New books to hit the spot


TOUCHDOWN is a weekly selection of outstanding new titles: books either anticipated or surprising, just out of the carton! Follow the links for more information, to purchase these books or to have them put aside for you.

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Thank you for your support. {Thomas}


28 February 2014

 
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/716777-UnnecessaryWoman-9781922147233An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine   $37.00
Aaliya lives alone with her books—books she has collected over a lifetime, books she translates into Arabic with no likelihood that they will ever be read. Suddenly a disaster threatens all she holds dear...
"An utterly unique love poem to the book and to the tenacity of the feminine spirit ... a book worthy of sitting on a shelf next to the great works whose beauty and power whose beauty and power his novel celebrates." - Los Angeles Times
"Read it once, read it twice, read other books for a decade or so, and then pick it up and read it anew. This one’s a keeper." - Independent
More praise here. We can't wait to read this!

http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/727971-ExploreEverythingPlace-hackingtheCityfromTunnelstoSkyscrapers-9781781681299
Explore Everything: Place-hacking the city by Bradley Garrett   $55.00
It is assumed that the world has been explored and charted; that there is nowhere new to go. But perhaps it is the everyday places around us - the cities we live in - that need to be rediscovered. What does it feel like to find the city's edge, to explore its forgotten tunnels and scale high above the metropolis upon unfinished skyscrapers? Explore Everything reclaims the city, recasting it as a place for endless adventures.
Look at Garrett's place-hacking blog here and be inspired.


http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/689589-ThingsComeApartATeardownManualforModernLiving-9780500516768
Things Come Apart: A teardown manual for modern living by Todd McLellan and Kyle Wiens   $49.99
They certainly do! Every conceivable piece of equipment, from a chainsaw to a DVD player to a bicycle, has been separated into its components and photographed. Hours of fascinating browsing.





http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/770096-AMileDownTheTrueStoryofaDisastrousCareeratSea-9781922182081
A Mile Down: The true story of a disastrous career at sea by David Vann   $30.00
"At once memoir, confession, travel book and thriller ... so vivid and intense you will dread to see it end...The book is a testimony of passion and courage in deadly storms and scarier calms, of a man wrestling with his ghosts and gifts in the very shadow of paradise." - Robert Morgan.
Everything Vann writes carries tectonic force.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/749682-BeyondthePage-9781849761505
Beyond the Page by Quentin Blake    $45.00
A fascinating account of Blake's more recent illustrative ventures: books, galleries, schools, books, hospitals, more books, public spaces, walls, more schools, yet more books... Wonderfully illustrated throughout.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/770372-TheSixthExtinctionAnUnnaturalHistory-9781408851227
The Sixth Extinction: An unnatural history by Elizabeth Kolbert   $37.00
Are we (mis)guiding the planet into the greatest mass extinction since an asteroid impact wiped out the dinosaurs? With half the world's species likely to disappear by 2050, which evolutionary pathways will remain open and which will be closed? Fascinating, well-written, urgent. 





http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/768083-ShovelReady-9781472214676
Shovel Ready by Adam Sternberg   $38.00
"As lean and muscular a noir thriller as I have read in a long while: swift, structured around a series of expertly timed twists and shocks, very hard to put down." - Adam Roberts, Guardian
"As fierce and sharp as a paper-cut" - Lauren Beukes 







http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/728429-CompendiumofCollectiveNouns-FromanArmoryofAardvarkstoaZealofZebras-9781452108230
A Compendium of Collective Nouns (From an armory of aardwarks to a zeal of zebras)   $65.00
An illustrated reference to over 2000 collective nouns, with stunning artwork from Woop Studios. Packed full of fascinating titbits about the very unusual English language, and a delight to look at. You will want to keep this book and you will also want to give it to someone.





http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/771157-TheTraintoParis-9781922147790
The Train to Paris by Sebastian Hampson    $37.00
Lawrence meets Elodie at a railway station. Neither knows how much their lives will be changed by the encounter. This is a book about being young in the wide world.
A surprising and compelling love story from a rising New Zealand author. .
Hear Sebastian Hampson speak here.


http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/773489-WildwoodImperium-9780670075171
Wildwood Imperium by Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis   $30.00
A young girl's midnight seance awakens a long-slumbering malevolent spirit . . . A band of runaway orphans ally with an underground collective of saboteurs and plan a daring rescue of their friends, imprisoned in the belly of an industrial wasteland . . . Two old friends draw closer to their goal of bringing together a pair of exiled toymakers in order to reanimate a mechanical boy prince . . . This is the long-awaited third book of the excellent 'Wildwood Chronicles'.


