Friday 12 July 2019


NEW RELEASES
ransack by essa may ranapiri         $25
In these poems, essa may ranapiri addresses the difficulty of assembling and understanding a fractured, unwieldy self through an inherited language — a language whose assumptions and expectations ultimately make it inadequate for such a task. 
All My Goodbyes by Mariana Dimópulos      $30
a novel told in overlapping vignettes, which follow the travels of a young Argentinian woman across Europe (Malaga, Madrid, Heidelberg, Berlin) and back to Argentina (Buenos Aires, Patagonia) as she flees from situation to situation, job to job, and relationship to relationship. Within the complexity of the narrator's situation, a backstory emerges about a brutal murder in Patagonia which she may or may not be implicated in, but whether this is the cause of her flight is never entirely clear — she is driven as much by psychological concerns, her relationship with her father, uncertainty about her identity and purpose in life.
>> You are in the middle of time.

>>Truth and lies
The Country Life by Rachel Cusk           $23
In this comedy drawing on literary tropes shared with Jane Eyre and Cold Comfort Farm, unhappy, solitary Stella arrives in a tiny village to answer an advertisement for the job of caregiver to Martin Madden, the handicapped son of a rich farming family. New edition. 
 "Cusk's loaded sentences can be a joy or a stumbling-block, depending on your state of mind. Stella's every sensation is logged, and every nuance of every encounter calibrated, but it's the kind of analysis that can often make you gasp. Cusk is at her best at capturing the psychological make-up and mannerisms of particularly unpleasant people." —The Independent
A Life's Work by Rachel Cusk         $25
When first published in 2001, A Life's Work divided female critics and readers. One reviewer wrote a piece demanding that Cusk's children were taken into care, that was she was unfit to look after them. Oprah Winfrey invited her on the show to defend herself and the book as protests grew about the its honest, gritty account of the misery of those early months. It is a remarkable book on the complications of being an ambivalent mum in an age of white-washed families.
>>"I was only being honest."

>>"If she really didn't care, she wouldn't have written the book."
Arlington Park by Rachel Cusk          $23
The lives of middle class English women living in suburbia are dissected to perfection in this novel. New edition.
"The refined intelligence of Rachel Cusk's writing, with its exhaustive clarifications, elaborate metaphors and distinctly bitter aroma, may not be everybody's cup of tea, but for those who appreciate that particular blend of qualities, her books are a source of rich pleasure." —James Lusden, Guardian


The Animal Gazer by Edgardo Franzosini         $35
Rembrandt Bugatti was the brother of the famous builder of luxury sports cars, Ettore. He made bronze sculptures of wild animals that he spent long hours observing in the Paris and Antwerp Zoos. Sometimes he took the animals to live in his Paris apartment while he worked on his pieces. Franzosini's haunting short novel recreates the eccentric, orderly life of this strange genius, a gentle man who loved animals and created memorable sculptures. His life was ruined by the declaration of war in August 1914. As the Germans drew closer to Paris and Antwerp, the zoos in both cities were closed. Then, in fear and panic, the decision was taken to shoot the captive creatures. Firing squads of soldiers massacred the wild cats, elephants and eagles. Bugatti, by then working in a military hospital, killed himself, unable to live in such a world.
Mid-Century Graphic Design by Theo Inglis          $45
Very good coverage. Includes Ray Eames, Paul Rand, Alex Steinweiss, Joseph Low, Alvin Lustig, Elaine Lustig Cohen, Leo Lionni, Rudolph de Harak, Abram Games, Tom Eckersley, Ivan Chermayeff, Josef Albers, Corita Kent, Jim Flora, Ben Shahn, Herbert Bayer and Helen Borten.
The History of Philosophy by A.C. Grayling       $38
Authoritative. Accessible. Covers both Western and Eastern traditions. 
Dragonflies and Damselflies of New Zealand by Milen Marinov and Mike Ashbee      $50
Remarkable organisms that have survived 325 million years (so far). 


