Granta 148 by Sigrid Rausing

$28.00 NZD

Category: Literary Criticism & Essays & Journalism | Series: The\Magazine of New Writing Ser.

New fiction from Andrew O'Hagan, Elif Shafak, Adam Foulds, David Means, Jem Day Calder, Magododi OuMphela Makhene, Caroline Albertine Minor, Thomas Pierce, Adam O'Fallon Price, Amor Towles. And Tom Bamforth on the refugee camp in Bangladesh known as 'Cox's Bazaar'. Published in book form four times a y ear, Granta is respected around the world for its mix of outstanding new fiction, poetry, reportage, memoir, photography and art. ...Show more

Mantel Pieces by Hilary Mantel

$45.00 NZD

Category: Literary Criticism & Essays & Journalism

In 1987, when Hilary Mantel was first published in the London Review of Books, she wrote to the editor, Karl Miller, ‘I have no critical training whatsoever, so I am forced to be more brisk and breezy than scholarly.’ This collection of twenty reviews, essays and pieces of memoir from the next three dec ades, tells the story of what happened next. Her subjects range far and wide: Robespierre and Danton, the Hite report, Saudi Arabia where she lived for four years in the 1980s, the Bulger case, John Osborne, the Virgin Mary as well as the pop icon Madonna, a brilliant examination of Helen Duncan, Britain’s last witch. There are essays about Jane Boleyn, Charles Brandon, Christopher Marlowe and Margaret Pole, which display the astonishing insight into the Tudor mind we are familiar with from the bestselling Wolf Hall Trilogy. Her famous lecture, ‘Royal Bodies’, which caused a media frenzy, explores the place of royal women in society and our imagination. Here too are some of her LRB diaries, including her first meeting with her stepfather and a confrontation with a circus strongman. Constantly illuminating, always penetrating and often very funny, interleaved with letters and other ephemera gathered from the archive, Mantel Pieces is an irresistible selection from one of our greatest living writers. ...Show more

A Shakespeare Motley - An Illustrated Compendium by The Shakespeare The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

$30.00 NZD

Category: Literary Criticism & Essays & Journalism

A Shakespeare Motley is a delightful cabinet of Shakespearean curiosities, arranged in alphabetical order, that will inform, enthuse, intrigue, and amuse anyone who wants to know more about the life and work of the world's best-known author. Drawing unusual connections, this ingenious guide will show yo u what Hamlet's Ophelia has to do with The Tempest and Twelfth Night, and how a stage direction speaks to Elizabethan treatment of bears. With entries ranging from "apothecary" to "zephyr," this succinct book is full of captivating details illuminating all corners of Shakespeare's world. The volume is illustrated throughout with images taken exclusively from the archives of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Readers will quickly gain a vivid, authentic sense of Shakespearean times, from the fascination of falconry to the elegance of eglantine and the resonances of ring-giving. Accessible yet also full of expert insight and knowledge, this is a wonderful window on the ideas and influences that may have informed Shakespeare's work. A perfect gift for theater lovers, anglophiles, and all those fascinated by the life and work of the playwright. ...Show more

Intimations: Six Essays by Zadie Smith

$16.00 NZD

Category: Literary Criticism & Essays & Journalism

Deeply personal and powerfully moving, a short and timely series of essays on the experience of lockdown, by one of the most clear-sighted and essential writers of our time From the critically acclaimed author of Feel Free, Swing Time, White Teeth and many more 'There will be many books written about the year 2020: historical, analytic, political and comprehensive accounts. This is not any of those. What I've tried to do is organize some of the feelings and thoughts that events, so far, have provoked in me, in those scraps of time the year itself has allowed. These are, above all, personal essays: small by definition, short by necessity. Early on in the crisis, I picked up Marcus Aurelius and for the first time in my life read his Meditations not as an academic exercise, nor in pursuit of pleasure, but with the same attitude I bring to the instructions for a flat-pack table - I was in need of practical assistance. I am no more a Stoic now than I was when I opened that ancient book, but I did come out with two invaluable intimations. Talking to yourself can be useful. And writing means being overheard.' Crafted with the sharp intelligence, wit and style that have won Zadie Smith millions of fans, and suffused with a profound intimacy and tenderness in response to these unprecedented times, Intimations is a vital work of art, a gesture of connection and an act of love - an essential book in extraordinary times. ...Show more

