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.

SORRY - THIS SITE AND FEED ARE NOW CLOSED.
Thank you for your support. {Thomas}


6 June 2014


http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/770563-TheLazyFriend-9781927271414
The Lazy Friend by Ronan Bodel   $25.00
A delightful new picture book from Gecko Press! Sloth is so fast asleep that he/she is completely unaware of the great adventure he/she is going on. We all love this book - we have been competing to see who's the slothiest!
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/786649-Sand-9781780893198
Sand by Hugh Howey   $37.00
This is the new novel and new world from the author of the 'Wool' trilogy. The old world is buried. A new one has been forged atop the shifting dunes. Here in this land of howling wind and infernal sand, four siblings find themselves scattered and lost...
If you enjoyed the 'Wool' trilogy, you will want to read this as soon as possible.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/791200-AMillionWindows-9781922146533
 A Million Windows by Gerald Murnane   $35.00
"I am looking forward to reading this! Gerald Murnane is a terrifically interesting writer. In this book he tests the relationship of trust between author and reader, and explores the inherent possibilities of betrayal. Emotional depth and intellectual subtlety underpin the endlessly looping idiosyncratic images that make Murnane's writing unlike anything else." - Thomas
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/790855-AmericanInnovations-9780007548781
American Innovations by Rivka Galchen     $35.00
A woman's furniture walks out on her, a misdialled number results in a woman feeling compelled to deliver the takeaway order she has inadvertently received, the petty details of a property transaction provide the key to understanding the complex relationships in a family...
"A vital, intelligent collection of stories." - Adam Kirsch
"Galchen is skilled at obscuring the tension of a story. With humor and linguistic sleight of hand, Galchen, like life, dazzles us into forgetting certain inevitabilities. Galchen's finest writing occurs when her characters dangerously dip below their own surfaces." - Bookforum

http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/782906-ApriltheRedGoldfish-9781907912405
April the Red Goldfish by Marjolaine Leray   $29.99
April doesn't have an easy time of being a goldfish, not least because she is in fact a red fish. Plagued with angst and boredom, April spins round and round in her tank, dreaming of exotic trips and exciting meetings, while philosophising Hamlet-style on life's big questions. But how will she ever escape from her glass prison? And where to? Outside, a black cat is waiting for her... 
"Elegant and sophisticated." - Guardian
"Totally Brilliant." - The Times
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/786456-EventsDearBoyEventsAPoliticalDiaryofBritain1921to2010-9781846684333
Events, Dear Boy, Events: A political diary of Britain, 1921-2010 edited by Ruth Winstone   $29.99
A hundred years of history, told entirely in snippets from the diary entries of prominent figures.
"Diaries are the most intimate historical source, and Ruth Winstone has brilliantly welded together the best of them into a compellingly seductive narrative. The cumulative effect is like a great rolling novel. Political history has never been so palatable." - David Kynaston
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/786661-IamChina-9780701188207
 I Am China by Xiaolu Guo    $35.00 
A beguiling tale of love and exile that offers an indictment of China's past, and present. 
"A book so piercingly urgent and relevant it is as if Guo has not so much published it as pressed it into your hand the very moment after writing the final sentence. An extraordinary and important book." - Independent
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/781750-Comics-AGlobalHistory1968tothePresent-9780500290965
Comics: A global history, 1968 to the present by Dan Mazur and Alexander Danner     $49.99
Impressive in its range and depth (and endlessly browsable, too). Includes New Zealand content.
Shelve alongside From Earth's End.

