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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28 March 2014

 
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/775464-BeyondtheStateNewZealandStateHousesfromModesttoModern-9780143570653
 Beyond the State: New Zealand State Houses from Modest to Modern by Bill McKay, Andrea Stevens and Simon Devitt   $75.00
Very well illustrated architectural and social history of state houses, from inspiration to afterlife. Devitt is a consummate architectural photographer.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/771823-KinderThanSolitude-9780007329816
 Kinder Than Solitude by Yiyun Li   $29.99
"A sleek, powerful novel about the weight of memory, the brunt of loss and the myriad ways the past can crimp a soul... A carefully assembled, sharply observed world filled with achingly real characters. Rarely are ordinary humans given such eloquent witness." - Washington Post
From the author of The Vagrants.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/764167-TheGoodLordBird-9781594486340
 The Good Lord Bird by James McBride   $37.00
"A magnificent new novel. McBride - with the same flair for historical mining, musicality of voice and outsize characterization that made his memoir The Color of Water an instant classic - pulls off this portrait masterfully, like a modern-day Mark Twain, evoking sheer glee with every page." - The New York Times Book Review
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/776995-TheCollectedWorksofAJFikry-9781408704622
 The Collected Works of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin   $29.99
What happens in a bookshop changes the lives of a widowed bookseller, a lonely book rep and an abandoned baby. 
"Fun: gentle fun. Light, but not too light." - Susi  


http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/775299-GreerTwissSculptor-9780473258764
 Greer Twiss: Sculptor by Robin Woodward and Greer Twiss   $159.99
A definitive monograph on this interesting and important  New Zealand sculptor. An exquisite production from the incomparable Ron Sang.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/778725-TheStoryofBuildings-9781406335903
 The Story of Buildings by Patrick Dillon and Stephen Biesty   $34.99
Sixteen iconic buildings are dissected by Biesty's sharpest pen. A very appealing introduction to architecture in all its minutiae. 
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/778697-TheBoyWhoClimbedintotheMoon-9781406354331
 The Boy Who Climbed into the Moon by David Almond and Polly Dunbar   $19.00
Paul believes that the moon is not the moon, but is a great hole in the sky. He has never told anyone until he meets Molly, his irrepressible neighbour, who begins to convince him that his theory might just change the world...



http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/774880-ASpyAmongFriendsKimPhilbyandtheGreatBetrayal-9781408851739
 A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal by Ben Macintyre   $37.00
Kim Philby was the most notorious British defector and Soviet mole in history. Agent, double agent, traitor and enigma, he betrayed every secret of Allied operations to the Russians in the early years of the Cold War.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/778905-FrogMusic-9781447249771
 Frog Music by Emma Donoghue   $38.00
An evocative novel of intrigue and murder, set in 1876 San Francisco, from the author of the very memorable Room
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/777175-ALoveLikeBlood-9781444751949
A Love Like Blood by Marcus Sedgwick   $38.00
A dark, compelling thriller about how a man's life can change in a moment; about where the desire for truth - and for revenge - can lead.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/774884-TheTemporaryGentleman-9780571276967
 The Temporary Gentleman by Sebastian Barry   $37.00
"A novel of beauty and excess" - The Independent
"Fascinating and moving ... daring, accommodating and humane." - John Banville  
"Casts light on what it means to be alive. Barry is an artist of the highest order" - The Guardian




http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/772924-TheFeastGoesOn-9780732297817
 The Feast Goes On by the Monday Morning Cooking Club   $59.99
A beautifully presented collection of favourite Jewish recipes
"You just want to eat everything" - Yotam Ottolenghi
"Having this book at home is pure cosy joy" - Nigella Lawson
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/778710-HaveYouSeenMyDragon-9781406353815
 Have You Seen My Dragon? by Steve Light   $27.99
Help the boy find his dragon, and find (and count) lots of other things too! The city is a fascinating place. This is a beautiful book. 
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/774888-WhileWeRunWhenWeWake2-9781743435458
 While We Run by Karen Healey   $22.00
The eagerly awaited sequel to the YA  dystopian fantasy When We Wake
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/775933-AHistoryoftheGardeninFiftyTools-9781743317969
A History of the Garden in Fifty Tools by Bill Laws   $39.99
The tools used to tickle the earth and tame the plants tell much of the evolution of the idea of the garden. 
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/769878-MyDarlingLemonThyme-9781775540212
 My Darling Lemon Thyme: Recipes from my real food kitchen by Emma Galloway   $45.00
This is food as it’s supposed to be eaten - fresh from the earth to the kitchen, seasonal, nourishing and delicious. Perfect for anyone with food intolerances (as well as for those with food tolerances!).
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/786824-EchosBones-9780571246380
 Echo's Bones by Samuel Beckett   $49.99
This is the first appearance in print of this text, which was intended as a recessional to More Pricks Than Kicks (1934). Full notes and an appendix show its importance in the development of Beckett's work. 

