Books for Xmas: Habitat

By GILBERT WONG books editor

Home and leisure should be synonymous but too often they are anything but. When he witnessed the lawnmowing and concreting of driveways that once commonly took over a New Zealand weekend, a friend from Germany described us as a nation of urban peasantry.

That he now has a shed, complete with a range of power tools and a lawnmower, shows the high gravity of the nzild way of life.

If there were typical blokes of this ilk, then Dave Cull and Bill Ward would embody that ideal. They are telegenic, full of good advice and know a niche when they see one.

You Can Paint It! by Dave Cull (Hyndman Publishing, $9.95) is a particularly useful guide to the fate many will face in the coming months. Particularly instructive are the colour images of paint problems. Surfactant leaching, chalking and efflorescence are technical ways of saying you better get on the job.

Cull's companion volume Kitchen Essentials (Hyndman Publishing, $14.95) has more hard information than a dozen glossy mags on the pros and cons of terrazzo, stainless steel, granite and laminate benches plus much else.

Edible Garden by Bill Ward (Hyndman Publishing, $14.95), is a concise guide to producing that finest of kitchen treats, fresh vegetables from your own garden. Of particular interest is a chapter on edible flowers.

The natural habitat of the home has sparked its own genre — the blame for which can be laid on Jim Hopkins who began it all with Blokes and their Sheds (HarperCollins, $24.95). The first is still the best. My vote for best shed goes to Alan who has decided it is the place to stash his collection of 18 vintage petrol pumps. Plume, Sky Chief, Speedwell. Names redolent of the open road.

The other-gender version of Hopkins' book wasn't called "Sheilas clean their kitchens" but Every Kitchen Tells a Story by Clare de Lore and Julia Brooke-White (HarperCollins, $24.95). Helen Clark's kitchen is exactly as we imagine her to be: no-nonsense and pragmatic.

In the same format are Easy Riders by Paul and Val Davis (HarperCollins, $24.95), a series of interviews with fans of the Norton, Harley, Triumph and Indian. Try not to think about what happened to Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson and what gravel rash feels like.

As summer beckons, home and the prospect of endless chores drives any sane person to escape. Gone Surfing: The Golden Years of Surfing in New Zealand,1950-1970 by Luke Williamson (Penguin, $34.95) is a well-researched social history of our surfing culture.

Boaties and would-be boaties will enjoy Salt Beneath the Skin, edited by Tessa Duder (HarperCollins, $29.95), a collection of seafaring stories from Greg Whakataka-Brightwell's Hawaiki-nui traditional sailing canoe to Russell Coutts' America's Cup victory on Black Magic in San Diego in 1995.

On the Next Tide by Kirk Hargreaves (Canterbury University Press, $39.95) chronicles the disappearing breed of solo fisher-
people. The gritty reality of the hard labour involved will quickly dispel any romantic notions for nine-to-fivers.

Fishing for a living is full of risk and sweat, but turn it into recreation and it becomes a meditative exercise. Better yet, there's the prospect of fresh fish. Hooked Up on Snapper by Mark Kitteridge (Reed, $29.95) goes to the essence of why we go down to the sea. Many of us want a free feed of snapper. Kitteridge is assistant editor of New Zealand Fishing News and he has won contests. He says his goal is to catch a snapper over 14kg and judging by this book he's more than ready to.

Landlubbers will find Milford Superguide by Philip Temple (Godwit, $24.95) a useful guide to walking the supertramping attraction. It's compact enough to slip into a jacket pocket and Temple, an active mountaineer and author, writes engagingly about the track's history and finest vantage points. The book includes well-detailed maps and diagrams that will enhance the experience.

Another useful book to slip into the daypack is Nature Guide to the New Zealand Forest by John Dawson and Rob Lucas ($45, Godwit). This will satisfy those questions about trackside fauna and foliage. Its breadth, good index and colour plates galore make it a top choice for the tramper or day walker.