http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/763416-Woodsman-9780007551927
Woodsman: Living in a wood in the 21st century by Ben Law     $23.00
Ben Law has lived as a woodsman in Prickly Nut Wood for over 20 years. His sense of the land and the wildlife, and his respect for age-old traditions and how to sustain them, offers a wonderful, inviting insight into the life and character of his habitat. Walden for a new generation.
"Ben Law's house is my favourite Grand Design." - Kevin McCloud
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/795331-GiantVehicles-9781922244444
 Giant Vehicles by Stephen Biesty    $28.00
See inside some of the world's most enormous vehicles in this amazing lift-the-flap book by the amazing illustrator Stephen Biesty.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/786652-FourthofJulyCreek-9780434022786
Fourth of July Creek by Smith Henderson    $37.00
 "This book left me awestruck; a stunning debut which reads like the work of a writer at the height of his power. Begins with the story of one struggling man and his family and soon seems to encompass and address all of modern America's problems. Fourth of July Creek is a masterful achievement and Smith Henderson is certain to end up a household name." - Philipp Meyer, author of The Son
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/788422-UndercoverTheTrueStoryofBritainsSecretPolice-9781783350346
Undercover: The true story of Britain's secret police by Rob Evans and Paul Lewis   $29.00
For four decades a clandestine unit infiltrated 'subversive' groups, and repeatedly and consistently overstepped legal and ethical boundaries. This is a jaw-dropping expose.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/789820-FlightWaysLifeandLossattheEdgeofExtinction-9780231166188
Flight Ways: Life and loss at the edge of extinction by Thom van Dooren    $58.00
Using the examples of bird populations, this book draws philosophers, natural scientists, and general readers into the experience of living among and losing biodiversity. A landmark work of environmental philosophy.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/789473-TheFirstTrueLie-9780857865496
The First True Lie by Marina Mander   $29.00
'They always tell you that you shouldn't tell lies, but without lies I'd already be in an orphanage. This, in any case, is my first true lie'. Luca and his mum are like two peas in a pod in their special, fragile world. Then, one winter morning his mother doesn't wake up. Luca suddenly finds himself alone for the first time...
"An elegantly carved look into the inner life of an orphaned child." - Kirkus Review
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/772649-FitzTheColonialAdventuresofJamesEdwardFitzGerald-9781877578731
Fitz: The colonial adventures of James Edward FitzGerald by Jennifer Roberts   $39.99
The story of a man who contributed much to the early history of Christchurch. Orator, writer, politician and journalist, he was the first Canterbury Pilgrim to set foot in New Zealand, first superintendent of the province of Canterbury, first leader of the general government, and founder of the Press newspaper.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/802758-TreeSpace-9780864739285
 Tree Space by Maria McMillan   $25.00
Tree space is the vast mathematical terrain occupied by ancestral trees of a group of species. Between them the trees, some bushy and some stark, account for all possible ways in which species might relate to one another. Maria McMillan's first full collection seeks to create a new, invigorating space in New Zealand poetry.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/786662-Tigerman-9780434022885
 Tigerman by Nick Harkaway   $37.00
A toxic island, a peculiar superhero, everything is upside down and Harkaway's remarkable imagination is in overdrive... 
"Harkaway's great gift as a novelist is to merge the pace, wit and clarity of the best "popular" literature with the ambition, complexity and irony of the so-called "literary" novel." - Guardian
"Nick Harkaway's Tigerman lives because of his wit and daring intelligence, and his empathy. Words quiver whenever he writes." - The Scotsman
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/786666-TheHouseonCarnavalStreet-9780857981103
The House on Carnaval Street: From Kabul to a home by the Mexican sea by Deborah Rodriguez    $37.00 
A memoir of life after fleeing Afghanistan, from the author of The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul and The Kabul Beauty School

http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/790566-ThisHouseisHaunted-9780552778428
 This House is Haunted by John Boyne   $27.00
From the author of The Boy in Striped Pajamas
"Wonderfully creepy.This magnificently eerie novel takes us on a skilful journey through fear." - Observer
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/786651-Fobbit-9780099581482
Fobbit by David Abrams     $27.00
Set during the American Iraq campaign, this book sits somewhere between Catch 22 and M*A*S*H.
"As funny, disturbing, heartbreaking and ridiculous as war itself." - New York Times Book Review
"Brilliant and excruciating." - The Times

