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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5 February 2015


http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/842896-TriggerWarningShortFictionsandDisturbances-9781472217691
Trigger Warning: Short fictions and disturbances by Neil Gaiman       $38.00
A typically astounding collection of horror and ghosts stories, science fiction and fairy tales, fabulism and poetry, ranging from a never-before-read American Gods story to rubbings of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Who, and beyond (far beyond).

http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/833709-LetterstoPoseidon-9780857052759
Letters to Poseidon by Cees Nooteboom       $39.99
Ostensible addressed to the god of the sea, these passages use the minutiae of Nooteboom's life to gently interrogate the wider issues of existence. 
"This is a sparkling little book, filled with wonder. Nooteboom is an immensely civilised and civilising writer, rich in curiosity and armed with a dazzling literary style." - Spectator
>> Nooteboom in conversation with A.S. Byatt
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/841184-TheTorch-9780732299019
 The Torch by Peter Twohig       $35.00 
Melbourne, 1960: Mrs Blayney and her twelve year old son live in South Richmond. At least, they did, until their house burnt down. The prime suspect - one Keith Aloysius Gonzaga Kavanagh, also aged 12 - has mysteriously disappeared. Our narrator, the Blayney kid, sets off on a covert mission to find young Keith, who he dubs 'Flame Boy', to save him from the irate locals - not to mention his mother - who want to see him put away. Flame Boy has not only made himself scarce, but he's done so with a very important briefcase of secrets... 
"Not since The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time has there been such a compelling child narrator." - Herald Sun
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/864073?barcode=9781877578939&title=TheConchTrumpet
The Conch Trumpet by David Eggleton       $27.00
The latest dynamic collection from the "court jester/philosopher/lyricist, a kind of male Cassandra, roving warningly from primeval swampland to gritty cityscape to the information and disinformation cybercloud."
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/860175?barcode=9781406349177&title=TheWickedTricksofTillOwlyglass
 The Wicked Tricks of Till Owlyglass by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Fritz Wegner        $18.00
The most famous German trickster has been around for 500 years causing trouble. Very amusing!
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/843150?barcode=9781444799514&title=AliceandtheFly
Alice and the Fly by James Rice          $35.00
A shy young man, whose life is controlled by his phobias and obsessions, attaches himself to a young woman who inadvertently appears to acknowledge his humanity.
"The great strength of Alice and the Fly lies in its wickedly satirical portrayal of a world in which everyone tries to cover up the emptiness of their existence by means of 'metaphorical phantoms'. Rice's writing is fuelled by a powerful sense of empathy, even for those whose aspirations he so expertly ridicules. For all the bleakness it portrays, Alice and the Fly is an oddly uplifting novel." - Guardian
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/841171?barcode=9781921966545&title=Cat%27sOutoftheBag%3ATruthandLiesAboutCats
 The Cat's Out of the Bag: Truth and lies about cats by Max Cryer      $27.99
With his customary erudition and panache, Max Cryer surveys the feline imprint in our language, folklore and culture. Read this book with a cat on your lap.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/829689-SoundMan-ALifeRecordingHitswiththeRollingStonestheWhoLedZepplintheEaglesEricClaptontheFaces-9780399163876
 Sound Man: A life recording hits with The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Eagles, Eric Clapton, The Faces... by Glyn Johns      $39.99
... and The Beatles, The Clash, Bob Dylan, Joan Armatrading and Ryan Adams. Johns was present at the pivotal musical moments of the sixties and is a natural raconteur.