http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/773150-TheFirebirdMysteryAJackMasonAdventure-9781922147752
The Firebird Mystery by Darrell Pitt   $22.00
"Steampunk crime for kids! Jack Mason is saved from an orphanage by a brilliant and eccentric detective who thinks Jack's skills as an acrobat (he was brought up in a circus until his parents died in an accident) might come in handy. Good fun and heaps of action as Jack and Ignatius Doyle set out to save the world from the evil Professor M." - Susi





http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/762140-HomersOdysseyanAntipodeantranslationfortheearlytwenty-firstcentury-9781927242100
 Homer's Odyssey: An Antipodean Translation for the Early Twenty-first Century by Brian Dawkins   $60.00
The first full indigenous translation, using the cadences and expression of New Zealand speech. A landmark production, an epic achievement, and a good translation too.

Read about the Wellington-resident translator (and illustrator) here.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/774579-WeaverFishThe-9781922089526
 The Weaver Fish by Robert Edeson    $35.00
Cambridge linguist Edvard Tossentern, presumed dead, reappears after a balloon crash. When he staggers in from a remote swamp, gravely ill and swollen beyond recognition, his colleagues at the research station are overjoyed. But Edvard's discovery about a rare giant bird throws them all into the path of an international crime ring.





http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/770332-MakingSoapiesinKabul-9781743314272
 Making Soapies in Kabul: Hot days, crazy nights and dangerous liaisons in a war zone by Trudi-Ann Tierney   $37.00
On an impulse, Trudi-Ann Tierney, Australian producer and former actress, goes to Kabul to manage a bar. She quickly falls into the local TV industry, where she becomes responsible for producing a highly popular soapie. Trudi's staff are hugely inexperienced....
This book offers a unique insight into Afghanistan. 



http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/769749-TermsConditions-9781408852217

Terms and Conditions by Robert Glancy   $29.99
A contract lawyer with a traumatic brain injury tries to decide whether to piece together the shattered fragments of his old life or simply start a new one from scratch. One thing is certain: he is determined to teach all the scoundrels in his life to read the fine print...
A funny and poignant novel (think of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen meets The Truman Show) from a New Zealand-resident author.
"A deliciously cynical story" - Independent on Sunday
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/770350-TheBabyBoomHowitGotThatWayAnditWasntMyFaultAndIllNeverDoitAgain-9781611855739
 The Baby Boom: How it got that way (and it wasn't my fault (and I'll never do it again)) by P.J. O'Rourke    $37.00
 A hilarious look at the aging baby boomer generation.
"O'Rourke's best book ever, which is saying a lot" - Christopher Buckley
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/770082-Awakening-9780143570790
Awakening by Natalie King    $19.99
When Zelie Taylor pulls a lost necklace out of the icy waters of the lake, she has no idea what the consequences will be. At first the pendant is just freezing cold - unnaturally so - but then she hears a voice inside her head and Zelie thinks she must be going mad. She's not. Seventeen-year-old Tamas' soul has been trapped in the silver necklace since 1918. Gripping YA fiction from a New Zealand author. 



http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/767289-TheSportsGeneTalentPracticeandtheTruthAboutSuccess-9780224091626
The Sports Gene: talent, practice and the truth about success by David Epstein   $29.99
In this ground-breaking and entertaining exploration of athletic success, award-winning writer David Epstein gets to the heart of the great nature vs. nurture debate, and explodes myths about how and why humans excel (including Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hour rule).
"A wonderful book" - Malcolm Gladwell
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/770064-RomanyandTom-9781408853191
Romany and Tom by Ben Watt   $37.00
A moving and funny memoir by musician, DJ and writer Ben Watt, chronicling his parents' lives, their marriage and their decline into old age.
"Astonishingly assured ... by turns terrifying, mordantly funny and intensely moving." - Mick Brown, Daily Telegraph





http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/774565-ParisLetters-9781743519523
Paris Letters: One woman's journey from the fast lane to a slow stroll in Paris by Janice MacLeod   $29.99
The author ran away to Paris. To fund her new life, she started a personalised illustrated letter subscription service (for people who wished that they had done the same).