Fall of the House of Byron - Scandal and Seduction in Georgian England by Emily Brand

$38.00 NZD

Category: Biography / Memoir

'A hauntingly beautiful portrait of the Byron dynasty' Rebecca Rideal 'Combining new research with a pacy narrative, Emily Brand introduces the glamorous and flawed Byron dynasty-William, the 'Wicked Lord', pleasure-seeking Isabella, and 'Mad Jack'-a family inheritance to match the wildest imaginings o f their most notorious descendant. A riveting read! Professor Kathryn Sutherland In the early eighteenth century, Newstead Abbey was among the most admired aristocratic homes in England. It was the abode of William, 4th Baron Byron - a popular amateur composer and artist - and his teenage wife Frances. But by the end of the century, the building had become a crumbling and ill-cared-for ruin. Surrounded by wreckage of his inheritance, the 4th Baron's dissipated son and heir William, 5th Baron Byron - known to history as the 'Wicked Lord' - lay on his deathbed alongside a handful of remaining servants and amidst a thriving population of crickets. This was the home that a small, pudgy boy of ten from Aberdeen - who the world would later come to know as Lord Byron, the Romantic poet, soldier, and adventurer - would inherit in 1798. His family, he would come to learn, had in recent decades become known for almost unfathomable levels of scandal and impropriety, from elopement, murder, and kidnapping to adultery, coercion, and thrilling near-death experiences at sea. Just as it had shocked the society of Georgian London, the outlandish and scandalous story of the Byrons - and the myths that began to rise around it - would his influence his life and poetry for posterity. The Fall of the House of Byron follows the fates of Lord Byron's ancestors over three generations in a drama that begins in rural Nottinghamshire and plays out in the gentlemen's clubs of Georgian London, amid tempests on far-flung seas, and in the glamour of pre-revolutionary France. A compelling story of a prominent and controversial characters, it is a sumptuous family portrait and an electrifying work of social history. ...Show more

Map for the Heart: Ida Valley essays by Jillian Sullivan

$35.00 NZD

Category: Literary Criticism & Essays & Journalism | Reading Level: near fine

To live in Central Otago is to come to terms with the dominance of nature. Writer Jillian Sullivan set out to walk the hills and mountains of the Ida Valley where she lives, and follow the Manuherekia River from the mountains to its confluence with the Clutha/Mata-au. Her aim was to not only explore the land and river for themselves, but the ways in which we grow in intimacy with where we live; how our histories, and those of the people who went before us, our experiences of loss and love, our awakening to what is around us, bring us closer to community - closer to a meaningful life. ...Show more

Classic Krakauer: Essays on Wilderness and Risk by Jon Krakauer

$30.00 NZD

Category: Literary Criticism & Essays & Journalism

The gripping articles collected in Classic Krakauer--originally published in periodicals such as The New Yorker, Outside, and Smithsonian--show why he is considered a standard-bearer of modern journalism. Spanning an extraordinary range of subjects and locations, these articles take us from a horrifying avalanche on Mount Everest to a volcano poised to obliterate a big chunk of greater Seattle at any moment; from a wilderness teen-therapy program run by apparent sadists to an otherworldly cave in New Mexico, studied by NASA to better understand Mars; from the notebook of one Fred Beckey, who catalogued the greatest unclimbed mountaineering routes on the planet, to the last days of legendary surfer Mark Foo. Rigorously researched and vividly written, marked by an unerring instinct for storytelling and scoop, the pieces in Classic Krakauer are unified by the author's ambivalent love affair with unruly landscapes and his relentless search for truth. ...Show more

Why Friendship Matters by Michele Mendelssohn (Editor)

$23.00 NZD

Category: Literary Criticism & Essays & Journalism | Series: Macmillan Collector's Library