http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/842895-SylviaGarlandsBrokenHeart-9781905559701
 Sylvia Garland's Broken Heart by Helen Harris         $29.99
When her son's and daughter-in-law's marriage founders, Sylvia steps in to secure what she sees as the interests of her infant grandson. 
"One of those rare novels that makes you brood on its characters in the intervals when you are not reading, and wonder what is happening to them. I can’t think of anyone better – at describing just how irritating everyone can be." - Observer
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/855352?barcode=9781406354348&title=HalfaCreaturefromtheSea
 Half a Creature from the Sea: A life in stories by David Almond        $25.00
"Stories on the page are so beautifully neat. All that lovely black print; those lovely straight lines and paragraphs and pages. But stories are living things, creatures that move and grow in the imaginations of writer and reader. They must be solid and touchable, like the land, and must have fluid half-known depths, like the sea. These stories take place in a real world - but in fiction, real worlds merge with dreamed worlds. Real people walk with ghosts and figments. Earthly truth goes hand-in-hand with watery lies." - David Almond
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/855347?barcode=9781847806420&title=TellMeaPicture
 Tell Me a Picture: Adventures in looking at art by Quentin Blake       $28.00
A new edition of this fun introduction to serious art. A wonderful book.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/843254-RobertDoisneau-9783836547147
Robert Desnoiseau by Jean Claude Gautrand    $139.99
A wide selection of images from one of the most celebrated exponents of 1950s 'humanist' photography, including his memorable portrayals of Parisian life.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/861945?barcode=9780465065691&title=TheEndofPowerFromBoardroomstoBattlefieldsandChurchestoStates%2CWhyBeinginChargeIsn%27tWhatItUsedtoBe
 The End of Power: From boardrooms to battlefields and churches to states; Why being in charge isn't what it used to be by Moses Naim      $39.99
Apparently, power is shifting, dispersing and decaying. The establishment is getting desperate. Change is coming. 

http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/864159?barcode=9781611855616&title=TheWomanWhoLostHerSoul
 The Woman Who Lost Her Soul by Bob Shacochis       $39.99
 “A love story, a thriller, a family saga, a historical novel, and a political analysis of America’s tragic misadventures abroad. The novel yokes the narrative drive of the best Graham Greene and le CarrĂ© to the rhetorical force and moral rigor of Faulkner. Bob Shacochis has written what may well be the last Great American Novel. What other American writer has put as much heart into his creations, as much drive, as much history?” — Los Angeles Review of Books
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/852686?barcode=9780099575450&title=HisforHawk
 H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald         $27.00
Costa Book of the Year. Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction. Wonderful book. Now in paperback. 
"This is a beautifully observed account of grief and our affinity with nature." - Sarah
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/840301-RedNoticeHowIBecamePutinsNo1Enemy-9780593072967
Red Notice: How I became Putin's No.1 enemy by Bill Browder     $38.00
Browder's lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was beaten to death by  police after testifying against the Russian Interior Ministry. Browder peels back the lid of the farcical show trial and describes gangsterism at the highest (and lowest) levels of Russian authority.

http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/840363?barcode=9780760345382&title=ExperimentalHomebrewingMadScienceinthePursuitofGreatBeer
Experimental Homebrewing: Mad science in the pursuit of great beer by Drew Beechum and Denny Conn      $45.00
When most brewers think of an experimental beer, odd creations come to mind. And sure, in this book you can learn how to brew with ingredients like bacon, chanterelle mushrooms, defatted cacao nibs, and peanut butter powder. However, experimental homebrewing is more than that. It's about making good beer - the best beer, in fact.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/835631-MartinKippenberger-9783836554770
Kippenberger by Angelika Taschen      $89.99
Martin Kippenberger's restless forms of expression made him one of the most complex artists of the 1980s and 1990s. His oeuvre played various media off against one another in an output so prolific that it verged on the inflationary. 
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/864074?barcode=9781877578991&title=MurderThatWasn%27t%3ATheCaseofGeorgeGwaze
Murder that Wasn't: The case of George Gwaze by Felicity Goodyear-Smith     $35.00
George Gwaze was twice charged and twice acquitted of the rape and murder of his ten-year-old adopted niece, Charlene Makaza, who suffered from HIV. This book, by a forensic physician, examines medical, scientific and court records and shows how preconceptions can distort the interpretation of evidence. 
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/841153-ArmageddonOuttaHereTheWorldofSkulduggeryPleasant-9780007559527
 Armageddon Outta Here: The world of 'Skulduggery Pleasant' by Derek Landy        $17.99
One amazing new novella, three gripping new stories AND an exclusive chapter from the final book. Lap it up.