & Unwin, $37.99)
A free copy is available in this week’s giveaway contest. It’s a hard-hitting book, particularly critical of the not very inquiring Royal Commission of Inquiry, on the Christchurch terrorist. “If we do not properly seek to understand why and how someone might commit such horrors, then we have no hope of preventing similar events from occurring in the future,” wrote the co-authors, in an excerpt at ReadingRoom.
To enter the draw to win a copy, simply say why you wish to read He Told Us, and email your thoughts to stephen11@xtra.co.nz with the subject line March 15 by midnight on Sunday, June 21.
3 The Valley by Asher Emanuel (Bridget Williams Books, $39.99)
There have been two truly great books published in NZ this year so far, the novel Party Boy by Dunedin writer Bret Dukes, and this superb work of journalism about two Hutt Valley crims by Asher Emanuel, a writer turned lawyer in Wellington.
4 Lessons on Living by Nigel Latta (HarperCollins, $39.99)
5 Stakes by Noelle McCarthy (Penguin Random House, $40)
A free copy of the broadcaster’s latest memoir (much of which involves alcoholism) was up for grabs in last week’s giveaway contest. ReadingRoom published three reviews of it—one by Joanna Cho, one by Talia Marshall, and one by Anna Rankin—but their combined 10,000 words of analysis were stared down by Peter Davis, a prolific contributor to the Newsroom comments section, when he responded: “These reviews are hard going. Am I alone in thinking they are having to try a bit too hard to make something of this book?”
Readers wanting a copy of McCarthy’s book were asked to discuss the Davis theorem. There were about a dozen entries, and one was absolutely outstanding, from Marie, who wrote a kind of memoir herself.
“I have not yet read Noelle McCarthy’s book but I felt uncomfortable reading Peter Davis’s comment,” she emailed.
“Those of us who have had privileged, stable upbringings, and particularly my generation who were brought up to keep family failings private, have no real idea of how it is to grow up in a dysfunctional family, and how hard it must be to appear ‘normal’.
“There were people in my family with alcohol problems, but their struggles were not openly discussed, one of my father’s brothers for a start. ‘Why do they do it?’ this uncle once asked my brother, who was picking him up from the gutter outside a country pub.
“On another occasion, my father asked me to find an uncle of his who had died in NZ. When I finally found Sam. The first entry was a police report from Nelson where Sam had been arrested for ‘helpless drunkenness’. He managed to join the Auckland Mounted Cavalry in WW1 but died in Rotorua in 1917, aged 37. The coroner’s report mentioned that he was known to police for illegally selling gin to returned fellow soldiers. Sam is buried in the Rotorua Soldiers Cemetery.
“In more recent years a cousin in Australia wrote of her twin sister, who was so addicted to alcohol that it took precedence over her children and finally caused her death. The sister has brought up her sons.
“One of my maternal grandmother’s brothers was an alcoholic by the time he was 15, finally died by drowning in his 40s, recovering beer he had put in the dam to cool. My father was wont to say, ‘Damned good shot, Dookie, could shoot a rabbit on the run even when he was blind drunk.’
“Another second cousin has recently had his wife and children leave him because alcohol means more to him.
“I like alcohol and enjoy a few drinks a week and always will. At almost 82 it is still a small pleasure in my life. These relatively hidden family tragedies, however, are sharp reminders of how relentlessly alcohol can become a negative force in a life. I have immense appreciation for people who choose to write publicly about their struggles with alcohol. It must take a degree of courage, and an ability to face public criticism, which I do not have.
“Noelle has my appreciation and admiration for sharing her family history and her own struggles with alcohol with the general public. The reviews you published, Steve, have given me a glimpse of a very difficult life and no, I don’t think the reviewers are trying too hard to make something of this book. They are an indication to me that the book is well worth reading and that it speaks to an issue which is perennially with us, and perennially sad.
“Go Noelle!”
Yes, go Noelle; but also, very much so, go Marie, for such a candid and powerful letter. She absolutely deserves to win a copy of Stakes by Noelle McCarthy.
6 No Pit Stops by Grant Baker (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)
7 Become Unstoppable by Gilbert Enoka (Penguin Random House, $40)
8 Samoan Made Simple by Jason Tiatia (Penguin Random House, $35)
9 A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern (Penguin Random House, $40)
10 Ara by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin Random House, $30.00)
FICTION
1 All Her Lives by Ingrid Horrocks (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $35)
Horrocks’s collection of short stories won the $65,000 fiction prize at this year’s Ockhams, a sure sign and signal that the short story remains in good health, a form that still fascinates and appeals, with its brevities and approximations and sleights of hand. Another sign appeared this week, with the news that Dunedin writer Pam Morrison pocketed a handy $US1500 as winner of the annual Lorian Hemingway short story contest run out of Key West, Florida.
More money is on offer right now as the deadline for the Sargeson Prize fast approaches. In the Open Division, first prize is $15,000, while the winner of the Secondary Schools Division receives $2000 and a one-week summer writing residency at the University of Waikato. Plus outstanding entrants in the Secondary Schools Division may be nominated for a Vice-Chancellor’s Scholarship worth up to $15,000 to study at Waikato.
Entries must be typed and 1.5-spaced in a standard legible font. The author’s name must not appear anywhere on the manuscript. Length is maximum 5000 words. Forms are online. The winning entries will be published in ReadingRoom. The deadline is June 30. Press SEND, soon, to be in with a chance.
2 Slash by Gavin Strawhan (Allen & Unwin, $37.99)
Crime novel; a review in ReadingRoom is forthcoming from Gemma Bowker-Wright.
3 Malachite (Valmora Academy) by Ashley Andersen (Hachette, $37.99)
4 The Storm Weaver by Ivy Cliffwater (Hachette, $37.99)
5 Islands Ever After by Majella Cullinane (Quentin Wilson Publishing, $37.50)
More short stories! They’re everywhere these days; and one of the stories from the author’s new collection will appear soon, very soon, in ReadingRoom. It’s extremely good.
6 Icefall by Marie Connolly (Quentin Wilson Publishing, $37.50)
Crime novel; a review in ReadingRoom is forthcoming from Gemma Bowker-Wright.
7 Black Velvet and Vengeance (Tatty Crowe 3) by Deborah Challinor (HarperCollins, $37.99)
8 Tea and Cake and Death (The Bookshop Detectives 2) by Gareth and Louise Ward (Penguin Random House, $28)
9 The Other Catherine by Lauren Keenan (Penguin Random House, $38)
10 The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $28)
