FICTION
1 Bird Child and Other Stories by Patricia Grace (Penguin Random House, $37)
A free copy of this new collection of short stories was up for grabs in last week’s giveaway. Readers were asked to comment on Grace’s work. Competition was fierce, and admiration was even more fierce: reader after reader expressed awe at Grace’s fiction. I wrote about the phenomenal outpouring in ReadingRoom on Monday,
A striking feature of the contest was the fact that almost everyone who entered was a teacher. Example, from Anna Burgess: “I am teaching Patricia Grace’s short stories to intermediate students for our first unit of the year. Every time I teach her stories, the students are intrigued by the seemingly simple plot which holds a depth of meaning sparking wonderful class discussions about identity, race, culture and the students’ sense of place/turangawaewae.” Another example, from Kelsy Fletcher: “When I think of the magnificent Patricia Grace, I think of my first year of teaching. I discovered her wonderful story ‘Beans’ in a school journal, which I really loved and related to, and it became a great way for me to share the way I grew up with my students. They loved it.”
But the winner is that species closest to a teacher’s heart: a student. Helen Douglas wrote, “I first discovered Patricia Grace when she read to our assembly at Mana College – she was teaching at Porirua College. I was in the 6th form at the time and was lucky enough to have some very progressive, forward thinking English teachers in Tony Timms, Brigitte Hoepfner, and Julia Wall.
“Patricia Grace read one of her short stories ‘It Used to be Green Once’, which is still my favourite – probably because it was what got me hooked on her writing. She remains my favourite author to this day. To me her writing always seemed quietly powerful. Looking back to that first encounter 40 years ago, that is exactly how she seemed standing on that stage reading to us. I am not sure if my fellow students were as mesmerised as I was – I was to engrossed in the story and her delivery to notice.”
Huzzah to Helen; a free copy of Bird Child and Other Stories is hers.
2 The Girl from London by Olivia Spooner (Hachette, $37.99)
3 Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38)
4 Kāwai by Monty Soutar (David Bateman, $39.99)
5 The Axeman’s Carnival by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $35)
6 Pet by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38)
7 The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera (Penguin Random House, $15.99)
8 Bird Life by Anna Smaill (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38)
9 Because All Fades by Freddie Gillies (David Bateman, $37.99)
A free copy of the love story by a debut author is up or grabs in this week’s giveaway contest. Freddie wrote about romance and heartbreak for ReadingRoom on Valentine’s Day. It was the most popular piece I published all week and maybe that had something to do with the appeal of his author photo, which blared across the top of the story. What a dish! But dishes break, and his story had a sad ending. To enter the draw, read his story on Wednesday, and imagine a happier ending. Maybe you are “Isabella”. Maybe you are Freddie…Email your fantasy to stephen11@xtra.co.nz with the subject line in screaming caps I DREAM OF FREDDIE. Entries close at midnight on Sunday, February 18.
10 The Bone Tree by Airana Ngarewa (Hachette, $37.99)
NON-FICTION
1 Gangster’s Paradise by Jared Savage (HarperCollins, $39.99)
Oho! Top of the pops for the first time, five months after it was published, a testament to the long shelf-life and continuing appeal of my Herald colleague’s latest investigation into organised crime. Jared is an expert on the subject. He literally does know where the bodies were buried. This, about the killing of a gang member, from his equally excellent first book in the series (a third is due next year), Gangland: “The original plan had been to throw Adams’s body into a geothermal steam hole in Wairakei. No one would ever have stumbled across his remains. But the spot Ashby had in mind was too dangerous. They got there at 10pm and it was pitch black, and they were surrounded by thick fog from the geothermal activity. One false step and it would have been them falling into the steam vent.
“Ashby … drove the 3-tonne digger a few hundred metres away from the steam pipes and down into a gully, and started excavating at the bottom of a bank. It took about 10 minutes to dig the hole, which Cullen thought was about 2.5 metres deep. Ashby watched in silence as Cullen lowered Granite into the hole, then Ashby poured petrol over the plastic-wrapped body. Cullen claimed Ashby then pulled out a cigarette lighter to ignite a rag and tossed the rag into the pit, followed by the plastic petrol can.
“Cullen and Ashby stood and watched for about 30 minutes as flames engulfed the body. It burned so brightly that the pair were scared a passing motorist on State Highway 1 might see the fire and call 111. They extinguished the blaze with dirt – by then charred bones were the only thing left of Granite – and filled up the hole.”
2 Fungi of Aotearoa by Liv Sisson (Penguin Random House, $45)
3 This is ADHD by Chanelle Moriah (Allen & Unwin, $32.99)
4 Aroha by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin Random House, $30)
5 The Dressmaker and the Hidden Soldier by Doug Gould (Allen & Unwin, $37.99)
6 Whakawhetai: Gratitude by Hira Nathan (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
7 Untouchable Girls by Jools & Lynda Topp (Allen & Unwin, $49.99)
8 Summer Favourites by Vanya Insull (Allen & Unwin, $39.99)
9 After the Tampa by Abbas Nazari (Allen & Unwin, $27.99)
10 Bookshop Dogs by Ruth Shaw (Allen & Unwin, $38.99)
