Bluff Oyster Season
Celebrate by going out for a feed or having a take-away of battered Bluff oysters and chips - one of the greatest meals you can have.
You could also celebrate the arrival of these lovely bivalve molluscs by coming in to the shop and buying a book on 50 ways to prepare them. Then you can enjoy them in a different style nearly every night of the season.
Katherine Mansfield Short Stories
The Garden Party: Katherine Mansfield's New Zealand Short Stories
This is an Illustrated edition of Katherine Mansfield's short stories. It is published by Century Hutchinson and is a lovely volume with patterned red cloth boards and an illustrated title label on the front board.
Among the artists represented are Christopher Perkins, Raymond McIntyre, Rhona Haszard, Maud SHerwood, Thomas Ryan and lots of paintings by the marvelous Frances Hodgkins. Each story has its own painting plus a lovely flower illustration.
Stories include How Pearl Button Was Kidnapped, The Stranger, The Canary, The Voyage and another 12 stories.
The joy of Italy
Many people daydream about a new life in Italy: it's something to do with the food, the wine, the people and the way of life. There have been numerous books written by people who have actually upped sticks and started a new life. Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes and several others of that ilk spring to mind.
Italian Joy by Carla Coulson is one of these books. She's an Australian who gave up a Sydney flat, a designer wardrobe and a successful business to move to Italy, where she fell in love with the Italian approach to everything. The book shines with her love of Italian food, cooking, wine, customs, family, markets, men, women, and even their driving!
If you don't want to move to Italy yourself by the time you get halfway through, I'll be surprised. Coulson is a photographer (she trained in Italy while learning the language) and the book is generously illustrated throughout.
Hungry students
You've made it through the first week or two in your new flat and sussed out your flatmates' cooking ability. That means it's probably time you got a copy of this book for your flat.
The Vegetarian Student Cookbook: Great Grub for the Hungry and the Broke
Published by Rylands, Peters & Hall
The title says it all really. This is a must for hungry students who are short on time and money but don't want to eat crap all the time.
Pop into the shop and get a copy and liven up your flat's evening meals. These are easy, interesting and quick recipes. You can't do better than this and it only costs $10.00.
Leonard Cohen
The stony path coiled around me
and bound me to the night.
A boat hunted the edge of the sea
under a hissing light.
Something soft involved a net
and bled around a spear.
The blunt death, the cumulus jet -
I spoke to you, I thought you near.
Or was the night so black
that something died alone?
A man with a glistening back
beat the food against a stone.
Literary criticism
James K Baxter as Critic: A Selection from his Literary Criticism
by Frank McKay
We all know James K Baxter as one of New Zealand's foremost poets but we are not all so familiar with his work in the field of literary criticism.
In this volume, you can read a great selection of his reviews of various writers and poets. You will find reviews of the work of New Zealanders Allen Curnow (At Dead Low Water), Alistair Campbell (Mine Eyes Dazzle), Eileen Duggan (More Poems), Denis Glover (Arawata Bill) and Sylvia Ashton-Warner (Incense to Idols) to name but a few.
And it's not just New Zealanders' work that is reviewed.
Handmade Houses
Handmade Houses: A Century of Earth-Friendly Home Design
with photography by Lucy Goodhart & Kodiak Greenwood
This is a veritable feast for the eyes. You definitely don't need to be an architect, builder or designer to enjoy looking through this book. However, if you are a professional, you will get just as much pleasure out of reading through it.
The houses in the book are from all over the world and feature cost-cutting, improvisation and eco-awareness ideas in beautiful designs. These are works of art. As well as that, they will provide inspiration, beauty, practical solutions and environment-friendly home design.
Don't live without a copy.
Photographs of New Zealand
Forty-five Degrees South: Panoramic Images of Southern New Zealand
The photography of Roger Wandless
In his book, Roger Wandless presents some really stunning photographs of the lower South Island of New Zealand (hence the title). He spent years travelling in pursuit of these perfect images.
You will find New Zealand's natural beauty is done proud in this collection. You will also see our special quality of light superbly highlighted in these photographs which show both the iconic and the obscure. A feast for the eyes.
