It is reprehensible that the banks hadn’t come up with tangible solutions before cutting off the supply chain; it is the equivalent of destroying a bridge without first building a road to provide an alternative route of travel.

If you think you don’t need to read another book on loneliness, or you’ve put the subject in the ‘too hard basket’, then think again.

Factfulness Dr Hans Rosling with Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling-Ronnlund Hachette RRP: $29.99 If you want a great overview of important international issues; if you have an interest in the big issues for the day and want to quickly sift through the various views and succinctly determine the ‘facts’, if …

No Wall Too High Xu Hongci. Translated by Erling Hoh Penguin Random House RRP: $40.00 What a time to be reading a book such as this! Stories like ‘No wall too high’ are told so that we  that we not only know about one mans amazing escape from communist China …

‘What are we going to do about mum? Take a look at ‘What are we going to do about mum?’ Maori Television’s recent documentary is a must view!  You may very well be able to see yourself here and it could give some ideas about how you and yours plan …

Under Italian Skies Nicky Pellegrino Hachette NZ  RRP $34.99 I was quite keen to read Nicky Pellegrino’s latest novel ‘Under Italian Skies’ as I haven’t read any of her novels for a long time. I do however hear her on radio quite frequently and enjoy listening to her comments; I …

The Road to Little Dribbling – more notes from a small island Bill Bryson Random House RRP $50.00 Hardcover Bill Bryson seems such an amiable and inoffensive man both in person and in the general subject of his writing. He dines in such ordinary cafes, wears such ordinary clothes and …

There’s often a big assumption that older people like gardening. For many people nothing could be further from the truth. These people may have gardened from necessity when their families were young but now that produce is so readily and cheaply available in the shops then; their predilection for gardening …

When I was a child I used to visit a maiden aunt who lived in the genteel surroundings of Holly Lea. She was a farmer’s daughter who had too many male siblings and no husband to allow her to inherit any of the farms. She also lost her fiancé in …

Toys are fun – but they are also serious business, as David Veart makes clear in this remarkable story of New Zealanders and their toys from Maori voyagers to twenty-first-century gamers. Deploying the tools of archaeology and oral history, Veart in Hello Girls and Boys! digs through a few centuries of pocket …