http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/711517-TheParticleattheEndoftheUniverseTheHuntfortheHiggsandtheDiscoveryofaNewWorld-9781780742458
The Particle at the End of the Universe: The hunt for the Higgs and the discovery of a new world by Sean Carroll   $25.00
More stock of this riveting book has finally arrived in the Southern hemisphere! Learn how the search for the postulated Higgs particle used the Standard Model to form new concepts such as 'dark matter'. Winner of the Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books 2013, and highly recommended by everyone.





http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/760117-UnpackingtheKistsTheScotsinNewZealand-9781877578670
 Unpacking the Kists: The Scots in New Zealand by Brad Patterson, Tom Brooking and Jim McAloon   $70.00
A major contribution to New Zealand colonial history and to the wider history of the thistledown diaspora.
kist (n): Sc. A chest for storing clothes and linen.






http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/690389-AChangingLandSirDonaldMcLeansMaraekakaho-1857toToday-9780992247607
A Changing Land: Sir Donald McLean's 'Maraekakaho', 1857 to today by Alan Scarfe   $55.00
As chief land purchase commissioner, Donald Maclean played a pivotal role in the nineteenth century alienation of Maori land. He also established a large sheep and cattle station in Hawke's Bay that is now iconic. This book is an interesting piece of New Zealand social and farming history.





http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/770348-TheGreatIndoorsAtHomeintheModernBritishHouse-9781846681837
The Great Indoors: At home in the modern British house by Ben Highmore   $39.99
How have technological and social changes transformed the way we live in, arrange and think about our houses? What are the unfamiliar cultural histories inherent in our most intimate surroundings?


http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/770729-TheGreatTamashaCricketCorruptionandtheTurbulentRiseofModernIndia-9781408158777
The Great Tamasha: Cricket, corruption and the turbulent rise of modern India by James Astill   $25.00
On a Bangalore night in April 2008, cricket and India changed forever. It was the first night of the Indian Premier League - cricket, but not as we knew it. It involved big money, glitz, prancing girls and Bollywood stars. It was not so much sport as tamasha: a great entertainment. The Great Tamasha examines how a game and a country, both regarded as synonymous with infinite patience, managed to produce such an event.



http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/770105-SarahThornhill-9781922079107
Sarah Thornhill by Kate Grenville   $30.00
"Gripping and illuminating" - Diana Athill
"Exuberant, cruel, surprising, a triumphant evocation of a period and a people" - New York Times Book Review

Have you read The Secret River?
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/714415-TroubleinMindStoriesfromaNeuro-PsychologistsCasebook-9781922070562
Trouble in Mind: Stories from a neuropsychologist's casebook by Jenni Ogden   $39.99
"Ogden brilliantly illustrates the role of the clinician as detective, combining the expertise of a neuroscientist, the insight of a psychologist, and the eye of a novelist. The book is wonderfully accessible to anyone interested in how the brain works." - Michael Corballis, author of Pieces of Mind 
"In the spirit of Oliver Sacks ... a remarkable journey into the inner workings of the human brain. Ogden's fascinating tales examine how we think, feel, and communicate with the world." - Danielle Ofri
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/690703-LostLuggage-9781780720449
Lost Luggage by Jordi Punti   $35.00
Four young men with different mothers and of different nations try to solve the mystery of their mutual father. Why did he abandon them? What was his dark secret? Why did he disappear?

http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/758562-TheDefections-9781782062561

 The Defections by Hannah Michell   $38.00 
"One of the most compelling, haunting and thrilling debuts I have ever read. It is a book of betrayals and borders, real and imagined, and of deceptions and desires which beautifully and dramatically evokes the spectres of Korea's past and the divisions of its present in ways reminiscent of The Quiet American or McEwan's The Innocent." - David Peace.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/742541-BestAmericanMagazineWriting2013-9780231162258
What things do thinking Americans think about, and what do they think about those things? Diverse and interesting.
"There is some brilliant writing in it." - Marie

 http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/758928-AGoodAfricanStoryHowaSmallCompanyBuiltaGlobalCoffeeBrand-9780099571926


Not only the story of a leader in the ethical coffee movement, but also a blueprint for a sustainable trade framework that benefits small local producers and reduces dependency on aid hand-outs. Acute and inspiring.


http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/774076-BeautifulOldDogsALovingTributetoOurSeniorBestFriends-9781742613246
Beautiful Old Dogs: A loving tribute to our senior best friends by David Tabatsky and Garry Gross   $25.00




        

