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Carole's Column, News & Events
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Tickets for the Ladies' Litera-Tea are now on sale - see below
EVENTS! EVENTS! EVENTS!
SEX & STRAVINSKY with BARBARA TRAPIDO
The Press Christchurch Writers’ Festival have generously allowed an Auckland event for internationally acclaimed author Barbara Trapido, famous for such novels as Brother of the More Famous Jack and Temples of Delight.
Her sparkling, witty new novel Sex & Stravinsky, full of ballet, mime, & music, involves the intertwined lives of two deliciously different families.
Sunday 12 SEPTEMBER 6.30pm
Pioneer Women's Hall, above Pumpkin Patch, Freyberg Square, High St. Ak. city.
Tickets $12 from the bookshop, Visa & Mastercard Bookings by phone 3764399, email:books@womensbookshop.co.nz, or by secure website www.womensbookshop.co.nz
See Tickets for Events top right column.
LADIES' LITERA-TEA - SUNDAY 17 OCTOBER 1pm - 5.30pm
Raye Freedman Arts Centre, Epsom Girls' Grammar School
Nourishing delicacies for brain & body will ber served up at our lovely new venue. The delicious menu includes: Dame Fiona Kidman, Elizabeth Smither, Tina Makereiti, Alison Ballance on the kakapo, Julie Le Clerc on food, Pip Adam, Mandy Hager, poet Paula Green, Kate De Goldi in conversation with Siobhan harvey, & Dame Cath Tizard.
Tickets $50 (includes delectable afternoon tea of lamingtons, melting moments ... ) Bookings at the bookshop, or with Visa & Mastercard by phone, email, or secure website (click on Tickets for Events top left)
BOOK EARLY! This event sells out. No door sales
ORANGE PRIZE FOR FICTION
Announced in London on 9 June - the WINNER is Barbara Kingsolver's brilliant novel The Lacuna. Interestingly, I filmed the video clips below just before the winner was announced. And in my video review (below) of As the Earth Turns Silver, I predicted Alison Wong would be a NZ Post Book Awards finalist!
Carole's Latest bookTV.nz Video Reviews
BOOK GROUP EVENINGS
Many book groups are holding their meetings in the shop in the evenings, with Carole speaking about all the new fiction - great if your group needs some inspiration. Wine, nibbles, lively discussion, & discounts! Phone or email to book a date.
FIFTY-FIFTY WOMEN SURVEY
We received THOUSANDS of votes - thank you everyone!
The NZ Listener has published the results, with a fascinating analysis by Jolisa Gracewood, of this nationwide survey of the TOP WOMEN WRITERS OF THE LAST 50 YEARS.
Discover the The FIFTY WINNING WOMEN AUTHORS by clicking on the Fifty Women Column top left.
REVIEWS ON EASYMIX
Carole reviews a book on Radio EasyMix every Wednesday at 8.20 am (98.2 FM)
Wednesday 31 August - ROOM, an extraordinary novel by Emma Donoghue, long-listed for the Man Booker & probably about to be short-listed. Through ingenuity & fierce love, an imprisoned young woman creates a marvellous life for for her 5 year-old son Jack. The story is told in his funny & poignant voice - powerful & inspiring!.
Wednesday 25 August - Freeing Grace, a lively debut novel by Charity Norman, born in Uganda, brought up in the UK, & now living in NZ. Explores entangled family relationships, a truly happy mixed race marriage, infertiliy & adoption. Written with wit & warmth.
Wednesday 18 August - Trick of the Dark, a brilliant new stand-alone crime novel from the great Val McDermid. It features a cast of very strong & interesting women & is set at Oxford University. Totally gripping & brilliant - as is her latest Tony Hill thriller, Fever of the Bone, now out in small paperback.
Wednesday 11 August - The Einstein Girl by Philip Sington, a fascinating mystery about Einstein & the 'lost' illegitimate daughter he & his brillliant first wife Mileva had before they were married. Also involves an interesting psychiatrist. Intriguing.
Wednesday 4 August - The Boy Next Door by Irene Sabatini, winner of the 2010 Orange Award for New Writers. The relationship between Lindiwe (black) & Ian (white) survives under Mugabe in a disintergrating newly-independent Zimbabwe. Very well written, with fascinating insights.
Wednesday 28 July - Grace Williams Says It Loud, a marvellous debut novel from Emma Henderson. Grace is incarcerated in a huge mental institution oustside London in the 1950s. Despite her disbilities she is clever & delightful & forms a heart-warming, joyous & hilarious relationship with Daniel, an epileptic with no arms. Stunning!
Wednesday 21 July - Where Your Left Hand Rests, a glorious little hardback collection of Dame Fiona Kidman's poems. Beautifully produced, with gorgeous end-papers & illustrated with fabrics & embroidery. A treasure to read & to hold.
Wednesday 14 July - The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, an extraordinary biography by Rebecca Skloot, about the HeLa cells, taken from a young black woman who died of cancer in 1951 & used ever since, unbeknownst to her family, for the advancement of medical science. Amazing & fascinating!
Wednesday 7 July - Under This Unbroken Sky, an inspiring & heart-breaking novel by Shandi Mitchell about a Ukranian family struggling to survive on the vast Canadian prairies. Strong characters, stunning landscape, beautiuful writing - absolutely un-put-downable!
Wednesday 30 June - 36 Arguments for the Existence of God, a clever, brainy, witty novel by Rebecca Goldstein (partner of Steven Pinker) about religious belief in all its forms. Cass Seltzer, an athiest, becomes famous for a book he has written on Religious Illusion. A complex & fascinating exploration of philosophies, ethics & values.