http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/771821-NorthangerAbbey-9780007504275
 Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid   $33.00
A modern re-imagining of Austen's Gothic classic, by the bestselling crime author. 
"A dark, daring adaptation, complete with social media and vampires." - The Independent
"Witty and shrewd, full of romance and skulduggery. I loved it." - J.K. Rowling

http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/774892-HisOwnMan-9781922070920
His Own Man by Edgard Telles Ribiero   $37.00
A chilling anatomy of power, ambition, and betrayal: a political thriller set amidst the dictatorships and toppling democracies of South America.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/778923-TheManWhoCouldntStopOCDandtheTrueStoryofaLifeLostinThought-9781447259374
 The Man Who Couldn't Stop: OCD and the true story of a life lost in thought by David Adam   $35.00
An intimate look at the power of intrusive thoughts, how our brains can turn against us and what it means to live with obsessive compulsive disorder.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/775466-JimsLetters-9780143505907
 Jim's Letters by Glyn Harper and Jenny Cooper   $25.00
Children can read letters and postcards based on actual correspondence from World War One.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/774885-TheAmberFury-9781782392767
 The Amber Fury by Natalie Haynes   $38.00
"Not only a gripping, can't-stop-turning-pages thriller, but also a beautifully drawn portrait of grief and how we find our way back to life. I loved it" - Madeleine Miller (author of The Song of Achilles)
"Impossible to put down" - Herman Koch (author of The Dinner

http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/777601-DoNoHarmStoriesofLifeDeathandBrainSurgery-9780297869870
Do No Harm: Stories of life, death and brain surgery by Henry Marsh   $39.99
What is it really like to be a brain surgeon, to hold someone's life in your hands, to drill down into the stuff that creates thought, feeling and reason? How do you live with the consequences of performing a potentially life-saving operation when it all goes wrong?
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/769707-JosephBeuys-PhaidonFocus-9780714861340
Joseph Beuys by Allan Antliff   $29.99
A well-presented introduction to one of the most interesting artists of the twentieth century, from the excellent 'Phaidon Focus' series.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/778726-TheStrangeandBeautifulSorrowsofAvaLavender-9781406348088
 The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton   $23.00
Sixteen-year-old Ava was born with the wings of a bird. In her quest to understand her peculiar disposition and a growing desire to join her peers, she ventures into the wider world. But it is a dangerous world for a naive girl...
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/742510-FullSteamAheadAGoldenAgeofCruises-9781902686790
Full Steam Ahead: A Golden Age of Cruises by Boris Danzer-Kantof   $84.00
Step aboard the most beautiful cruise ships, from the 1930s to present day! A lavishly illustrated world tour by sea, in style, all from the comfort of your armchair.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/571223-WheretheMountainMeetstheMoon-9780316038638
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin   $19.99
A Newberry Honor medal-winning story featuring magic, adventure, friendship and a dragon who can't fly. A delightful mix of fantasy and folklore.

http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/774887-WhatWasPromised-9781408850961
What Was Promised by Tobias Hill   $37.00
A well-written novel following three immigrant families through three decades of their lives in London.
"A dazzling and deeply affecting portrait of a city struggling back to prosperity and of the resilience of its people. It is a novel that questions the idea of home, and what it means to belong, and should secure Hill's reputation as one of the outstanding writers of his generation." - The Guardian
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/777392-TheStrangeDeathofFionaGriffiths-9781409140931
 The Strange Death of Fiona Griffiths by Harry Bingham   $39.99
DC Fiona Griffiths' damaged psyche is given its sternest test as she volunteers to go undercover.
"The most startling protagonist in modern crime fiction" - Sunday Times
 