21 February 2014

 
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/763412-AndSons-9780007552795
& Sons by David Gilbert   $35.00
A panoramic, deeply affecting story of an iconic novelist and the heartbreaking truths that fiction can hide.
"The book you've been waiting for without knowing you were waiting. Big, brilliant and terrifically funny" - Jess Walter, author of Beautiful Ruins.
"The book has the rare quality of being funny without being silly, serious without being solemn, and powerfully moving without being either sentimental or coercive" - James Lasdun Guardian



http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/765363-TheRoadtoMiddlemarchMyLifewithGeorgeEliot-9781922079329
The Road to Middlemarch: My life with George Eliot by Rebecca Mead   $40.00
"A lively reading of George Eliot’s novel, an intimate portrait of Eliot herself, and a book about the consolations of getting older." - Paris Review
"A fascinating exploration of the relationship between reader and subject, a book about the primal pleasure of reading that is in itself a huge pleasure to read." - Australian
Book trailer here.
And do you have a copy of Middlemarch itself?  



http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/764844-TheKing-9780857862952
The King by Kader Abdolah   $37.00
When Shah Naser ascends the Persian 'Sun throne' in 1848, he inherits a medieval kingdom beset by pressures to reform, industrialise and open up to the West. How will he respond? With bloody battles, intrigue and extraordinary characters, this historical novel brings a pivotal period vividly to life. 






http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/717166-IntheCityDrawingsbyNigelPeake-9781616891541  
In the City: Drawings by Nigel Peake   $39.99
Peake's hand-drawn observations capture colours, grids, surfaces, paths, rooftops, and details large and small. Through each drawing a small part of the story of the city is told, in all its beautiful and intricate forms, structures and patterns. This lovely book will help you see the city around you afresh. 
Have a flick through here.





http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/762449-IfIWereaBook-9781452121444
If I Were a Book by Jose Jorge Letria     $25.00
"If I were a book, I wouldn't want people to only pretend to have read me."
"If I were a book, I'd keep all the secrets confided to me by my readers."
Artwork and prose combine in a tender tribute to a reader's best companion. 
Have a look at the Norwegian edition being unwrapped!
Shelve this alongside A Book is a Book.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/763385-AnnihilationSouthernReachTrilogy1-9780007550692
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer   $29.99
Area X has been reclaimed by nature after being isolated from the rest of the planet for decades. The first eleven exploratory expeditions have met with bizarre fates. How will the twelfth fare?  
If Margaret Atwood and J.J. Abrams collaborated on a science fiction novel, it might look something like this. Book one of the 'Southern Reach' trilogy (all to be published this year).
 "In much of Jeff VanderMeer’s work, a kind of radiance lies beating beneath the surface of the words. Here it shines through with warm blazing incandescence." —Peter Straub (author of Lost Boy, Lost Girl)

http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/759862-ACornerofWhite-9781742612607
A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty   $19.99
When a crack between worlds opens, Madeleine, the girl-in-the-world, starts to receive letters from Elliot in the Kingdom of Cello, where reality is rather different and bells warn of attacks from dangerous Colours. Can Madeleine and Elliot help each other unravel the mysteries in their respective worlds? An original and intelligent young adult novel.
"Perfectly strange, and absolutley comical and heartfelt" - Marcus Zusak 
And, if you like this, Cracks in the Kingdom, the second book in the series has just arrived! 



http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/759879-HowtoAgeTheSchoolofLife-9780230767751
How to Age by Anne Karpf   $25.00
To become pro-aging in our anti-aging society is to accept aging as inevitable and important. This handy little handbook, drawing on science, history and personal experience, makes the case for a fully engaged life.
Also just in from 'The School of Life' series:
How to Be Alone by Sara Maitland
How to Connect With Nature by Tristan Gooley
How to Deal With Adversity by Christopher Hamilton


http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/761918-TheDisestablishmentofParadise-9780575132634
The Disestablishment of Paradise by Phillip Mann   $29.99
An ecological sci-fi thriller from a (NZ-based) master of the genre. Something has gone wrong on the planet of Paradise, the flora is in chaos, and it is decided to evacuate all settlers. Nothing is that simple. A team of researchers and another of demolition workers set off across the planet and encounter the near-mythical Dendron, the vicious Reapers and the deadly Tattersall Weeds. 




