New Zealand Post Book Awards announced

Three first-time authors are among the finalists of the 2013 New Zealand Post Book Awards, a feat described by judges as “an amazing achievement”.

They are:

•    The Intentions Book by Gigi Fenster
•    A Man Runs into a Woman by Sarah Jane Barnett
•    Patched: The History of Gangs in New Zealand by Jarrod Gilbert.

 

The winners will be announced at a ceremony in Auckland on 28 August. Voting for the People’s Choice award closes on the 18 August.

Posted by Cookie Fan





For more information http://booksellers.co.nz/awards/new-zealand-post-book-awards/new-zealand-post-book-award-finalists-unveiled

The Necropolis Railway by Andrew Martin

Andrew Martin’s Jim Stringer mystery series has an element of steam punk about it, with its early 1900s railway settings. The first book is The Necropolis Railway, which introduces the character of Jim Stringer, a nineteen year old who will do whatever it takes to make real his dream to be an engine driver.

Jim lands a job at Waterloo Station as a cleaner, two steps away from engine driver, but when he starts asking too many questions, no one will talk to him. It seems the previous cleaner, Henry Taylor, has disappeared suspiciously. And there are some weird goings-on down the graveyard line, a special service to the cemetery and Jim can’t keep his curiosity in check.

Jim’s snooping leads to a few narrow escapes – someone it seems has an eye on him. What’s more, his digs are miserable, with a leaking roof and no cocoa. Thank goodness his lovely landlady offers some hope for romance or he would chuck in the job and head back to the seaside northern town he hails from and a job in his dad’s butchery business. Luckily for us, he’s a plucky young lad, determined to get to the bottom of things.

The Necropolis Railway is a brilliant read with wonderful characters and plenty of lively dialogue that lets them breathe on the page. The atmospheric setting of Waterloo Station is graphically described with all its noise, soot and wintry bleakness. Jim is a terrific narrator, resourceful and with a dry, northern sense of humour – he’ll be a joy to meet again in the other books in the series – at last count there were eight!

Posted by JAM

Catalogue Link: The Necropolis Railway

About the Author

House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a lost Middle East by Anthony Shadid

This book should be an instant classic, it’s that good. The author has woven a true account of his ancestral homeland, his family history, and his own personal struggles into a powerful and evocative read.

Anthony Shadid was a foreign correspondent for the New York Times for over 15 years. During that time, he won the Pulitzer Prize for journalism, twice, for his coverage of the US invasion of Iraq and their later preparations to withdraw. Sadly, however, his life was cut short in 2012, when he died from an asthma attack while trying to ride out of Syria on horseback. This book was published posthumously.

House of Stone is set in the small Lebanese town of Jedeidet Marjayoun. It is the ancestral home of American-born Shadid and, in 2006, he decided to return there, war-weary and recently split from his first wife and daughter. Needing a project to occupy and inspire him, he set about restoring his great-grandfather’s beautiful but crumbling family home.

Infused with family histories and local custom, Shadid writes with a wry humour about his daily frustrations with local tradesmen and the pessimists who looked askance at his attempt to restore the lost grandeur of Marjayoun. Wonderfully written.

Reviewed by Young at Heart Book Group


Read more about Anthony Shadid

Catalogue Link:  House of Stone

Sidney Chambers and the Perils of the Night by James Runcie

This is James Runcie’s second instalment of Grantchester Mysteries featuring Canon Sidney Chambers, a priest with a living at Cambridge, where he also teaches a little divinity. Sidney is a pleasant, mild mannered man in his thirties who plays backgammon with his policeman pal, Geordie Keating. He is also rather nosey and perhaps this is why he finds himself embroiled in crime from time to time, and as a priest he can go where the police cannot.

The six crimes that make up this book of stories include a poisoned cricketer, a suspicious fall from a college rooftop, a maths professor murdered in his bath and a close shave Sidney experiences with the Stasi when visiting his friend Hildegarde in Berlin.

The stories are peppered with humour and engaging characters, including Sidney’s socialite friend, Amanda, and Leonard, his Dostoyevsky-reading curate. Ticking away in the background is the idea of marriage – Sidney is hopelessly slow at proposing and years have passed by while he wavers between asking either Hildegarde or Amanda.

