The “Humans are Amazing” edition : The Humane Reader

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Jul 232010
 

Humans can be strange, mad, bad creatures but the best thing about them is they can also come up with some amazing things in the name of helping fellow humans, like this Humane Reader, from the same people who make the Humane PC. Something about these really appeals to me. I think this is an amazing project – I love that technology can be used to reach people and that we can change our way of thinking about “obsolescence”.

SLOW THE PRESSES A WEE BIT: UNITY BOOKS and SPORT have something to mumble…

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Jul 212010
 
SLOW THE PRESSES A WEE BIT: UNITY BOOKS and SPORT have something to mumble…

Unity Books and SPORT are stoked to announce a short story prize with a difference: The Long And The Short Of It. ENTRIES OPEN 1ST DAY OF SPRING (1ST OF SEPTEMBER) AND CLOSE ON CHRISTMAS EVE Proudly supported by: Astra Print, the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival, Federation Media & Ngatarawa Winery You might ask, why? And we might answer: ‘This competition is designed to get people excited, to encourage new fingers to bang different keys: this is for the small, the strange, the beautiful, the bountiful and above all, the best.’ —Lily Richards, Brand Manager for Unity Books Auckland ‘We want to eliminate boring “competition stories” and challenge writers to work in the territories that produce so much of the best contemporary fiction, by writers like Lydia Davis or Alice Munro.’ — Fergus Barrowman, Editor and Publisher of SPORT // WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED AT THE 2011 AUCKLAND WRITERS [...read more...]

Today’s wide world of books (with added commentary)

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Jul 202010
 

In the Telegraph, Ian McEwan says Americans are ‘profoundly bored’ by climate change. He added, with a laugh: “Or maybe it was no good, there was always that possibility.” Yes, Mr McEwan there is always that possibility. Okay, so maybe I should have called this Today’s narrow world of Snark…

What’s BookieMonster Reading? Flim-flammery! (lots of things)

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Jul 202010
 
What’s BookieMonster Reading? Flim-flammery! (lots of things)

Locas II : Maggie, Hopey & Ray by Jaime Hernandez Blog reader recommendation for the win! Thanks Craig for recommending Jaime Hernandez – upon which I ran right out to the library and got this title (I’m so suggestible). I didn’t like this quite as much as Strangers in Paradise but to be fair that is more a matter of some personal taste around narrative and not a negative comment on this title. Locas II is wild, a bit crazy, awesomely illustrated, sad and fun. I can’t comment a lot on the storyline because this is the first Jaime Hernandez I’ve read so these characters are all new to me. The story swings from female character centred to male character centred and, really, that just makes it so enjoyable to read, compared to the “action” graphic novel genre. Is that a genre? If not I just made it up – [...read more...]

Book Review: The Widow’s Daughter by Nicholas Edlin

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Jul 162010
 
Book Review: The Widow’s Daughter by Nicholas Edlin

The Widow’s Daughter by Nicholas Edlin, Penguin, RRP $30, ISBN 9780143204091, Available now. This review that has been haunting my brain for a few days now – well, ever since I finished The Widow’s Daughter. This should be a great book and I should have liked it – it has a great premise, it’s a debut novel, but the writing is technically good, it has a strong New Zealand connection… but nothing about it came together. And so much about it left me cold and wondering why I was reading it. The Widow’s Daughter focuses on Peter Sokol – American marine and surgeon who arrives in Auckland in the early 1940s and becomes involved with a mysterious, self-proclaimed British family through a growing attraction/love/obsession for their daughter, Emily. Much mystery then ensues, and the book switches between this setting and the Californian coast in the 70s, where Sokol lives with his [...read more...]

And the winner is…

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Jul 152010
 
And the winner is...

The winner of The Crime of Huey Dunstan by James McNeish is… Tonya Drabble! I’ll email you shortly! And the loser is… me. For not announcing this on Tuesday night like I was supposed to. No excuses – epic fail on my part. I’m so sorry you guys! see more Lolcats and funny pictures

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