Category: Literary fiction
A local artist and a Belaruisan refugee meet regularly at a Christchurch cafe to discuss life, art and politics. A priest once told me that we fall in love with people with whom we have wounds in common, that in caring for them we’re… Continue Reading “How To Paint A Nude – Sam Mahon”
Category: Art, Contemporary fiction, Environmental fiction, Kiwi lit, Literary fiction, Metafiction, NZ Book Awards, Philosophical, PoliticalTags: Free Range Bookclub 2026, Kiwi Fiction, Ockham NZ Book Awards
READ FOR NZ BOOK AWARDS All Her Lives is a collection of nine linked stories about women throughout the ages who have battled, persevered and instigated change, and whom are finding their place in society. Did homecoming have to be this, too? Being outside,… Continue Reading “All Her Lives – Ingrid Horrocks”
Category: Climate Fiction, Cultural, Environmental fiction, Female Experience, Feminism, Historical Fiction, Kiwi lit, Literary fiction, NZ Book Awards, Political, Queer, Short StoriesTags: Free Range Bookclub 2026, Kiwi Fiction, Ockham NZ Book Awards
READ FOR NZ BOOK AWARDS In the rural reaches of Auckland, the women of the eclectic Gordon family gather for Christmas. Rita, the 50-year-old baby of the family, is planning to tell them she has cancer. Drifting between past and present, she considers the… Continue Reading “Hoods Landing – Laura Vincent”
Category: Contemporary fiction, Domestic Fiction, Family drama, Female Experience, Gothic, Humour, Kiwi lit, Literary fiction, Māori Fiction, NZ Book Awards, QueerTags: Free Range Bookclub 2026, Kiwi Fiction, Ockham NZ Book Awards
READ FOR BOOKCLUBChosen by Rachel Described as a radical fusion of feminist theory and experimental horror, Girls Against God is a stream of consciousness narrative on censorship, magic, gender, art and rebellion against power systems. I don’t know why I feel I have to… Continue Reading “Girls Against God – Jenny Hval”
Category: Art, Coming of Age, Experimental fiction, Faith & Religion, Feminism, Horror, Literary fiction, Metafiction, Queer, Surreal, TranslatedTags: Free Range Bookclub 2026
READ FOR NZ BOOK AWARDS Set in the 1940s Taranaki, The Last Living Cannibal is narrated by an old man, Koko, from both the present and afterlife. It examines muru or the restoration of balance within an iwi or community, and is put to… Continue Reading “The Last Living Cannibal – Airana Ngarewa”
Category: Colonisation, Cultural, Family drama, Historical Fiction, Kiwi lit, Literary fiction, Māori Fiction, NZ Book Awards, Political, War storyTags: Free Range Bookclub 2026, Kiwi Fiction
READ FOR NZ BOOK AWARDS Set during a cold Wellington winter, Before The Winter Ends explores the immigrant experience via Omar, a teen whose grades are slipping and is losing connection with his best friend, and his mother who recalls her life two decades… Continue Reading “Before The Winter Ends – Khadro Mohamed”
Category: Coming of Age, Cultural, Faith & Religion, Family drama, Historical Fiction, Immigrant story, Kiwi lit, Literary fiction, NZ Book Awards, War storyTags: Free Range Bookclub 2026, Kiwi Fiction
READ FOR BOOKCLUBChosen by Sally Brodie Moncur is a young Scottish piano tuner who moves to Paris for a job and to escape his tyrannical father. There, a fateful encounter with a famous pianist changes his future and sparks an obsessive love affair with… Continue Reading “Love is Blind – William Boyd”
In 2026 we are focused on the intersection of time, or what do we owe the past, and what do we owe the future? We have a new and evolving bookclub that is considerate of the past members and reading history but also focused… Continue Reading “2026: Timelines”
When we talk about the world being global, it’s easy to imagine overwhelming vastness and perhaps feel a little lost in it. When in fact the world is not stretching away from us, it’s coming to us. Wherever we are, we are surrounded by… Continue Reading “2025: End Of Year Thoughts”
READ FOR BOOKCLUBChosen by Rachel Sarah is poor, but pretty and French, which gives her standing in Casablanca. Driss is older, quiet and not particularly good looking but he’s rumoured to be the richest guy in the city. Sarah decides she wants a life… Continue Reading “As Rich As The King – Abigail Assor”
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