Wednesday 23 June - Private Life, the latest novel from the great Jane Smiley. Margaret is trapped in a stultifying marriage to a pompous, self-deluded astronomer. There are moments of brilliance in this novel, but much of it is as ponderous as the marriage.
Wednesday 16 June - Sex & Stravinsky, the witty new novel from Barbara Trapido. A light & clever novel in which 2 couples, with very different teenage daughters & one appalling grandmother, become involved in some very interesting swapping!
Wednesday 9 June - Brooklyn, a beautiful, gentle novel from Colm Toibin, who was one of the stars at the Auckland Writers & Readers Festival. Eilis reluctanly moves from Ireland to NY & must later decide where she will live permanently. About family, loss, & the connections between people. Absolutely fabulous!
Wednesday 2 June - Laura Rider's Masterpiece. Renowned US author Jane Hamilton is having fun with this light but deliciously amusing novel about sex, romance & emails. Lovely satire!
Wednesday 26 May - The Crossing, by Mandy Hager, winner of the Senior Fiction in the NZ Post Children's Book Awards. A gripping, brilliantly written novel for adults as well, in which Maryam challenges the racism, religious fanaticism & male power structures in a futuristic world.
Wednesday 19 May - Fred & Edie and The Great Lover, both by renowned British novelist Jill Dawson, who was a guest at AWRF. The first is the heart-wrenching story of Edie & her young lover who were hanged for murder in 1923; the second is the brief, brilliant life of poet Rupert Brooke. Both are superb novels!
Wednesday 12 May - Still Alice, an inspiring & moving novel by Lisa Genova, about a brilliant 50 year old woman who gets early-onset Alzheimers disease - she happens to be a world-renowned Professor of Neurolinguistics at Harvard University. Unsentimental, extraordinary handling of a difficult subject.
Wednesday 5 May - Will Grayson, Will Grayson, one of the quirkiest, funniest, most original novels I have ever read! Written by 2 brilliant young adult authors, John Green & David Levithan (a star guest at AWRF) it features a HUGE in-your-face gay teen called Tiny Cooper, & his two friends, both called Will Grayson. Absolutely fantastic!
Wednesday 28 April - Lark & Termite, a brilliant new novel from esteemed American Jayne Anne Phillips. Moving back & forth between the Korean war in 1950 & the USA in 1959, this is a stunning, evocative novel about secrets, loss, love & the magical bonds that unite & sustain people. Superb!
Wednesday 21 April - Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson. Honour, duty & a cup of tea - the Major will steal your heart in this hilarious novel about his unlikely realtionship with a widowed Pakistani shopkeeper. Totally delightful; utterly fabulous!!
Wednesday 14 April - February, a beautifully written novel from Canadian Lisa Moore. Helen's husband died in the famous tragedy of the sinking of the Ocean Ranger oil rig, leaving her at the age of 30 to raise their children on her own. Gritty yet gentle, with superbly drawn characters, this is outstanding writing.
Wednesday 7 April - So Much For That. The new novel from Lionel Shriver is a searingly honest, bitingly funny look at the human cost of the American health care & insurance systems. Provocative, lively, upbeat!
Wednesday 31 March - Trespass, Rose Tremain's latest novel which is much darker than her usual work. Two sets of middle-aged siblings, one English & one French, encounter each other in unpleasant ways in the Cevennes. Intriguing & rather sisister.
Wednesday 24 March - Lola, the exquisite new novel from award-winning NZ poet Elizabeth Smither. Lola is an older, wiser woman who moves to NZ after a lifetime in a family of funeral directors in Australia. Full of gorgeous poetic language & wry humour.
Wednesday 17 March - Small Island, the stunning novel by Andrea Levy that won the Best of the Best of the Orange Prize. About the first Jamaican immigrants to London in 1948, it is engrossing, moving, richly humorous, and explores empire, prejudice, war & love. Magnificant!
Wednesday 10 March - The Postmistress, a brilliant debut novel by Sarah Blake, in which a US correspondent broadcasts back to the States from the London blitz & from the trains deporting Jews across Europe. Two women, one of whom is the postmistress, listen to her back in a small Cape Cod town. Moving & fascinating.
Wednesday 3 March - Message From An Unknown Chinese Mother, Xinran's tender, tragic new book about the fate of Chinese baby girls. Written with gentle dignity, it is illuminating & deeply moving.
Wednesday 24 Fbruary - We Are All Made of Glue, the delightful new novel from Marina Lewycka, author of A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian. Hiliarious, serious, totally engaging.
Wednesday 17 February - About a Girl, from award-winning YA author Joanne Horniman, about a young woman in her early 20s who falls in love with another young woman. Set in Australia, gentle, realistic & honest about relationships, beautifully written.
Wednesday 10 February - The Long Song, the wonderful new novel from Andrea Levy, author of the international bestseller & mutli-award-winner Small Island. The feisty Miss July survives the last days of slavery in Jamaica. Brilliant!
Wednesday 3 February - The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova, author of The Historian, who is one of our International Summer Season guests. A fascinating exploration of obsession & of art, both modern & impressionist, with an intriguing mystery.
Wednesday 27 January - Consolation, the French best-seller from Anna Gavalda. Darker than Hunting & Gathering, an unusual story of 1 man, 2 remarkable women & an unforgettable transvestite. Quirky characters; 2nd half particularly engaging.
Wednesday 20 January 2010 - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo & The Girl Who Played with Fire, books 1 & 2 of Steig Larsson's brilliant trilogy that has taken the world by storm! Sophisticated, intelligent, highly political crime fiction. Un-put-downable!
Wednesday 16 December - Wolf Hall, the stunning Man Booker Prize winner from Hilary Mantel. Thomas Cromwell leaps off the page of this brilliant historical novel set in the time of Henry V111.
Wishing you all the richness of reading, Carole Beu
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