NEW RELEASES (8.12.23)
A new book is a promise of good times ahead. Click through for your copies:
So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan $23
An exquisitely written new story from the author of the indelible Small Things Like These and Foster. After an uneventful Friday at the Dublin office, Cathal faces into the long weekend and takes the bus home. There, his mind agitates over a woman named Sabine with whom he could have spent his life, had he acted differently. All evening, with only the television and a bottle of champagne for company, thoughts of this woman and others intrude — and the true significance of this particular date is revealed. From one of the finest writers working today, Keegan's new story asks if a lack of generosity might ruin what could be between men and women. Is it possible to love without sharing?
Little Dead Rabbit by Astrid Alben and Zigmunds Lapsa $48
A collaboration between poet Astrid Alben and visual artist and designer Zigmunds Lapsa, a book-length poem with die-cut images throughout. During the lockdown of 2020/21, Alben and Lapsa worked closely together on this book-length poem that is part adult fairy-tale, part concrete poem about a little dead rabbit the poet found on the verge of a road. Ostensibly a poem about death, the small corpse is equally a meditation on healing and joy.
Sublunar by Harald Voetmann (translated from Danish by Johanne Sorgenfri Ottosen) $38
In the 16th century, on the island of Hven, the pioneering Danish astronomer, Tycho Brahe, is undertaking an elaborate study of the night sky. A great mind and a formidable personality, Brahe is also the world's most illustrious noseless man of his time. Told by Brahe and his assistants — a filthy cast of characters — Sublunar is both novel and almanac. Alongside sexual deviancy, spankings, ruminations on a new nose — flesh, wood, or gold? — Brahe (a choleric and capricious character) and his peculiar helpers take painstainking measurements that will revolutionize astronomy, long before the invention of the telescope. Meanwhile the plague rages in Europe... The second in Voetmann's triptych of historical novels, Sublunar is as visceral, absurd, and tragic as its predecessor Awake (which focussed on Pliny the Elder) but with a special nocturnal glow and a lunatic-edged gaze trained on the moon and the stars.
”Reading Voetmann’s books makes me feel so alive. His voice is like no other, his hold on his material masterful.” —Olga Ravn
”Voetmann seems to work from the ground up. Although Awake and Sublunar might be called novels of ideas, Voetmann's intellectual concerns are not forcefully imposed upon fictional dramas arbitrarily designed to illustrate them, but rather arise from particulars that are irreducible. Each page of the books contains a richness of detail and a depth of attention that has all but vanished from the contemporary novel—or, for that matter, any other mass-produced object. The novels themselves—each scarcely more than a hundred pages— are miniatures that appear to have been less written than chiseled. Images glow in stark relief against the somber backdrops and recur with slight variations, as though guided by a Fibonacci sequence. Amid the guts and gore, there are moments of quiet splendour. —New York Review of Books
Held by Anne Michaels $33
1917. On a battlefield near the River Escaut, John lies in the aftermath of a blast, unable to move or feel his legs. Struggling to focus his thoughts, he is lost to memory a chance encounter in a pub by a railway, a hot bath with his lover on a winter night, his childhood on a faraway coast as the snow falls. 1920. John has returned from war to North Yorkshire, near another river alive, but not still whole. Reunited with Helena, an artist, he reopens his photography business and endeavours to keep on living. But the past erupts insistently into the present, as ghosts begin to surface in his pictures — ghosts whose messages he cannot understand. So begins a narrative that spans four generations, moments of connection and consequence igniting and re-igniting as the century unfolds. In luminous moments of desire, comprehension, longing, transcendence, the sparks fly upward, working their transformations decades later.
”Through luminous moments of chance, change, and even grace, Michaels shows us our humanity - its depths and shadows.” —Margaret Atwood
”Dazzling lyrical snapshots recall the dreamlike style of Fugitive Pieces in the poet's third novel, a fluid examination of history, memory and generational trauma. The writing is always personal, hypersensitive and profoundly interior. Michaels's writing continues to stand head and shoulders above most other fiction. At the heart of this book lies the question of how goodness and love can be held across the generations.” —Observer
Start Here: Instructions for becoming a better cook by Sohla El-Waylly $70
A really clear and useful practical, information-packed, and transformative guide to becoming a better cook and conquering the kitchen, this is a must-have masterclass in leveling up your cooking. Across a dozen technique-themed chapters — from "Temperature Management 101" and "Break it Down & Get Saucy" to "Mix it Right," "Go to Brown Town," and "Getting to Know Dough" — Sohla El-Waylly explains the hows and whys of cooking, introducing the fundamental skills that you need to become a more intuitive, inventive cook. A one-stop resource, regardless of what you're hungry for, Start Here gives equal weight to savory and sweet dishes, with more than 200 mouthwatering recipes. Packed with practical advice and scientific background, helpful tips, and an almost endless assortment of recipe variations, along with tips, guidance, and how-tos, Start Here is culinary school — without the student loans.
‘Other Stations Are Shit’: Student radio in Aotearoa New Zealand by Matt Mollgaard and Karen Neill $40
From its beginnings in 1969 as a student capping stunt, student radio has gone on to become an influential source of music and culture across Aotearoa New Zealand. Fresh sounds, new talent and creative expression have secured the sector’s reputation as the ‘research and development’ branch of the country’s music milieu, where each station is a champion of its local scene, serving as a springboard for bands, presenters and contributors. ‘Other Stations Are Shit’: Student Radio in Aotearoa New Zealand celebrates the contributions of student radio to the arts ecosystem. With full colour images and ephemera, staff profiles and chapters on each of the contemporary stations in addition to student radio whānau, music and its future, this book explores and documents the cultural phenomenon that is student radio.
