Posts by Hilary Stace
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So wonderful to have Freeview and be able to watch Media7 without interminable downloads. (And so many good programmes on Freeview generally and no ads, only promos).
I agree with Craig. But I was on a packed plane recently and a guy had a Kindle and everyone on the plane wanted to have a look - so it will become mainstream before long. But not to those of us who like the holistic multi-sensory book experience.
In one of the shots in the Media7 book story I noticed 'The Lieutenant' by Kate Grenville which I would recommend along with her other Australian identity and history books, The Secret River and Finding the Secret River. The Lieutenant is based on a notebook that still exists recording probably the earliest British attempts to write and understand the local Aboriginal language, and the young lieutenant whose interest it was. He was part of the first fleet of convict ships to arrive in Sydney.
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Re Malcolm Gladwell - I heard him speak in Boston last year. Fascinating to hear and not at all what I expected he would look like - sort of a cross between Sam Hunt and Jimi Hendrix. His ideas sound simple, and that's because they are, but no one has put it like that before.
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I reckon the New World bakers read PA.
Just went into my local and there they were - labelled Boston Buns,18 cms across, white coconut icing and a handful of sultanas. Packaged in a plastic case for $3.09. I don't ever recall seeing them there before.
So we took one home and - they don't actually taste that nice. I prefer to remember the 1960s version.
I don't recall seeing them when I was in Boston last year either.
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Thanks Damian. I wasn't self-interested, just wanting a tidy conclusion. Sorry you had snarkiness. Can't understand why people would be snarky about generosity.
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Since it's 200 years since Darwin's birth may I recommend a good Darwin biography which concentrates more on the family man, written by a member of the Darwin whanau.
Randal Keynes, 'Annie's Box: Charles Darwin, his daughter and human evolution'. (2001)
Annie was one of his daughters who died as a child. Its loose narrative device hangs on the artifacts found by descendants in a little box belonging to Annie.
It's also a good excuse to quote another of David Bader's One hundred great books in haiku:
'The Origin of Species
Charles DarwinGalapagos finch-
the same beak as Aunt Enid's!
A theory is born' -
Jean Devanny's 'The Butcher Shop' (originally published 1920s reprinted 1988) is worth tracking down for those interested in NZ literature. Was banned as indecent, communist and too shockingly feminist.
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Re some of the above:
I won my copy of Civil War & OOPs in a raffle - haven't read it all yet.
Jane Mander's Story of a NZ river - can you see hints of the Piano in it?
Little Women- Reminds me of a haiku in David Bader's 'One hundred great books in Haiku'.
Little Women
Louisa May Alcott'Snowdrops hang like tears.
Shy, sweet, saintly Beth has died.
One down, three to go.' -
Changing tack completely
JK Rowling's 'The Tales of Beedle the Bard' continues the global Harry Potter phenomenon of the last decade. This little volume contains the five fairy/morality tales mentioned in the HP books in a new translation from the original runes by Hermione Grainger, annotated by Dumbledore.
(Profits from book sales are going to the Children's High Level Group which campaigns to get children, including disabled children, out of residential institutions across Europe.)
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And for kids I recommend Kate de Goldi's 'The 10 pm question'.
It's about one of those very anxious 12 year old boys. And realistic boy stuff. And has an eccentric girl character. And some family stuff. And a great male teacher.
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No contest for the most popular book for friends and family this holiday, and I've already raved about it on PA
'Stuart: a life backwards' by Alexander Masters (Harper, 2006)
Winner of the Guardian First Book Award 2005Alexander Masters, liberal journalist of Cambridge, England, wanted to write about local homelessness and befriended Stuart Shorter for his 'lived experience'. This book is a biography of Stuart, written in reverse chronology. But also of the biographer as he becomes entangled in trying to understand and help.
How can a biography about the desperation of homelessness, chronic criminality, violent prison life and dysfunctional families also be funny?It can - but a very black humour at times.
Get a group talking about this book and they will remember the recipe for prison hooch using catheters, or the scene when the homeless protest camped outside Jack Straw's place for 3 days waiting for him to appear, which he did at the worst possible time.
Or be enraged that people running shelters for homeless people were jailed because their clients used drugs.This happened too, in Blair's England.
And it challenges stereotypes and assumptions all over the place - as it's about basic humanity.
Mark Haddon (of the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time etc) calls it 'Bollocks brilliant.Possibly the best biography I have ever read'.
Should be compulsory reading for the Sensible Sentencing Trust. But a challenging sometimes harrowing treat for everyone else.