http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/765422-TenThousandBirdsOrnithologySinceDarwin-9780691151977
Ten Thousand Birds: Ornithology since Darwin by Tim Birkhead et al   $95.00
A beautifully illustrated, engaging and authoritative history of modern ornithology, tracing how the study of birds has been shaped by a succession of visionary and often-controversial personalities, and by the unique social and scientific contexts in which these individuals worked.
Tim Birkhead is the author of the wonderful Bird Sense.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/788282-TheYearofReadingDangerouslyHowFiftyGreatBooksSavedMyLife-9780007255757
The Year of Reading Dangerously: How fifty great books (and two not-so-great ones) saved my life by Andy Miller   $35.00
"A delightfully irreverent account of reading 50 classic books." - Telegraph
Here's the author (reading)! <<Watch this!!
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/802527-TheForgottenRebelsofEureka-9781922182548
The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka by Claire Wright   $45.00
The Eureka Stockade is one of Australia's foundation legends, but until now it has been told as though only half the participants were there. What if the hot-tempered, free-wheeling gold miners involved were also actually husbands and fathers, brothers and sons? And what if there were women and children inside the Eureka Stockade, defending their rights while defending themselves against a barrage of bullets? As Clare Wright reveals, there were thousands of women on the goldfields and many of them were active in pivotal roles.
Winner of the 2014 Stella Prize.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/768401-MastermindHowtoThinkLikeSherlockHolmes-9780857867278
Mastermind: How to think like Sherlock Holmes by Maria Konnikova   $29.99
"Fascinating. A delightful tour of the science of memory, creativity and reasoning." - Steven Pinker 
"An entertaining blend of Holmesiana and modern-day neuroscience." - New York Times
"An entertaining, insightful look at how the fictional London crime-solver used sophisticated mental strategies to solve complex problems of logic and deduction. This practical, enjoyable book is worth at least a few hours of pipe-smoking reflection in a comfortable leather chair." - Boston Globe
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/786703-GeorgeandtheUnbreakableCodeGeorge4-9780857533265
 George and the Unbreakable Code by Lucy and Stephen Hawking   $29.99
Number 4 in this exciting, fact-filled series!
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/802688-FlyingDinosaursHowFearsomeReptilesBecameBirds-9781742233666
Flying Dinosaurs: How fearsome reptiles became birds by John Pickrell   $39.99
Dinosaurs didn't die out when an asteroid hit Earth 66 million years ago. Get ready to unthink what you thought you knew and journey into the deep, dark depths of the Jurassic!
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/786669-OneSummerAmerica1927-9780552772563
One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson   $28.00
"This book is full of interesting titbits about known and unknown people and their effects or otherwise on American, and indeed the world’s, history. Another great, enjoyable and informative read from a talented writer." - Peter
Now in paperback! This book was very popular in our Christmas Catalogue. If you enjoyed it, grab a copy for a friend. If you missed it, grab a copy for yourself (and one for a friend).
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/788214-WildDunedinTheNaturalHistoryofNewZealandsWildlifeCapital-9781877578625
Wild Dunedin: The natural history of New Zealand's wildlife capital by Neville Peat and Brian Patrick    $39.99
An updated and beautifully illustrated edition of this eco-classic.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/781355-TheWorldHunt-9780520282537
The World Hunt: An environmental history of the commodification of animals by John F. Richards   $52.00
An insightful investigation into the impact of commercial hunting and the explosion of demand for animal products on species and habitat.
https://pageblackmore.circlesoft.net/products/763401-TheMadSculptor-9781781854495
The Mad Sculptor: The model, the maniac and the murder that rocked 1930s America by Harold Schechter   $35.00
"Top-drawer true-crime." - Booklist


http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/793354-SeaofStone-9781782393917
Sea of Stone by Michael Ridpath     $37.00
A tale of familial ties and bloodthirsty vengeance, of isolated Icelandic communities scarred by the tragedies of the past.
"International thriller writing at its best." - Peter James
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/790321-Carsick-9781472116130
 Carsick: John Waters hitchhikes across America by John Waters   $29.99
John Waters slips sideways across America's damp underbelly. If you enjoy John Waters you'll enjoy this book (otherwise, probably not).
Australian TV interview here.