Ultrawild: An audacious plan to rewild every city on Earth by Steve Mushin $38
Join maverick inventor Steve Mushin as he tackles climate change with an avalanche of mind-bending, scientifically plausible inventions to rewild cities and save the planet. Jump into his brain as he designs habitat-printing robot birds and water-filtering sewer submarines, calculates how far compost cannons can blast seed bombs (over a kilometer), brainstorms biomaterials with scientists and engineers, studies ecosystems and develops a deadly serious plan to transform cities into jungles, rewilding them into carbon-sucking mega-habitats for all species, and as fast as possible. Through marvellously designed and hilarious engineering ideas, Mushin shares his vision for super-high-tech urban rewilding, covering the science of climate change, futuristic materials and foods, bio reactors, soil, forest ecosystems, mechanical flight, solar thermal power and working out just how fast we could actually turn roads into jungles, absorb carbon and reverse climate change.
Before George by Deborah Robertson $30
When Marnya immigrates to New Zealand from South Africa in 1953 with her mother and sister, her mother cuts off Marnya's hair and changes her name to George to hide her identity as a girl. Hours later, their Christmas Eve train plummets into the Whangaehu River and George loses not only her family and name, but also the answers as to why her mother deceived her father and fled their homeland. Now a ward of the state, George finds herself enrolled in a rural school where survival depends on fitting in with a group of boys who think she's strange. Disconnected from everything that once defined who she was, George must reconstruct her identity and come to understand her mother's decisions.
The Trio by Johanna Hedman (translated from Swedish by Kira Josefsson) $26
When Hugo takes a room in the house of one of Stockholm's wealthiest families, he unwittingly invites himself into the lives of people he will be unable to forget: Thora, a beautiful descendant of old money, and her childhood best friend August, who dreams of art. None of them have anything in common, but find themselves irresistibly drawn to each other. Decades later, a young woman shows up on Hugo's door in New York one morning, hoping to stay with him. She introduces herself as the child of Thora and August, and comes carrying questions about her parents that send Hugo reeling back to his youth — to two euphoric summers in Stockholm, and people to whom he is now a stranger.
”The Trio is like the love child of Normal People and Brideshead Revisited. A sublime and elegiac meditation on love, intimacy, freedom and jealousy, it elegantly explores the gulf between our interior lives and the personas we perform — and between ourselves and other people. Hedman's writing (and Josefsson's stunning translation) is staggeringly beautiful. Vivid, effortless, and perceptive to a molecular degree.” —Francesca Reece
The Story of the Brain in 10½ Cells by Richard Wingate $37
There are more than 100 billion brain cells in our heads, and every single one represents a fragment of thought and feeling. And yet each cell is a mystery of beauty, with branching, intricate patterns like shattered glass. Richard Wingate has been scrutinising them for decades, yet he is still moved when he looks at one through a microscope and traces their shape by hand. With absorbing lyricism and clarity, Wingate shows how each type of cell possesses its own personality and history, illustrating a milestone of scientific discovery and exploring the stories of pioneering scientists like Ramon y Cajal and Francis Crick, and capturing their own fascinating shapes and patterns. Discover the ethereal world of the brain with this elegant little book — and find out how we all think and feel.
Wayfinding Leadership: Ground-breaking wisdom for developing leaders by Chellie Spiller, Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr, and John Panoho $45
This book presents a new way of leading by looking to traditional waka navigators or wayfinders for the skills and behaviours needed in modern leaders. It takes readers on a journey into wayfinding and leading, discussing principles of wayfinding philosophy, giving examples of how these have been applied in businesses and communities, and providing action points so that readers can practise and reflect on the skills they are learning.
The Faint of Heart by Kerilynn Wilson $30
What would you do if you were the only person left with a heart? The only person left who felt anything at all? Would you give in to the pressure to conform? Or would you protect your heart at all costs? Not that long ago, the Scientist discovered that all sadness, anxiety, and anger disappeared when you removed your heart. And that's all it took. Soon enough, the hospital had lines out the door-even though the procedure numbed the good feelings, too. Everyone did it. Everyone except high school student June. But now the pressure, loneliness, and heartache are mounting, and it's becoming harder and harder to be the only one with a heart. One day, June comes across an abandoned heart in a jar. The heart in the jar intrigues her, it baffles her, and it brings her hope. But the heart also brings her Max, a classmate with a secret of his own. And it may rip June's own heart in two. A memorable graphic novel for teens.
Family of Forest and Fungi | He Tukutuku Toiora by Valetta Sowka; Isobel Joy Te Aho-White, and Hana Natalija Park $24
How did our Māori ancestors use mushrooms? What are some of the astounding ways that fungi can help us? Why do mushrooms glow? Discover the answers to these questions and more in this book for tamariki about the magical world of fungi. Help a child build a natural connection to the taiao by journeying to the forests of Aotearoa and discovering the amazing kingdom of fungi that dwells there!
Dictionary People: The unsung heroes who created the Oxford English Dictionary by Sarah Ogilvie $40
What do three murderers, Karl Marx's daughter and a vegetarian vicar have in common? They all helped create the Oxford English Dictionary. The Oxford English Dictionary has long been associated with elite institutions and Victorian men; its longest-serving editor, James Murray, devoted 36 years to the project, as far as the letter T. But the Dictionary didn't just belong to the experts; it relied on contributions from members of the public. By the time it was finished in 1928 its 414,825 entries had been crowdsourced from a surprising and diverse group of people, from archaeologists and astronomers to murderers, naturists, novelists, pornographers, queer couples, suffragists, vicars and vegetarians. Lexicographer Sarah Ogilvie dives deep into previously untapped archives to tell a people's history of the OED. She traces the lives of thousands of contributors who defined the English language, from the eccentric autodidacts to the family groups who made word-collection their passion.