http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/778803-TelexfromCuba-9780099586999
 Telex From Cuba by Rachel Kusher   $29.99
A tour de force set in Cuba on the cusp of Castro's revolution, a time of colonial privilege, tropical rot, excess and rebellion. From the author of The Flamethrowers.
"A stunner of a novel... A fluid, eye-opening symphony of a book" - Seattle Times






http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/761492-Carthage-9780007485741
 Carthage by Joyce Carol Oates   $35.00
A young girl's disappearance rocks a community and a family, in this stirring examination of grief, faith, justice and the atrocities of war, from literary legend Joyce Carol Oates.
"A profound and poignant vision of American guilt." - John Burnside  Guardian








http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/759867-EntryIsland-9781782062219
Entry Island by Peter May   $38.00
Detective Sime Mackenzie travels to a remote island in Canada's atlantic coast to investigate a murder with links right back to the Hebridean clearances. 
From the author of the award-winning 'Lewis' trilogy.









http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/696748-JudithKerrsCreaturesACelebrationofHerLifeandWork-9780007513215
Judith Kerr's Creatures, A celebration of her life and work   $59.99
A lavishly illustrated retrospective of the much-loved author and illustrator, covering her Jewish Berlin childhood, her life as a refugee in London, her art school years, her time at the BBC, and the creation of The Tiger Who Came to Tea and all those other childhood classics. A fascinating insight into the woman behind the books.
Watch a brief interview with the 90-year-old Kerr here.


http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/763393-Gingerbread-9780732296674
Gingerbread by Robert Dinsdale   $35.00
In the depths of winter in the land of Belarus, where ancient forests straddle modern country borders, an orphaned boy and his grandfather go to scatter his mother's ashes in the woodlands... 
"Matches the rigour of McCarthy's The Road but as if the Brothers Grimm had hijacked it" - James Long
From the author of Little Exiles.





http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/671779-Crabtree-9781936365821
Crabtree by Jon & Tucker Nichols   $29.99
Join the forgetful Augustus Crabtree as he organises and catalogues all the stuff he has collected (or accumulated): all the yellow things together, all the tools and utensils, all the socks and mittens, all the things that begin with S, all the small yapping dogs. You will enjoy this!


http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/731517-DeadInterviews-9781847088277
Dead Interviews compiled by Dan Crowe   $35.00
From the intensely serious to the wildly silly, Dead Interviews grants writers the opportunity to indulge in a little literary wrist-wrestling with deceased icons. Rick Moody on Jimi Hendrix, Cynthia Ozick on Henry James, Douglas Coupland on Andy Warhol, Sam Leith on John Berryman, Geoff Dyer on Friedrich Nietzsche, A.M. Homes on Richard Nixon, David Mitchell on Samuel Johnson and James Boswell, John Burnside on Rachel Carson, ZZ Packer on Monsieur de Saint-George, Michel Faber on Marcel Duchamp, Rebecca Miller on the Marquis de Sade, Ian Rankin on Arthur Conan Doyle and Joyce Carol Oates on Robert Frost.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/767797-DerridaABiography-9780745656168
Derrida, A biography by Benoit Peeters   $39.99 
An approachable biography of the tornado who cut a swathe through western philosophy and cultural theory. 
"Lucid, intelligent and richly informative" - The Times Literary Supplement









http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/780930-Celebrating110YearsoftheAAinNelson-9780958326926
Celebrating 110 Years of the AA in Nelson, 1904-2014 by Denis Le Cren   $35.00
A well-illustrated motoring history.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/763004-TrailMagic-9781922175359






Trail Magic: Going walkabout for 2184 miles on the Appalachian Trail by Trevelyan Quest Edwards    $25.00
An enjoyable account of how the author wore out two pairs of boots in the stunning and very interesting mountainous region of the eastern USA.


http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/766451-HowTheyMetandOtherStories-9781922147769

http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/764094-InsideaPearlMyYearsinParis-9781408837856





 

 How They Met by David Levithan   $26.00
Eighteen stories, all about love, and about all kinds of love. From the aching for the one you pine for, to standing up and speaking up for the one you love, to pure joy and happiness, these love stories run the gamut of that emotion that at some point has turned every one of us inside out and upside down. Levithan is an writer of outstanding YA fiction.




 Inside a Pearl, My years in Paris by Edmund White   $39.99
White moved to Paris at the age of 43 in 1983 and immediately set about immersing himself in the cultural depths (and shallows) of his adopted city. This book, continuing the autobiographical series that began with A Boy's Own Story, is notable for its portrayal of his long, close friendship with Marie-Claude de Brunhoff, the elderly woman who inducted him into all things French.