A gorgeous anthology of poetry, fiction and essays about friendship from your favorite classic authors.Some friendships need celebrating, some are hard to navigate, and some need a bit of tender love and care. Delve into this anthology for a tour of all aspects of friendship - from the strength of its b onds, how it can hurt and how it runs deep. This edition is edited and introduced by writer, academic and historian, Michèle Mendelssohn. Why Friendship Matters is an inspiring collection that spans three centuries of writing and includes many beloved authors from across the globe, including Audre Lorde, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Michel de Montaigne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Jane Austen, and Alice E. Ives.Part of the Macmillan Collector's Library, a series of stunning pocket size classics. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. ...Show more

Far and Away by Adrian Gill

$38.00 NZD

Category: Literary Criticism & Essays & Journalism

James K Baxter: Complete Prose (HB 4 Volume Slipcase) by James K Baxter, ed. John Weir

$199.99 NZD

Category: Literary Criticism & Essays & Journalism

James K. Baxter was a great twentieth-century poet. He once declared, ‘In contradiction . . . I was born.’Sometimes at odds with God, often at odds with conventional society, he was at the same time a profoundly religious man and a fearless social critic who insisted that love and compassion were the on ly cure for society’s ills. His Complete Prose chronicles his life and times, his preferences and prejudices, his crises and turbulentoccasions. Its contents are remarkable for their range, coherence and passionate integrity.This four-volume set contains over a million words, in the form of reviews, essays, lectures, journal articles,drafts and rough notes, meditations, fables, stories, a short novel, interviews, letters to the editor, correspondence with friends and critics, and diary entries, covering Baxter’s entire career, from his first draft of ‘Before Sunrise’ as a teenager in 1942 to his ‘Confession to the Lord Christ’ shortly before his death in 1972. Edited with scrupulous care by John Weir, Baxter’s friend and the foremost scholar of his work, it also includes an extensive introduction, notes and references, a glossary of Māori words and phrases, biographies of key people, an index and a bibliography. The Complete Prose is a testament to Baxter’s huge contribution to New Zealand literature, culture and society.4 hardback volumes with cloth spines presented in a box. Original paintings on box by Nigel Brown.Volume format: 152 x 232mmVol. 1 – 776ppVol. 2 – 712ppVol. 3 – 584ppVol. 4 – 592pp ...Show more

The Joy of Walking by Suzy Cripps (Editor)

$23.00 NZD

Category: Literary Criticism & Essays & Journalism | Series: Macmillan Collector's Library

Classic writers remind us to saunter, march, prowl and wander in this gorgeously curated collection of writing for the everyday walker.Part of the Macmillan Collector's Library; a series of stunning pocket size classics. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This editio n is edited and introduced by Suzy Cripps.Whether walking through awe-inspiring countryside or weaving your way through crowds in the hustle and bustle of great cities, we take thousands of steps a day. Finding meaning in movement can be difficult in today's frenetic world. This may seem like a modern problem, but putting one foot in front of the other is something that authors have been writing about for centuries. Some like Gaskell, Wordsworth and Whitman extoll the virtues of walking in the countryside, be it on one's own connecting with nature or as the means to really good conversation with friends. Others like Dickens and E. M. Forster explore the thrill and dangers of moving about the city, by day or by night. In The Joy of Walking you'll find a wealth of essays, poetry and fiction celebrating and exploring the joy of walking. ...Show more

Under the Covers: Secrets of a Magazine Editor by Jenny Lynch

$38.00 NZD

Category: Biography / Memoir

Former editor Jenny Lynch takes the wraps off the unreported side of life in print, explodes myths, unearths secrets and shows that even on seemingly conservative publications such as the New Zealand Woman's Weekly things were seldom exactly as they seemed. Her memoir, aptly titled "Under the Covers", i s a revealing account of what went on behind the closed doors of various editorial offices and newsrooms during one of the most colourful periods in magazine and newspaper history. Lynch's 30-year path to her top job was full of drama and off-beat activities. But nothing she had experienced before she became editor of the Weekly prepared her for the challenges that lay ahead. Indeed, the magazine's battle for dominance in what became known as The Magazine Wars was fought against a backdrop of management turbulence and ownership changes. Peppered with the names of those who have touched the author's life, including the famous and the fleeting, "Under the Covers" will appeal to everyone who enjoys reading about the ever-changing world of print media. ...Show more