Mailman by J. Robert Lennon       $28
"A phantasmagoria of American paranoia and self-loathing in the person of a deranged but somehow good-hearted middle-aged mail carrier in steep decline, the book hums with a kind of chipper angst." —Jonathan Lethem, Los Angeles Times
Rape: From Lucretia to #MeToo by Mithu Sanyal          $33
“This is a book for today. Mithu Sanyal is insightful, thoughtful, and provocative. She encourages us to think about sexual violence in new ways and, most importantly, has challenging things to suggest about the way we should deal with rapists.” —Joanna Bourke
>>Sanyal examines the role of race and the recurrent image of the black rapist, the omission of male victims, and the racist agenda behind media reporting of rape in these videos.



The Necessity for Consolation: John Cousins speaks edited by Robert Hoskins and Norman Meehan    $40
"Of all New Zealand composers, John Cousins has thrown the spear furthest." —John Psathas
Cousins's work has evolved from conventional musical composition to sculptural performance, mixed-media and sonic art.
>>'Three Little Duets'.
>>'Parade'.
A Communist in the Family: Searching for Rewi Alley by Elspeth Sandys         $40
In 2017, Sandys travelled to China to mark the 90th anniversary of her relative's arrival in Shanghai in 1927. New Zealander Rewi Alley went on to become one of the cultural heroes of twentieth century China. Sandys went on to write this book, which among other things, is a meditation on the relationship between memory and writing. 
Fabulous by Lucy Hughes-Hallett       $33
Marvellous reworkings and updatings and recreations of stories from Graeco-Roman myth, the Bible and folk-lore, reminiscent of Angela Carter. 
Lay Studies by Steven Toussaint         $25
"Steven Toussaint writes with a formidable blend of intellectual toughness and technical command. These finely worked poems range over a wide territory, local and global, religious, social (a devastatingly intelligent piece, 'Yes or No', evoking the world of online pseudo-discourse), and offer many memorable images and phrases (a favourite is 'The furious pleasure / of a man being listened to'). This is an excellent collection of demanding and rewarding poetry." —Rowan Williams
Only in Tokyo: Two chefs, 24 hours, the ultimate food city by Michael Ryan and Luke Burgess       $45
From daybreak to late night, discover the creative people and compelling stories behind the restaurants, bars and tea houses of Tokyo. 
The Book of Why: The new science of cause and effect by Judea Pearl            $30
What does it actually mean for one thing to cause another? How does Pearl's work in this area underlie the development of artificial intelligence? 



Bunny by Mona Awad         $35
A lonely MFA student is drawn into a clique of rich girls who seem to move and speak as one in this bizarre and disconcerting novel. 
"One of the most pristine, delightful attacks on popular girls since Clueless. It made me cackle and nod in terrified recognition." —Lena Dunham


The Heartland: Finding and losing schizophrenia by Nathan Filer      $33
Filer, mental health nurse and award winning writer, takes us on a journey into the psychiatric wards he once worked on. He also invites us to spend time with world-leading experts, and with some extraordinary people who share their own stories about living with this strange and misunderstood condition. Are there new ways of thinking about mental health? 
"A truly important book." —Max Porter


The Ungrateful Refugee by Dina Nayeri           $37
There are more than 25 million refugees in the world. Aged eight, Dina Nayeri fled Iran along with her mother and brother, and lived in the crumbling shell of an Italian hotel-turned-refugee camp. Eventually she was granted asylum in America. She settled in Oklahoma, then made her way to Princeton University. In this book, Nayeri weaves together her own vivid story with the stories of other refugees and asylum seekers in recent years, bringing us inside their daily lives and taking us through the different stages of their journeys, from escape to asylum to resettlement. 
"Dina Nayeri's powerful writing confronts issues that are key to the refugee experience." —Viet Thanh Nguyen, author of The Sympathiser
This is Not a Drill: An Extinction Rebellion handbook        $24
Useful.
No-One is Too Small to Make a Difference by Greta Thunberg       $8
"Everything needs to change. And it has to start today."
>>"The message is clearly not getting through."










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