There are interesting digressions into a wide range of subjects, such as mathematics and its connection with music, as well as physics and cricket. The delightful setting of Cambridge in the 1950s adds to a very pleasant read. The writing is superb, too. Readers who like Alexander McCall Smith will adore the Grantchester Mysteries and will be pleased to learn that there are several more books planned for the series.

Posted by JAM

Catalogue Link: Sidney Chambers and the Perils of the Night

So Far by David Trubridge

Local resident David Trubridge has an international design reputation. So Far is his just-published autobiography which showcases his work, philosophy, and design inspiration.

Tracing his career and life in a mostly linear path, the chapters are organised around the linking of earthly elements to the energy that infused particular periods of his life. While this may sound rather abstract, it provides a thematic structure for the book. The contents give a fascinating insight into the practicalities of marrying the creative with the commercial to develop a career and way of life that is both personally satisfying and financially viable.

Growing up in England, Trubridge trained as a naval architect before turning to furniture making to support his young family. In the early eighties, he and his wife, Linda, made the decision to sell their home and sail towards warmer climes along with their two preschool sons. After many years sailing the seas, the family returned to solid ground, eventually settling in Hawke’s Bay. Here he has managed to develop his work into a thriving business with products leaving his Whakatu workshop to travel around the globe.

Trubridge’s design philosophy is deeply rooted in his close relationship with the natural world. His furniture and lighting products are functional objects that reflect the forms found in nature and have been designed to have the least impact upon the environment as possible, while they simultaneously lift the spirits with their aesthetic beauty.

Trubridge has a refreshing approach to living in the modern world and he writes in a thoughtful and unhurried style that distils his philosophy of living lightly, yet creatively. His message is both timeless and timely: carry through life only what you need, but whatever you do carry should enrich your life both materially and spiritually.

The photos are gorgeous.

Posted by Spot

Catalogue Link:  So Far

Author's website

The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan

Charlotte Rogan’s novel, The Lifeboat, asks us just how far we would go in order to survive a disaster.

It is 1914 when the liner, the Empress Alexandra, is sinking and thirty-nine people are crammed into a lifeboat under the guidance of ship’s officer Mr Hardie. Among them is Grace Winter, the young bride of a wealthy banker. Mr Hardie makes some tough decisions, refusing to pick up any survivors in the water, announcing that when the seas get rough, the boat is likely to capsize unless someone volunteers to go over the side.

The story conveys the difficulties the passengers face – the tiny rations of water and food, storms and sickness, the loss of hope. The charismatic Mrs Grant turns against Mr Hardie on many decisions, gathering support where she can until the story climaxes in violence. We already know from the book’s opening scene that several passengers are being tried for murder, among them Grace Winter. Has she survived several weeks in the lifeboat only to spend the rest of her life behind bars?

Weaving together accounts of Grace’s trial, flashbacks to when she met her husband and the long days on the water, The Lifeboat is difficult to put down. The physical nature of her ordeal and the appalling despair of the survivors make for grim reading, but somehow you can’t stop. A tense and atmospheric book from an author to watch.

Posted by JAM

Catalogue Link: The Lifeboat

About the Author

Creating Room To Read by John Wood

In 1999, John Wood left a lucrative job with Microsoft to start an organisation to help equip remote Nepalese schools with libraries. In the years that have followed, the mission has expanded into 10 countries in Asia and Africa, providing the funding for building not just libraries but also schools, funding for teacher and librarian training, scholarships to enable girls to receive an education, and funding for the publishing of local language and English language children’s books.

In Creating Room To Read, Wood describes all the ups and downs experienced during the organisation’s 12 years of growth including the celebration of the opening of the 10,000th library in 2010. The book is filled with stories of Wood’s interesting interactions with people from all walks of life, from presidents, sheikhs, and billionaires to the children of the poorest of the poor. He is obviously proud of what his organisation has achieved, but he never fails to give credit to all the staff and volunteers that have made his dream possible.

An inspiring and heartwarming read, especially for a librarian.

Posted by Jessie

Catalogue Link: Creating Room to Read

More about the Room to Read project  http://www.roomtoread.org/