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/778910-LookWhosBack-9780857052933
 Look Who's Back by Timur Vermes   $38.00
Is it OK to laugh at Hitler? Adolf Hitler reappears in contemporary times and becomes a celebrity and stand-up comedian. Is Germany still susceptible to his message?
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/778939-Fangirl-9781447263227
 Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell   $19.99
Cath and Wren are identical twins, and until recently they did absolutely everything together. Now they're off to university and Wren's decided she doesn't want to be one half of a pair any more. It's not so easy for Cath... 
"A funny and tender coming-of-age story... touching and utterly real." - Publishers Weekly
"Absolutely captivating." - Kirkus Reviews
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/768473-IsitTrue-9781921966484
 Is It True? The facts behind the things we've been told by Max Cryer   $29.99
Do St Bernard dogs really carry brandy? Does Santa Claus come from the North Pole? Did Winston Churchill coin the term "Iron Curtain"? "OK" is an American expression, right? Tulips come from Holland, don't they? Did Sarah Palin say "I can see Russia from my house"? Did Alexander Graham Bell invent the telephone? Lady Godiva rode naked through Coventry - didn't she?
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/769597-HegartyonCreativity-ThereareNoRules-9780500517246
Hegarty on Creativity: There Are No Rules by John Hegarty   $22.00
Creativity isn't an occupation, it's a preoccupation. It is at the very core of what makes us human. It's also a fundamental challenge that everyone faces in the modern world, be they in business, in education or a struggling artist or musician. 
Join the legendary advertising creative on this 50-provocation work-out.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/778925-ThingsALittleBirdToldMe-9781447271123
Things a Little Bird Told Me: Confessions of the Creative Mind by Biz Stone   $35.00
The Twitter founder (one of Time magazine's 'most influential people of the year') shares stories from his early life and his careers at Google and Twitter, and imparts his knowledge about the nature and importance of ingenuity today. All chapters are more than 140 characters long.

http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/589033-ArtofFermentationAnIn-DepthExplorationofEssentialConceptsandProcessesfromAroundtheWorld-9781603582865
The Art of Fermentation: An in-depth exploration of essential concepts and processes from around the world by Sandor Ellix Katz   $69.99
It's here! The absolute last word on how to ferment just about anything, liquid or solid.  
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/723619-100WorksofArtThatWillDefineOurAge-9780500239070
100 Works of Art That Will Define Our Age by Kelly Grovier   $95.00
Which contemporary artworks best capture the zeitgeist of the late 20th and early 21st centuries? Essential and enjoyable. We like this book.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/775996-DeadEnds-9780571308828
Dead Ends by Erin Lange   $29.99
"This tale of bullying and blackmail strikes the perfect balance between tough and tender... Witty, entertaining and heart-warming" - Guardian 






21 March 2014

 
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/764872-TheFacades-9780715647677
The Facades by Eric Lundgren    $38.00
A disconsolate legal clerk sets out to investigate the disappearance of his wife, the city's most celebrated mezzo-soprano. To track her down, he must descend into the city's underworld and confront the menacing and bizarre citizens of his hometown: rebellious librarians, shifty music critics and the minister of an apocalyptic church who has recruited his teenage son.
"A fierce, funny examination of loss... not to be missed." - Publishers Weekly
 
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/763399-TheLostASearchforSixofSixMillion-9780007550128
The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million by Daniel Mendelsohn   $28.00
Upon discovering a cache of deperate letters written to his grandfather in 1939, Mendelsohn embarked on a hunt across a dozen countries for eyewitnesses to the fates of six relatives who disappeared during the holocaust. 
"A powerfully moving work, reminiscent of the richly expansive prose works of Proust and the elusive texts of W.G. Sebald. A remarkable achievement." - Joyce Carol Oates
"Epic and personal, meditative and suspenseful, tragic and at times hilarious. A wonderful book" - Jonathan Safran Foer
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/767636-AFirstPlace-9780857984050
 A First Place by David Malouf   $35.00
A wide-ranging collection of personal essays from this outstanding writer, examining (as does his fiction) the fraught functioning of the individual in society, place and history.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/770342-GeekSublimeWritingFictionCodingSoftware-9780571310302
Geek Sublime: Writing Fiction, Coding Software by Vikram Chandra   $35.00
The novelist on his twin obsessions: writing and coding. What is the relationship between the two? Is there such a thing as the sublime in code? Can we ascribe beauty to the craft of coding?
"A fascinating and often beautiful new book, a kind of techno-artistic memoir that is informed by his unusual double ability as both novelist and coder." - Guardian
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/765762-DowntotheSeainShipsOfAgelessOceansandModernMen-9780701183103
Down to the Sea in Ships: Of Ageless Oceans and Modern Men by Horatio Clare   $49.99
Acclaimed nature writer Horatio Clare travels the great oceans on cargo ships, and witnesses the collision of two temperaments: man and the sea.
"Stupendous and extraordinarily exciting. What Clare demonstrates, even beyond his undoubted gifts as writer, is his basic humanity. I read his wonderful book with gratitude for his insight." - Philip Hoare (author of The Sea Inside and Leviathan)
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/683889-UnexpectedLessonsinLove-9781848547827
 Unexpected Lessons in Love by Bernardine Bishop   $39.99
Cecilia Banks has a great deal on her plate. When her son Ian turns up on her doostep with the unexpected consequence of a brief fling, she feels she has no choice but to take the baby into her life.
"This is one of the most enjoyable books I've read in years. I found it completely gripping, frank, courageous and entertaining. I felt better for reading it. It's happy and it's cheering, with a beautiful warmth to it, achieved without a moment of sentimentality. I loved it." - Margaret Drabble [you can't ask for a more effusive recommendation that that!]


