Bookclubbers without boundaries in Nelson, New Zealand
READ FOR WOMEN’S PRIZE A true account of life for citizens during the Seige of Sarajevo told via the main character Zora, a 55 year old artist and teacher. When tensions flare she sends her family to safety never thinking things will become what… Continue Reading “Black Butterflies – Priscilla Morris”
READ FOR WOMEN’S PRIZE Yamaye is a young Jamaican woman living in 1980s London. She dances at an underground dub reggae club and suffers daily from her lack of familial ties. Like her friends she does her best to avoid the harassment of Babylon… Continue Reading “Fire Rush – Jacqueline Crooks”
READ FOR BOOKCLUBChosen by Suzy Keiko is a young Japanese convenience store woman who enjoys the repetitive nature of her job, often referring to the store manual to act and respond to requests appropriately. Her simplistic life is ridiculed by friends and family for… Continue Reading “Convenience Store Woman – Sayaka Murata”
READ FOR WOMEN’S PRIZE Cushla is a 24-year-old Irish school teacher by day and custodian of the family pub with her brother in the evenings. It is in the pub she meets an older married man and they begin an affair. Set amongst The… Continue Reading “Trespasses – Louise Kennedy”
READ FOR WOMEN’S PRIZE ● The Marriage Portrait begins as such: In 1560, fifteen-year-old Lucrezia di Cosimo de Medici left Florence to begin her married life with Alfonso II d’Este, Duke of Ferrara. Less than a year later, she would be dead. The official cause… Continue Reading “The Marriage Portrait – Maggie O’Farrell”
READ FOR WOMEN’S PRIZE Ea is a spinner dolphin who is deaf and cannot spin properly. When catastrophe befalls her family, Ea feels partly to blame and decides to leave the pod, meeting a vast array of other sea life. Climate fiction with talking animals and… Continue Reading “Pod – Laline Paull”
What is the job of fiction? To entertain? To educate? To document? To insert the reader into an unexpected place or mindset so they can see the world through another lens? The authors on this year’s shortlist took their roles to the next level,… Continue Reading “2023 – NZ Book Awards”
READ FOR BOOKCLUBChosen by Rachel The Swimmers is about Alice, a Japanese American woman in the early stages of dementia. She swims daily but when a crack appears in the pool (ie in her memory) she has to stop swimming and move to a… Continue Reading “The Swimmers – Julia Otsuka”
READ FOR NZ BOOK AWARDS Set in Wellington, down from Upland Road in Kelburn, this book is a satirical tale about the complexities of growing up, when you’re a teenager and when you’re in your 40s. Axle has joined a new school. He is… Continue Reading “Down From Upland – Murdoch Stevens”
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