http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/769545-TheLookofLoveRomanticIllustrationThroughtheAges-9780712357197
The Look of Love: Romantic Illustration Through the Ages   $39.99
A trove of illustrations, from the flirtatious to the kitsch, the charming to the ironic - from the eclectic collections of the British Library: fashion magazines, medieval illuminated manuscripts, book covers, paintings and cartoons. From exquisite depictions of courtly love in the Middle Ages to the pulp novels of the twentieth century, from elves in fairy-land to a honeymoon in space, love is everywhere.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/774121-Reckless-9781782066439
Reckless by William Nicholson   $38.00
A gripping novel woven into a world in crisis, from Hiroshima to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Dramatis personae include Lord Mountbatten, Christine Keeler and the Astors.
"Hard to put down." - Guardian
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/763453-TheLimits-9781869408060
 The Limits by Alice Miller   $25.00
The poems in this collection ask you to force yourself beyond your own boundaries. They are curious, restless, bold; they marry lyrical music and intricate metaphor as they search for other human voices beyond the rumblings of the apocalypse and the stubbornness of myth.
Interview here.
The poet reads here.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/770672-NorthofNowhere-9781444007930
 North of Nowhere by Liz Kessler   $19.99
Thirteen-year-old Mia tries to solve the mystery of her grandfather’s disappearance and make a friend in this time-travel adventure exploring the lasting bonds of family.


http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/770059-LaikatheAstronaut-9781743318935
 Laika the Astronaut by Owen Davey   $26.00
The true story of the first dog in orbit, with an (untrue) happy ending and lovely illustrations.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/763529-HowtoThinkAboutExerciseTheSchoolofLife-9780230767768
 How to Think About Exercise by Damon Young    $26.00
What is the mental value of exercise? Drawing on scholarship, great literature and pop culture, this book examines different forms of exercise and reveals how physical activity can be existential - a way of reclaiming and refining our selves.

http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/652423-ThePanicosaurusManagingAnxietyinChildrenIncludingThosewithAspergerSyndrome-9781849053563
The Panicosaurus: Managing anxiety in children, Including those with Asperger Syndrome by K.I. Al-Ghani   $31.95
This illustrated storybook will inspire children who experience anxiety, and encourage them to banish their own Panicosauruses. Parents and carers will like the helpful introduction, explaining anxiety in children, and the list of techniques for lessening anxiety at the end of the book.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/774093-AFortofNineTowers-9781447221753
A Fort of Nine Towers by Qais Akbar Omar   $25.00
"A poetic, funny and terrifying memoir of life in Kabul between the Soviet Army's exit and the Taliban's retreat." - Economist 
"An extraordinary memoir. Even more haunting than The Kite Runner, because it's not fiction." - Philidelphia Inquirer
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/714265-MagnumStories-9780714865034
 Magnum Stories edited by Chris Boot   $75.00
A magnificent selection of the best photojournalism from around the world.
https://pageblackmore.beta.circlesoft.net/products/714362-DeceitandSelf-DeceptionFoolingYourselftheBettertoFoolOthers-9780141019918
Deceit and Self-Deception: Fooling yourself the better to fool others by Robert Trivers    $35.00
We wouldn't be where we are today, either individually or as a species, without deceiving ourselves so successfully we don't even know we're doing it. 
"Original and important... remarkable, thick with ideas." - Financial Times
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/774910-TheLastAsylumAMemoirofMadnessinourTimes-9780241145098
The Last Asylum: A memoir of madness in our time by Barbara Taylor   $46.00
An insightful first-hand account of mental illness and the needs of its sufferers. 
"Eloquent, compassionate, and utterly absorbing. A book about family and friendship, about the complexities of memory, about care and the failure of care, The Last Asylum is the best sort of memoir, transcending the purely personal to confront a larger social history." - Sarah Waters
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/747694-BlitzkriegFromtheRiseofHitlertotheFallofDunkirk-9780007531196
Blitzkrieg: From the Rise of Hitler to Dunkirk by Len Deighton    $35.00
A compelling history of Hitler's devastating 'Lightning War'.